Harbinger acquires autonomous driving company Phantom AI
It’s the Los Angeles trucking startup’s first acquisition — the latest in a series of moves to spin up new revenue streams.
Roundtables: A Conversation With the Creator of AI-Designed Viruses
Friday, October 16, 2026 Can AI design new life forms? In 2025, Stanford University PhD student Samuel King came up with a preliminary answer when he used a generative AI model to propose genetic blueprints for microscopic viruses. It isn’t yet an example of AI-generated life, but that could be next. Join senior AI reporter…
Jira’s latest update allows AI agents and humans to work side by side
Atlassian is unveiling “agents in Jira” which gives users the ability to assign and manage work given to AI agents the same as humans.
Y Combinator grad and AI insurance brokerage Harper raises $47M
Harper is an AI-native insurance brokerage that just raised a $45 million combined Series A and seed, after a member of YC’s Winter 2025 cohort.
Amazon’s AI-powered Alexa+ gets new personality options
Users will be able to choose from Alexa styles like Brief, Chill or Sweet, Amazon says.
Adobe Firefly’s video editor can now automatically create a first draft from footage
Adobe Firefly is getting a new feature called Quick Cut that uses AI to edit footage to create a first draft of the final video based on user instructions.
Khosla’s Keith Rabois backs Comp, which wants to bolster HR teams with AI
The HR tech startup, which currently operates in Brazil, has raised a $17.25 million Series A.
The Download: introducing the Crime issue
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. Introducing: the Crime issue Technology has long made crime and its prosecution a game of cat and mouse. But those same new technologies that have allowed crime to outpace law have also reenergized…
How Hustle Culture Quietly Erodes Your Long-term Leadership Potential — and the Strategy You Need Instead
Longevity is becoming a leadership variable, not a lifestyle trend.
Listen to Earth’s rumbling, secret soundtrack
The boom of a calving glacier. The crackling rumble of a wildfire. The roar of a surging storm front. They’re the noises of the living Earth, music of this one particular sphere and clues to the true nature of these dramatic events. But as loud as all these things are, they emit even more acoustic…
3 things Juliet Beauchamp is into right now
The only reality show that matters The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City is one of the best shows on television right now. Not one of the best reality TV shows, but one of the best TV shows, period. Chronicling a shifting group of wealthy women in and around Salt Lake, the show has featured…