Meta Pushes Its New AI Agent on Employees—but Eases Off on Tokenmaxxing
The company is reducing pressure on workers to use artificial intelligence tools while encouraging them to experiment with Hatch, its most advanced AI project yet.
Culture & Life
Time, arts and everyday life around the globe.
The Builders Stage brings practical strategies for scaling startups to TechCrunch Disrupt 2026
The Builders Stage is returning to TechCrunch Disrupt, bringing together founders, startup operators, and investors for practical conversations on what it takes to build and scale.
Palo Alto Networks paid $500M for Thrive-backed Console, sources say
The acquisition also leaves Sequoia-backed Serval as the de facto startup leader in AI IT service automation, industry watchers believe.
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TechCrunch
TechCrunch Disrupt 2026’s new Real World AI Stage features Nvidia, robots, and extinct animals
On our new Real World AI stage, we’ll be focusing on the intersection between the digital and physical, and all the ways we’ll continue to see a blending of the two.
Wired
Amazon’s 2026 Holiday Deals Are About to Look Better Than They Are
Amazon just hiked prices on Kindles, Echo speakers, Eero routers, and Fire TV devices ahead of the holiday shopping season.
TechCrunch
Google spared from ad-business breakup, but judge orders changes to how it operates
Google has dodged an effort to break up its ad business, but a judge said Wednesday that the company will need to adjust its business to benefit competitors.
Ars Technica
Spending deal comes with a bonus: Blocking political control of grants
Congress pauses the OMB's attempt to rewrite how research is funded.
Wired
Democrats Have a Plan to Force Trump’s Associates to Cooperate With Investigations
Donald Trump’s West Wing renovations and DC arch could be on the chopping block, should Democrats win the midterms—they could also be leverage.
Ars Technica
I rented a car, and within hours, my driver's license was for sale
The FBI is reportedly investigating a massive data breach that is unfolding in real time.
TechCrunch
OpenAI’s new reasoning technique alarms AI safety experts
OpenAI’s new Astra model will use “recurrent depth,” a technique that allows the model to operate outside of the sequential thinking that characterizes most reasoning models.
TechCrunch
MapQuest is now the No. 1 US app after bucking Trump’s ‘Lake America’ renaming
The once-dominant mapping app has surged to the top of Apple’s U.S. App Store after refusing to adopt Trump’s “Lake America” name, drawing more than half of its 2026 U.S. downloads in just six days.
Ars Technica
FCC plans robocall scorecard to grade phone companies on spam call blocking
Carrier scorecards may include call-blocking stats and data on customer complaints.
Ars Technica
Wary of Artemis IV timeline, NASA is changing lunar spacesuit design
"Requirements are being adjusted to reflect near-term mission needs."
TechCrunch
It sure looks like hackers breached a major ID card verification service
An identity theft search site claimed to have more than 150 million driver's license photos stolen from an ID verification service. The crime site has now shut down.
TechCrunch
Delivery Hero board backs Uber’s $15B takeover bid
If approved, the combined company would become one of the largest food delivery platforms in the world.
Wired
Trump Administration Sides With OpenAI in New York Times Copyright Lawsuit
The US government wrote a letter in support of OpenAI’s argument that training AI on others' intellectual property is fair use.
Wired
ICE Plans to Pay $5 Million to Create National Voting Database
As part of a broader DHS surge to investigate alleged voter fraud, ICE has announced it plans to pay up to $5 million to create what amounts to a federal voter database.
Wired
These Russian Mathematicians Taught AI Models How to Talk to Each Other Without Using Words
A startup called Mostik has a wild new approach to combining the capabilities of AI models.
Ars Technica
Google releases Gemini 3.8 Flash, its third Flash model in six weeks
Google's Pro model updates are seemingly paused, but there's yet another Gemini Flash today.
Ars Technica
Trump may be forced to reveal secret rules feds use for AI safety testing
Trump’s secret reviews of frontier AI models may hide corruption, lawsuit says.
TechCrunch
Pangram’s Max Spero on why AI detection is harder than ‘Real or Fake’
The internet has a trust problem, and it’s not just because social media feeds are filling up with AI slop. AI-generated text and images are now making their way into job applications, product…
TechCrunch
X shifts US creator payouts from Stripe to X Money
X says U.S. creator payouts will now be handled through its X Money payments service, a change that appears to replace the previous Stripe-powered payout system.
TechCrunch
US government sides with OpenAI on issue of training LLMs on copyrighted material
"The United States has a strong interest in continuing to develop a robust and competitive artificial intelligence industry that sets the standard for the practice and procedure of AI use globally,"…
TechCrunch
Enhanced geothermal notches another win as Google buys 400 MW from Fervo
Fervo's deal with Google could expand to 1 gigawatt of geothermal power, enough to supply a very large AI data center in Utah.
Ars Technica
US court rules Google will not have to sell ad exchange after losing antitrust case
The DOJ proved to the court that Google acted illegally, but it won't get the big win it wanted.
Wired
The Logical End Point of AI Job Interviews Is Two Bots Talking to Each Other
Christopher was sick of being ghosted by AI recruiters. So he unleashed ChatGPT on his robot interviewer.
Ars Technica
Toyohiro Akiyama, first Japanese citizen and journalist in space, dies at 84
He reported from space that only "fat" Japanese tree frogs enjoyed weightlessness.
Ars Technica
The Army just used a 20-kilowatt laser to take out three drones
The Army says its laser system can track and destroy hostile drones.
Wired
The Cybercab Is Almost Here. Now Comes the Hard Part
The electric-auto maker will officially debut its steering-wheel-free robotaxi on Thursday. But building the vehicle is the easy part.
Ars Technica
Is Russia's rival to Starlink failing? Here's what we know.
At least three of the first 32 Rassvet satellites likely suffered outright failures, and more may be in trouble.
Ars Technica
BGP hijack infecting networks caused by a comedy of errors that’s not funny at all
What can we learn from a BGP hijacking that poisoned production software? Plenty.
Wired
Best Sony Headphone Deals: WH-1000XM5 and More (2026)
Our favorite Sony headphones are on sale, with discounts of up to 50 percent on top models.
Wired
Pangram Has Emerged as the Gold Standard of AI Detection. Should You Trust It?
Meet the AI police who can make or break careers—in publishing and beyond.
Wired
The 42 Best Deals From the REI Labor Day Sale
Labor Day already? Say it ain’t so. You can still chase summer a while longer with these great deals on outdoor gear at the REI Labor Day Sale.
Wired
A Prop 65 Crash Course: What You Need to Know (2026)
If you see a Prop 65 warning, don’t fret. Here’s what you need to know.
Ars Technica
Here's our first look—and drive—of the 2027 Range Rover Electric
333 miles of real-world range with uncompromised comfort and off-road ability.