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.
TC
Intel’s stock crashes, knocking $12B from government’s stake
Intel is being hurt by PC sales as the AI industry gobbles memory and other components causing PC prices to rise.
OpenAI Commits to Honoring Shared robots.txt Signal, Letting Websites Express Training Preferences to Multiple AI Providers Uniformly
OpenAI will honor a shared robots.txt signal, __usage_ai-training, that lets websites communicate AI training preferences to participating providers. Google plans to support the same proposal in early 2027.
OpenAI Releases Semi-Annual Safety Report Update; Q3 Law Enforcement Referrals Top 200
OpenAI said it will update its community safety report every six months, with the first edition planned for early 2027. The company disclosed more than 200 law enforcement referrals in Q3 2026 and outlined tighter restrictions on violent content and protections for teens.
ARS
Basically no one is using AI agents for their DoorDash orders
But it's still early days for the relatively new e-commerce use case.
GPT-6 Sol Main Leaderboard Plunges 16.4 Points; Code Execution Falls from 100 to 66.8
GPT-6 Sol's main leaderboard score in the Smoke evaluation fell from 90.51 to 74.14, a 16.4-point drop driven primarily by code execution plunging from 100.00 to 66.80. The decline is most likely due to question-draw variance rather than genuine model degradation, though multi-day data is needed to confirm.
Gemini 3.1 Pro Leads with 90.36: 2026-10-31 Smoke Rapid Test Data Brief
The 2026-10-31 YZ Index Smoke rapid test covers 14 models, with Gemini 3.1 Pro taking first place at 90.36. Because Smoke is a small daily sample, the results are best treated as short-term monitoring signals rather than final capability conclusions.
ARS
Thousands of “ghost students” use AI to steal millions in student loans, DOJ says
Applying for FAFSA may get messy as DOJ “ghost student” crackdown ramps up.
TC
Google’s first data center satellite is online and writing poetry
The first TPU in space is a running a Google DeepMind Gemma 4 model and writing cheesy poetry.
ARS
Fujifilm to boost tape production 5x as AI fuels archiving demand
Low costs and offline security mean magnetic tape still has a job.
TC
Zest’s new AI agent finds restaurants and books reservations over text
Can't agree on where to eat? Zest's AI concierge can combine everyone's tastes, put restaurant options to a vote, and make the reservation.
TC
Theranos whistleblower Tyler Shultz warns that the AI boom is ‘a great opportunity to go deceive people’
The cautionary Theranos tale takes on a new significance in the AI era, when companies that have never turned a profit are raising capital at trillion-dollar valuations.
TC
DoorDash said it’s only received ‘several hundred’ orders from AI agents
DoorDash said that it is open to working with third-party agent makers
TC
Skip the small talk: Make game-changing connections at TechCrunch Founder Summit with Braindate
At TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026, happening November 4 at SoWa Power Station in Boston, networking powered by Braindate is designed to make those conversations easier to find, whether they are in 1:1 or small-group on-site meetings. Register before the event starts to save up to $100 on your pass, plus get a second for free.