April 13, 2026

Want to understand the current state of AI? Check out these charts.

If you’re following AI news, you’re probably getting whiplash. AI is a gold rush. AI is a bubble. AI is taking your job. AI can’t even read a clock. The 2026 AI Index from Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, AI’s annual report card, comes out today and cuts through some of that noise. …

Final 2 days to save up to $500 on your TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 ticket

April 9, 2026
Ticket discounts of up to $500 will end tomorrow, April 10, at 11:59 p.m. PT. After that, prices for TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 go up again. Miss this, and you’ll be paying more for the same access to one of the most anticipated tech epicenters of the year. Register now to lock in these savings.

The Download: AstroTurf wars and exponential AI growth

April 9, 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. Is fake grass a bad idea? The AstroTurf wars are far from over.  In 2001, Americans installed just over 7 million square meters of synthetic turf. By 2024, that number was 79 million square meters—enough to carpet all of Manhattan and then some. The…

Is fake grass a bad idea? The AstroTurf wars are far from over.

April 9, 2026
A rare warm spell in January melted enough snow to uncover Cornell University’s newest athletic field, built for field hockey. Months before, it was a meadow teeming with birds and bugs; now it’s more than an acre of synthetic turf roughly the color of the felt on a pool table, almost digital in its saturation.…