AI coding startup Cognition raises $1B at $25B pre-money valuation
TechCrunch AI19 days agoBusinessTechCrunch reports that AI coding startup Cognition raised $1 billion at a $25 billion pre-money valuation. The company says its annualized revenue run rate has reached 492, though the provided excerpt does not specify the unit. Cognition also says its valuation has more than doubled in eight months, underscoring investor appetite for AI coding startups.
AI tried to bury this politician — now people have actually heard of him★ 72
The Verge AI19 days agoRegulationThe Verge frames New York’s 12th District Democratic primary as a proxy fight over AI regulation. OpenAI-linked backers and an Anthropic-backed PAC are spending on opposite sides of Alex Bores’ congressional run. The irony is that attacks meant to weaken Bores may have made him more visible, turning a local race into a national signal about AI political power.
Robinhood Will Let Your AI Agent Trade Stocks and Make or Lose Money
The Verge AI19 days agoBusinessRobinhood says traders can create a separate account for an AI agent and fund it with a chosen amount of money. The agent will then be able to buy and sell stocks across the market. The move pushes AI agents beyond advice or research into direct financial action, with real gains and losses possible.
Startup Battlefield 200 applications close today: Nominate a founder or submit your startup
TechCrunch AI19 days agoBusinessTechCrunch says today is the final day to apply or nominate a startup for Startup Battlefield 200. The deadline is 11:59 p.m. PT, after which the application window closes. Selected startups can compete for $100,000 in equity-free funding, gain global visibility, connect with investors, and launch on the TechCrunch Disrupt stage.
ElevenLabs’s new music generation model can switch genres mid-track
TechCrunch AI19 days agoNew ToolElevenLabs has introduced a new music generation model focused on finer-grained song editing. According to TechCrunch, users will be able to regenerate a section of a track without affecting the rest of the song. The headline also highlights genre switching mid-track, suggesting the model is aimed at more flexible AI music creation workflows.
TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 Early Bird ticket savings end in 3 days
TechCrunch AI19 days agoBusinessTechCrunch says Early Bird savings for TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 end in 3 days. Attendees can save up to $410 if they buy before the deadline. Early Bird pricing ends May 29 at 11:59 p.m. PT, after which ticket prices will increase.
SOND exits stealth with $7M for AI-powered sleep earbuds
TechCrunch AI19 days agoHardwareSOND is a sleep tech startup led by Bose’s former head of sleep products. The company has emerged from stealth with $7 million in funding. Its announced product focus is AI-powered sleep earbuds, though the source does not provide details on features, pricing, launch timing, or validation data.
This smart bird feeder captures more of my backyard drama
The Verge AI19 days agoHardwareCoolfly Aura is a smart bird feeder designed to record backyard bird visits, interactions, and species sightings. Its modular camera placement can capture more angles, while the app adds AI identification, albums, bird info, and sharing features. The review finds the concept engaging but uneven, with AI limitations in some orientations, app annoyances, subscription limits, and feeder design issues.
How Conductor moved parallel coding agents from the laptop to the cloud with Vercel Sandbox
Vercel Changelog19 days agoBusinessBased on the title, the article describes Conductor shifting parallel coding-agent execution from developers’ laptops to Vercel Sandbox in the cloud. The likely focus is cloud isolation, parallel agent workflows, and reducing dependence on local machine resources. The full article text was not provided, so implementation details, metrics, model choices, and concrete results cannot be confirmed.
ClickHouse triples annualized revenue to $250M, charting a path toward an IPO
TechCrunch AI19 days agoBusinessClickHouse has grown annualized revenue to $250 million, according to TechCrunch. The database provider is now charting a path toward a possible IPO within the next few years. The report signals continued demand for data infrastructure, analytics databases, and cloud software, though it does not provide details on profitability, valuation, customer mix, or a firm listing timeline.
Robinhood now lets your AI agents trade stocks
TechCrunch AI19 days agoBusinessRobinhood will allow users to create a separate account with a pre-loaded balance that an AI agent can use to trade stocks. The limited description suggests a structure where agent activity is separated from the user’s main funds. The article does not specify supported agents, risk controls, launch timing, confirmation flows, or eligible assets.
Tech CEOs are apparently suffering from AI psychosis
TechCrunch AI19 days agoCommentaryTechCrunch highlights a pointed comment from Box CEO Aaron Levie, who says CEOs are uniquely prone to “AI psychosis.” The piece frames this as a possible explanation for executives’ near-religious belief in AI-driven productivity gains. It does not present a product launch, model update, or research finding, but instead functions as a brief commentary on executive AI hype.
The Pope isn’t AGI-pilled
The Verge AI19 days agoEthicsPope Leo XIV released Magnifica Humanitas, an encyclical warning that AI use is never purely technical when it affects people’s lives. The Verge frames the message as a rejection of AGI-centered tech optimism, focusing instead on rights, opportunity, status, and freedom. Anthropic’s cofounder appearing alongside him highlights the growing tension between AI industry leaders, ethics, and public accountability.
US law enforcement warns of “anti-tech extremism” as AI hatred grows
Ars Technica AI19 days agoRegulationDocuments obtained by WIRED show US intelligence and law enforcement agencies circulating reports on a new category described as anti-technology violent extremism. The concern comes amid protests over data centers, fear of AI-driven job loss, and threats involving tech infrastructure or executives. Civil liberties experts warn the category may be broad enough to chill lawful protest and criticism.
Google Cloud on Moving Enterprise AI Agents from PoC to Production
INSIDE 硬塞 AI19 days agoBusinessINSIDE frames enterprise AI through a sharp ROI gap: a 2025 MIT survey said 95% of companies had not seen returns despite massive AI spending. It also cites Gartner’s forecast that Fortune 500 companies may average 150,000 agents by 2028. The article focuses on Google Cloud’s view of how enterprises should prepare for AI agents and allocate IT budgets for real deployment.
Business Owners, Do You Really Know How to Use AI?
INSIDE 硬塞 AI19 days agoOpinionThe article argues that many companies use AI mainly to improve efficiency, without creating meaningful revenue or strategic advantage. It proposes distributed AI, placing intelligence closer to where data is generated to reduce latency and support faster decisions. The key message is that firms should balance centralized and distributed architectures to strengthen competitiveness while preserving greater control over data and digital sovereignty.
Looking Good in Space: THINK SPACE LIFE Rethinks Life Beyond Earth
INSIDE 硬塞 AI19 days agoBusinessJapan’s JAXA created THINK SPACE LIFE to improve astronauts’ quality of life beyond basic survival in space. The platform connects industries to explore products and services for daily living in orbit, including cosmetics and personal-care concepts. The effort also points to a broader market opportunity: innovations designed for space could open new business possibilities both beyond Earth and back on the ground.
Jensen Huang Attends Groundbreaking for NVIDIA’s New Taiwan HQ in Beitou-Shilin
INSIDE 硬塞 AI19 days agoBusinessNVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang appeared at the site of the company’s planned new Taiwan headquarters in Beitou-Shilin. The building centers on a “transparent” design concept, using an all-glass curtain wall to symbolize trustworthiness. According to the report, construction is planned to begin by the end of 2026, with completion and opening expected in 2030.
TSMC Denies Bonus Cut Rumors, Says Annual Employee Bonuses Still Up Over 30%
INSIDE 硬塞 AI19 days agoBusinessINSIDE reports that TSMC addressed rumors claiming employee bonuses would be cut by 15%. President C.C. Wei said that, if performance remains unchanged, annual bonuses would still increase by more than 30%. He framed the move as balancing employee care with social responsibility, while also promising that raises for frontline employees would exceed those for managers.
Global Plug-in Vehicle Sales Top 20 Million as Nepal Hits 68% Share
INSIDE 硬塞 AI19 days agoBusinessGlobal plug-in vehicle sales have surpassed 20 million, but adoption is diverging sharply across markets. The report highlights government subsidies and affordable model supply as the two key drivers. China benefits from both and helps push emerging-market growth, while the U.S. and Taiwan face slower momentum because affordable options remain limited.
SK Hynix Market Cap Hits $1 Trillion, Becoming Asia's Third Trillion-Dollar Company★ 85
INSIDE 硬塞 AI19 days agoBusinessDriven by surging AI demand for High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), SK Hynix's market cap has officially surpassed $1 trillion, joining TSMC and Tencent as Asia's third trillion-dollar company. This milestone highlights SK Hynix's dominant position in the AI hardware supply chain. It also signals a fundamental shift for the memory industry, transforming it from a cyclical commodity into a critical pillar of AI infrastructure.
American Airlines to Equip 500 Aircraft with Starlink, Boosting SpaceX's IPO Prospects
INSIDE 硬塞 AI19 days agoBusinessAmerican Airlines has partnered with SpaceX to equip 500 Airbus aircraft with Starlink high-speed Wi-Fi. This major contract solidifies Starlink's dominance in the aviation connectivity market. The deal provides a crucial commercial milestone for SpaceX ahead of its anticipated IPO, while cementing its competitive standoff against Amazon.
New AI Infra Decacorns: Fireworks, Baseten, and OpenRouter★ 78
Latent Space19 days agoBusinessAI infrastructure startups Fireworks and Baseten have reportedly reached massive valuations, reflecting intense investor interest in developer-focused inference and deployment platforms. OpenRouter, the popular LLM API aggregator, is also on a rapid growth trajectory. This funding wave highlights a major capital shift toward cost-effective, developer-friendly API and hosting solutions.
Qualcomm Reportedly Secures ByteDance AI Chip Deal, Entering Data Center Market★ 78
INSIDE 硬塞 AI19 days agoHardwareQualcomm has reportedly secured a major AI chip order from ByteDance, marking a significant milestone in its expansion into the AI data center market. This partnership represents a crucial victory for Qualcomm as it challenges Nvidia's dominance. For ByteDance, the deal provides a compliant, high-performance alternative to Nvidia's restricted chips under current US export regulations, potentially shifting the landscape of AI hardware procurement.
BenQ and MetaAge Adopt AWS Generative AI for Agentic Coding Productivity Gains
INSIDE 硬塞 AI19 days agoBusinessBenQ is expanding AI across its education and business display ecosystem, including software products such as SummarAI and Meeting Room System. The article says BenQ partnered with MetaAge to adopt Amazon Web Services generative AI. Its main claim is a 20x productivity improvement through Agentic Coding, though the provided excerpt does not include implementation details or measurement methodology.
Experimental native binaries for Vercel CLI
Vercel Changelog19 days agoReleaseVercel’s changelog lists an update titled “Experimental native binaries for Vercel CLI.” The available source text does not provide implementation details, supported platforms, install commands, or performance claims. The main takeaway is that Vercel is experimenting with a native binary distribution path for its CLI, which could matter to developers who rely on Vercel CLI in local workflows or CI automation.
Redesigned Deployments List
Vercel Changelog19 days agoReleaseVercel published a changelog item titled “Redesigned Deployments List,” indicating an update to the deployments list experience. Since the original body is unavailable, specific changes such as filters, columns, sorting, performance, or workflow improvements cannot be confirmed. The likely impact is limited to dashboard usability for teams that regularly inspect deployment history and status in Vercel.
DuckDuckGo installs are up 30% as users reject Google’s AI Search
TechCrunch AI19 days agoBusinessGoogle overhauled Search at I/O 2026, moving away from classic blue links toward AI agents. TechCrunch reports that the backlash was swift, with some users rejecting the feeling of being forced into Google’s AI Search experience. DuckDuckGo app installs rose 30%, suggesting that dissatisfaction with AI-led search changes is already pushing some users toward alternatives.
Millions of AI agents imperiled by critical vulnerability in open source package★ 78
Ars Technica AI20 days agoIncidentArs Technica reports that Starlette, a Python package with about 325 million weekly downloads, has a critical vulnerability called BadHost. The flaw can let crafted Host headers confuse request.url.path, potentially bypassing middleware-based path authorization. AI infrastructure using FastAPI or Starlette, including vLLM, LiteLLM, MCP servers, LLM proxies, and agent frameworks, should upgrade Starlette and audit custom middleware.
OpenRouter more than doubles valuation to $1.3B in a year
TechCrunch AI20 days agoBusinessOpenRouter, an AI gateway startup founded in 2023, raised a $113 million Series B led by CapitalG. The round reportedly values the company at about $1.3 billion post-money, more than doubling from its estimated $547 million valuation after its June 2025 Series A. The company says it now offers access to over 400 models, has 8 million global users, and processes 100 trillion tokens per month.