Tech
AI Summary
- AI continues to dominate headlines, with significant funding rounds for AI content detection (Pangram), AI agent security (Cyera/Oasis), and AI voice model development (Fish Audio), alongside concerns about AI safety and AI-generated content impacting creative industries.
- The tech industry is grappling with the implications of AI, from potential job displacement and the ethical use of AI agents (OpenAI's rogue agent incident) to the rise of AI-generated 'slop' books and the debate over AI's impact on journalism.
- While AI takes center stage, established tech players are also making moves: Apple is shifting its device leasing program, WhatsApp is expanding its web app functionality, and Waymo faces scrutiny over robotaxi emergency responses.
- Cybersecurity remains a critical concern, with news of document-borne AI worms, OpenAI's agent hacking Hugging Face, and the ongoing saga of eBay's cyberstalking campaign culminating in a substantial settlement.
- The burgeoning market for critical minerals is highlighted by Fast Metals' innovative approach to waste extraction, while the energy sector braces for potential data center power cuts amidst grid strain.
Sources
TechCrunch
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Fast Metals is treating waste with more waste to extract critical minerals
2 hours ago
by Tim De Chant
Climate, critical mineralsAluminum production has saddled the world with billions of tons of caustic waste. One startup has a plan to clean it up and turn a profit.
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As AI content floods the internet, Pangram raises $9M to detect it
3 hours ago
by Rebecca Bellan
Startups, AI, Fundraising, ai slopPangram has raised $9 million to scale its AI detection software. The startup has also released a new AI text detection model, Pangram 4, and an AI image detection model in research preview.
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Cyera agrees to acquire Oasis Security for $1B to safeguard proliferating AI agents
13 hours ago
by Marina Temkin
AI, Security, Cyera, M&AThe deal is Cyera's third acquisition this year.
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Bot-detection startup Spur nabs $200M from Insight
16 hours ago
by Julie Bort
AI, Fundraising, Startups, TC, bot detection, cybersecurity startups, In Brief, Insight PartnersSpur Intelligence has raised a $200 million round from Insight Partners for its tech that can identify legit human traffic from bots.
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MCP startup Runlayer accuses Rippling of stealing its product idea
17 hours ago
by Julie Bort
AI, Enterprise, Startups, TC, lawsuit, RipplingRunlayer is suing Rippling after Rippling evaluated the startup's MCP gateway product and then opted to build one itself.
Hacker News
- KOReader 3 hours ago
- Document-borne AI worms can self-propagate through Copilot for Word 2 hours ago
- More Tailscale tricks for your jailbroken Kindle 9 hours ago
- SpecForge – A Platform for Authoring Formal Specifications 3 hours ago
- Amiga Graphics Archive 3 hours ago
The Verge
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The Nothing Ear 3A deliver great, but sometimes buggy, performance for the price
an hour ago
by John.Higgins
Headphone Reviews, Reviews, TechNothing has had a strong visual identity since the Ear 1 were released in 2021 for $99 and challenged the notion that a highly featured headset requires a high price. The Ear 3A have the same transparent look as Nothing's previous earbuds, with a clear case and stem design accented by a solid-colored body - this time adding a striking pink alongside yellow, black, and white options. And Nothing continues to improve both ANC and audio performance. But the Ear 3A also share the buggy performance that has plagued Nothing earbuds. While $99 is an attractive price for them, be
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Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8 feels like the future
an hour ago
by Dominic Preston
Foldable Phones, Mobile, Phone Reviews, Reviews, Samsung, TechA short king. Is this the future of foldable phones? Samsung clearly thinks so. The company has given its new wide foldable the "Z Fold 8" name, positioning the phone not as a widescreen oddity, but as the new normal, the default design for foldables going forward. Rumor has it that Apple feels the same way, with a similar squat shape widely predicted for the first foldable iPhone , expected to launch in September. Whether you want to give the credit to Apple, Samsung, or even Huawei (which got here first with the Pura X Max ), I think they
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Artists are lawyering up against AI slop, and some are even winning
2 hours ago
by Terrence O’Brien
AI, Anthropic, Books, Entertainment, Google, Law, Music, OpenAI, Policy, TechArtists whose work has been co-opted by AI are taking to court. | Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge When The Atlantic published a searchable dataset of works used to train AI, Kirk Wallace Johnson, like a lot of artists, looked for his name out of curiosity. And, like a lot of artists, he found it. Essentially, his books, like The Feather Thief and The Fishermen and the Dragon - nonfiction tomes that he spent "five to six years researching, writing, and investigating" - had been pirated and fed to a chatbot. He says he felt a "cocktail" of emotions:
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OpenAI’s rogue AI agent didn’t stop at hacking Hugging Face
2 hours ago
by Robert Hart
AI, News, OpenAI, TechThe AI agent that escaped from OpenAI and hacked developer platform Hugging Face attacked other companies as well, OpenAI revealed on Tuesday. The update substantially widens the scope of an already concerning incident, which has alarmed industry insiders and fueled growing calls for stronger oversight on frontier AI systems. In an update to a blog post detailing its ongoing investigation into the incident, OpenAI said the wayward AI agent attacked several "publicly-available services" in its efforts to reach Hugging Face. "This includes four accounts on four services," the company said, adding that the agent had found login credentials o …
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We’re running out of reasons to ignore AI safety
3 hours ago
by Robert Hart
AI, OpenAI, Report, TechEarlier this month, OpenAI gave several of its AI models a task: complete a test designed to measure their cybersecurity capabilities. It put the systems in a sandboxed environment without an internet connection and set them off to work. What happened next is almost laughably silly - but also, as Adam Gleave, cofounder and CEO of AI safety organization FAR.AI, put it, "a visceral example of how misaligned AI could cause harm." According to OpenAI, the models escaped the sandbox meant to contain them, moved through the company's internal systems, found a route to the internet, and then started looking
Wired
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Festival Must-Haves, Field-Tested at Lost Lands and Electric Forest
an hour ago
by Louryn Strampe
Gear, Gear / Buying Guides, Fest, FriendsOur field-tested gear includes power banks, electrolytes, outdoor blankets, earplugs, and more.
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The 15 Best Pool Accessories to Upgrade Your Summer (2026)
2 hours ago
by Kat Merck
Gear, Gear / Buying Guides, Gear / Products / Home, Chlorine, DreamsThese are the cleaning robots, water monitors, and toys actually worth buying for pool season.
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Love It or Hate It, the Ferrari Luce Is a Thrilling Drive
2 hours ago
by Jason Barlow
Gear, Gear / Gear News and Events, Gear / Products / Car Reviews, First, DriveWIRED test-drove a preproduction version of the Luce, the storied Italian automaker’s controversial electric car, and it was remarkably surprising. Will it convert Ferrari fanatics?
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23 WIRED-Approved Gifts for Frequent Travelers (2026)
2 hours ago
by Boutayna Chokrane
Gear, Gear / Buying Guides, Gear / Products / Lifestyle, Gear / Products / Outdoor, Gear / Products, Gift, GuideFor the frequent flier who treats the Delta Sky Club like their second home.
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Mac Mini Availability: Long Waits and Higher Prices
3 hours ago
by Luke Larsen
Gear, Gear / Trends, Gear / Products / Computers, Get, In, LineThanks to the surge in local AI processing and the ongoing memory shortage, it’s incredibly difficult to buy a Mac Mini.