Mecka AI nears $500M valuation in Sequoia-led deal amid rush for robot training data
The round for the two-year-old startup is coming together months after Mecka announced its Series A.
Y Combinator’s Garry Tan wants US open-weight AI labs to ‘distill’ frontier models, too
Tan wants smaller, American open-weight AI labs to use the same kind of training techniques on American frontier AI labs, giving the U.S. a more robust set of open-weight options…
OpenAI’s feud with mathematicians is only escalating
Twenty-five leading mathematicians signed an open letter arguing that AI labs are threatening their intellectual work.
One week left to book your exhibit table at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026
Only one week left to secure your exhibit table. Tables are limited and can sell out before the September 18 deadline.
Final, final, final call for TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 Side Events
The absolute last chance to apply to host an official Side Event during TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 is tonight, September 11, at 11:59 p.m. PT.
Kimi-maker Moonshot AI targets $2B in annual revenue
While K3’s usage figures have declined slightly in recent months, OpenRouter data currently shows as many as 300 billion tokens being generated each day by K3 models on the system.
Have You Protested AI Recently? Anthropic May Be Watching You for Precrimes
A recent report alleges Anthropic is finding ways to monitor activists and surveil dissent.
Nscale adds former OpenAI exec Fidji Simo to its board ahead of potential IPO
The No. 2 exec at OpenAI also led Instacart through its IPO in 2023.
Jensen Huang explains why Nvidia will grow an astounding 70% next year
Nvidia has its finger in every pie, and sees another year of plenty in its future, Jensen Huang says. But, he insists, its deals are not circular.
Mark Wahlberg is coming to TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, and he wants to talk about your work, not his
Mark Wahlberg joins Bruce K. Lee at Disrupt to discuss investing, entrepreneurship, healthcare, wellness, and building businesses.
Slack can now vibe-code interactive charts and reports inside chats
A new feature coming to Slack will allow you to build interactive reports, polls, dashboards, presentations, microsites, and other tools directly inside a chat. With Slackforce Surfaces, you can describe…
OpenAI puts Pro subscriptions on hold due to Astra demand
The company said Pro subscriptions put the most strain on its systems, so it’s pausing sign-ups while adding more capacity.
Anthropic details distillation campaigns from Alibaba, Moonshot AI, and DeepSeek
A new report released Thursday by Anthropic alleges persistent distillation attacks by China-based AI companies, which have escalated in recent months as competition in the space has intensified.
Meta’s AI agent Muse is now the No. 2 app in the US
Meta’s newest app Muse is off to a slower start than the company’s other apps, like Meta AI or Threads.
Don’t Sleep on Apple’s Audio Intelligence. It Reveals a Lot About Where We’re Headed
Commentary: Apple’s new memory tools are a sign of how tech companies are pushing into a new wave of AI wearables, and glasses are likely next.