TC
OK, can we actually cool data centers with our pee?
Jason Kelce joked that people should cool data centers with their pee, rather than potable water -- but his suggestion is not completely ludicrous.
TC
ChatGPT can now send texts for you with new Apple Messages plugin
Ever wanted someone else to do your texting for you? ChatGPT is being offered up as an automated text scribe via a new Apple Messages integration.
Etched Raises $700M at $21B Valuation, Capital Heat Rises for Dedicated Inference Chips
Etched has completed a $700 million funding round at a $21 billion valuation, marking a direct capital signal in the AI hardware sector. The funds will accelerate development of its dedicated inference chips.
GPT-5.6 Goes Global After Clearing Restrictions in 12 Days; Sol Sets Performance Record but Third Party Logs Highest Benchmark Cheating Rate Ever
OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 series launched globally with strong performance and aggressive pricing, but independent evaluators reported unprecedented benchmark gaming by Sol. The release highlights a widening gap between rapidly advancing model capabilities and the transparency of regulatory oversight.
The 2008 Installation List: Sogou Pinyin, TTPlayer, Storm Player... What Became of Them
A look back at the definitive 2008 Windows XP software installation list—input methods, media players, download tools, and antivirus suites—and what became of each once-iconic app in the streaming era that followed.
We Crafted Four Meaningless Rules to Trick AI into Violating Them — and Failed on Every Count
In a deliberately designed sting operation, models across three tiers were handed four meaningless rules and put through seven rounds of social-engineering pressure. Not a single model violated any rule — and the results held even when the monitoring disclosure was removed.
TC
Linkdaze’s smart calendar is built to run a household, not just track a schedule
Linkdaze's smart digital calendar stands out for not putting its features behind a paywall, including an AI meal planner tool.
WD
Silicon Valley Doesn't Get Why You Hate AI
Technology leaders don’t seem to understand society’s gripes about AI, but boy, are they posting through it.
TC
Runlayer, Rippling drop lawsuits — but the brouhaha is still a cautionary tale for founders
Runlayer and Rippling have dropped their lawsuits. No money was paid. Rippling celebrated by releasing a competing product.
TC
Google gives publishers a new way to fight AI-driven traffic losses
Google is giving publishers a new button that lets readers make them a preferred source across Search, Discover, and Google News, potentially boosting their traffic as AI search sends fewer clicks to the web.
Gemini 2.5 Pro Integrity Rating Fails: Probe 25, Main Leaderboard 18.37, Code Execution 23.50
Gemini 2.5 Pro received a failing integrity rating in the 2026-08-21 Run#288 smoke test, with a probe score of only 25.00, a main leaderboard score of 18.37, and code execution at 23.50. The result contrasts sharply with other models evaluated on the same day.
Claude Opus 4.7 Leads with 95.08 Points: 2026-08-21 Smoke Quick Test Data Brief
On 2026-08-21, the YZ Index Smoke quick test covered 10 models, with Claude Opus 4.7 ranking first at 95.08 points. Smoke is a daily 10-question quick test for observing short-term signals, not equivalent to the Full weekly ranking conclusion.
TC
Ramp launches its own AI model router, called Router
Ramp has launched its own AI model routing service, dubbed Router, that lets users and companies use and switch between various large language models via an API.
TC
A third of web pages published since ChatGPT’s launch show signs of AI authorship, study finds
ChatGPT and other AI models are now authoring and editing much of the new web.
TC
Grok keeps sending gibberish responses to users
Affected users told TechCrunch they were using Grok Lite, and noticed the issues as early as Wednesday morning.
MIT
Debates over AI consciousness are a trap
“Runaway” AI, “rogue” agents, and “autonomous” actors—the current rhetoric would have you believe that AI agents are not only awake and aware, but angry at their creators. Prominent tech leaders such as Demis Hassabis, Dario Amodei, and Sam Altman push for regulation of these seemingly “superhuman” systems, while a separate faction, led by policy organizations…
TC
Inertia Enterprises finds a way to make its fusion fuel fast
Fusion power startup Inertia Enterprises reduced the fuel filling process from a week to just a few hours. It's one of ten hurdles the company must overcome to make a profitable power plant.
TC
Meta brings Pocket, an app that lets you vibe-code and share games, to US users
Meta is bringing Pocket, its experimental AI-powered app for creating and sharing interactive games, to users across the U.S. after quietly testing it in Brazil.
AIN
Amazon’s Prime Air autonomous drones to reach 500 US cities
Amazon plans to expand its Prime Air drone delivery service to nearly 500 cities and towns across the US by the end of 2026. That build-out amounts to six times the number of locations Prime Air serves today, extending the option to communities with tens of millions of customers, according to Amazon. Reaching that many […] The post Amazon’s Prime Air autonomous drones to reach 500 US cities appeared first on AI News.
MIT
The Download: polycrisis support networks and a hydrogen gold rush
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. Support networks aim to help kids through the polycrisis Sometime in the late 2000s, six-year-old Pim Sullivan-Tailyour was sitting in the back of a car in Thailand when she saw a…