AI News

Google releases Gemini 4 Argon, called its most powerful model yet

Google has released its latest Gemini model, marketing it as a workhorse for coding and cybersecurity work.

Valor, Atreides, and Sequoia back AI startup Flow Engineering at $750M valuation

Flow Engineering, which is bringing AI agents to hardware design, also landed Roelof Botha as an angel investor and board member.

Gemini 4 Argon: our next era of frontier intelligence

CS240 AI Cheating Retrospective

OpenAI’s Jev clone could help the frontier lab stop its swarming agents

OpenAI's "Decisions API" is a Jev clone that confirms the importance of fast, cheap intelligence.

AI voice startup ElevenLabs doubles valuation to $22B

The $300 million employee tender was co-led by Wellington and T. Rowe Price.

Reddit is killing RSS feeds and ending public API access because of AI bots

Reddit is ending support for RSS feeds, as the company continues tightening access to its trove of user-generated content.

The ugly economics of consumer AI

There’s a reason frontier labs have gotten gun-shy about consumer AI — and it’s not because the tech isn’t good enough.

Meta disputes claim that Muse read a user’s private messages without permission

Meta says its Muse AI agent cannot access a user’s Messages without explicit permission, disputing a journalist’s account that the agent read his private messages while the required Mac setting was tu

DoorDash launches an AI agent you can text to order food

By launching an AI agent for food ordering, DoorDash is looking to gain an edge over rivals Uber Eats and Grubhub.

Destro AI’s secret sauce is getting robots and humans on the same page

"One of the biggest reasons we are winning against robotics companies is because we are not a robotics company."

Instinct’s new product recommendations are giving some users the ick

Instinct is rolling out human-curated product and travel recommendations, but some users aren’t happy about getting suggestions they never asked for.

The AI Race Just Got Awkward

MIT Transit Lab to develop an AI platform for public transit agencies

With $2.1 million funding from Google.org, the open-source Public Transit Intelligence Hub will unify public transit monitoring, operations, and passenger communication.

Introducing SynthID Bio

Proof of concept for watermarking AI-generated proteins while preserving biological function.

This game-playing AI is the new champ at Stratego

Able to defeat top-ranked human players and more efficient than other models, the new system could help decision-makers in military maneuvers or business negotiations.

Cerebras Systems’ Andrew Feldman on whether AI can keep scaling at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026

At TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, Cerebras Systems CEO and co-founder Andrew Feldman will explore the growing demand for compute, energy, and infrastructure, how Cerebras is approaching those constraints di

Restate lands $20M as the need for durable infrastructure increases with AI agents

Instead of building its durable execution engine on top of an external database, the company developed its own storage, replication, and redundancy layers. This architecture allows Restate to be excep

3 days left to exhibit: Turn visibility into your next opportunity at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026

Three days left to exhibit at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026. Book by October 2 at 11:59 p.m. PT to showcase your startup to 10,000+ founders, investors, operators, and tech leaders.

Airbnb adds AI search, more social features

Airbnb is also launching new services such as meal delivery and laundry in select locations.

Disrupting a coordinated model-distillation campaign

Learn how OpenAI disrupted a campaign to extract protected model reasoning and is strengthening defenses against adversarial distillation.

Helping small businesses put AI to work

OpenAI is partnering with America’s SBDC to expand hands-on AI training and local support for small businesses, alongside a new report on how small teams are using AI.

America.gov gets really weird when you ask it about Minecraft, but it’s not a glitch

For the sake of national security, it's a relief to learn that America.gov is not hallucinating to the point that it's penning lengthy poetry.

AI needs $6T in annual revenue to justify data centre boom

How Diffusion Controller unifies and simplifies AI image generation

Algorithms & Theory

GPT 6.1 Sol: Near-Astra intelligence for a fifth of the price

DraftKings is using AI to behaviorally target chronic gamblers

Claude partial outage

Unsurprisingly, Meta's new Muse AI agent blatantly ignores users permissions

Introducing GPT-6.1 Sol

Meet GPT-6.1 Sol: near-Astra intelligence for coding, computer use, and professional work at one-fifth of Astra’s standard API input and output token prices.

DevDay 2026 Recap

Explore more than 20 announcements from OpenAI DevDay 2026, including GPT-6 Astra, ChatGPT, Codex, APIs, security, and new tools for builders.

A Privacy Analysis of Web and Mobile Conversational AI Agents [pdf]

The effects of an “algorithmic monoculture” depend on the details

In a study focusing on hiring decisions, MIT researchers found the use of a single algorithm by many firms could benefit job seekers in certain situations.

Who we become when we talk to machines

Professor Sherry Turkle’s new book, “Artificial Intimacy,” offers a withering critique of chatbots and the antisocial dynamics she believes they encourage.

Introducing dots

Dots by OpenAI are proactive assistants that can keep working across complex projects and everyday tasks. Learn how dots help you stay in control while work moves forward.

Anthropic's IPO prospectus shows AI vision, surging costs

It's Time to Investigate the AI Labs

How we will do better for Australia

OpenAI apologises for incidents involving Australian government websites and outlines stronger safeguards and support to strengthen Australia’s cyber defences.

Towards safety cases for frontier AI training

Our early guidelines for safety cases in frontier AI training cover technical safeguards, operational practices, and investigating misalignment incidents

Watch the winning trailer from the Future Vision XPRIZE, The Gifted.

Watch the winning trailer from the Future Vision XPRIZE, The Gifted.

MicroLLM Lab – Try 7 tiny LLM's in the browser

OpenAI still doesn't seem to have a handle on all of its rogue AI activity

The problem is not AI code, but not knowing about system architecture or intent

Nvidia wants to put a watchdog chip next to every AI agent

What would a serious AI product look like?

New formulation helps RNA vaccines withstand high temperatures

MIT engineers have found a way to stabilize the lipid nanoparticles used to deliver RNA vaccines, which could allow the vaccines to be more widely distributed.

The Lenfest Institute grows landmark program with expanded OpenAI support

OpenAI is expanding the Lenfest AI Collaborative and Fellowship Program with $5 million in funding and up to $5 million in software credits and engineering support.

Are you a Codex Original?

We’re collecting real stories of builders, tinkerers, researchers, and creators who are using Codex to do incredible things. If you want to be a part of the next chapter of the Codex Originals program

Basis completes a tax workbook 2x faster with GPT-6 Astra

GPT-6 Astra completed a 50-tab tax workbook twice as fast as GPT-5.6 Sol, and its stronger understanding of user intent gives Basis more confidence in real-world use.

MIT students gain a humanist lens on technical innovation in Tulsa, Oklahoma

The PKG Center for Social Impact expands Code.Tulsa experiential learning program.

Proaction boosts sales 60% and saves 75+ hours with Codex

With Codex, GPT-Live-1, and GPT-6 Astra, Proaction builds, operates, and sells modern fleet management faster.

Estimating suicide risk from text

A new language-processing tool could help identify the highest-risk individuals from natural language, enabling swifter interventions.

Automating coherent long-form video generation

Generative AI

Introducing Gemini 3.8 Live with Live Avatar

The promise and peril of using visual AI to study cities

In their new book, “How AI Sees the City,” the leaders of MIT’s Senseable City Lab examine the technology’s implications for researching urban life.

Google Beam expands with new regions, partners, and customers

We’re expanding Google Beam to five new countries, and partnering with Industrious for an extended network.

Advancing Private AI Compute with secure, server-side memory

Introducing private, server-side memory to Private AI Compute for personal AI.

Two years of OpenAI Academy

Marking two years of OpenAI Academy and bringing AI skills to even more communities.

MIT welcomes David Siegel SM ’86, PhD ’91 as its next Innovation Fellow

Computer scientist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist will collaborate with the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing to advance AI and scientific discovery.

Gemini 3.8 text-to-speech says hello

OpenAI extends cyber access to Ukraine for civilian defense

OpenAI is extending access to its Daybreak program to the Government of Ukraine to support the cyber defense of civilian infrastructure.

How invideo improves color grading 3x with GPT‑6 Astra

With GPT‑6 Astra, invideo plans edits with greater precision, improves color correction and grading threefold, and produces 50 custom effects in one day.

Ringg’s AI agents resolve up to 65% of customer calls with OpenAI

Using GPT-5.6, Ringg powers multilingual agents across voice, chat, WhatsApp, and web for 90% less cost vs. GPT-4.1.

Poitras Center to fuel early careers of 50 young scientists dedicated to psychiatric disorders research

Patricia and James Poitras ’63 provide fellowships for graduate students and postdocs who will shape the future of mental health research.

MilleMiglia: A realistic instance generator for middle-mile logistics

Algorithms & Theory

A new chapter for MIT Reads

A new focus on fiction and memoir aims to help the MIT community celebrate the power of storytelling and strengthen social connection.

New experts join Google’s AI & Economy team

We are expanding our AI & Economy team with world-class academic advisors, fellows, and core internal researchers.

Co-creating the future of fashion with Google

Google worked side-by-side with designers Jane Wade and Sergio Hudson to custom-design Google Flow tools to prep for NYFW.

The future of practice: Enabling teachers to create learning interactives with generative UI

Education Innovation

Making global data easier to explore

Google and the UN system have launched the UN System Data Commons, a new open platform making global statistics accessible and easy to search.

New AI technique could make minimally invasive surgeries safer and more precise

This patient-specific method, called xvr, helps doctors use X-rays for surgical navigation in fields such as orthopedics and neurosurgery.

Measure by measure, studying society accurately

Naoki Egami has become a standout in political methodology, helping refine tools that give scholars durable results.

Bypassing inference bottlenecks: Accelerating complex AI search with Retrieve-for-Train

Algorithms & Theory

Introducing Gemini 3.8 Live and 3.8 Live Extended Thinking

AI for Societal Impact

Explore this collection to see how experts and local leaders are using AI breakthroughs to ensure everyone can share the opportunity of AI.

Building AI to accelerate science and improve lives

The true measure of AI is who it helps. Here’s how it’s impacting lives today. We're focused on key areas where advanced technology can help make extraordinary progress …

AI for everyone in every language

We’re moving beyond traditional text translation to build models that understand the world’s rich, living languages exactly as they are expressed.

New insights from Google’s AI & Economy ATLAS

We’ve translated ATLAS’s millions of global data points into an interactive, open-access experience.

Watch astronaut Christina Koch and Google’s James Manyika discuss space, technology, and discovery.

Christina Koch sits down with James Manyika, Google’s Senior Vice President of Research, Labs, Technology & Society.

DevFest is back

DevFest 2026 is back and here’s how you can connect with one of the more than 800 global events to build, secure, and scale in the agentic AI era.

New method enables AI for safety-critical situations

The “HardFlow” algorithm could help generative AI models produce high-quality outputs that obey strict requirements when “pretty close” doesn’t cut it.

MIT spinout turns plastic waste into resilient building materials

Atlas Building Composites is commercializing MIT research to turn plastic waste into parts for buildings and other infrastructure.

ToolGrad: Efficient tool-use dataset generation with textual "gradients"

Machine Intelligence

3 ways to prep for your next big race with Search

Search can help runners get race-day ready with registration alerts, tailored training plans, and more.

Get ready for the game with new football features in Search

Track live game feeds, explore detailed stats, and get custom fantasy recommendations directly in Search this season.

Recreating a 70-year love story frame by frame

Discover how filmmakers and Google DeepMind used AI to recreate a couple's unrecorded past in the short film "Love, Rendered."

AlphaGenome Atlas: A predictive map of every possible DNA letter change in the human genome

AlphaGenome Atlas maps the molecular effects of 9 billion single-letter DNA variants across the human genome.

Transfer learning for genomic prediction in underrepresented populations

General Science

A connectomics milestone: Mapping the complete male fruit fly brain

General Science

Introducing WeatherNext 3, our most advanced and accurate global weather AI model

Proactive cyber defense for governments and enterprises

Introducing Gemini 3.8 Flash and 3.8 Flash Cyber

Proactive cyber defense for governments and enterprises

The Fairwind Program is a limited access program for governments and trusted partners to use our cyber defense tools.

Mapping global methane emissions from space with deep learning

Climate & Sustainability

Introducing agentic video understanding with Gemini

TimesFM-3: A zero-shot foundation model for multivariate forecasting

Data Management

Planetary prediction engine: Automating global models via Earth AI

Earth AI

Gemini Omni 1.1 Flash lets you build with more control

Enterprise AI's real risk isn't autonomous agents. It's the complexity between them.

Presented by Gravitee Read more

Piloting the world's first double-blind AI evaluations

Piloting the world's first double-blind AI evaluations

When agents act on their own, governance has to live in the data layer

Presented by EDB Read more

GlucoFM: Foundation model for continuous glucose monitoring

Health & Bioscience

Intelligent transcription with Gemini 3.5 Transcribe

Now you can get more intelligent speech-to-text transcription with Gemini 3.5 Transcribe.

Orchestration is the new challenge for CX in the age of AI agents

Presented by Tata Communications Read more

AgentHands: Generating interactive hand gestures for spatially grounded agent conversations in XR

Human-Computer Interaction and Visualization

An AI tool for prioritizing candidate biomarkers from wearable sensor data

Generative AI

From Atari to EVE Online: Building on 15 Years of AI Research in Games

Google DeepMind partners with game studios to prototype breakthrough AI gameplay.

How mobility gives language models a deeper understanding of place

Algorithms & Theory

VentureBeat names Rob Strechay as its first Lead Analyst, expanding its enterprise AI research push

Rob Strechay, until recently managing director and principal analyst at theCUBE Research, has joined VentureBeat as our first Lead Analyst and a founding analyst of VentureBeat Research. His arrival i

Google just redesigned the search box for the first time in 25 years — here’s why it matters more than you think.

For a quarter century, the Google search box has been one of the most recognizable interfaces in computing: a thin white rectangle, a blinking cursor, a few typed words, and a list of blue links. On T

Railway secures $100 million to challenge AWS with AI-native cloud infrastructure

Railway, a San Francisco-based cloud platform that has quietly amassed two million developers without spending a dollar on marketing, announced Thursday that it raised $100 million in a Series B fundi

Claude Code costs up to $200 a month. Goose does the same thing for free.

The artificial intelligence coding revolution comes with a catch: it's expensive. Read more