OpenAI has expanded its desktop application to include ChatGPT Voice, shifting the tool from a simple chatbot into a hands-free interface capable of executing multi-step workflows. By leveraging the new ChatGPT-Live voice models, the software now processes complex verbal commands to manage computer tasks and coordinate AI agents in real time.
With over 430 million monthly listings on Facebook Marketplace, Meta is launching a standalone app to streamline operations for frequent sellers. The move coincides with the rollout of a free, selfie-based verification system designed to curb bot activity across Dating, Marketplace, and Groups while boosting platform trust.
Strict safety guardrails intended to curb cyberattacks are increasingly obstructing the work of professional network defenders and offensive security researchers. As AI giants impose rigid vetting programs, experts warn that these limitations create a paradox where critical defensive tools become inaccessible to those tasked with protecting global infrastructure.
Eight Australian startups will step into the spotlight on August 19 at Stripe Tour Sydney, competing for a direct path to TechCrunch Disrupt 2026. With $15,000 in fee credits and global visibility on the line, the event hinges on a panel of judges tasked with identifying the next high-growth breakout company.
After nearly thirty years at the helm, Amnon Shashua is stepping down as CEO of Mobileye, the autonomous driving giant he co-founded. The leadership transition arrives as the company pivots toward an ambitious future in robotics and robotaxi services, though Shashua will remain in place until a successor is secured.
Insurance tech firm Corgi has secured a fresh capital injection, marking its third major funding round in just eight weeks. Sources indicate this latest B2 extension effectively doubles the company’s valuation to $4 billion, a blistering pace of growth that continues to set the startup apart even within the current AI-funding frenzy.
At a crowded Advancing AI conference in San Francisco, AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su unveiled Helios, a high-performance rack-scale system positioned to disrupt Nvidia’s dominance in data centers. With shipments arriving later this year, the platform aims to satisfy the surging demand for compute power required by frontier AI models.
Patreon CEO Jack Conte announced a 20% reduction in staff on Thursday, impacting 93 employees. While citing a need to adjust the company’s cost structure amidst rapid shifts in the technology sector, the leadership emphasized that the decision is a strategic realignment rather than a move toward AI-driven replacement.
Trapped occupants in vehicles with flush, electronic door handles have prompted the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to initiate a formal rulemaking process. Federal regulators are shifting away from isolated defect investigations toward universal safety standards to ensure that all passengers can reliably exit their cars in an emergency.
After a decade of membership, Meta has officially parted ways with RE100, the prominent corporate renewable energy coalition. The departure arrives as the tech giant aggressively scales its reliance on natural gas to meet the surging electricity demands of its artificial intelligence data centers, complicating its long-standing sustainability narrative.
Anthropic is upgrading its voice mode to support the full range of Claude models, including the powerful Opus and Sonnet versions. This move shifts the platform away from its previous Haiku-only limitation, allowing the assistant to handle more complex tasks, brainstorming sessions, and long-form conversational feedback through spoken interaction.
Former Google security veterans Cy Khormaee and Ryan Luo have raised $36 million in Series A funding for their startup, AegisAI. The company aims to neutralize automated spear phishing attacks by deploying AI agents capable of identifying the subtle anomalies that traditional, rule-based security filters consistently fail to detect.
Iranian state-backed hackers are actively breaching American water and energy providers, manipulating industrial control systems to trigger outages and safety risks. Federal agencies warn that the campaign, likely tied to ongoing regional conflicts, now targets a broader range of hardware than previously identified, putting critical infrastructure at significant risk.
Runway is shifting its focus from being a standalone AI video provider to acting as the primary orchestration layer for generative media. The startup launched a new Media Router tool designed to automatically select the most efficient image, video, or audio model based on a developer’s specific requirements for speed, cost, and quality.
A Florida pastor’s lawsuit alleging a near-fatal AI recommendation has not slowed OpenAI’s expansion, as the company rolls out its integrated health features to all U.S. users over 18. The move grants individuals across all subscription plans the ability to pull medical data directly into their daily interactions with the chatbot.
Tesla’s autonomous ride-hailing operations hit a performance wall in the second quarter, recording a 36% decline in paid passenger miles despite expanding into six new cities across Texas and Florida. The drop, revealed in company charts, underscores a widening gap between Elon Musk’s aggressive autonomy promises and current operational reality.
Meta’s latest campaign to promote artificial intelligence features a sweeping, cinematic vision of human connection set to David Bowie’s “Five Years.” The company’s attempt to project optimism backfires, however, as the song is a bleak narrative about humanity facing a total extinction event.
Looking into a camera and nodding may soon replace traditional recovery methods for locked Google accounts. The tech giant is rolling out a selfie video authentication feature, tasking users with recording guided head movements to prove their identity against a previously stored biometric reference, signaling a shift toward liveness-based security.
Amazon is merging its Luna cloud gaming service directly into Prime Video, allowing subscribers to access interactive titles alongside movies and television shows. The integration, which launches today on Fire TVs in the U.S. and U.K., aims to position the platform as a centralized hub for all home entertainment.
Lunar Outpost, a robotics startup, is integrating Nvidia’s Jetson chips into its next-generation Moon rover to power onboard LiDAR systems. This deployment marks a significant technical experiment, as the company tests whether GPU-driven physical AI can withstand the harsh radiation and extreme temperature fluctuations of the lunar surface.
With 950 million monthly active users reported in its Q2 2026 earnings call, Google’s Gemini is rapidly approaching a milestone currently held by only a handful of the company's flagship services. This surge marks a tripling of the user base since last year, positioning the AI assistant to challenge OpenAI’s ChatGPT directly.
With a fresh $4.5 million seed round backed by investors including will.i.am, education startup Imagi is scaling its mission to teach K-12 students how to build with AI rather than just consume it. The platform aims to bridge the digital divide by integrating safe, monitored coding tools directly into global school curricula.
Seven months after securing a $5 billion valuation, AI hardware startup Etched has doubled its worth, closing a $300 million Series C round led by Sequoia. The company, founded by three Harvard dropouts, is now backed by a high-profile roster including Peter Thiel and Andrej Karpathy to scale its specialized inference chips.
Instead of locking users out of their smartphones, the new MeBeMe app attempts to break the cycle of endless scrolling by assigning small, identity-driven tasks. By nudging users toward real-world habits rather than restricting screen time, the tool aims to bridge the gap between digital distraction and personal growth.
TechCrunch is opening its doors for volunteers to help stage Disrupt 2026, set for October 13–15 at San Francisco’s Moscone West. The event offers a unique vantage point into the startup ecosystem, trading hands-on operational assistance for full-conference access and direct interaction with industry leaders, founders, and emerging tech breakthroughs.
Ford is pivoting its electric vehicle strategy by becoming the first automaker to embed Apple’s new MapKit for Automotive directly into its infotainment systems. This software integration, set to debut in a $30,000 midsize truck in 2027, marks a departure from traditional mirroring services like Apple CarPlay.
White House science advisor Michael Kratsios recently accused Chinese firm Moonshot of building its Kimi K3 model by illicitly copying Anthropic’s Fable LLM. While U.S. officials point to suspected data theft and illegal chip imports, independent researchers argue that the model's performance suggests a more sophisticated development process than simple copying.
ServiceNow is deepening its push into the global financial sector by acquiring a 5% stake in Indian banking software specialist BusinessNext. The $40 million investment values the Noida-based firm at $700 million, granting the company access to ServiceNow’s expansive global sales network to accelerate international growth.
A 42% plunge in mainframe revenue sent IBM shares into a historic 25% tailspin, marking the company’s largest single-day decline in decades. While the tech giant reported $17.2 billion in quarterly revenue, the unexpected collapse of its core hardware business overshadowed otherwise stable profit margins and software performance.
Alphabet investors skeptical of heavy AI expenditure found a powerful rebuttal in the latest quarterly results, where Google Cloud revenue surged 82% to $24.8 billion. This performance, fueled by enterprise adoption of AI infrastructure, comfortably outpaced Wall Street expectations and signaled that the company’s massive capital investments are finally yielding tangible financial momentum.
