Researchers are tracking a Chinese AI ‘agent fleet’
Independent researchers discovered an agent swarm that seems to be running on Tencent’s infrastructure and targeting Alibaba’s map service, Amap.
We’re putting too much faith in AI’s ability to say no
Ever since people first seriously contemplated giving machines an intelligence modeled on our own, there has never been any question that they would, like us, be able to say no. The sci-fi canon is full of stories of robotic disobedience. Most of these capers are, of course, cautionary. But recently, the idea that AI shouldn’t…
Meet the Startup Battlefield 200 judges who’ll decide the winner at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026
Meet the final five Startup Battlefield judges who’ll decide who wins the pitch competition at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026. Get your pass now to save up to $100, and get a second at 50% off.
The ‘Double Fill Up’ Is the Latest Hack Americans Are Using to Save Cash at the Gas Pump
With paychecks trailing inflation, consumers are getting creative about saving at the pump and the grocery store.
Who’s the Genius Behind Meta’s Hit AI App Muse? A Mulleted, Croc-Wearing MIT Dropout.
Alexandr Wang’s Muse hit 5 million downloads faster than ChatGPT. Some Meta employees don’t like the special treatment of his hires.
The final Disrupt Stage lineup: Three days of conversations you won’t hear anywhere outside of TechCrunch Disrupt 2026
The full TechCrunch Disrupt Stage lineup revealed, featuring Max Hodak, Mark Wahlberg, Benchmark partners, and more. Register now to save up to $100 on your pass and get a second at 50% off.
Bringing predictive analytics to the agentic AI era
In 2026, the question for enterprise AI is no longer whether predictive models can outperform statistical forecasts—that argument is settled. The big question now is how to enable predictive systems to act on their own conclusions without drifting from business intent. The frontier has moved from prediction to autonomous decision making, and the gap between…
The Download: AI’s popularity paradox and EmTech Future 2026
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. People really hate AI, so why can’t they get enough? —Will Douglas Heaven Over the summer I talked to the CEO of Springboards, a startup building an LLM designed to come…
Can Safeworld convince people that gen AI robots won’t hurt them?
Safeworld is building digital humans to make sure robots don’t hurt the real ones.
People really hate AI, so why can’t they get enough?
Over the summer I talked to the CEO of Springboards, a startup building an LLM that’s designed to come up with a wider variety of responses than its mainstream rivals do. At the start of the call, he said something that’s been stuck in my head since: “We often say that we’re a self-loathing AI…
EmTech Future 2026: When AI Meets Everything
Yossi Matias, Vice President & Head of Google Research, explores how AI is beginning to reshape biology, infrastructure, manufacturing, and science, and why its greatest impact may come when it intersects with other fields. Step inside the newsroom with our MIT Technology Review editors for sharp analysis and unpublished insights from the team that researches…