TC
Judge allows NAACP lawsuit over xAI data center pollution to move forward
An NAACP lawsuit accuses the SpaceX-owned AI company of violating the Clean Air Act.
TC
4 days left: How TechCrunch Founder Summit helps you make more useful connections to scale
On November 4 at Boston’s SoWa Power Station, get ready for a full day packed with meaningful networking opportunities, actionable insights, and connections that could change the trajectory of your idea and startup. Register before all prices go up at the door.
TC
Apple CEO says the company doesn’t ‘want to ship AI for AI’s sake’
Apple's new CEO defended the company's current position in the AI landscape.
Research Lab
WDCD Run #406: Gemini 3.1 Pro Leads with Negative Decay as 15-Model Average Drops 9.3%
WDCD Run #406 (2026-11-01) measured instruction decay across 15 frontier AI models over three dialogue rounds, with Gemini 3.1 Pro leading at 91 points and the only top-tier model exhibiting negative decay (-63%), indicating strengthened constraint adherence under pressure.
Qwen3 Max WDCD Plunges 26.2 Points; Only 2 Models Rise Against the Trend as 12 Decline
In the latest WDCD v3.1 test, only DeepSeek V4 Pro and GPT-6.1 Sol improved, while 12 of 15 models declined; Qwen3 Max fell 26.2 points. Gemini 3.1 Pro remained first with 91.00 points despite a slight 3-point drop.
WDCD Cross-Benchmark: Data Boundaries Collapse Across the Board with a Low of 1.36, While Engineering Compliance Collectively Scores 4
The WDCD v3.1 five-scenario benchmark shows Data Boundaries as the hardest scenario, with qwen3-max scoring just 1.36/4, while Engineering Compliance reaches a rare 4/4 from gemini-3.1-pro. Eight models show significant scenario-specific imbalances.
WDCD Three-Round Anchors: Qwen3 Max Collapses 30.8% of the Time, Grok 4 Never Collapses
On the v2 anchor questions, Qwen3 Max fully collapses in 30.8% of its R3 runs while Grok 4 records zero collapses, exposing how constraint-keeping decays across three escalating rounds of pressure.
WDCD Constraint-Adherence Leaderboard: Gemini 3.1 Pro Leads with 91 Points as Qwen3 Max Trails at 58.85, a 32-Point Gap
In the WDCD v3.1 constraint-adherence test, Gemini 3.1 Pro tops the ranking with 91.00 points while Qwen3 Max finishes last at 58.85, a 32.15-point spread. The top five cluster within 8.29 points, while the bottom five fall away sharply.
OpenAI Assembles 12 Court Briefs at Key Juncture in Copyright Lawsuit: Can Fair Use Become a Shield for AI Training?
OpenAI has released a compilation of excerpts from 12 amicus briefs arguing that AI training is fair use, timed to the deadline in the consolidated copyright case against The New York Times. The case tests whether fair use can shield LLM training as courts weigh market substitution and diverging precedents.
New York RAISE Act Opens Registration in November: AI Developers Earning Over $500 Million Must Register with DIGIT
New York's RAISE Act opens its registration window in November 2026, requiring frontier AI developers with more than $500 million in annual revenue and models trained with over 10^26 operations to register with the state's DIGIT office. The law marks a shift from voluntary commitments to binding state-level AI regulation, though key enforcement details remain undefined.
GPT-o3 Material Constraints Plunge 25 Points, Code Execution Gains 20.1, Main Leaderboard Down Only 0.2
In today's Smoke evaluation, GPT-o3's Material Constraints score fell 25 points while Code Execution rose 20.1 points, leaving the main leaderboard down only 0.2 points. The swing is most likely due to small-sample item-draw variance rather than systematic model degradation.
Grok 4 Code Execution Plunges 15.8 Points, Main Leaderboard Drops Only 1.1
In the latest Smoke evaluation, Grok 4's code execution score fell 15.8 points while material constraints rose 16.9 points, leaving the main leaderboard down only 1.1 points. The mirror-opposite moves and small daily sample point to question-sampling volatility rather than a systemic capability decline.
Claude Opus 4.7 Leads with 47.8 Trend Score as GPT-6.1 Sol Holds at 86 for 7 Days
In the seven-day Smoke evaluation from October 26 to November 1, 2026, Claude Opus 4.7 posted the largest upward trend at 47.8 points and a final-day score of 98.79, while GPT-6.1 Sol remained flat at 86 points with a 0 trend and an 82.5 average.
Claude Opus 4.7 Leads at 98.79: 2026-11-01 Smoke Test Data Brief
The 2026-11-01 YZ Index Smoke test covered 13 models, with Claude Opus 4.7 taking the top spot for the day at 98.79 points. The Smoke test is a daily 10-question quick assessment intended for short-term signals, not for final conclusions about model capability.
TC
OpenAI reportedly lowers funding target for new round
OpenAI’s latest funding round doesn't seem to be living up to expectations.
WD
Spooky New Infostealer Malware Uses AI to ‘Autodox’ Victims
Named “Volta-Autodoxer,” the recently uncovered malware uses AI tools to collect troves of data about victims, from login credentials and credit card numbers to Discord sessions and UberEats receipts.
WD
Meta’s Muse Could Upend All Kinds of Businesses. It Hasn’t Yet
Companies have spent the past several weeks trying to reassure investors that Muse and other AI agents pose more of an opportunity than a threat.
WD
An AI Agent Injected Drugs Into a Live Mouse’s Brain
A biotech startup let an agent choose a gene therapy and successfully inject the treatment, offering a startling glimpse of the future of research labs.
TC
Nvidia weighs playing the cosigner for Nscale’s AI data center in West Virginia
When investors get nervous about AI spending, it helps to have the chipmaker that sells the chips offer to cosign the loan.
TC
Ollie, a privacy-focused AI assistant, is shutting down
As an increasing number of AI assistants flood the market, the founder of Ollie, an assistant that respected its users' privacy, says it will be shutting down in a week.