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.
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.
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.
ARS
Dartmouth's provost warned us about AI cheating—but his own AI use cost him his job
People who love AI don't always love telling others they used it.
ARS
Anthropic VS code extension on Cursor backdoored for nearly 12 hours
It's still unknown how attackers got access to Anthropic's verified Cursor account.
TC
Cracks are emerging in the AI spending boom
Big Tech is pouring billions into AI infrastructure, but mounting debt, negative cash flow, and growing investor skepticism are raising questions about the sustainability of the AI spending boom.
WD
How a Contractor’s Claude Agent Got Into the Pentagon
This week on “Uncanny Valley,” we discuss the contractor who plugged their AI agent into a Pentagon system, Anthropic’s IPO filing, and the volunteers gearing up to counter ICE at the midterms.
TC
Last-minute Halloween costumes for tech nerds
No Halloween costume? Just be a deceptively cute AI agent icon, a PHP vulnerability, or sleepy time Bryan Johnson.
ARS
Supersonic airliner in doubt as company shifts to powering AI data centers
Boom’s airliner may be delayed, and its data center power business lost a customer.
TC
Anthropic expected to receive high ‘junk’ rating from credit agencies following IPO, report says
The new report says the AI lab will likely qualify for a high junk rating.