ARS
Google wants to host your personal vibe-coded apps in the Play Store
Google plans to help turn those personal AI-generated apps into wide releases.
TC
Pluto Security raises $42M as AI gives enterprise security teams a new headache
The problem with giving everyone in a company access to AI tools is that people will use them in unexpected ways. And that fact is steadily seeding fears that companies now have new, gaping security holes in their systems or, at least, will soon.
TC
Laplace Intelligence red-teams robots and self-driving cars before they hit the real world
University of Michigan spinout Laplace Intelligence uses AI agents and interactive simulation to stress-test robots and self-driving vehicles before deployment. The profitable startup is competing at TechCrunch Disrupt's Startup Battlefield.
TC
Facebook is giving users more control over their algorithm
Facebook is the latest social media platform to give users greater control over the algorithm that determines what appears in their feeds.  Meta announced the launch of its new AI-powered feature, “Your Algorithm,” on Tuesday, a feature it first launched on Instagram. The new tool allows Facebook users to influence the content they see in […]
TC
Google Play now lets anyone build private, vibe-coded apps that run on Android
Google is making it easier to build and use personal Android apps created with AI, without having to make them available to everyone on the Play Store.
ARS
They war-gamed dimming the Sun. It went even worse than you think.
Solar geoengineering simulation shows what happens when geopolitics takes over.
ARS
Gemini 4 Argon begins rolling out in Gemini app and Antigravity, but only if you pay
Developers will get 50 percent discounted API rates through November.
TC
The final Disrupt Stage lineup: Three days of conversations you won’t hear anywhere outside of TechCrunch Disrupt 2026
The full TechCrunch Disrupt Stage lineup revealed, featuring Max Hodak, Mark Wahlberg, Benchmark partners, and more. Register now to save up to $100 on your pass and get a second at 50% off.
TC
SpaceXSI bundles X Premium, Grok and Cursor into one subscription
The new X Subscription combines X's paid features with AI tools like Grok and Cursor, offering plans ranging from $8 to $200 per month.
TC
TechCrunch Disrupt 2026: Day 1
TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 officially kicks off today. See what's in store for Day 1 (Oct. 13) at San Francisco's Moscone West. Don't miss it. Register for your pass now and meet 10,000+ tech leaders at the startup epicenter of the year.
IMF Report Warns of AI Market Correction Risks as Global Financial System Faces New Pressure
The IMF's Global Financial Stability Report identifies an AI-related market correction as a major risk to global financial stability. It also highlights AI-enabled cyberattacks and rising sovereign bond yields as pressures that could spread across asset classes.
MIT
The Download: open model trade-offs and geothermal power’s promise
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Open models have real benefits. Do they outweigh the risks? Anthropic recently released a report arguing that a powerful new model released by the Chinese company Z.ai, poses a major cyberattack…
TC
Just 5 years in, interactive chatbot platform Character.AI files for bankruptcy
The startup will sell some of its assets to Disney for $20 million.
TC
Amex introduces a framework to prevent AI agents from making unauthorized purchases
American Express is introducing a new framework designed to ensure AI agents only make purchases their users have authorized, potentially preventing costly mistakes and disputes as AI-powered shopping grows.
Fed, OCC and FDIC Ask Banks in Unison: Can You Shut Your AI Agents Down?
U.S. banking regulators have begun asking every institution they examine whether its autonomous AI agents can actually be switched off, a fact-finding push triggered by a coordinated AI-driven attack on seven South Korean banks.
MIT
Open models have real benefits. Do they outweigh the risks?
MIT Technology Review Explains: Let our writers untangle the complex, messy world of science and technology to help you understand what’s coming next. You can read more from the series here. Late last month, Anthropic released a report arguing that the model GLM-5.3 poses a major cyberattack risk. The report’s core concern is that the…
WD
Wikipedians Believed AI Would Come and Go. They Were Wrong
In a world of AI Overviews, Wikipedia usage declines. But the real loss may be far more existential than website traffic.
MIT
AI labs are buying data from dead startups to train their models
When Keelan Miskell began winding down his crypto startup this year, he didn’t think its data was worth much: the users were anonymous, the company just a few years old. But he’s since turned the firm’s digital archives into real money. He’s netted roughly $25,000 for his code base and a still-pending amount (likely around…
WD
The Biggest Pro-AI Super PAC Network Has Poured Millions Into Nevada Shell Companies
Backed by Silicon Valley titans, Leading the Future has raised huge sums to promote pro-AI candidates on both side of the aisle.
White House Lifts 17-Day Blockade; UK AISI Regains Right to Test AI Models
After a 17-day suspension ordered by the Trump administration, the UK AI Safety Institute regained pre-release access to models from OpenAI and Anthropic and was cleared to test Google's unreleased Gemini 4 Argon—underscoring how a three-year-old transatlantic safety arrangement rests on informal authorization with no institutional safeguards.