BIGGEST AI RAISES THIS WEEK
- SpaceX $40B · Debt Financing
- DeepSeek $15BCATL
- Nvidia-backed Nebius $3.5B
- Flapping Airplanes $1B · Seed
- Bedrock Robotics $600M · Series C
- Legora $550MAtreides
TOP INVESTORS · 30 DAYS
- Abstract Ventures 3 deals · $210M in rounds
- South Park Commons 3 deals · $72M in rounds
- EQT Ventures 2 deals · $137M in rounds
- Forerunner 2 deals · $113M in rounds
BITCOIN, ETHEREUM, STABLECOINS AND THE RULES
BTC $80,890 ▲1.5%ETH $2,353 ▲1.8%SOL $102 ▲1.8%XRP $1.33 ▲2.6%24 hr · CoinGecko
Robinhood’s Tenev warns US tokenization uncertainty deters ‘serious assets’BNY offers XRP custody, but only 1 rollout type existsCoinbase says user funds are safe after third-party vendor exposes customer contact infoDatavault AI stock plummets 50% after firm says it cannot withdraw bitcoin tied to $150 million dealPolymarket reforms Bitcoin contracts and Binance trading spikes immediately dropMore crypto news →VanEck launches diversified ETF combining stocks, bonds and Bitcoin exposureIntel, IBM, Oracle and IonQ latest to object to OKX-ICE tokenized stocksOpenAI claims a cryptography breakthrough. Does that threaten Bitcoin?Robinhood Chain brings in $26 million as crypto revenue rises 20% in Q3DOTS · MUSE · GROK BOT · INSTINCT · GEMINI SPARK · OPENCLAW
MUSE Meta’s Muse AI Agent Arrives in Singapore With Grab, Shopee and MoreMUSE Don’t use Muse? Meta’s AI agent can still access your private messages – here’s howINSTINCT Simon Taylor: Instinct lets AI agents manage stablecoin balances with Visa payment optionGROK BOT Grok Bot Is a Real Product. Most of SpaceX's "AI Revenue" Still Isn't From ItDOTS OpenAI’s Dots score well in hands-on test, but rank third among five agentsMore AI agent news →MUSE Meta Muse Makes Marketplace Better. How I Set It Up to Help Me Shop OnlineDOTS OpenAI Dots: Always-on ChatGPT agents keep working but fail 1 in 5 long tasksGROK BOT Grok Bot can now add events, set reminders, and even turn off your lights for youINSTINCT The Tatkal test for AI agent Instinct: Can it beat India's ticketing rush?GROK BOT Grok Bot Can Now Make Phone Calls for You — Here's How It WorksAG TECH, FOOD AND THE MONEY BEHIND THEM
Vibe genes? Natural(ish) language comes to protein, genome design softwareBioClé tackles bioactives’ bioavailability challenge with novel delivery techLaser weeding and electrocution at the same timeiPROOF facility aims to bridge biotech’s valley of deathBSF Enterprise Rebrands Cultivated Meat Technologies As Commercial Arm Milieu.bioMore farm & food news →EdenCore targets tree and bush fruit growers with its Viewer crop cameraInfinite Roots Adds Umami Block to Mushroom-Based Protein Lineup in GermanyTHE 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
MEDICINE, WELLNESS, HOSPITALS AND THE FDA
Early progress on accelerating drug development with ClaudeHow AI Is Changing the Pace of Discovery for Millions Living With DementiaA Market, Not a Mandate, Is the Fastest Way to Bring AI Into HospitalsBeyond the screen: How AI can give physicians their attention backOpinion: Could long-term AI use lead to isolation? We need to find out — but researchers need better access to dataMore AI in health →STAT+: AI drug firm Pathos raises $237 million, pushing valuation to $3 billionAMA Calls for Risk-Based GenAI Oversight to Protect Patients and Support Responsible InnovationAI LABS
Image: AWS Machine Learning
AWS named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Contact Center as a Service Build specialized multimodal models with LFM3 Fix evaluation bias to unlock better models on Amazon Bedrock Genie 4: A new generation of world simulation OpenAI expands partnership with Oracle to bring its apps to ChatGPTHow Check Point accelerates vulnerability research with Daybreak Greptile takes bug detection beyond code review with GPT-6 Astra Working with academic communities to build scientific understanding More AI labs news →GPT-6.1 Sol helps CodeRabbit strengthen security across complex codebases Bringing foundational models to the front lines of TB screening
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 →ANTHROPIC · OPENAI · GOOGLE · GROK · CHINA · OPEN MODELS
ANTHROPIC Who’s really in charge at Anthropic after the IPO?ANTHROPIC Anthropic IPO warns its AI could blackmail people, become sentient, end humanityOPENAI Researchers are getting tired of OpenAI gatekeeping its breakthroughsCHINA Alibaba's latest Qwen models routed some requests through company servers, researchers findGOOGLE DeepMind unveils Genie 4 world model promising more realistic physics and humansMore LLM news →OPENAI UK Home Office May Face Investigation Over Use of OpenAI TechOPENAI Retell uses OpenAI models to help power 100M monthly callsCHINA ByteDance Is Rewiring Its AI Video BetCHINA ByteDance launches AI studio for short-drama productionGROK Grok releases the first seven minutes of its AI-generated ‘Odyssey’GROK Elon Musk actually follows through on Grok AI adaptation of 'The Odyssey'GROK Forced to pick, Grok’s AI model chooses Republicans. OpenAI’s picks Democrats.NEW IN HAVE I BEEN PWNED
AfD: 345,439 accountsAssurance Retraite: 70,372 accountsGîtes de France: 117,574 accountsCrunchbase: 559,908 accountsBreach data: Have I Been Pwned (CC BY 4.0)
AI COMPANIES AND PRODUCTS THAT SHUT DOWN OR WENT BANKRUPT
We Investigated Character.AI and Found a Horror Show. Now It’s Bankrupt.12 Million Monthly Users Couldn't Prevent Character.AI’s BankruptcyWebsites shut down globally after AI finds cybersecurity flaw affecting 70% of the internetAn AI chatbot files for bankruptcy. Is it a bad omen for the industry?LAWS, RULES AND GUIDANCE FROM GOVERNMENTS
The sleep framework: A new way for LLMs to retain knowledge in continual learningCan we trust LLMs to judge whether a research idea is novel?Scaling Laws Roadshow at Univ. of Oregon: AI and State Governments with Nik BlosserVirginia governor orders statewide plan to address AI cyberattacksSwedish government offices to ban ChatGPT and ClaudeMore AI policy →OpenAI urges Newsom to strengthen California’s AI safety law with additional safeguardsSMALL TEAMS TAKING ON THE GIANTS
GOOGLE 'Scrcpy' is an open-source alternative to Phone Link for Android mirroring that barely uses any RAMOPENAI Hob - Open-source, on device alternative to Claude Cowork and ChatGPTMICROSOFT Denmark gives up on replacing Microsoft Office, for nowADOBE GIMP finally has an open-source rival that competes on its level — and it actually feels like PhotoshopTHE BIG APPS desigma: Free Figma alternative made on RustMore David and Goliath stories →MICROSOFT My favorite alternative to Notion isn't Obsidian or OneNote, it's something that works offline and still syncs everywhereMICROSOFT My top 5 Linux alternatives to Windows (none of them are Mint)THE BIG APPS Strafe: A new open-source, E2E Encrypted, and federated alternative to DiscordTHE BIG APPS Opus 5.5 made a fully featured Figma clone in 3 hours / 8 promptsGOOGLE Will Linux phones become a viable alternative to the Android/iOS duopoly?AI NEWS
Photo: Photo-Illustration: Wired Staff; Getty Images
Anthropic Says It Will Revolutionize Biology—Some Day The Work Moves Outward Disruptive raises $10B fund to make big bets on at least 10 companies VisionQuest is what happens when AI really goes rogue Google Deepmind's Genie 4 puts a modern spin on agent designs that predate LLMsFrontier AI labs say their models refuted the Exponential Time Hypothesis. What does that mean? Anthropic’s elaborate plan to keep Wall Street at bay Google’s Genie 4 world model adds audio, more realistic worlds, and real-time steering More AI news →Firefox’s Smart Window adds AI form filling and webpage monitoring Google’s next Genie AI model generates more realistic experiences
Former Deepmind researcher thinks AlphaGo's playbook can cure AI hallucinations Apple is adding an AI chatbot to Pages, Keynote, and Numbers OpenAI asks outside experts, including a Nobel laureate, to check proofs its AI produced in math, computer science, and physics OpenAI's partner content arrives in ChatGPT pre-summarized while the rest of the web gets raw scraps Anthropic uses its IPO letter to renew its pledge that Claude will never show ads
Industrial Intelligence: The next growth opportunity for manufacturing AI Agents Are Media’s New Favorite Audience I Tested Every Major AI Agent for a Day. Here’s the Best One Why Anthropic’s IPO Prospectus Is Missing So Many Key Figures ICE plan to buy robot dogs spurs protest from hundreds of Boston Dynamics employees
Will the real Anthropic please stand up The focus on AI safety disasters ignores everyday harms Jensen Huang Brings Four Robot Ducks On Stage in Berlin. A Day Later, Preorders Pass 20,000
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WHO'S HIRING, WHO'S CUTTING, AND THE WORK ITSELF
Announcing SOCI-indexed images for faster SageMaker AI jobsToshiba CHRO: Entry-level workers need to use AI more — not lessIs Microsoft restructuring its workforce for the AI era?As AI threatens entry-level jobs, Gen Z is souring on if another degree can help—U.S. business school applications have plunged 25%United CEO Scott Kirby says he had an 'epiphany' after hiring an AI tutor and vibe-coding a sports betting tool10 Jobs AI Agents Are Making Redundant In 2027Microsoft aims for 60,000 layoffs to cut costs for the AI buildoutNiural AI Launches Global Workforce and Payment Infrastructure for AI Post-Training and Expert EvaluationMore AI and jobs news →Dutch government to replace 25,000 jobs with AI in efficiency drive to save €3.5 billionBarclays ties 5,000 job cuts to AI, with developers among the roles in the crosshairsICE plan to buy robot dogs spurs protest from hundreds of Boston Dynamics employeesBest AI Testing Platform, Amikoo, Launches Workers to Automate End-to-End Playwright Tests for Every Pull RequestDutch government to cut 16 percent of workforce as part of AI efficiency pushAI helped me automate some of my wealth advisor job. Here's why I'm not worried about it stealing my edge.Entry-Level Workers Are Being Relegated To AI Babysitting And We Ought To Be Worried Sick About ItHow Dropbox plans to prevent AI brain rot in its workersNOW HIRING
1,349 open AI roles · 306 new this week · most wanted: Solutions & customer · top pay $850K
TRUIST Senior Associate AI & Data Consultant – Program Governance 2 LocationsPERPLEXITY Member of Technical Staff (Software Engineer, GPU Cluster Infrastructure) San FranciscoCITI Wealth Lending AI Product Manager - Director New York New York United StatesANTHROPIC Autonomous Systems Security Engineer Remote-Friendly (Travel Required) | San Francisco, CATARGET Sr Data Analyst, Ecommerce & Product Analytics (Experimentation, Math/Stats, A/B testing, ML) 1000 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis,MN 55403-2542All active AI listings →Hiring for AI? List your jobs →SCHOOLS, TEACHERS, STUDENTS AND CAMPUSES
Opinion: States Don’t Have to Solve the AI Education Equation Alone. Tennessee Shows HowWatch & Learn: New York Charter School Adopts Smart Building TechnologyAnthropic trained Claude on illegally obtained Stanford professors' booksThe data retention challenge for online exam platformsCybersecurity incidents hit over 50% of schools and districts in past yearMore AI education news →Stanford Removes Another AI ImageAI, Elections and the Making of an Informed ElectoratePennsylvania adopts school cellphone banThis Tiny Device Is Helping Build LiteracyMidterm elections show Democrats, Republicans jockeying to capitalize on ed-tech backlashTOP TECH, AI & BUSINESS PODCASTS THIS WEEK
RISING FAST a16z Podcast up 352% on last week · now #6
- 1All-In: AI Cyber Panic, Ken Griffin’s Bubble Warning, The Fall of France?829K views this week · 2 episodes
- 2Moonshots: SpaceX’s AI Business Up 830%, OpenAI Agents Lie, and Startup Turns Mercury Into Gold747K views this week · 2 episodes
- 3Prof G Pod: $200K Salary, $2.1M Home: The Housing Math Is Broken With Kyla Scanlon and Aziz Sunderji722K views this week · 6 episodes ▲1
- 4Lex Fridman Podcast: AI Crisis in Math: Navier-Stokes, Riemann Hypothesis & Complexity Theory560K views this week · 1 episode NEW
- 5Hard Fork: A Spoiler-Filled Guide to 'You Can See Everything'344K views this week · 1 episode ▼2
The Three Foundational Material Categories Shaping Robot ManufacturingHow Robotics and Automation Suppliers Can Win More B2B Leads with Paid SearchWaymo adds nearly 250 square miles of robotaxi coverage in 5 citiesANYbotics begins delivering ANYmal X legged robot for explosive atmospheresMusk declares Tesla Robotaxi win over Waymo, but Waymo still drives 7x moreMore robot news →Comau integrates Nvidia technology to accelerate development of AI-powered robotsICE plan to buy robot dogs spurs protest from hundreds of Boston Dynamics employeesTesla makes another joke of its Robotaxi geofence expansionTesla expands Robotaxi geofence in Houston with an ode to SpaceX mergerHOLLYWOOD, MUSIC, TV AND GAMES
Meta AI director Rohit Patel leaves to take on Microsoft Office and Google WorkspaceApple releases iOS and macOS 27.2 with new Siri AI features, new Music logoEpic Games CEO calls Steam's AI disclosure policies "a political act"Shogun 2 – Complete Edition was "not a Creative Assembly developed game," says Total War VP after it was pulled amid generative AI concernsONLINE AND BRICK-AND-MORTAR
Instacart to stop offering smart cartsRetailers are still figuring out how to tie AI goals to executive compensationEtsy updates AI policy, noting concerns about buyer trustAI try-on kiosks gain traction as retailers seek to reduce returnsBUILDERS & RESEARCH
ReCoPII: A Relation-Grounded Framework for Building Contextual PII Masking Datasets MedJev: Evaluating Zero-Shot System-One Decision Making in Medicine OmniBrain-0: A Unified Agentic Model for Embodied Intelligence FinLLM-KG: Knowledge Graph-Enhanced LLMs for Financial Sentiment Analysis in Algorithmic Trading 3, 7, 14, 17, 42: Instruction Tuning Installs and Sharpens Number-Choice Heuristics in Language ModelsSurvival LLM: AI assistant and emergency library that runs on your own computer Game Boy Color on My Conference Badge GPT-6.1 Terra More builders & research →Quoting Jason Koebler webframe: evaluated as a scraper and a sandbox
OpenAI and Anthropic cut their LLM prices by up to 80% within a few months. Why? Seam Cutter battledrones v14: Compass Rose, a four player map