Meta just bought Manus, an AI startup everyone has been talking about
Meta says it'll keep Manus running independently while weaving its agents into Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, where Meta's own chatbot, Meta AI, is already available to users.
AI’s early-2025 spending spree featured massive raises and trillion-dollar infrastructure promises. By year’s end, hype gave way to a vibe check, with growing scrutiny over sustainability, safety, and business models.
Equity’s 2026 Predictions: AI Agents, Blockbuster IPOs, and the Future of VC
TechCrunch’s Equity crew is bringing 2025 to a close and getting ahead on the year to come with our annual predictions episode! Hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Rebecca Bellan were joined by Build Mode host Isabelle Johannessen to dissect the year’s biggest tech developments, from mega AI fund...
Waymo is testing Gemini as an in-car AI assistant in its robotaxis
Waymo is testing a Gemini-powered in-car AI assistant, per findings from a 1,200-line system prompt. The assistant can answer general knowledge questions, control certain in-cabin features, and more.
Italy tells Meta to suspend its policy that bans rival AI chatbots from WhatsApp
Italy has ordered Meta to suspend its policy that bans companies from using WhatsApp's business tools to offer their own AI chatbots on the popular chat app.
Can AI fix the operating room? This startup thinks so
There’s plenty of hype around AI and robots in healthcare, but the problem that’s actually costing hospitals money right now is operating room coordination. Two to four hours of OR time is lost every single day, not because of the surgeries themselves, but because of everything in between from manua...
John Carreyrou and other authors bring new lawsuit against six major AI companies
These authors rejected Anthropic's class action settlement, arguing that "LLM companies should not be able to so easily extinguish thousands upon thousands of high-value claims at bargain-basement rates."
Lemon Slice nabs $10.5M from YC and Matrix to build out its digital avatar tech
Digital avatar generation company Lemon Slice is working to add a video layer to AI chatbots with a new diffusion model that can create digital avatars from a single image.
OpenAI says AI browsers may always be vulnerable to prompt injection attacks
OpenAI says prompt injections will always be a risk for AI browsers with agentic capabilities, like Atlas. But the firm is beefing up its cybersecurity with an 'LLM-based automated attacker.'
New York Governor Kathy Hochul signs RAISE Act to regulate AI safety
The bill will require large AI developers to publish information about their safety protocols and report safety incidents to the state within 72 hours.
Hardware’s brutal week: iRobot, Luminar, and Rad Power go bankrupt
The hardware world had a brutal week, with iRobot, Luminar, and Rad Power Bikes all filing for bankruptcy. Each company faces its own mix of tariff pressures, supply chain issues, and shifting markets, but together they tell a larger story about the challenges of building physical products in an er...
OpenAI adds new teen safety rules to ChatGPT as lawmakers weigh AI standards for minors
OpenAI updated its guidelines for how its AI models should behave with users under 18, and published new AI literacy resources for teens and parents. Still, questions remain about how well policies translate into practice....