BIGGEST AI RAISES THIS WEEK
- SpaceX $40B · Debt Financing
- Fractile £577M
- FuriosaAI $620M
- Bedrock Robotics $600M · Series C
- Upwind $400M · Series C
- Pathos AI $237M · Series E
TOP INVESTORS · 30 DAYS
- Abstract Ventures 4 deals · $224M in rounds
- Y Combinator 3 deals · $126M in rounds
- South Park Commons 3 deals · $72M in rounds
- EQT Ventures 2 deals · $137M in rounds
BITCOIN, ETHEREUM, STABLECOINS AND THE RULES
BTC $77,892 ▼2.3%ETH $2,230 ▼3.2%SOL $96.80 ▼2.7%XRP $1.24 ▼3.3%24 hr · CoinGecko
$6 billion Binance hack sends bitcoin, ether tumbling; Standard Chartered expects more painInstitutional crypto investors rush to pull funds from exchanges after Binance hackHackers drain 9,400 SOL from bot wallets, and a copied key is blamedCrypto's longtime foe, North Korea's Lazarus Group, likely behind Binance hack: blockchain sleuthsBitcoin slides below $77,000, BNB drops amid Binance hackMore crypto news →Binance hack could accelerate shift to DEXs: Standard Chartered20 institutions join DTCC token service, but only 34 securities qualifySilicon Valley shifts AI funding to crypto using an Ethereum ICO blueprintBinance points to engineer’s hacked laptop in $6.3B breachBinance hack rattles markets as BNB falls 8%, Bitcoin nears $77KDOTS · MUSE · GROK BOT · INSTINCT · GEMINI SPARK · OPENCLAW
DOTS OpenAI teases Dots for Europe, but its Berlin DevDay was really about building a platformMUSE 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 optionExperts adopt AI agent's random opinions and think they're their own, Anthropic study findsA Defense Contractor Gave Their Personal AI Agent Access to a Secure Pentagon SystemMore AI agent news →Wabi, the AI agent that builds mini apps, now valued at $1.25B after latest roundAG TECH, FOOD AND THE MONEY BEHIND THEM
AI Savor Partners with Helios AI to Help Decarbonise the Fat IndustryAI AI-powered crop insurance could lower premiums on low-risk fieldsAI From stones to crop defects: Dutch growers embrace AI-powered sortingAI Exclusive: 2nd Nature, Kalsec Team Up to Discover Waste-Derived Natural Ingredients with AIROBOTS Kingman Ag autonomous tractors (also) for GNSS-denied environmentsMore farm & food news →AI Surprising ways AI may improve your farmROBOTS Carbon Robotics cuts nearly 50 jobs despite strong LaserWeeder salesAI From climate finance to AI’s impact on smallholders, here’s what to expect at COP31From cultivated beef to fermented soy: Bezos-backed protein innovators target cost and scaleTurtleTree Partners with Nizo Food Research to Advance Women’s Health with Cow-Free LactoferrinTHE WEEK'S AI WRITING, ONE POST PER WRITER
NOTABLE ESSAYS
- AI 2027Kokotajlo, Alexander, et al. · Apr 2025IN TODAY'S NEWS: THE AI RACE
- Open Source AI Is the Path ForwardMark Zuckerberg · Jul 2024IN TODAY'S NEWS: OPEN MODELS
- Software 2.0Andrej Karpathy · Nov 2017IN TODAY'S NEWS: AI AND CODING
MEDICINE, WELLNESS, HOSPITALS AND THE FDA
Popular AI models get medication doses wrong, some dangerously: DoximityOpinion: STAT+: Is AI more a partner, competitor, or crutch for biomedical scientists?STAT+: Why every health care AI company must face EpicZocdoc invites AI agents to book appointments on behalf of patientsEarly progress on accelerating drug development with ClaudeMore AI in health →The sleep framework: A new way for LLMs to retain knowledge in continual learningHow AI Is Changing the Pace of Discovery for Millions Living With DementiaA Market, Not a Mandate, Is the Fastest Way to Bring AI Into HospitalsOpinion: Could long-term AI use lead to isolation? We need to find out — but researchers need better access to dataSTAT+: AI drug firm Pathos raises $237 million, pushing valuation to $3 billionAI LABS
Image: AWS Machine Learning
How the UK Amazon Quick User Group grew in 2026 Building intent-driven UI testing with Amazon Nova Act Build a repeatable PHP-to-Java migration engine with Kiro An updated Model Spec for more capable and beneficial AI Into the Omniverse: How Developers Turn Ideas Into Simulations With Frontier AI AgentsGranite Switch 4.1.1 — Update models like you update software Le Chonk: Built for Coders, Trusted by Defenders. How we detect frontier model misalignment More AI labs news →How Ropes & Gray is developing AI for transactional diligence Announcing Project ProtoStar: Making Publicly Funded Science AI-Ready
Welcome Le Chonk: Mistral Large 4 on Hugging Face Introducing AnySpeechRecognizer and AnyDecisionModel: Open Models for Speech and Decisions on Apple Platforms Gemini 4 Carbon: Our next frontier model Thin, Light and Built for Everything: NVIDIA RTX Spark Windows Laptops Gain New Models, Agent Tools and Games OpenAI and ServiceNow expand partnership across enterprise workflows
The future of the firm The sleep framework: A new way for LLMs to retain knowledge in continual learning Genie 4: A new generation of world simulation How AI Is Changing the Pace of Discovery for Millions Living With Dementia Retell uses OpenAI models to help power 100M monthly calls
ANTHROPIC · OPENAI · GOOGLE · GROK · CHINA · OPEN MODELS
CHINA Tencent’s WorkBuddy adds remote control, letting users manage AI tasks from their phonesCHINA Tencent Hunyuan Publishes Hy-Nomas Technical Report and Releases Hy-Nomas-Bench for World ModelsCHINA Huawei Says It Will Not Make Drugs, Aims to Be the Computing Base for AI Drug DiscoveryOPENAI API credits benefit for eligible ChatGPT subscriptionsOPENAI OpenAI doubles usage limits on Pro plans as competition with Anthropic heats upMore LLM news →OPENAI OpenAI-backed Thrive Holdings acquires ADTGOOGLE You can generate and edit Google Docs files directly in Gemini chats nowANTHROPIC Claude Duet is the first personal-assistant-type harness that feels usefulOPEN Mistral releases weights for its trillion-parameter AI model, targeting cybersecurityOPEN Paris-based Mistral releases "Le Chonk," a strong coding model that still trails China overallANTHROPIC Anthropic is asking Wall Street to believe in AGIGOOGLE Gemini 4 Carbon is the new #1 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index v5GOOGLE Google's AI search problem finally shows up in the earnings report, some investors believeNEW 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 BankruptcyLAWS, RULES AND GUIDANCE FROM GOVERNMENTS
Trump’s AI use to inform military operations questioned by House duoVirginia governor orders statewide plan to address AI cyberattacksSMALL TEAMS TAKING ON THE GIANTS
OPENAI Hob - Open-source, on device alternative to Claude Cowork and ChatGPTAI NEWS
US antitrust regulators are scrutinizing Nvidia's Hugging Face deal and sales practices
Photo: Rivian (screenshot) / TechCrunch
Rivian expands joint venture with VW to include AI assistant The Work Moves Outward Meta quietly launches an AI fashion app called Style Sketch Granola crunches up a dictation feature to compete with Wispr Google admits AI search makes less money, but it's fixing that with more adsThe ‘Pain in the Ass’ Math That Could Save Vibe Coding From Itself The NYT Cooking app is testing AI recipe modifications More AI news →Mistral Says Its AI Model ‘Le Chonk’ Has Leapfrogged China in the Open-Weight Race Anthropic’s business plan: Build God or die trying We urgently need to monitor AI agents’ actions in real time
AI has come for Arizona’s water I Gave My Blood to the AI Death Clock Creating AI value with enterprise context I Put a Bunch of AI Agents in Charge of a Fantasy Soccer Team. They’re Not Better Than Humans—Yet Google AI gets cagey when asked who won the 2020 elections
Pairing industrial AI autonomy and human control "No human at the helm": Delaware plan would let AI agents run entire businesses Anthropic IPO warns its AI could blackmail people, become sentient, end humanity Vibe genes? Natural(ish) language comes to protein, genome design software Industrial Intelligence: The next growth opportunity for manufacturing
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WHO'S HIRING, WHO'S CUTTING, AND THE WORK ITSELF
Companies are not saving money with AI, Gartner findsMicrosoft’s AI future has fewer jobsThe way AI is reshaping work and the workforceConnecticut leaders tout efforts to train workforce in AIWhat to consider if a company that made AI-related job cuts wants you backProton to Re-Interview Employees on AI Skills as Jobs Hang in BalanceRAISE US, new group to help steer AI-era workforce, wins new corporate fundingChegg Skills and PowerTrain Partner to Deliver AI and Workforce Training Programs Across Government and DefenseMore AI and jobs news →Before AI Reshapes Your Workforce, Understand How Work Truly Gets DoneAI at work: Employees, employers may not be on the same pageChevron's Eimear Bonner: 'We have to invest in our workforce to leverage AI'Netherlands Plans 25,000 Job Cuts as Government Turns to AIOpsio Launches Hiveforce, Merging Human Leadership and an AI WorkforceCEO of San Francisco AI company announces job cuts on LinkedInAI Layoffs Are Boomeranging—6 Moves If Your Old Boss CallsIs Microsoft restructuring its workforce for the AI era?NOW HIRING
1,315 open AI roles · 335 new this week · most wanted: Solutions & customer · top pay $850K
NVIDIA Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Cosmos Engineering US, CA, Santa ClaraCURSOR Solutions Architect - Australia AustraliaSALESFORCE AI Research Scientist, Singapore Singapore - SingaporeOPENAI Research Program Manager, Safety Measurement San FranciscoCAPITAL ONE Machine Learning Engineer 4 2 LocationsAll active AI listings →Hiring for AI? List your jobs →SCHOOLS, TEACHERS, STUDENTS AND CAMPUSES
Opinion: It’s Time to Teach Students to Be Drivers of AI, Not PassengersFive Things You Should Know About New AI Tutor StudyHow K–12 Districts Can Achieve Advanced Cybersecurity MaturityWhat Playgrounds Can Teach Us About AI in SchoolsDoes an AI Pause Protect Students, or Leave Some Behind?More AI education news →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 yearTOP TECH, AI & BUSINESS PODCASTS THIS WEEK
RISING FAST Hard Fork up 341% on last week · now #5
- 1Prof G Pod: Heather Cox Richardson: The GOP No Longer Exists and It Looks Like the 1850s874K views this week · 6 episodes ▲1
- 2Lex Fridman Podcast: AI Crisis in Math: Navier-Stokes, Riemann Hypothesis & Complexity Theory865K views this week · 1 episode NEW
- 3All-In: WHOOP CEO, Will Ahmed: 50B Hours of Health Data, a 4 Million Member Data Moat, & the FDA Fight701K views this week · 2 episodes
- 4Moonshots: Anthropic’s $2T IPO, Elon Predicts Neocloud Death, and China’s Kimi Catches Up586K views this week · 2 episodes ▼3
- 5Hard Fork: A Spoiler-Filled Guide to 'You Can See Everything'396K views this week · 1 episode NEW
Tesla made napping in a Robotaxi easier with its latest updateUS tests self-powered counter-drone system, can be set up quickly without relying on local powerWhite House makes Section 232 determination regarding foreign-made robots2026 Robotics Handbook looks at humanoids, AI, and design choicesTrump declares robot imports a national security threatMore robot news →Winners of The Humanoid Robotics Industry Awards 2026AGIBOT introduces Worken to measure robot productivity at AGIBOT Innovation Day 2026Interview with Faraday Future chairman: Moving from Chinese robot sourcing to US manufacturingNeura Robotics and TUM open €17 million RoboGym and unveil new humanoidMaxinsights raises $30 million to build training data platform for physical AIHOLLYWOOD, MUSIC, TV AND GAMES
SAG-AFTRA, WGA & AFM Ask Judge To Reject Fair Use Exemption In OpenAI Copyright Battle & Warn Of “Harms Of Unlicensed Training” For AI ModelsAfter ‘AI bots’ swamp Raye’s London show sign-up, Sam Fender delays UK homecoming presale over ‘sophisticated bot attack’Event tech startup Easol secures $30M in new funding, launches AI agents for festival promotersEpic 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
Most consumers aren’t using AI for product discovery, yetGap Inc. launches AI hiring tool in time for the holidaysOpenAI's Astra becomes the main target for Chinese AI labs after Anthropic tightens its defensesGoogle, Glance partner to deliver AI-powered commerce to TVsThe rise of the intelligent store: How edge AI is transforming physical retailMore AI retail news →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
Image: Simon Willison
Building a multiplayer game world with autonomous Fable-class models LLM Voice Quoting Ben Hylak Claude Code regularly sends each background agent’s transcript to its model Quoting Ted SandersGemini 4 Carbon GitHub Octoverse 2026 The October inflection point for vibe game development More builders & research →Survival LLM: AI assistant and emergency library that runs on your own computer Anthropic trained Claude on illegally obtained Stanford professors' books