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Anthropic tested a market where AI agents negotiate and conclude deals themselves
Anthropic launched an internal experiment Project Deal: 69 employees trusted Claude to buy and sell real items, and stronger models negotiated notably better terms.
Cohere merges with Aleph Alpha backed by Schwarz to build sovereign AI
Cohere acquires Aleph Alpha and together with Schwarz Group creates a Canadian-German sovereign AI player targeting banks, public sector, defense, and other regulated industries.
OpenAI releases GPT-5.5 and brings ChatGPT closer to AI super-app format
OpenAI's new GPT-5.5 model enhances code writing, research work, and computer actions, while aligning with the company's direction toward a unified AI interface for work.
Bret Taylor's Sierra Acquires French AI Startup Fragment from Y Combinator
Sierra, founded by Bret Taylor, acquired French startup Fragment to strengthen development of AI agents for customer service and expand its engineering team in France.
Noscroll launched an AI bot that reads X and news instead of endless scrolling
The Noscroll startup offered an AI bot that browses X, websites, Reddit and blogs on its own, then sends users only important updates and brief summaries by topic.
Meta Shifts Agent AI to Tens of Millions of AWS Graviton Cores Instead of GPU
Meta has reached an agreement with AWS for large-scale use of Graviton for agent AI workloads, signaling that the new chip race is shifting from GPU to specialized CPUs.
Apple's Mac mini shortage drives up eBay prices amid local AI demand
Apple's Mac mini sales have hit a shortage, and eBay now shows listings with significant markups: the compact computer has unexpectedly become a convenient machine for running local AI models.
Nothing launched Essential Voice AI dictation for smartphones with support for over 100 languages
Nothing released Essential Voice — a built-in AI dictation that converts speech to clean text, removes filler words, and translates input across more than 100 languages.
DeepSeek unveiled new AI models and claimed to have nearly closed the gap with market leaders
DeepSeek presented preliminary versions of two new AI models, claiming better efficiency, improved performance relative to V3.2, and a nearly closed gap with flagship models in reasoning tasks.
Skye from Signull Labs raised $3.58M before AI home screen launch for iPhone
Signull Labs hasn't launched Skye yet, but has already raised $3.58M: the app promises to turn an iPhone home screen into a proactive AI interface with widgets and smart suggestions.
OpenAI develops smartphone where AI agents will replace traditional apps
According to analysts, OpenAI is creating a next-generation smartphone where AI agents will completely replace traditional applications — mass production is planned for 2028.
China blocks Meta's $2 billion acquisition of AI startup Manus after months-long investigation
Chinese regulators have ordered Meta to terminate its deal to acquire AI-agent startup Manus for approximately $2 billion—a blow to Zuckerberg's AI strategy.
Meta acquires Moltbook: a bet on the agentic internet and the future of advertising with AI
The acquisition of Moltbook seems unexpected, but it signals Meta’s strategy for the era of the agentic internet, where AI agents become the new intermediaries in advertising and commerce.
Netflix could pay $600 million for Ben Affleck's AI startup — one of Netflix's biggest deals
Netflix is in talks to buy Ben Affleck's AI startup for about $600 million — potentially the largest acquisition in Netflix's history.
Zendesk acquires Forethought, a pioneer in agentic customer service
Zendesk is acquiring Forethought, the TechCrunch Battlefield 2018-winning startup specializing in AI agents for customer support.
Ford launched an AI assistant for fleets — it monitors drivers' seat belt use
Ford Pro AI debuted at Work Truck Week and is available to Ford Pro Telematics subscribers: the system signals in real time whether the driver is buckled up.
Google taught AI to predict floods using old newspaper reports
Google found an original way to solve the shortage of flood data: an LLM converts archival news texts into numerical indicators to train a forecasting model.
Google Maps gets AI feature Ask Maps and updated Immersive Navigation
Google calls the launch of Immersive Navigation the biggest Maps update in a decade — alongside the AI assistant Ask Maps for conversational queries.
Gumloop raises $50M from Benchmark so every employee can build AI agents
Venture capital firm Benchmark invested $50 million in Gumloop, a no-code platform for building AI agents that any employee can use.
Grammarly turned writers into “AI editors” without consent — class action filed
Journalist Julia Angwin is leading a class action against Grammarly: the service is accused of using writers’ texts to train AI without notice or compensation.
Atlassian cut 1,600 employees to invest in artificial intelligence
The company behind Jira and Confluence laid off 10% of its staff — about 1,600 people — redirecting the savings to AI feature development.
Tinder Reboots: Offline Events, Virtual Speed Dating, and AI for Matchmaking
Tinder unveiled a major redesign: live events, virtual speed dating, and AI features — an attempt to win back Gen Z, disillusioned with online dating.
Meta AI in Facebook Marketplace now automatically replies to buyers on behalf of sellers
Facebook Marketplace lets sellers use Meta AI to automatically draft replies to buyers based on information from the product listing.
Bumble launched AI assistant Bee for matching based on goals and compatibility
Bumble unveiled Bee, an AI assistant that changes the dating format: instead of swipes, it matches partners based on goals and compatibility.
AI startup Rox valued at $1.2 billion: a new competitor in the CRM market
Rox AI, a startup founded by former New Relic chief growth officer, has been valued at $1.2 billion, offering an AI-native replacement for CRM systems.
Peacock bets on AI video, mobile sports and games to grow streaming
NBCUniversal's streaming service Peacock is expanding into AI video, vertical clips and mobile games in an attempt to find growth without joining the race for content budgets.
Google bought Wiz for $32 billion — the largest venture-backed acquisition in history
Google has closed its purchase of cybersecurity startup Wiz for a record $32 billion — after a rejection a year ago, antitrust reviews, and a renewed bet on AI, cloud, and security.
xAI starts from scratch again: Musk builds an AI coding tool with a team from Cursor
The xAI lab admitted that its first approach to building an AI coding tool failed and is starting over — with two senior executives poached from Cursor.
TechCrunch: the biggest AI events of 2026 — deals, protests, and high-stakes negotiations
TechCrunch took stock of the first months of 2026: major acquisitions, successes by independent developers, public protest, and negotiations with existential stakes.
Nyne raises $5.3 million to give AI agents personal user context
Father-and-son startup Nyne has closed a $5.3 million seed round from Wischoff Ventures and South Park Commons to build personal context infrastructure for AI agents.