Viral AI assistant Instinct now has its own email address
Instinct’s new email feature lets the AI agent create and manage accounts, contact businesses, handle support requests, and do more on users’ behalf.
The Download: failed social media bans, and extending pets’ lives
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Kids are outsmarting social media bans. That’s not a problem we need to solve. —Michal Luria, Aliya Bhatia, and Danah Boyd Social media bans are stacking up. In July, France joined…
Uber rival inDrive scales beyond ride-hailing to capture more consumer spending
inDrive’s ad business, first piloted in July 2025, has served more than 2 billion impressions and attracted over 2,000 paying advertisers a month.
‘Gambling with our lives’: Anthropic researcher quits, warns against self-improving AI
Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned over AI extinction fears, calling for pacing agreements between labs.
Shipt becomes the latest delivery app with an AI shopping assistant
Users can ask the assistant to do things like “Create a cart for my Saturday tailgate for 25 people and include some brunch items,” or “Build a cart for easy school lunches and after-school snacks,” Shipt says.
Uber invests $10M in Indian fleet operator Carrum at $168M valuation
Carrum Mobility operates about 5,100 vehicles in India and is Uber’s largest fleet partner for its premium Uber Black service in the country.
AI spend per employee slumped at top firms in August — summer doldrums or a warning sign?
Falling token costs, cheaper models, and less spend per employee—AI adoption isn’t playing out the way hyperscalers hoped.
I’ve Watched Four Tech Hype Cycles. Companies Are Botching AI the Same Way.
Simply adding AI language to your brand does not automatically make your company more relevant or more compelling.
OpenAI Says Its AI Just Solved a 90-Year-Old Math Problem — One Mathematician Calls It Theft
Controversy surrounds OpenAI’s claim that it took 10,000 agents a weekend to solve one of math’s six unsolved “million-dollar” problems.
‘Jeopardy!’ Will Pay You $178,000 to Write Clues. But First, You Have to Survive This Test.
“I’ll take clue writer for $178,000, Ken.” More than 1,300 people applied for the job, and almost none of them got past the first round.
Planet Fitness Said No to New Franchisees for a Decade. Here’s How This Guy Got a Yes.
For ten years, Planet Fitness had one rule for new franchisees: buy your way in. Then a hotel developer showed up.