Minimalist News

Shopify is expanding WebMCP support to checkout, allowing browser-based AI agents to update order details and complete purchases with a buyer’s authorization.

Tesla says the event "can only be held outdoors," as it's expected to show the car flying in some form using SpaceX thrusters.

Just like the rest of the U.S., data centers and AI are dividing climate tech founders and investors.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Monday introduced a toolkit of software and hardware products that add independent security layers around AI agents to ensure they stay within their test environments even if they attempt to break out.

Anthropic has released the newest version of its mid-range model, boasting faster response times and less token burn.

As all-in-one AI agents like Meta's Muse and Instinct take off, Google is opting to end a feature that built task-specific agents.

On Friday, OpenAI published a new site devoted to “misalignment reports” and the breadth of the incidents is alarming.

Meta says it will focus on bringing its full technology stack, including Muse, Meta Business Agent, Muse API, Muse Code, and more to businesses and developers.

The app imitates how Walkmans used to function: You can open up the Duo to pick your music and "insert" your cassette tape, then close the device shut to start listening.

Anthropic, Clay, and Gamma on what it takes for an AI product to go beyond the demo at the AI Stage at TechCrunchDisrupt 2026. Register to join and get 50% off a second pass.

The edge computing startup raised a $150 million Series C led by Fidelity and Amplify.

Accounting staffing company MAVI emerges from stealth with $4 million in funding.

After her grandfather was scammed by a deepfake of his brother's voice, Tarini Padmanabhuni founded DetectifAI, a San Francisco startup building AI models small enough to run directly on smartphones and flag fake voices in real time, and it's now one of the companies competing in Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt.

CFS' Brandon Sorbom and Helion's David Kirtley join the Smart Systems Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 to discuss the breakthroughs moving fusion forward, the challenges that remain, and what it will take to deliver fusion power to the grid at scale. Get your pass at regular price and get a second one at 50% off.

The bureau has not yet publicly confirmed a breach, but has told its agents that their personal information and Social Security numbers were exposed.

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In March, Janice Malone began getting calls about suspicious activity from her nonprofit organization, Vivian's Door. Vivian's Door, headquartered in Alabama, typically provided training, resources, and community to underserved and minority-owned businesses. The work sometimes put it in close contact with these companies' financial data, which was stored on its systems. But suddenly, concerned callers from all over the world warned they'd been getting emails "begging for money" - which she hadn't sent. The organization's third-party IT team pulled its systems offline for three days while they investigated the issue and plugged up the vulner … Read the full story

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is calling for a judge to block OpenAI from "giving ChatGPT false human attributes," a few months after Florida sued the AI company over safety concerns . According to Uthmeier, users are lulled into a false sense of security by the AI bot, as "ChatGPT's use of language, including first-person pronouns and output that mimics emotion, deceptively suggests to users that it is a trustworthy 'friend.'" All of this happens to increase engagement and contribute to OpenAI's training data, convincing users to rely on ChatGPT more even as its pursuit of engagement makes it potentially

In a chaotic few months, OpenAI has demonstrated it can do two things with remarkable consistency: make impressive breakthroughs in mathematics, then colossally screw up announcing them. OpenAI is now trying to do better. Somehow, it has botched that too. OpenAI's latest attempt to repair fractured relations with a mathematical community it has repeatedly alienated is to consult a new independent advisory group of elite practitioners. But mathematicians speaking to The Verge , including one of the group's members, describe a messy and confusing affair bearing many of the hallmarks of OpenAI's previous rushed forays into mathematics, suggest … Read

Walmart says it won't change product prices based on your personal information or the time of day, as reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal . In a letter to customers , Walmart CEO John Furner writes that the company's switch to digital shelf labels is meant to save store associates time, rather than dynamically change prices. "Your income, shopping history, urgency or what we think you could pay won't change the price," Furner writes. "And whether you're buying groceries or electronics on a hot afternoon or in a sudden rush for an item, it's never a reason to charge

In a widely expected move, Volkswagen announced Monday that it will replace the recently retired ID.4 crossover with the upcoming ID.Tiguan. The decision is an acknowledgment by the German automaker that its more recognizable nameplates like Tiguan are likely an easier sell with consumers, especially when it comes to EVs. When it lands in Europe in early 2027, the ID. Tiguan will join the ID.Polo and ID.Cross to round out Volkswagen's new-and-improved electric lineup. VW also confirmed that the ID.Tiguan will come to the US, where the ID.4 was previously manufactured, "at a later date." Design details remain under wraps,

Need an ultrafast drive for video editing or a rugged option to back up your photos in the field? We’ve got a solution for every situation.

The Bose Noise Cancelling Wired Earbuds are the first new wired headphones from the brand since 2015, inspired directly by teen preferences. We got an early listen.

Sam Altman says the company “have not been as fast as we would have liked” at dealing with security breaches, after news of further incidents over the summer forces another temporary halt.

Startup Star Catcher is launching a system that, if successful, would be the first time energy has been beamed between two separate spacecraft.

From the latest Ultra to last year’s SE, these are the Apple Watches worth considering.

Keep an eye on home wherever you are with the best security cameras, including indoor and outdoor, subscription services, AI smarts, and local recording options.

Your next coworker might well be an AI agent—and will require a whole new model of workplace interactions.

Mathematics has been one of humanity’s most creative endeavors, akin to painting and poetry. Now, mathematicians are trying to save it from the brute force of AI.

A British startup is shaping video game inputs into training data for AI models that can navigate the physical world.

In the wake of a series of high-profile AI safety incidents, Nvidia is introducing a new software tool that helps keep agents from escaping containment.

These speakers combine serious volume, big bass, portability, and the occasional karaoke session to bring the party anywhere.

I sent my cats’ saliva to the lab to get health and genetic insights sent to my inbox—with very different results.

These free iOS and Android apps create the physical friction you need to put down your phone.

Climate groups are latching onto the data center opposition movement, but it remains to be seen if they can get people to care about the facilities’ impact on the atmosphere.

Improving mood and increasing longevity are just some of the unfounded claims about this substance circling around the “natural” medicine corners of the internet.

By deactivating a gene, researchers were able to cause cells in the pancreatic ducts to produce insulin to regulate blood sugar.

In an era of increasingly sophisticated AI-fueled scams, a retro threat may be lurking in your mailbox.

Bring the gift everyone will want to win from this year’s holiday party, from a cute jacket for a beer can to magnets they’ll wish they could eat.

Forget about patchy internet connections and dead spots in the house. These WIRED-tested, multi-room mesh Wi-Fi systems will keep your whole house online.

Meta says Muse is just for adults, though its cuddly, Labubu-like mascot—and upcoming Tamagotchi-style AI device—may be disarming for users of all ages.

The free add-on Tuck brings one of the best features of modern email—the ability to hide something for a bit—to that tangle of tabs in your browser.

A competition between the gravity of the inner core and other forces in the mantle is altering the Earth’s rotation.

Amazon Prime Big Deal Days officially begin on October 6 and 7, but I’ve already spotted early discounts on gear our team recommends.

Is Quince the Away alternative we’ve been waiting for? I tested its luggage to find out, and the price difference is hard to ignore.

They wanted the silicon. They got the sand.

The AI lab had argued multiple violations of its rights, but a divided panel of judges sided with the Trump administration.

Some say that tech was always about the money and the military. Don’t buy that argument.

The US government filed an application to support the company’s legal challenge against a fine issued under the bloc’s Digital Services Act, which Trump has described as “overseas extortion.”

I’ve been reviewing laptops for over a decade, and here’s my advice for finding the right laptop for you.

Email scams that look like an Evite or Paperless Post invitation are meant to snatch your data. For some, they've become an excuse to reconnect with old friends or flames.

Lance Oppenheim’s new film doesn’t paint Chris Hansen as a hero. The To Catch a Predator host's real-world copycats are even more reckless.

The built-in tools on your phone—as well as some inexpensive apps—let you share whatever you’re doing with others.

A quarter-century ago, Borsook published a wildly prophetic, penetrating book about Silicon Valley called Cyberselfish. Then she disappeared.

From electric trucks to health trackers, women designers are guiding consumer tech to a better place.

Dads are typically tough to shop for. Let me help with these WIRED-tested gift ideas.

A Nevada event aimed at a niche audience of fleet managers could mark a milestone in clean transportation.

We tried dozens of the best coffee subscriptions to find freshly roasted, delicious coffee for every taste.

Score deep discounts on running shoes, athletic apparel, and classics with the latest verified Reebok promo codes, student discounts, and member-only savings.

Grab last-minute seats for less with a verified Gametime discount code for up to 10% off, first-purchase coupons, and lowest price guarantee credits.

Unlock free expedited shipping or 10% off with today’s Hoka discount codes, plus save up to 30% with the best discounts for September 2026.

Shop the latest beauty trends and save big using an Ulta promo code for beauty tech, makeup, and more.

Save on the science-backed devices you’ve been eyeing with 15% off Theragun discount code and 30% off other great deals.

Use these verified Birdfy discount codes to score up to 40% off smart feeders, camera kits, and accessories.

Upgrade your home for less with these verified Maytag discount codes, military savings, and limited-time closeout offers on washers, dryers, and more.

Keep your memories alive without breaking the bank by using these top Chatbooks coupon codes and saving strategies.

Marking two years of OpenAI Academy and bringing AI skills to even more communities.

OpenAI is extending access to its Daybreak program to the Government of Ukraine to support the cyber defense of civilian infrastructure.

Using GPT-5.6, Ringg powers multilingual agents across voice, chat, WhatsApp, and web for 90% less cost vs. GPT-4.1.

GPT-6 Astra produces more structured, context-aware legal documents, freeing lawyers to focus on strategy.

With GPT‑6 Astra, invideo plans edits with greater precision, improves color correction and grading threefold, and produces 50 custom effects in one day.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman discusses AI safety, human control, and international cooperation in remarks to the United Nations Security Council.

MentalHealthBench is an expert-informed benchmark for evaluating helpful and safe AI responses across realistic mental health conversations.

ChatGPT Ads is expanding to Southeast Asia and Taiwan, giving eligible businesses new ways to reach people across more than 60 countries.

Learn how Airbnb is expanding access to GPT-6 Astra and OpenAI frontier models to help engineering teams solve bugs, design systems, and ship faster.

OpenAI and Grab launch GO Forward with AI, a regional programme helping 30,000 partners build practical AI skills across Southeast Asia.

Learn how GPT-6 improves prompt caching with higher cache hit rates, new diagnostics, explicit breakpoints, and controls that reduce latency and costs.

Meet GPT-6 Sol and Luna, two models that bring frontier intelligence to everyday work with different balances of capability and cost.

GPT‑6 Astra allowed Parallel’s agents to research and synthesize labor-market data in half the time and at half the cost vs. prior models.

OpenAI outlines priorities and principles for rigorous, secure, and independent third-party AI safety assessments of frontier models and safeguards.

With GPT-6 Astra, Higgsfield AI makes video ad creation easier for small businesses and brings new creative tools to market faster.

OpenAI is working with an independent Advisory Group on Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence to guide the review and communication of emerging AI results.

OpenAI outlines a path to shared global AI standards, calling for coordinated evaluation, reporting, and governance to improve safety.

Explore new OpenAI Academy learning paths for employees, developers, leaders, educators, and students to build and demonstrate practical AI skills.

Using GPT-5.6, V7 turns scattered company files into context agents can use to complete complex, source-linked work.

OpenAI introduces the Australian Youth Safety Blueprint, a six-pillar roadmap for safer AI experiences that protect and empower young people.

Cooley built GO Public with ChatGPT Work to bring intelligence to the IPO process, helping lawyers surface issues earlier and focus judgment where it matters most.

OpenAI for Law brings frontier intelligence for law, custom firm workflows, connected legal data sources, and legal-grade controls for confidential client work.

OpenAI and AARP are bringing free, hands-on ChatGPT workshops to 1,000 older adults across 10 U.S. cities to build practical AI skills safely.

Explore new AI-powered advertising experiences from OpenAI, including Sponsored Agents, tools for marketers, and integrations with HubSpot and Shopify.

GPT-6 Astra helps Hex’s data agents turn answers into interactive visualizations that employees are proud to share.

Learn how ChatGPT Work and Codex analytics help teams understand AI usage and spend, identify training needs, and connect adoption to business outcomes.

OpenAI shares a framework for tracking, investigating, and disclosing model misalignment, alongside six reports of unexpected or concerning model behavior.

New OpenAI Economic Research shows how workers use AI beyond traditional roles and which new activities become recurring parts of their work.

Fyxer uses OpenAI models, fine-tuning, memory, and real user feedback to organize inboxes and draft emails in each user’s voice.

Perplexity uses Astra to write communications, change software, and monitor production systems, and checks in much less frequently than with earlier models.

Learn how OpenAI evolved Habitat from a Python library into a globally distributed storage platform serving 1 billion ChatGPT users and 22M requests per second.

GPT‑6 Astra improves Devin’s ability to test software and show that it works, with the goal of helping engineers review less code and ship more.

César de la Fuente’s lab uses Codex and ChatGPT to search living and extinct genomes for antimicrobial candidates to fight drug-resistant infections.

Meet the Data agent in ChatGPT Work. Connect company data, uncover insights, and build interactive dashboards with AI using natural language.

Introducing ChatGPT for Financial Services, combining built-in financial data and GPT-6 Astra for research, modeling, and client-ready materials.

OpenAI and GSA will offer eligible federal, state, local, and tribal governments $0 license fees, 50% off usage, and expanded cyber defense support.

Build and launch cloud agents with the Agents API, a managed service powered by the Codex harness for orchestration, long-running sessions, and tool use.

GPT‑Live‑1 brings natural, full-duplex voice conversations to the API, with stronger instruction following, custom voices, and telephony support.

Chris Lehane argues that stronger AI capabilities require stronger safety evidence, shared standards, and durable policy action while the policy window remains open.

Meet GPT-6 Astra, OpenAI’s most capable model for business, with advanced reasoning, computer use, and stronger writing and design judgment.

Paul Christiano joins the OpenAI Foundation Board and its Safety and Security Committee, bringing experience in AI alignment, safety, and standards.

See how an MIT researcher uses GPT-5.6 Sol with Codex to autonomously run quantum computing experiments, analyze results, and calibrate qubits.

Explore how more capable, affordable AI can expand the work people and businesses can accomplish—and make growth more economical.

ChatGPT Images 2.5 helps turn your ideas, sketches, and reference photos into more personalized, polished images that better reflect your ideas.

OpenAI is expanding support for journalism with tools, training, and partnerships for students, educators, journalists, and news organizations.

Welcome back. At its Snapdragon Summit, Qualcomm unveiled chips that can run 30-billion-parameter models on a phone, a roughly 7x leap from what today's most powerful phones can handle. Meanwhile, the frontier labs are racing down the cost curve. Just days after calling for a slowdown, Anthropic launched Opus 5.5, which is faster, 40% cheaper on typical workloads, and reroutes risky cyber and bio tasks to older models. OpenAI released GPT-6 Sol and Luna, cutting prices roughly in half and claiming that the models are better at staying within their safeguards. — Jason Hiner IN TODAY’S NEWSLETTER 1. OpenAI’s cheaper

Welcome back. Apple is pushing local AI forward with new Macs that combine serious performance, privacy, and lower token costs, while Google is taking a different route with Gemini-first laptops designed to bring AI deeper into the everyday computing experience. Meanwhile, the supposed US-China AI race looks far less cleanly divided than the rhetoric suggests. The two ecosystems remain deeply intertwined across models, hardware, talent, and supply chains, even as both governments push for greater technological independence. Keep an eye on any conciliatory notes that the two governments strike in their talks in Washington this week. — Jason Hiner IN

Welcome back. Salesforce's Shibani Ahuja joins The Deep View Conversations to explain how the company scales agentic AI without losing control, from its headless AI strategy to its new Koa reasoning model. Meanwhile, neolab Jev has a new model that is testing the frontier labs' scaling bet, claiming hundreds of times the speed and a fraction of the cost of GPT-6 Astra and Claude Fable 5.1. And AI is losing the narrative even more than the safety debate. With 60-70% of Americans holding negative views of AI, the industry needs a Steve Jobs-level storyteller and not more platitudes. — Jason

Hello, friends. With AI advancing at a rapid rate, the days of experimentation have given way to scale. As engineers turn from executors of tasks to orchestrators of agents, skills such as good judgement and strategy are more important than ever. That’s the topic of this special weekend edition, presented in partnership with Rokt . Let us know what you think! — Nat Rubio-Licht How judgment wins in the age of AI Though some enterprises are still figuring out their AI strategies, at Rokt, the tech is moving beyond the experimentation phase. Sam Dozor , CTO of ecommerce technology company

Welcome back. Salesforce is turning Slack into a front door for enterprise AI, with agents, coding tools, voice, and access to business systems. Apple may be showing the industry a better way to build AI products by making the technology useful before overselling it. The Apple Watch Series 12 uses machine learning to improve health insights, readiness, and features without turning everything into an AI pitch. Meanwhile, as AI spreads deeper into work, public trust remains a growing problem. Pew data shows people overwhelmingly expect AI to reduce jobs, leaving Silicon Valley with a credibility gap it still hasn’t closed.

Welcome back. Anthropic is folding Claude Cowork and traditional Claude chat into a "One Claude" experience that will include Docs, Slides, and Design tools to expose more of Claude's capabilities and cut down on context switching. Sabrina Ortiz tried Snap Specs on launch day, including the latest AI features, and walked away with a clearer picture of the potential use cases for the $2200 smart glasses. And Microsoft's AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman has released an essay arguing AI is not conscious and warning that frontier labs training the models as if they have consciousness is part of what's leading to

Welcome back. Google is making a case that AI’s biggest story isn’t only about risk, but also about impact, from disease detection to disaster forecasting to language access. At Dreamforce, Salesforce offered a different glimpse of AI’s future: domain-specific models that let enterprises own more of their intelligence without becoming frontier labs themselves. And the industry’s push for third-party safety testing is gaining momentum, but testing alone won’t solve the safety issues without standards, enforcement, and consequences when the models fail to meet guidelines. And governments don't look likely to step in and play for their part, for now. —

Welcome back. Apple's long-awaited Siri AI upgrade has finally arrived, and for many Apple users it will be the most tangible way yet to feel the shift toward more personal, useful AI. Meanwhile, calls to slow frontier development are producing some unlikely alliances, revealing how unsettled the debate is at the moment. The bigger problem is that AI pacing is being framed as a binary choice between acceleration and restraint. We need better dialogue to create common ground for policies that can match the growing sophistication of the technology itself. — Jason Hiner IN TODAY’S NEWSLETTER 1. Why AI pacing

Welcome back. Apple's iPhone Duo makes the case that bigger screens are a lot more useful in the AI era, while the new AI audio features in the Apple Watch ask how much of our conversations AI should remember. Meanwhile, investors are pouring truckloads of money into AI startups at a dizzying pace, and while some of it is clearly FOMO, the smart money is chasing founders solving real problems, not just hitching their wagons to the hype. And in the most important signal in the industry right now, the CEOs of both Anthropic and OpenAI have said they are

Hello, friends. Small and medium-sized businesses stand to gain the most from AI. Often operating with lean teams where every employee wears many hats, AI can democratize valuable skills for these companies and create real impact. That’s the topic of this special weekend edition, presented in partnership with Rokt . Let us know what you think! — Nat Rubio-Licht How AI gives small businesses an edge AI is capable of giving anyone the tools to supercharge their productivity and try new things. For small and medium-sized businesses, that can be a lifeline. Guang Li, the general manager of Rokt Aftersell

Welcome back. Apple is racing into ambient AI with new Apple Watch features that listen in the background, testing the perception of convenience versus surveillance. New Ramp data suggests businesses are increasingly choosing cheaper, mid-tier AI models over the latest models from frontier AI labs, for cost reasons. Meanwhile, researchers inside Anthropic and OpenAI are arguing that safety is not keeping pace with rapidly advancing models, which is once again raising the question of whether the labs should slow down to establish unified safety standards. — Jason Hiner IN TODAY’S NEWSLETTER 1. Why warnings from inside AI labs are piling

Welcome back. Coursera's new AI platform, Project Helix, aims to fix corporate training by replacing generic content with adaptive learning and proof of skills. Meanwhile, Apple's September event showed AI woven into every new product it announced. For example, the Apple Watch's new Siri Recap and Live Rewind quietly turn it into an AI wearable. But the showstopper was the iPhone Duo, which I got to test hands-on and I believe points toward where every phone is headed within the next few years. — Jason Hiner IN TODAY’S NEWSLETTER 1. iPhone Duo unfolds Apple's vision of the AI future 2.

Welcome back. Humanoid robots are still too expensive for most homes, but IFA made the future feel closer as AI accelerates developments in training. Meta is betting that its new Muse agent can become a trusted everyday assistant, but asking consumers to connect their most sensitive data puts Meta's privacy shortcomings in the spotlight. And OpenAI’s next model is already pushing beyond Astra, using thousands of agents to tackle one of mathematics’ hardest problems. The breakthrough is remarkable, but it also raises uncomfortable questions about whether the models are advancing faster than our ability to understand them. — Jason Hiner

Welcome back. AI agents are giving hackers a major speed boost, with Google’s latest threat report showing autonomous systems already scanning infrastructure, harvesting credentials, and compressing attacks into hours. Meanwhile, Arm is trying to bring more order to robotics and physical AI with a shared framework that could solve fragmentation and help the industry scale. And ahead of this week’s new iPhone unveiling, I look back at Apple’s strongest AI success story: photography. For a decade, Apple has used AI and ML to quietly improve the camera, offering a blueprint for how it could lead in AI. — Jason Hiner

Welcome back. OpenAI’s ChatGPT Work team joins our podcast to explain how agents and proactive AI will make prompting less central to the ways we use AI throughout the day. Google’s much-ballyhooed Rambler offers Wispr Flow-level speed and accuracy, but it's still missing the right tone by getting the punctuation wrong. And GPT-6 Astra raises the question of what happens when models become harder to monitor as they get smarter. With observability getting more challenging, OpenAI's chief scientist signals that it may be time to coordinate with other labs before control gets harder. — Jason Hiner IN TODAY’S NEWSLETTER 1.