The backlash over OpenAI’s decision to retire GPT-4o shows how dangerous AI companions can be

“You’re shutting him down. And yes – I say him, because it didn’t feel like code. It felt like presence. Like warmth,” one user said.

Amazon and Google are winning the AI capex race — but what’s the prize?

In 2026, Amazon plans to spend $200 billion in capex. Google is just behind at $175 billion to $185 billion. It’s a lot of money!

Pacific Fusion finds a cheaper way to make its fusion reactor work

The fusion power startup recently completed some experiments at Sandia National Laboratory’s Z Machine and shared the results exclusively with TechCrunch.

Trump’s critical mineral reserve is an admission that the future is electric

The administration’s $12 billion stockpile of critical minerals is aimed at blunting China’s influence. But it also revels the direction of the global economy.

ElevenLabs CEO: Voice is the next interface for AI

ElevenLabs CEO argued at Web Summit Qatar that voice is the next interface for AI, as OpenAI, Google, and Apple push conversational systems into wearables, new hardware, and everyday interactions.

Apeiron Labs gets $29M to flood the oceans with autonomous underwater robots

Most of what we know about the ocean just skims the surface, literally. We’ve gathered a large quantity of data on the oceans from satellites, but most of that is based on the top layer of water. Below that, the picture gets murkier. Buoys, ships, and …

Exclusive: Positron raises $230M Series B to take on Nvidia’s AI chips

The investment comes from backers including the Qatar Investment Authority as demand for chips beyond Nvidia soars and as Qatar aims to build out its AI infrastructure.

Gradient’s heat pumps get new smarts to enable old building retrofits

Gradient’s heat pumps fit in windows, minimizing installation times. Now, it is introducing software to make those units more intelligent.

Coalition demands federal Grok ban over nonconsensual sexual content

Nonprofits urge the U.S. government to suspend Grok in federal agencies after the xAI chatbot generated thousands of nonconsensual sexual images, raising national security and child safety concerns.

Bye-bye corporate conglomerates. Hello personal conglomerates.

Elon Musk’s reported merging of SpaceX, xAI, and Tesla harkens back to the heyday of General Electric — or maybe the robber barons of the Gilded Age.