Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth just launched a 120-day study on the future of warfare, led by Elon Musk, Palmer Luckey, and Newt Gingrich, and while it makes sense given their ties to the administration, critics could point out that Musk’s and Luckey’s companies already sell the kinds of technology the study is likely to recommend.
Money has evolved into far more than the cash in your wallet or your bank account. And at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, we’re devoting an entire stage to that progression.
AI coding startup Cognition has acquired Poke, the AI assistant you text like a friend, in a deal valuing the startup in the low nine figures. The acquisition brings Poke’s conversational style and interaction model to Cognition’s coding agent Devin, reflecting a growing belief that how AI assistants interact with users is as important as the models powering them.
Trust isn’t damaged by the news itself — it’s damaged by how it’s delivered; here’s the four-part framework that keeps teams engaged even when the message is hard.