Google launches new protocol for agent-driven purchases
Called the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), the system is meant to be interoperable between AI platforms, payment systems and vendors.
The ascent of the AI therapist
We’re in the midst of a global mental-health crisis. More than a billion people worldwide suffer from a mental-health condition, according to the World Health Organization. The prevalence of anxiety and depression is growing in many demographics, particularly young people, and suicide is claiming hundreds of thousands of lives globally each year. Given the clear…
This $30M startup built a dog crate-sized robot factory that learns by watching humans
MicroFactory has more than 100 preorders for its general purpose tabletop robotic factory which it hopes to start shipping in two months.
The Download: regulators are coming for AI companions, and meet our Innovator of 2025
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. The looming crackdown on AI companionship As long as there has been AI, there have been people sounding alarms about what it might do to us: rogue superintelligence, mass unemployment, or environmental ruin.…
The Branding Trick That Helped Dude Wipes, Colgate, Oatly, and Uber Rise Above the Rest
It’s called “strategic enemy” — a way to position your brand against an enemy your consumer hates. Here’s how to do it.
Y Combinator-backed Rulebase wants to be the AI coworker for fintech
Y Combinator-alum Rulebase is betting that the next wave of automation in financial services will be the unglamorous tasks.
Kayak co-founder takes on Calendly with new Supercal scheduling platform
The entrepreneur has launched Supercal, a free scheduling platform that’s designed to make booking meetings more efficient and simple.
Amazon to host Prime Big Deals Day sales event on October 7 and 8
Amazon is hosting its Prime Big Deals Day sales event in October again.
The looming crackdown on AI companionship
As long as there has been AI, there have been people sounding alarms about what it might do to us: rogue superintelligence, mass unemployment, or environmental ruin from data center sprawl. But this week showed that another threat entirely—that of kids forming unhealthy bonds with AI—is the one pulling AI safety out of the academic…
Nothing closes $200M Series C led by Tiger Global, plans AI-first device launch
Carl Pei’s Nothing is raising $200 million in a Series C round from Tiger Global at a $1.3 billion valuation.
Anthropic Releases a Report That Confirms AI Is ‘Displacing Workers’
The study highlights the risk that AI is replacing employees entirely, instead of merely supporting their work.