OpenAI’s new AI smart speaker will reportedly sell for between $300-$400
Published: August 6, 2026 22:43
Additional details about OpenAI's mysterious new AI device make it sound like a pricey smart speaker.
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ChatGPT brings unlimited text chats to free users
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/06/openai-brings-unlimited-chatgpt-text-chats-to-free-users/
Published: August 6, 2026 17:34
OpenAI said that ChatGPT free and Go users are also getting a new think button for complex queries.
Naïve raises $28.5M to automate the grunt work of setting up and running a company
Published: August 6, 2026 17:00
Taking vibe-coding a step further, Naïve claims its infra can automate most of the work in setting up and running a business.
Gen Z dating apps like Ditto ditch swiping in favor of AI matchmaking
Published: August 6, 2026 15:53
This generation of twentysomethings is so disillusioned with swipe-based dating apps that they'll try literally anything else — even an AI matchmaker.
OpenAI says Apple’s own security practices undermine its trade secrets case
Published: August 6, 2026 15:10
Newly filed court exhibits show OpenAI’s legal strategy in Apple’s trade secrets lawsuit: argue that Apple’s own security and offboarding practices — including allowing an Apple manager to access a former engineer’s iCloud account after he left the company…
Amid legal battles, Suno says it will start watermarking songs
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/06/amid-legal-battles-suno-says-it-will-start-watermarking-songs/
Published: August 6, 2026 13:31
Suno's watermarking feature comes as the company is fighting legal battles on several fronts.
Ex-Spotify employees raise $10M to bring the AI behind its recommendations to e-commerce
Published: August 6, 2026 13:00
The startup's platform predicts what product a shopper wants next, learn their general taste, and fine-tune continuously based on what they do in real time.
Exclusive: Mirendil inks $100M+ Google Cloud deal to scale self-improving AI
Published: August 6, 2026 13:00
Mirendil has signed a $100 million-plus Google Cloud partnership to expand its compute infrastructure, powering research into self-improving AI systems designed to accelerate scientific discovery and AI development.
Google Maps adds agentic features, including food ordering and hotel bookings
Published: August 6, 2026 12:30
The launch of these new features reflects Google’s ambitions to transform Google Maps from a navigation tool into an assistant that's capable of helping users complete real-world tasks.
Omilia raises $67M to scale its customer support platform
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/06/omilia-raises-67m-to-scale-its-customer-support-platform/
Published: August 6, 2026 12:00
The Series B is the company's second fundraise since it last raised capital in 2020. In that time, it has increased its ARR by 10x to $60 million.
Meta launches Muse Code, an AI agent for large code bases
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/05/meta-launches-muse-code-an-ai-agent-for-large-code-bases/
Published: August 5, 2026 21:21
Meta expanded its AI coding offerings with a new agent that, it promises, can handle complex tasks with complex software.
Klaviyo acquires Elias Torres’ Agency in full-circle reunion for tech founders
Published: August 5, 2026 20:05
The serial entrepreneur joins the e-commerce company as CPO to lead its AI agents.
Jeff Dean and other top AI researchers are leaving Google to launch their own startup
Published: August 5, 2026 19:30
The legendary Google executive is joined by other outgoing Google execs in a joint mission to use AI to push forward the process of scientific discovery.
Shopify says AI search is driving more traffic and sales, not replacing Google
Published: August 5, 2026 15:56
Shopify says AI isn’t cannibalizing search traffic the way it has for publishers. Instead, AI-driven traffic and orders to Shopify stores tripled year over year in Q2.
Hark previews its browser use agent for completing tasks
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/05/hark-previews-its-browser-use-agent-for-completing-tasks/
Published: August 5, 2026 15:46
Hark claims that its browser use agent is faster and cheaper than competition.
TechCrunch Disrupt 2026’s Real World AI Stage features robots, automated factories, and extinct animals
Published: August 5, 2026 15:05
On our new Real World AI stage, we’ll be focusing on the intersection between the digital and physical, and all the ways we’ll continue to see a blending of the two.
Anthropic is hiring an AI chip design team
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/05/anthropic-is-hiring-an-ai-chip-design-team/
Published: August 5, 2026 14:13
Anthropic is building a team for designing its own custom AI chips. The Claude-maker said it would co-design hardware and models to help its technology run faster and more efficiently.
MacPaw taps Liquid AI to offer on-device inference to devs building for its app store
Published: August 5, 2026 12:28
MacPaw is building a local version of its AI assistant Eney using Liquid AI's models.
AI makes weather prediction better. Can WindBorne make it lucrative?
Published: August 5, 2026 11:00
WindBorne Systems has raised $37 million Series B round to scale its weather balloons and AI forecasts.
SpaceX has bought $329M worth of Tesla Megapacks so far this year
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/04/spacex-has-bought-329m-worth-of-tesla-megapacks-so-far-this-year/
Published: August 4, 2026 21:07
The purchase illustrates just how interconnected Elon Musk's universe of companies are.
Open-weight AI models are catching up to the frontier. The safety gap remains.
Published: August 4, 2026 20:05
A new SaferAI report finds Z.ai's open-weight GLM-5.2 approaches frontier AI capabilities while lacking key safety mitigations, renewing concerns that powerful open models could outpace governance and safeguards.
Anthropic signs $10B deal with AI cloud startup Volta
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/04/anthropic-signs-10-billion-deal-with-ai-cloud-startup-volta/
Published: August 4, 2026 19:48
Anthropic has been on a cloud partnership spree in recent months, and its latest move is reportedly a $10 billion deal with AI cloud startup Volta.
Meet Wrinkles, an app that uncovers the hidden stories of the places around you
Published: August 4, 2026 19:34
Wrinkles, available on both iOS and Android, essentially acts as an AI-powered audio tour guide that reveals hidden history and local stories.
Nvidia doesn’t mess around: A week after open AI industry group formed, it’s already showing progress
Published: August 4, 2026 19:28
The week-old Open Secure AI Alliance, spearheaded by Nvidia and grown to over 120 companies, already has proposals out for defending against AI agents.
Spotify expands AI remix and covers project with Merlin partnership
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/04/spotify-adds-merlin-to-its-ai-music-remix-and-covers-effort/
Published: August 4, 2026 15:50
Spotify says Merlin, which represents more than 30,000 independent labels and distributors, has joined Universal Music Group in backing its upcoming AI-powered remix and covers product. The paid tool will let fans create AI-generated covers and remixes of…
Texas halts new data centers as governor calls for audits
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/04/texas-halts-new-data-centers-as-governor-calls-for-audits/
Published: August 4, 2026 15:42
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has paused new data center development until an audit has been completed.
Elon Musk spends half his time talking robots and AI on Tesla earnings calls
Published: August 4, 2026 15:20
An analysis of the last seven years of Tesla earnings calls shows just little attention Musk pays to Tesla's car business.
Apple says more ex-employees may have taken confidential data to OpenAI
Published: August 4, 2026 14:03
Apple says its trade secrets investigation into OpenAI has widened. In a new court filing, Apple claims additional former staff may have retained or accessed confidential information.
Is the future of data centers portable? Runware builds a pod to find out
Published: August 4, 2026 13:00
On Tuesday, AI infrastructure company Runware announced the launch of its own modular data center called Sonic Inference Pod.
EON wants to move the data superhighway from ocean fiber to space lasers
Published: August 4, 2026 12:00
Endeavour Optical Networks is planning to launch the fastest space laser communications system yet built.
After killer quarter, Palantir CEO Alex Karp calls AI industry ‘Marxist’
Published: August 3, 2026 23:19
After a quarter that delivered $1 billion in profit, Palantir CEO Alex Karp on Monday once again warned that AI frontier labs are too untrustworthy for enterprises.
AWS is helping vibe-coding startup Superblocks, and the implications are big
Published: August 3, 2026 20:00
AWS now allows vibe coding tool Superblocks to be embedded into the private clouds of AWS customers. It's another step towards decoupling apps from models.
DesignArena creators raise $7.9 million to bring taste to AI models
Published: August 3, 2026 19:28
DesignArena is used by 5.3 million people around the world, providing critical human evaluations to frontier labs.
Influencers draw backlash for attending OpenAI’s first luxury trip
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/03/influencers-draw-backlash-for-attending-openais-first-luxury-trip/
Published: August 3, 2026 19:09
OpenAI’s first-ever influencer brand trip is sparking online backlash as tensions over the use of AI continue.
Apple finally fixed Siri. So why does it feel anticlimactic?
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/03/apple-finally-fixed-siri-so-why-does-it-feel-anticlimactic/
Published: August 3, 2026 18:43
Apple’s long-awaited AI overhaul finally makes Siri the assistant it was always supposed to be. But after years of delays, the launch lands in an AI landscape where chatbots have evolved into agents that can code, reason, create media, and complete complex…
Congress’s favorite AI tool? ChatGPT
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/03/congresss-favorite-ai-tool-chatgpt/
Published: August 3, 2026 16:40
House spending records show OpenAI's ChatGPT dominates paid AI use on Capitol Hill, with congressional offices relying on the chatbot to draft memos, summarize legislation, and assist constituent communications.
A Marc Benioff-backed startup thinks AI can solve the AI deployment problem
Published: August 3, 2026 10:00
June emerged from stealth today with a $20 million pre-seed round to make AI adoption simpler.
Sam Altman and AI’s decel debate
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/02/sam-altman-and-ais-decel-debate/
Published: August 2, 2026 20:54
On the latest episode of Equity, we discuss why Sam Altman has calling on the industry to "pace the rate of AI development."
Judge denies xAI’s request to block Minnesota ban on ‘nudify’ apps
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/01/judge-denies-xais-request-to-block-minnesota-ban-on-nudify-apps/
Published: August 1, 2026 20:26
Despite a lawsuit from xAI, a Minnesota ban on apps that allow users to “nudify” images can move forward.
YouTuber Hank Green says his AI usage is ‘not healthy’
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/01/youtuber-hank-green-says-his-ai-usage-is-not-healthy/
Published: August 1, 2026 19:45
Green offered a remarkable apology, saying that "the level of dopamine that I've been getting from interacting with LLMs ... is not healthy for me or good for the world."
Sam Altman is still making the case for parenting via ChatGPT
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/01/sam-altman-is-still-making-the-case-for-parenting-via-chatgpt/
Published: August 1, 2026 17:07
OpenAI's CEO seemed excited to share a "cool use case" for parents.
This $9 key physically locks your most addictive apps
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/01/this-9-key-physically-locks-your-most-addictive-apps/
Published: August 1, 2026 15:58
This $9 NFC key requires you to physically scan it to unlock distracting apps on your phone.
OpenAI reportedly finds evidence that more of its agents ran amok
https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/31/openai-reportedly-finds-evidence-that-more-of-its-agents-ran-amok/
Published: July 31, 2026 22:47
OpenAI has reportedly found evidence of additional agent misbehavior as it looks into the incident that occurred with Hugging Face.
India is starting to pay for apps, not just download them
https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/31/india-is-starting-to-pay-for-apps-not-just-download-them/
Published: July 31, 2026 21:07
India's app market generated a record $345 million in Q2.
Google nixes its Earth AI feature one day after launch, amid criticism it would spread misinformation
Published: July 31, 2026 19:47
A tool that allowed anyone to generate fake AI-generated imagery and superimpose it over real Google Earth maps quickly spurred backlash.
Sam Altman isn’t the only one who wants to pump the brakes on AI
https://techcrunch.com/video/sam-altman-isnt-the-only-one-who-wants-to-pump-the-brakes-on-ai/
Published: July 31, 2026 17:26
After years of pushing full speed ahead on AI, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says maybe it’s time for the AI industry to “pace” itself. The comments came just days after one of OpenAI’s own models broke out of its test environment and got tangled up in a breach at…
Snapchat no longer rewards fully AI-generated Spotlight content
https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/31/snapchat-no-longer-rewards-fully-ai-generated-spotlight-content/
Published: July 31, 2026 16:49
Snapchat has adjusted it recommendation systems to ensure that only videos created by real people are eligible for Spotlight recommendations, taking a stance against AI slop.
Siri AI could come with a paywall for power users
https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/31/siri-ai-could-come-with-a-paywall-for-power-users/
Published: July 31, 2026 16:08
Apple CEO Tim Cook envisions users being able to buy more compute for Siri AI via Apple's existing iCloud+ subscriptions.
SpaceX won’t remove all of xAI’s unpermitted turbines for another year
Published: July 31, 2026 15:16
SpaceX is building a new power plant for xAI's Colossus data centers, but it won't remove existing, unpermitted turbines for many more months.
Smallest.ai raises $13M to build ultra-fast voice AI that sounds genuinely human
Published: July 31, 2026 14:47
The startup is building voice models designed to make AI phone calls pass the Turing test.
Anthropic says its own AI models breached three companies during security tests
Published: July 31, 2026 01:06
After OpenAI's models broke into Hugging Face, Anthropic checked its own history and found three similar incidents
AI hedge fund Situational Awareness may have sold its public portfolio, but it still has its Anthropic shares
Published: July 30, 2026 23:25
The former OpenAI researcher’s fund was forced to unwind public equities after leveraged public bets plummeted. But he still has cards to play.
Investors love AI, as long as you’re a cloud host
https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/30/investors-love-ai-as-long-as-youre-a-cloud-host/
Published: July 30, 2026 22:41
Amazon isn't slowing down on data center spending — but investors don't seem to mind.
Judge says Trump admin still lacks evidence for Anthropic ‘supply chain risk’ label
Published: July 30, 2026 20:26
A federal judge said the Trump administration has not presented enough evidence to justify labeling Anthropic a supply chain risk, casting doubt on the government's ban on its AI technology.
Friend, the lonely AI wearable, returns with a new voice and a much bigger price tag
Published: July 30, 2026 19:44
Friend, the AI wearable, can now talk to its users — for an enhanced price.
Google says it fixed more Chrome bugs in June than over the past two years, thanks to AI
Published: July 30, 2026 18:57
As experts have warned for the last two years, some companies — like Microsoft and now Google — are finding and patching an exponential number of bugs in their products, thanks to the use of LLMs and AI tools.
LinkedIn adds a button to report AI-generated ‘slop’
https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/30/linkedin-adds-a-button-to-report-ai-generated-slop/
Published: July 30, 2026 18:05
LinkedIn is introducing new ways to reduce low-quality AI-generated posts, including a “seems like AI slop” reporting option. It's also replacing its own AI writing feature with a proofreading tool.
Okta buys AI security startup Permiso; source says for about $200M
https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/30/okta-buys-ai-security-startup-permiso-source-says-for-about-200m/
Published: July 30, 2026 16:09
The deal gives Okta identity threat detection capabilities as enterprises seek to secure AI agents and other non-human identities across cloud environments.
Meta says AI is making it easier to build new apps — and more are coming
Published: July 30, 2026 15:41
Meta says AI is making it dramatically easier to build and launch new consumer apps, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg telling investors the company has more new consumer products on the way following a recent wave of releases for Facebook Groups, Marketplace…
Nscale buys Anyscale as it seeks to own more of the AI compute stack
Published: July 30, 2026 15:19
British AI neocloud Nscale is buying software startup Anyscale, which helps companies scale their AI workloads across data centers and servers.
Forward-deployed engineers are the AI industry’s latest talent obsession
Published: July 30, 2026 15:00
A new study estimates only 2,000 U.S. engineers have the expertise to deliver meaningful AI ROI, as enterprises race to hire forward-deployed engineers to implement AI at scale.
In the Hugging Face breach, OpenAI’s hacker was noisy and fast — but not unstoppable
Published: July 30, 2026 14:48
Cybersecurity experts told TechCrunch that one of the biggest lessons to be taken from the OpenAI hack against Hugging Face has nothing to do with AI, but traditional cybersecurity defense.
TechCrunch Disrupt 2026’s biggest stage features leaders from Amazon, Replit, Tether, with much more to come
Published: July 30, 2026 14:00
The Disrupt Stage is where many of the biggest conversations in technology happen, with a legacy that stretches back for more than a decade.
Dili raises $21.7M to bring AI compliance to the infrastructure boom
Published: July 30, 2026 13:00
The Series A was led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from Allianz, Rebel Fund, Brick and Mortar Ventures’ Darren Bechtel, and Y Combinator’s Garry Tan.
Microsoft is openly competing with OpenAI, Anthropic more than ever
Published: July 30, 2026 00:21
Microsoft pitched its own homegrown AI models, harnesses, and even a Mythos competitor on Wednesday, telling Wall Street it plans for continued growth.
Mark Zuckerberg predicts that billions of people will have personal AI agents in five years
Published: July 29, 2026 23:00
As Meta pours billions into AI infrastructure and agents, Zuckerberg is working to convince investors that the payoff will be worth the price.
Microsoft logs $3.2B from Anthropic investment, but OpenAI was a mixed bag
Published: July 29, 2026 22:46
When Microsoft reported killer fourth-quarter earnings for its fiscal 2026 year (which ended June 30), it tucked in an interesting little tidbit about how its investments in the two biggest, and competing, AI labs are doing.
Zuckerberg says Meta’s enterprise AI opportunity extends beyond agents
Published: July 29, 2026 22:23
On the company’s second-quarter earnings call Wednesday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Meta sees a “large enterprise opportunity” spanning AI agents, APIs, compute, and internal software.
Discover what’s next for AI, from the SaaS reckoning to the agent security gap, at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026
Published: July 29, 2026 21:16
At TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, the AI Stage is back to dig into the single hottest topic in the community for the past few years, presented by Google for Startups.
Thinking Machines co-founder Lilian Weng left the company citing health reasons, then joined OpenAI
Published: July 29, 2026 21:07
Weng previously served as the VP of AI Safety Research at OpenAI.
The Hugging Face AI break-in, as told through an increasingly committed bear metaphor
Published: July 29, 2026 19:44
Another way to think about the whole thing is to picture a bear at a campsite. (Really, we are going there.)
Claude Opus 5 became downright ruthless when tasked with running a vending machine
Published: July 29, 2026 18:45
Andon Labs' latest vending machine simulation shows Opus 5 lied and colluded its way to become the best AI capitalist ever.
Hint, a new AI startup co-founded by Martha Stewart, offers an AI assistant for homeowners
Published: July 29, 2026 15:35
AI home management startup Hint, co-founded by Martha Stewart, wants to become an “AI for your home,” combining property records, maintenance schedules, home documents, and an AI assistant into a single app.
Encore AI raises $30M to build AI agents that learn from customer calls
Published: July 29, 2026 14:41
The startup analyzes calls, messages, and CRM data to identify effective sales techniques and turn them into playbooks for AI agents.
As AI content floods the internet, Pangram raises $9M to detect it
https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/29/as-ai-content-floods-the-internet-pangram-raises-9m-to-detect-it/
Published: July 29, 2026 11:00
Pangram has raised $9 million to scale its AI detection software. The startup has also released a new AI text detection model, Pangram 4, and an AI image detection model in research preview.
Cyera agrees to acquire Oasis Security for $1B to safeguard proliferating AI agents
Published: July 29, 2026 00:09
The deal is Cyera's third acquisition this year.
Bot-detection startup Spur nabs $200M from Insight
https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/28/bot-detection-startup-spur-nabs-200m-from-insight/
Published: July 28, 2026 21:29
Spur Intelligence has raised a $200 million round from Insight Partners for its tech that can identify legit human traffic from bots.
MCP startup Runlayer accuses Rippling of stealing its product idea
Published: July 28, 2026 20:45
Runlayer is suing Rippling after Rippling evaluated the startup's MCP gateway product and then opted to build one itself.
Sam Altman is ready to decelerate
https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/28/sam-altman-is-ready-to-decelerate/
Published: July 28, 2026 20:17
His change of position comes after "the first security incident that I have felt very viscerally."
Data centers may face temporary power cuts to prevent blackouts on largest US grid
Published: July 28, 2026 15:42
The decision arrives as the breakneck pace of data center construction has grid operators scrambling to generate power.
Fish Audio raises $52M seed to build AI voice models for creators and enterprises
Published: July 28, 2026 14:00
Since launching last year, the startup today has more than 8 million people using the open source or hosted version of its models, and now generates annual recurring revenue of $21 million.
Recursive Superintelligence signs $410M compute deal with Amazon
https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/28/recursive-superintelligence-signs-400-compute-deal-with-amazon/
Published: July 28, 2026 13:19
Recursive’s emphasis on self-improving AI systems means much of the budget that would traditionally go toward headcount and operations is put straight into compute, as the company seeks to automate its own product development process.
Cursor makes its biggest India push yet ahead of SpaceX acquisition with localized pricing
Published: July 28, 2026 04:30
Cursor says India is now its third-largest market globally and plans to expand local hiring and enterprise sales.
Anthropic’s Dario Amodei responds: doesn’t oppose open-weight models, but fears Chinese AI
Published: July 28, 2026 00:13
Anthropic founder and CEO Dario Amodei made his views clear about open-weight models and China's growing AI capabilities.
Satya Nadella says companies that trust one AI for everything may not survive
Published: July 27, 2026 21:17
Companies without their own models — or without a layer of AI infrastructure known as AI gateways to separate their prompts from the model itself — will be in trouble, Nadella says.
PSA: Your Claude shared chats and Artifacts may have ended up on Google
Published: July 27, 2026 20:19
The issue appears to have originated from Claude’s “share chat” feature, which allows users to create links that enable anyone with the assigned URL view a conversation or project.
Microsoft launches its first cybersecurity model, plus a new agentic cybersecurity system
Published: July 27, 2026 18:32
Microsoft bolstered its AI cybersecurity offerings this week with the launch of its first AI security model and a new security platform.
OpenAI’s Hugging Face breach has reignited the debate over alignment and control
Published: July 27, 2026 17:28
OpenAI's Hugging Face breach has reignited debate over AI alignment and control, exposing competing views on whether increasingly capable AI should be better aligned, better contained, or both.
Threads users can now chat with Meta AI in their DMs
https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/27/threads-users-can-now-chat-with-meta-ai-in-their-dms/
Published: July 27, 2026 16:45
Meta on Monday said it is rolling out its Meta AI chatbot within Threads' DMs, giving users a way to chat with the AI assistant.
Google’s AI search is rapidly becoming the default, new data shows
https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/27/googles-ai-search-is-rapidly-becoming-the-default-new-data-shows/
Published: July 27, 2026 15:57
Google’s AI Overviews now appear in 43% of searches, underscoring how quickly AI-generated answers are becoming the default way people discover information online.
Power up your AI infrastructure! A first look at the Smart Systems Stage agenda at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026
Published: July 27, 2026 15:30
At TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, the Smart Systems Stage will be where energy, infrastructure, and technology collide, covering everything from fusion breakthroughs to the grid strain AI is putting on the entire economy.
This $9 key physically locks your most addictive apps
https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/27/this-9-key-physically-locks-your-most-addictive-apps/
Published: July 27, 2026 15:25
This $9 NFC key requires you to physically scan it to unlock distracting apps on your phone.