BIGGEST AI RAISES THIS WEEK
TOP INVESTORS · 30 DAYS
- Abstract Ventures 2 deals · $110M in rounds
- Forgepoint Capital International 2 deals · $78.5M in rounds
- Motive Partners 2 deals · $43.6M in rounds
- High-Tech Gründerfonds 2 deals · $5.2M in rounds
BITCOIN, ETHEREUM, STABLECOINS AND THE RULES
BTC $80,639 ▼3.3%ETH $2,351 ▼6.0%SOL $102 ▼4.9%XRP $1.30 ▼5.0%24 hr · CoinGecko
South Korea plans cybersecurity overhaul after attacks hit banks, crypto firmsHere’s what happened in crypto todayAustralia seeks feedback on crypto platform rules ahead of 2027 rolloutBitcoin drops below $81,000 as risk-off sentiment weighs on Asian equitiesNearly $1 billion in crypto bets liquidated as bitcoin, ether and XRP slideMore crypto news →Bitcoin mining pool once handling 2.3% of network shuts after hashrate falls 65%Bitcoin wilts as Fed rate uncertainty weighs. Kospi plunges 8%Firelight forces XRP-linked tokens lockup as withdrawal delay queue growsSolana sets October 21 for massive Alpenglow upgrade that could make transactions 99% faster to finalizeSurging dollar forces Bitcoin sell-off as rate hike odds doubleDOTS · MUSE · GROK BOT · INSTINCT · GEMINI SPARK · OPENCLAW
MUSE People Are Already Forming Romantic Relationships With Meta’s MuseOPENCLAW OpenClaw logs can’t prove most policy violations, new study warnsMUSE Gene Munster Flags Meta’s Muse As A Bigger Risk To Google Search Than ChatGPTMUSE Meta Muse Wonder Is Here, but Should You Switch AI Assistants?GROK BOT Grok Bot Gets Its Own Email Address — and Scam DetectionMore AI agent news →DOTS How to use a ChatGPT dot when it rolls out to youMANUS OPPO Partners with Manus to Bring Agentic AI Experiences to SmartphonesDOTS Always-On AI Agents Are Here: OpenAI Dots, Meta Muse & Google Gemini Agents (2026)GROK BOT xAI launches X subscription to bundle X Premium, Grok, Grok Bot, and Cursor into one packageDOTS I Let Dots, Muse, and Spark Take Over My Daily Chores. Only One AI Passed the TestAG TECH, FOOD AND THE MONEY BEHIND THEM
ROBOTS Light disc fertiliser as basis for fertiliser robotFUNDING Molagri raises $5.8m to build ‘updatable’ biopesticidesAI PerPlant lands Valtra deal to put its AI crop sensor on tractors straight from the factoryFUNDING Greece’s food export boom: A €10bn success storyFUNDING OlsAro raises $5.5m seed round as salt-tolerant wheat nears marketMore farm & food news →FUNDING SLM Partners secures $167m from Dutch pension investor to regenerate forestsFUNDING New Barn Organics Acquires Bam’s Buckwheat Milk Recipe to Fuel Regenerative Farming PushFUNDING Will $5 corn and $12.50 beans fuel farmland sale growth?FUNDING CarbonFarm Gets $7.8M to Expand AI-Assisted Rice Decarbonisation Tech GloballyEuropean Think Tank Launches Regulatory Sandbox for Novel Food StartupsTHE WEEK'S AI WRITING, ONE POST PER WRITER
NOTABLE ESSAYS
- The Future Is for EveryoneMark Zuckerberg · Aug 2026
- Policy on the AI ExponentialDario Amodei
- The Adolescence of TechnologyDario Amodei · 2026
Graphic: DeFoor Report
The Work Moves OutwardGenerative AI in disarrayMore essays and blogs →AI Safety Is Not A Corporate PlotThe states come for OpenAISteering AI Beyond AutomationOpenAI’s ironic credibility problemUber’s AI infra, from the insideThe Safety Culture at the Labs is BrokenImport AI 476: Creativity and RSI; worse-than-China open weight models; AI goes to space📈 What is bigger than AI?I expect rapid progress but not towards general superintelligenceAI LABS
Image: AWS Machine Learning
Build self-improving document processing using Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Research@ 2026: 10 ways we're amplifying human ingenuity Putting Earth AI to work: Geospatial agents for our planet's biggest challenges Analyzing technical documents with Deep Review HiRO-ACEv2: Simulating extreme weather at 3 km resolution for a fraction of the costGenerate presentations with Amazon Bedrock AgentCore How Tamnoon built AI-powered cloud security remediation with Amazon Bedrock Amp puts AI agents to work beyond code with OpenAI models More AI labs news →SentinelOne cuts malware analysis from weeks to hours How Third Moment Research runs 10,000 agents for 36+ hours
ON THE RISE
WHAT YOUNG PEOPLE ARE BUILDING
The next young builder featured here could be someone you know.
Know a young person building with AI? Tell us →How Block is building AI-powered security with OpenAI technology European Cities Deploy NVIDIA-Powered AI Agents to Run Smarter Urban Operations The EU’s next chapter in AI is agentic Run fast, private agents on-device with LFM2.5-24B-A2B Gemini 4 Argon for Robotics
Gemini 4 Argon: Built to solve your hardest problems Higgsfield takes AI video from 1 minute to over 10 OCP Global Summit: Amid Ecosystem Adoption, NVIDIA Opens Vera Rubin Architecture to Help Scale AI Factories Worldwide
ANTHROPIC · OPENAI · GOOGLE · GROK · CHINA · OPEN MODELS
CHINA Doubao Work Adds One-Click Import of Skills, Memory and Chat History From ChatGPT and Claude CodeOPENAI Eight states sue OpenAI, saying ChatGPT isn’t safe for kidsCHINA Researchers tracked down a rogue fleet of Chinese AI agents in the wild and actually talked to itOPENAI OpenAI claims an ex-employee took its product plans and presented them to AppleOPENAI Recording device hidden in toilet paper found in top-secret OpenAI meeting roomMore LLM news →GROK Grok Voice 3.0 from SpaceXSI outscores OpenAI and Google on speech-to-speech indexANTHROPIC Anthropic warns small AI models could self-replicate through IoT devicesCHINA Nvidia’s China AI-chip share falls to 34% as Huawei reaches 28%GOOGLE Google DeepMind and Singapore Government collaborate to build fine-tuned AI model for scam detectionANTHROPIC Redesigning source control at AnthropicGOOGLE Developing Gemini 4 Argon responsibly and safelyGOOGLE Gemini 4 Argon is now available worldwide as Google's most capable frontier modelOPEN Open models have real benefits. Do they outweigh the risks?ANTHROPIC Anthropic's Claude AI submitted false murder tip to Philadelphia policeGROK Elon Musk Bragged About His Grok Lego Star Wars Haul. Then X Users Punked HimNEW IN HAVE I BEEN PWNED
Crunchbase — 559,908 accountsSharecare — 318,185 accountsNeogen — 435,963 accountsCyrusOne — 373,460 accountsBreach data: Have I Been Pwned (CC BY 4.0)
LAWS, RULES AND GUIDANCE FROM GOVERNMENTS
AI.gov is now SI.gov: the White House renames its AI site "Super Intelligence"House Democrats push FAA to pause AI tool deployed in DC airspaceNow that Character.AI is going bankrupt, what happens to all of its users’ data?What it takes to build accountable AI in governmentDropping degree requirements from federal contracts opens the door to AI-enabled servicesMore AI policy →Google DeepMind and Singapore Government collaborate to build fine-tuned AI model for scam detectionThe EU’s next chapter in AI is agenticBuilding a Safer, More Secure Britain in the age of AIBritain steps up national defences against growing AI risks100 new UK jobs created as Kuwait buys British-made AI-enabled air defence systemsAI NEWS
Photo: rob dobi / Getty Images / TechCrunch
Gudea leverages AI to help organizations prevent social media crises before they erupt The Work Moves Outward McKinsey is making job applicants spar with a fake AI client Flock CEO says its microphones detect ‘just gunshots’ — its website says different Epic says its new vibe-coded Epic Games Launcher is faster than SteamGoogle says self-improving AI isn't anywhere close The AI race is back on Now that Character.AI is going bankrupt, what happens to all of its users’ data? More AI news →YouTube Music launches new labels as AI-generated music floods streaming platforms YouTube sticks new labels on AI-generated songs
AI Came for Math. Now It’s Chasing the Rest of Science Apate sends AI agents undercover to get scammed so they can gather fraud intelligence Researchers use AI to design proteins that cut up other proteins My AI doppelganger tells me what to eat OpenAI will reportedly ship at least one model this year but its flagship still needs alignment work
Deezer will soon let you filter out AI-generated music Save 50% on your TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 ticket and join the last 2 days in San Francisco’s Moscone West Nvidia's Jensen Huang pledges $2 billion for Europe, $250 million in compute for UK safety labs AI guardrails designed to stop hackers are now blocking defenders, and Orion-1 aims to fill the gap Alleged OpenAI spy vibe-coded a surveillance device using his wife's chatbot account
OpenAI, Google pushing new AI models easily tricked into making nudes, researchers say My Friend Has No Soul Men Can’t Stop Faking How Much They Know About AI AI Models Can Be Easily Modified to Assist Terrorist and Extremist Activity An OpenAI Employee Allegedly Used a Chatbot to Help Plant a Recording Device at the Office
AI.gov is now SI.gov: the White House renames its AI site "Super Intelligence" Disney offers $20M for Character.AI’s scandal-plagued chatbot tech AI labs are buying data from dead startups to train their models
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WHO'S HIRING, WHO'S CUTTING, AND THE WORK ITSELF
McKinsey is making job applicants spar with a fake AI clientRobots can handle a third of physical jobs — but not yet cost-effectively, Anthropic saysHR leaders may be able to use AI to improve employee wellnessThe way work gets done is changing across every industry: Kroger cites AI efficiency push as it cuts 3,000 corporate jobsNetflix Cuts 1,000 Jobs After Earlier Layoff WarningsHarmonic Security raises $50M to govern how employees use AI toolsIMF Chief Warns AI Could Shrink Entry-Level Job Opportunities, Disrupt Career Paths for Young Workers: ‘Slow-Moving Tsunami’To Get This Job at McKinsey, You’ll Need to Survive a Debate With AI FirstMore AI and jobs news →An OpenAI Employee Allegedly Used a Chatbot to Help Plant a Recording Device at the OfficeWorkday brings autopilots to hiring, payroll in autonomous AI betWill AI take my job? Ask an economist!Kroger plans to cut 3,000 corporate jobs as grocery giant expands AI useKroger Is Cutting 3,000 Corporate Jobs, but Its CEO Didn’t Blame AIKroger laying off 3,000 corporate employees over 3 years amid increased AI use59% of Workers Would Take a Pay Cut for an AI-Proof Job, New Thrust Flight Report FindsKroger to lay off 3K corporate employees over 3 years as it leans into AINOW HIRING
1,410 open AI roles · 323 new this week · most wanted: Solutions & customer · top pay $700K
TRUIST Data Scientist II - Fraud Reporting 4 LocationsOPENAI Client Platform Engineer San FranciscoCAPITAL ONE Senior Manager, Product Management - Machine Learning and AI 3 LocationsCURSOR Software Engineer, Model Lifecycle and Signals New YorkAMAZON Data Scientist I, PXT Central Science Arlington, Virginia, USAAll active AI listings →Hiring for AI? List your jobs →SMALL TEAMS TAKING ON THE GIANTS
THE BIG APPS Strafe: A new open-source, E2E Encrypted, and federated alternative to DiscordADOBE Can Vibe Coded Apps Replace Adobe and Microsoft? These AI Apps Hope SoMICROSOFT AI Developer Behind Free Photoshop Clones Now Takes On Microsoft OfficeADOBE Someone made a free Photoshop clone – so I had to try it on LinuxADOBE I tried those free AI-coded Adobe Creative Cloud clones, and they have some big problemsMore David and Goliath stories →THE BIG APPS Opus 5.5 made a fully featured Figma clone in 3 hours / 8 promptsMICROSOFT Adobe software dupe maker takes on Microsoft Office, releasing free versions of Word, Powerpoint, and ExcelGOOGLE Will Linux phones become a viable alternative to the Android/iOS duopoly?ADOBE Free open source Adobe Lightroom alternative, completely local with AITHE BIG APPS OpenChart – OSS TradingView alternative with your own AI agentTOP TECH, AI & BUSINESS PODCASTS THIS WEEK
- 1All-In: Elizabeth Holmes' Husband Billy Evans: The Trial, Prison & Nathan Fielder’s Documentary816K views this week · 3 episodes ▲1
- 2Prof G Pod: The $400k Skill AI Can’t Replace156K views this week · 3 episodes ▲2
- 3a16z Podcast: Can Open Models Keep Up With OpenAI and Anthropic?92K views this week · 4 episodes NEW
- 420VC: Atlassian CEO: Why Agents Won't Replace Interfaces | Why Enterprises Won't Trust Chinese Models65K views this week · 3 episodes NEW
- 5Lenny's Podcast: Why every company now needs to think and operate like a lab team51K views this week · 1 episode ▼2
Elon Musk breaks his silence on the Starlink impact to Ukraine dronesMayhem 10 drones get upgraded to connect satellite, cellular and radio simultaneously37-unit robotic material synchronizes movement without a clock or central controlTesla Bros Posting Videos Showing Them Hog Out on Decadent Meals While Careening Down the Road in Self-Driving ModeRoboBusiness 2026 panel to discuss reshoring with robotsMore robot news →Ukraine says Starlink is cutting out its military drones as Poland calls out Elon MuskFORT Robotics Launches Connectivity Aggregation for Reliable Autonomous Machine ConnectivityTimken Precision Drives puts the motion challenge first in humanoid robotsNEURA Robotics Launches Neuron AI for Next-Generation Humanoid RobotsNeurosymbolic planning using natural language communication for cooperative autonomous vehiclesHOLLYWOOD, MUSIC, TV AND GAMES
YouTube Music Rolls Out Labels for AI-Generated ContentYouTube Puts AI Labels On Songs That Use The Tech For Vocals Or CompositionYouTube sticks new labels on AI-generated songsLinus Torvalds's first LLM-assisted patch seriesDeezer will soon let you filter out AI-generated musicMore AI entertainment news →YouTube Music launches new labels as AI-generated music floods streaming platformsYouTube Music starts labeling AI-generated songs, using partner disclosures and its own detection toolsDisney offers $20M for Character.AI’s scandal-plagued chatbot techEpic Games delays Disney game and tells developers to go "AI first"Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii releases game he says he made with AI in about 30 minutesONLINE AND BRICK-AND-MORTAR
Produce industry weighs food safety fallout, packaging and AIAI guardrails designed to stop hackers are now blocking defenders, and Orion-1 aims to fill the gapNear majority of consumers tapping AI for deal huntingAmazon eyes drone delivery in South CarolinaBrands Briefing: As AI reshapes retail, brands are investing even more in storesMore AI retail news →Gen Z, Gen Alpha and the AI-ificiation of retail this holiday seasonWhen AI becomes the shopper: Why retailers must rethink customer experienceThe gap in shared understanding of LLM capability is wideningMEDICINE, WELLNESS, HOSPITALS AND THE FDA
As White House shifts focus toward AI and tech, U.S. science leaders defend role of the American universityResearchers use AI to design proteins that cut up other proteinsHealthleap Raises $38M to Expand AI Screening for Overlooked Conditions in Hospitalized PatientsWhy Agentic AI Works in Hospitals When You Strip It DownSTAT+: Lobbyists and trade groups fight to shape how states regulate medical AIMore AI in health →Suki raises $90M in Series E round to create AI agentsSTAT+: Takeaways from an evaluation of Google’s diagnostic chatbot, AMIEAre Hospital Operating Rooms Ready For FDA’s Expectations for Surgical Robots?STAT+: AI for breast cancer risk prediction goes DTC, regulatory cloud over Utah sandbox, and AI psychosisSTAT+: Why this startup is taking its AI to predict breast cancer risk directly to patientsSCHOOLS, TEACHERS, STUDENTS AND CAMPUSES
A university-branded boot camp promised tech jobs. It delivered only debtWho Is Building the AI Foundation for K-12 Classrooms?Tech Addiction Was a Problem for My Student — and MyselfHow K–12 Districts Sustain Lasting Device ProgramsWhat could help formerly incarcerated students return to school? Join Chalkbeat’s virtual event.More AI education news →Opinion: AI-Powered Instruction Needs Precision. Right Now, It’s Not Even CloseStandardize to sustain: Building a resilient K-12 technology strategyAfter yearslong transition to digital tests, state officials weigh return to paper exams for NYCMamdani’s school device ban has its first exception: virtual tutoringOpinion: AI & Back-to-School Night: Anxious Parents, Nervous Teachers and Chill CoachesBUILDERS & RESEARCH
Following the Flow the Law Requires: Training Voice Agents to Transfer to Unseen Regulated Procedures in Debt Collection Evaluating Large Language Models for Multilingual Abstractive Summarization: A Comprehensive Study of English and Bengali Can LLMs Access their World Knowledge for Event Prediction? Joint Subspace Sparse Attention for Efficient Long-Context Decoding Crossing the Gender Binary: Modelling Gendered Reference in Science Fiction and General FictionTree Appreciator Linus Torvalds's first LLM-assisted patch series Why do LLM pelicans look like this? More builders & research →AI is mass decompiling games. That's both awesome and scary. llm-gemini 0.35
Gemini 4 Argon Quoting Geoffrey Huntley web-edit 0.1a1 I turned my unused Kindle into a photo frame with GPT-6 Astra Show HN: Atticus – Hold-to-talk voice assistant for macOS that runs on Claude -p
The gap in shared understanding of LLM capability is widening