Madison Gas and Electric has signed a partnership with Realta Fusion to develop a 200-megawatt fusion power plant in Wisconsin by the mid-2030s. The agreement represents a growing trend of risk-averse utility providers securing early access to fusion technology to meet the surging electricity demand driven by AI data centers.
A new startup is selling access to powerful open-weight AI models stripped of their safety constraints, moving a common underground practice into the mainstream market. By hosting these "abliterated" models, the company aims to help security professionals test systems against the same tactics used by malicious actors.
Meta has introduced a controversial pricing strategy for its Muse Spark model, offering users a 95% discount if they consent to share their prompts and outputs. By slashing costs for those who contribute data, the company seeks to secure the information necessary to refine its growing suite of agentic tools.
OpenAI has unveiled Astra, its latest and most powerful model, designed to navigate complex browser and computer tasks. While the company touts the model’s unprecedented speed and coding prowess, its reliance on opaque reasoning techniques has ignited a debate over the future of AI oversight and safety.
With the deadline looming just 48 hours away, organizers are making a final push for professionals and companies to register their official side events for TechCrunch Disrupt 2026. Applications to secure a spot in the week-long lineup close promptly at midnight PT on September 4.
Bengaluru-based startup Ultrahuman has secured $70 million in a funding round led by Qualcomm Ventures, pushing its valuation to $365 million. The company intends to pivot its wearable technology from simple health trackers toward multifunctional devices capable of running independent software, AI interactions, and external hardware controls.
Smart ring manufacturer Circular has introduced its Ring 3 series, splitting the lineup into a feature-heavy Pro model and a streamlined Slim version. Both devices incorporate NFC chips for contactless payments and haptic vibration motors, signaling a strategic shift to compete with recent hardware releases from Oura and RingConn.
Achieving SOC 2 compliance is a rare move for a consumer-facing AI, but for San Diego-based Ollie, it is the primary strategy to win user trust. While competitors demand broad data access to train models, CEO Bill Lennon insists the subscription-based assistant operates strictly for the user, not the provider.
Users can now query their inboxes and draft documents using natural-language commands as Google rolls out its new AI-powered features. Dubbed Live, these tools allow for direct dictation and cross-app information retrieval, marking a shift toward conversational interaction across the company’s core workspace applications on iOS and Android.
Google DeepMind has unveiled WeatherNext 3, an artificial intelligence model capable of delivering hourly weather updates at a 5km resolution. By shifting from traditional supercomputer-based physics simulations to deep learning, the company aims to integrate granular, real-time meteorological data directly into Search, Maps, and Gemini.
After months of speculation, Nvidia has finalized a $12.93 billion acquisition of the AI collaboration platform Hugging Face. The move consolidates the chipmaker’s grip on the developer ecosystem, bringing a library of three million models and 18 million users under the control of the industry’s most dominant hardware supplier.
TechCrunch is recruiting volunteers for its rebranded Founder Summit in Boston, scheduled for November 4th. The event, which anticipates a crowd of 1,100 attendees, offers participants a behind-the-scenes look at industry production alongside exclusive access to future conferences and professional development workshops focused on startup growth and fundraising.
TikTok is transforming its comment section from a simple feedback board into a dynamic social hub by introducing voice notes, polls, and expanded photo capabilities. The platform aims to mirror the interactive fluidity of dedicated messaging apps, encouraging users to linger within threads through more expressive communication tools.
Travelers at Harry Reid International Airport can now hail a driverless vehicle directly from the baggage claim, as Amazon-owned Zoox expands its commercial robotaxi operations. This move marks a strategic shift for the company, positioning its custom-built, steering-wheel-free vehicles as a direct competitor to traditional ride-hailing services in Las Vegas.
In the unforgiving business landscape of 2026, the global information environment has grown incredibly dense and dangerously volatile. Gone are the days when a PR crisis took weeks to unfold; today, wiping out a brand’s hard-earned reputation or triggering a stock plunge takes merely a few hours. The viral acceleration of fake news, orchestrated smear campaigns by unscrupulous competitors, and the instantaneous reactions of digital audiences have fundamentally rewritten the rules of corporate…
Conflict lead: While AI dominance captures headlines, the most resilient startups are being built on a foundation of disciplined execution, revenue quality, and human-centric strategy. TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 is returning to San Francisco’s Moscone Center this October to bridge the gap between speculative hype and sustainable company growth.
Palo Alto Networks has finalized a $500 million cash-and-stock acquisition of Console, a two-year-old startup specializing in AI-driven IT help desk automation. The deal provides a significant exit for early backers, including Thrive Capital and DST Global, while marking a strategic expansion of the cybersecurity giant’s Cortex platform.
Autonomous hardware is moving beyond the screen and into the physical world, prompting TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 to launch a dedicated stage for embodied AI. From October 13 to 15 at Moscone West, the event will examine the transition of machine intelligence into homes, battlefields, and even genetic restoration projects.
Federal judge Leonie M. Brinkema has ruled against dismantling Google’s advertising division, opting instead for structural practice changes. While the court previously identified the company's ad-tech operations as an illegal monopoly, the decision avoids the Justice Department’s aggressive proposal to force a sell-off of the tech giant's assets.
A new technique dubbed “recurrent depth” or “opaque recurrence” within OpenAI’s upcoming Astra model is drawing fire from safety researchers. By allowing the system to process queries in non-linear, looping patterns, the method threatens to obscure the chain-of-thought records currently used to monitor and audit AI decision-making.
A digital relic has claimed the top spot on the U.S. App Store, vaulting from eighth place to number one in a single day. MapQuest’s sudden resurgence follows its public refusal to comply with a presidential executive order mandating the rebranding of Lake Ontario as Lake America.
More than 150 million driver’s licenses and passports from the United States and Canada may have been compromised following a suspected breach at a major identity verification firm. The incident, first detailed by security journalist Brian Krebs, suggests attackers gained near real-time access to a massive repository of government-issued identification documents.
Delivery Hero’s board has officially endorsed a $15 billion takeover bid from Uber, signaling a massive shift in the global food delivery landscape. By recommending that shareholders accept the offer, the company aims to merge its operations into what would become the world’s largest on-demand delivery platform outside of China.
Elon Musk’s social network has terminated its reliance on Stripe for domestic creator earnings, mandating that all payments now flow exclusively through X Money. The shift marks a definitive move toward consolidating financial infrastructure within the platform, effectively removing previous third-party processing options for US-based content contributors.
The Trump administration has filed a 20-page brief in the Southern District of New York, throwing its weight behind OpenAI in a high-stakes legal clash with The New York Times. The government argues that restricting AI training under strict copyright interpretations would stifle national innovation and global technological leadership.
Google will source nearly 400 megawatts of electricity from Fervo’s Cape Station plant in Utah, a move designed to support a new data center while balancing the tech giant’s ambitious net-zero commitments. The agreement also includes an option for Google to scale its purchase by an additional 600 megawatts by 2030.
With a fresh $550 million injection, Israeli-Dutch startup Wonderful has more than doubled its valuation to $5 billion in less than six months. The funding round, led by Insight Partners, signals intense market appetite for the company’s pivot from simple customer service bots to a comprehensive AI operating system.
Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio is opening its cloud PC service to all Indian internet users, offering a path to turn outdated hardware into AI-ready machines. By streaming virtual desktops from its data centers, the company aims to bypass the traditional need for costly hardware replacements in a price-sensitive market.
Three years ago, the market for AI security was speculative, with few clear examples of large-scale exploitation. Today, the landscape has shifted as enterprises rush to protect increasingly complex agentic workflows. Austin-based HiddenLayer has capitalized on this urgency, closing a $100 million Series B round to expand its defensive capabilities.
Every year, 360,000 Amazon customers contact support to verify if a suspicious message is legitimate. The retailer is now automating this process through Alexa for Shopping, which cross-references incoming communications against billions of authentic messages sent globally to determine if they originated from company systems.
