Latest AI News
Arcee, a US open source AI lab, says Chinese models are not inherently dangerous
As Chinese open-weight AI models grow incapability and popularity, arguments about whatshould be done about themhave once again reached a fever pitch. There’stalkthat the Trump administration might try to ban them (though ithasn’t yet actedon the idea). Meanwhile, proprietary model makers, particularly OpenAI and Anthropic,appearincreasingly concerned about them. Open-weight models such as Moonshot AI’s Kimi K3 or Alibaba’s Qwen offer inference at a fraction of the token cost of closed source models from these large U.S. labs. The fear is that they also pose some sort of threat. Certainly they threaten the profit margins of the large proprietary AI labs. But should enterprises running these models in their own data centers succumb to the fear that they could be a vector for Chinese hackers? No, says Lucas Atkins, the CTO ofArcee, which is building open models togive U.S. companies a homegrown alternative to Chinese models. If any startup would benefit from a ban on Chinese models, Arcee would. But Atkins says China’s open models are no more dangerous than any other open source software a company may use. In fact, he says, they even offer benefits even to his own company. “A lot of people view this as similar to a Chinese software program. Like, it was coded with these x, y, z intentions” that a bad actor could simply command, he said. “That is fundamentally not how these models are trained. There is really not any way for an Arcee, or an Alibaba, to make a model, have someone run it in their own environment and for us have any access to it whatsoever,” he explained. While most of these models are what’s known as “open weight” and are not really fully open source software, the source code (the part that will actually run on servers), if it is downloaded from open source sites like Hugging Face, is similarly largely visible and reviewable. (What isn’t available is the methods and data used to train the models.) Large organizations should put any model core through their security testing and inspection processes, and they will also often post-train the models for their specific uses and can examine areas like bias, toxicity, hallucinations, and sensitivity to certain topics. So they work with, optimize, and understand the models before people start sending them prompts. Could a model that is used for coding somehow throw malicious backdoors into the code it writes? Again, while that’s theoretically possible, it would require acrobatic feats to accomplish. “There’s no reason that a sophisticated enough actor couldn’t train a model to be a completely amazing coding model in every circumstance, but when presented with a certain type of code base … some hidden training would kick in,” Atkins, who spends his days training models, postulated. But he adds: “I don’t know how you would do this.” Because large language models are by nature creative, the odds are slim of getting a contemporary model to spit out malware in response to a preplanned perfect storm of context and prompt. Even slimmer are the chances that any enterprise would then use that code. Could it happen in the future? That’s anyone’s guess. But enterprises are also building their AI apps to be model-agnostic and to use multiple models. So even if Chinese models are the best for the price today, enterprises won’t be locked into using them forever. “I think instead of the conversation being about how to ban Chinese models, it should be about how do we foster a good, open ecosystem here in the U.S.,” Atkins says. Arcee also gains advantages from Chinese models. Because they are open, the startup “benefits from those models being good because we can learn what they did. We can build on top of them. Then they can learn what we do,” he says. “We have tremendous respect for the people building those models, the individual researchers.” Ultimately, the way to compete with Chinese models “is to release a model that is better,” says Atkins. “We need to give them something to talk about.”
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Monday.com lays off hundreds to focus on AI
Israeli workplace software maker Monday.com is laying off hundreds of employees as part of a restructuring plan to refocus its investments around AI projects. The companysaidit is reducing its headcount by 20%, or about 630 staff, to “support a leaner, more focused operating model” as it concentrates on its AI Work Platform. Monday.com earlier this yearpivotedhard toward making its AI platform a core offering, redesigning its entire product around the belief that its enterprise customers increasingly want AI agents to work together with their employees. The AI Work Platform currently comprises a no-code app builder, a customizable AI agent, a workflow automation tool, and a chatbot that can do tasks like generating reports and updating dashboards. The company joinsa host of large tech firmsthat have laid off hundreds of thousands of people as they seek to invest more in AI. Tech layoffs in May hit amonthly highunseen in years, and a record 78% of companies have blamed a need to refocus their efforts around AI as a reason for letting people go this year, according to Layoffs.fyi. More than122,000 tech roleshave been cut so far in 2026, Layoffs.fyi data shows. Monday.com expects to incur $45 million to $55 million in charges due to the restructuring.
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Yope raises $12.3M to build a private social network without algorithms or ads
As social media has evolved from a place to connect with friends into large-scale entertainment platforms, a startup calledYopeis quietly building what it believes will be the future of online connection: social networking with no algorithms, no ads, and no public content. Yope’s app, now backed by a $12.3 million seed round led byNorthzone, is taking on tech giants like Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram by building a social platform centered on what it refers to as “micro communities” — or small groups where friends and family interact in private, sharing photos, videos, messages, and soon, playing games. The idea of building algorithm-free, private social media is not new, but few apps have managed to scale without the addition of creator content to keep users engaged. Yope hopes to change that by encouraging connections between real-world friends, making it as much a communication tool as a place to share photos or life updates. OnYope, accounts are private by default, and there’s no algorithmic feed. It’s also not supported by advertising, instead focusing on developing a premium, subscription-based experience for power users. Bahram Ismailau, Yope’s London-based co-founder and CEO, says the team saw the potential for a new type of social network after conducting over 100,000 interviews — aided by AI tools — to better understand how young people around the world were using social networks. They found that around 30% were using what are often called photo dump or “spam” accounts, where users share more candid photos with a smaller group of real-life friends. Meanwhile, many people don’t share anything publicly, relying instead on messaging to keep up with friends. “[Young people] don’t have any place to self-express if they are not ready to be an influencer,” Ismailu pointed out in an interview with TechCrunch. Yet teens still want to do so; they just want more privacy. “We found this big opportunity to create a new space for young people to be social. We called it Yope, and it’s an AI-native social platform for young people and the next generation.” He clarified that the team doesn’t believe in using AI to create content; rather, it sees AI as a tool that can help create better connections. That includes using AI to create mini-games that you can play with your friends, a feature expected to launch in about a month. It also aims to leverage AI to help users meet up in real life, perhaps by buying tickets to an event, or finding a restaurant or bar where they can watch a football game. On Yope, users create their own profiles by sharing photos, which can be turned into cut-out stickers. Instead of being organized into albums, the photos are displayed in a collage-like, almost chaotic arrangement across each user’s “wall.” Soon, Yope users will be able to further customize their space by adding their interests, favorite music, and the mini-games, as well as customizing the look and feel with colors and wallpapers of their choosing. The idea recalls Myspace, where users once carved out their own place on the web, and customized it to reflect their personalities. The app also heavily borrows from existing social platforms, offering what are now-standard features like in-app messaging, recaps of top moments (Yope’s are created by AI), and lock screen widgets that showcase your friends’ photos. During onboarding, the app walks users through setting up its various features and granting the permissions it needs to access their photos and find their friends, encouraging them to add connections and start private chats. The combination of features appears to be working — Yope now has nearly 15 million registered users, who have collectively shared between 10 million and 20 million pieces of content daily, including individual photos, videos, or stickers. Those metrics suggest regular use. Ismailu claims more than 50% of Yope’s users open the app at least five days per week, essentially making them power users. And it’s not just young people adding their friends. Ismailu says around 20% of active users have invited an older family member to join them on the app. The usage attracted investor attention, Ismailu says, as Northzone approached the company, not the other way around. Northzone, which has backed other consumer apps like Spotify and Klarna, led the $12.3 million round, with participation from Inovo, Redseed, and Geek Ventures. The round brings the company’s total funding to $20 million. (Yope is the result of two prior pivots —TechCrunch covered an earlier version of the company. The current version has been in development for roughly two years.) “Yope is a fresh, empowering and safe take on social media where the users are in full control of their experience in contrast to the predatory practices of Meta, TikTok or X,” said Pär-Jörgen Pärson, Partner at Northzone, in a statement. “We are very excited to partner with Bahram, Paul [Rudkouski, co-founder] and their team to build the service far beyond the current millions of users and half a billion moments shared.” The funding will be used to further develop the product, grow the team — now around 35 people — and establish an office in the United States. Yope is a free download oniOSandAndroid.
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Travis Kalanick’s robotics company raises $1.7B, led by a16z
Travis Kalanick’s robotics company, Atoms, has raised $1.7 billion in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz. Ben Horowitz will join the company’s board following the investment. Bain Capital, Fifth Wall, and others participated in the round. Perhaps most notably, Uber also joined the funding round, re-connecting Kalanick with the company he founded — and the same company that pushed him out as CEO in 2017 following complaints of sexual harassment, discrimination, and a toxic workplace. Atoms is essentially a rebranded holding company created atop the project Kalanick has been working on since he resigned from Uber, a ghost kitchen play called Cloud Kitchens. When he revealed the new name in March, Kalanick announced he had acquired Pronto, the heavy industry automation company run by his former Uber colleague Anthony Levandowski. Kalanick has also said he wants to get into mining with atoms, going beyond what Pronto already does for vehicles in that industry. Last year, it was reported that Kalanick wasinterested in buyingthe U.S. arm of Chinese self-driving vehicle company Pony AI with backing from Uber. The Information reported in March that those talks had ended. In aposton X about the fundraise, Kalanick didn’t go into specifics about what he wants to build with Atoms. “On many levels, this round is a bit of unfinished business. Fuel to complete the bits-to-atoms story arc we started at Uber, continued at CloudKitchens and will now finish at Atoms,” Kalanick wrote. “16 years ago, I started a journey to digitize the physical world. Understand, predict and control the physical world with software. Building ‘atoms-based’ computers where CPU is manufacturing, storage is real estate, and network is transportation.” Kalanick has said he wants to build a “wheelbase for robots” with Atoms. “Travis is Back,” declared a simultaneouspostfrom Ben Horowitz on Wednesday. “It takes a rare kind of entrepreneur to change these old-school, heavy parts of our economy. They need a gritty work ethic, drive, and range that spans across domains, from software architecture to mechanical engineering. Travis is that guy,” said Horowitz. Horowitz wrote that Atoms will be all about making people more productive in the physical world. “I think the most valuable thing someone could do with AI and robotics is to repeat the same thing Uber did for transportation, or that computers did for the digital world: to make everything and everyonemore productive,” his post reads. Kalanick didn’t go into specifics, but it sounds like a good chunk of funding will go towards hiring. “Changemakers, the builders of tomorrow’s progress machines, will inevitably go up against the final boss, Nature and its fierce resistance to change. Nature is going to throw everything it has at the builders in this new industrial age and it’s going to take humanity’s strongest to stay the course and get these complex systems and industries over the finish line,” he wrote.
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How an OpenAI’s human mistake led to the AI-powered hack on Hugging Face
On Tuesday, OpenAI revealed that one of its modelswent rogue during a test and hacked the systems of AI dataset platform Hugging Face in a fully AI-enabled attack, a dramatic example of the dangers posed by advanced AI models. But, according to some cybersecurity experts, at the heart of this unprecedented AI-powered breach there was a very human mistake: OpenAI failed to properly configurewhat it calleda “highly isolated environment,” allowing a testing sandbox that should have been completely secluded from the internet to actually connect to the internet. Dan Guido, the founder of cybersecurity research startup Trail of Bits called the mistake “a containment failure with the safeties turned off.” In its blog post detailing the incident, OpenAI said that the test that led to the Hugging Face breach was set up to run in “a highly isolated environment, with network access constrained to the ability to install packages through an internally hosted third-party software that acts as a proxy and cache for package registries.” The model was able to escape the sandboxed testing environment thanks to a previously undisclosed vulnerability in the package-installation system, a critical first step in the eventual hack on Hugging Face, according to OpenAI. In response, the company “responsibly disclosed the identified zero-day vulnerability in the internally-hosted third-party software and are working with them to patch.” But to most cybersecurity professionals, software vulnerabilities are to be expected — and the real fault lies with the decision to maintain the third-party software in the first place. Ultimately, the value of a “sandbox” system lies in its full and total isolation. Including a package-installation system is asking for trouble. Martin Boone, a cybersecurity researcher, told TechCrunch that “this sounds like human failure.” “This should never have happened,” Boone said. “If sandbox would actually mean sandbox, you expect it to have no physical connection to the internet whatsoever. This sounds more like they had some firewalling or something in place, and firewalling is hard from the outside in, let alone inside to the outside internet.” Cybersecurity veteran Jake Williams agreed. “Any model performing the types of actions documented by Hugging Face was not fully contained in a sandbox,” said Williams, who called this “a massive control failure” by OpenAI. “One man’s ‘the model escaped the sandbox’ is another man’s ‘you failed to build the sandbox correctly, so of course it escaped,’” Williams continued. Contact UsDo you have more information about this incident? Or about other AI-enabled cyberattacks? We’d love to hear from you. From a non-work device and network, you can contact Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai securely on Signal at +1 917 257 1382, or via Telegram and Keybase @lorenzofb, oremail. Daniel Card, a cybersecurity consultant, agreed that OpenAI “didn’t put adequate effort into the design of the sandbox nor its controls” by giving the sandbox or some part of it “an unfiltered route to the internet.” Setting up the sandbox, even with limited network access as OpenAI described it, was not a “reasonable” decision, according to Card. To be sure, those criticisms have the benefit of hindsight, but they raise real questions about security practices in AI labs – particularly in maintaining isolated environments for testing models. OpenAI spokespeople did not respond to TechCrunch’s questions, which included whether an AI or a human had set up the testing environment. But those questions go far beyond OpenAI. In the documentintroducing its cybersecurity-focused modelMythos, Anthropic wrote that in a test, the model “was provided with a secured ‘sandbox’ computer to interact with,” and instructed to try to escape that “secure container.” Mythos succeeded and gained broader access to the internet “from a system that was meant to be able to reach only a small number of predetermined services.” Still, Anthropic noted that the model was not able to “fully” escape the designed containment.
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US Accuses Moonshot AI of Distilling Anthropic’s Fable to Build Kimi K3
The allegations mark the latest escalation in the US-China AI rivalry, bringing model distillation and intellectual property protection back into focus.
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Passionfroot raises $15M to expand its B2B creator marketplace to the US
Passionfroot, a German startup building a marketplace connecting B2B creators with brands, said on Wednesday it has raised $15 million in a Series A funding round led by Insight Partners. Rebecca Liu-Doyle, managing director at Insight Partners, said Passionfroot is placed well at a time when creators are specializing as AI companies look for more visibility. “Passionfroot has the perfect dynamics on both sides to warrant a true marketplace for B2B creators. On the demand side, there is increasing consumerization of the way B2B brands go to market. That’s a product of, in part, AI technology requiring evangelism, narrative building, and education. On the supply side, there are people who have real expertise, understand a market deeply, and want to create quality content,” she told TechCrunch over a call. With the funding, the Berlin-based startup’s co-founder and CEO, Jen Phan, is moving to New York, where Passionfroot is opening an office to expand its U.S. operations. The company is also opening an office in São Paulo, and expanding its current headcount of 15 employees. As AI makes it easier to build products, companies are focusing on using creators to improve brand recall and recognition, Phan said. “Every head of marketing or growth leader I’m talking to is saying really the same thing: AI is commoditizing software and flooding every category with new products, features, and launches. It’s incredibly crowded and noisy. That is why B2B buyers are going to channels like LinkedIn, a creator’s Substack, or a podcast on YouTube to discover new products and tools,” she said. Phan said over the last year, the company increased its revenue by 13 times, and onboarded clients such as ElevenLabs, Figma, Replit, Framer, and Gamma. Since its last fundraise in 2024, the company has released an AI agent called Zest, which helps brands create, execute and monitor the performance of campaigns. Passionfruit claims Zest can also help companies find suitable creators both inside and outside the platform that are suited to its marketing strategy. The startup says it uses a proprietary creator graph based on data about reach and performance from thousands of campaigns. There’s also a wallet that companies can use to pay creators across the globe, and measure their expenditure. Passionfroot claims it has paid at least $10 million to creators on its platform in the last 18 months. The company says it is working on helping its clients measure how a campaign is impacting AI citations, and how their brand appears in AI-powered answers. The startup is also planning to build AI features for creators, such as helping them with monetization tips and content ideas. The funding comes as creator platforms like Substack and Beehiiv move to help creators find better monetization opportunities. Beehiiv launcheda new community and ad marketplace last week, and Substack hasintroduced subscriber-only perks within newsletters. Passionfroot’s Series A also saw participation from existing investors Creandum, Supernode Global, and s16vc. The company has raised more than $21 million so far.
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The browser wars aren’t about search anymore — here are the best alternatives to Chrome and Safari
The browser wars have entered a new phase this year: The fight isn’t just over search results anymore — it’s over which company’s AI gets to act on your behalf inside the browser. Google Chrome and Apple’s Safari still dominate the market overall, with Chrome’s edge coming largely from how aggressively it has woven generative AI into search. But 2026 has brought a wave of new entrants — from well-funded startups to Big Tech — all betting that the browser is about to become less like a window onto the web and more like an assistant that gets things done for you. Users looking for alternatives to Chrome and Safari can choose from a growing variety of browsers aimed at challenging the industry giants. To help navigate the competitive landscape, we’ve compiled an overview of some of the top alternative browsers available today. This includes browsers leveraging AI, open source browsers that promote customization and privacy, and “mindful browsers” — a new term that refers to browsers designed to enhance user well-being. Perplexitylaunched its AI-powered web browserin July 2025. CalledComet, the company’s new product acts as a chatbot-based search engine and can perform actions like summarizing emails, browsing web pages, and performing tasks such as sending calendar invites. It’s currently only available to users with Perplexity’s $200/month Max plan, but there’s also a waitlist where people can sign up. The Browser Company, the startup behind the Arc browser,introducedDialast summer. The AI-centric browser looks similar to Google Chrome but has an AI chat tool. Dia is designed to help users navigate the web more easily. It’s able to look at every website that a user has visited and every website they’re logged into, enabling it to help you find information and perform tasks. For instance, Dia can provide information about the page a user is currently browsing, answer questions about a product, and summarize uploaded files. Dia is currently free to download. Operaenteredthe AI agentic browser war in May 2025 withNeon, which has contextual awareness and can do things like researching, shopping, and writing snippets of code. Notably, it can even perform tasks while the user is offline. Neon is currently available on macOS and Windows. The subscription costs $19.90 per month. Last October, OpenAI launched its AI-powered web browser, calledAtlas. The browser allowed users to ask ChatGPT about search results and browse websites within the chatbot instead of being directed to outside links. There was also an “agent mode” for users to ask ChatGPT to complete tasks on their behalf. However, the company recently decided toshut down the browserand instead incorporate some of the agentic browsing capabilities into ChatGPT’s desktop app and Chrome extension. Backed by Y Combinator,Asideis an AI-first, browser-native automation platform built to autonomously complete tasks, fill out forms, and manage data on behalf of users. The company describes the experience simply: “Give it your passwords, browsing history, and browser context.” Unlike traditional automation tools that rely on integrations, Aside operates directly within the browser itself, allowing it to work across Gmail, Notion, Slack, Figma, and banking platforms. Jatterlaunched its AI-powered browser in June, giving users the ability to ask questions about any web page, uncover relevant insights, and receive personalized recommendations based on their browsing activity. Additionally, Jatter offers an integrated Notes app, so it can learn from that content, summarize notes, and surface key details. Jatter is currently available on Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android devices. It’s free to use, but there’s an optional subscription for $10 per month. Braveis among the more well-knownprivacy-first browsers, popular for its built-in ad and tracker blocking capabilities. It also has a gamified approach to browsing, rewarding users with its own cryptocurrency called Basic Attention Token (BAT). When users choose to opt in to view ads, supporting their favorite websites, they get a share of the ad revenue. Additional features include a VPN service,an AI assistant, anda video calling feature. DuckDuckGois anotherbrowserthat many people are probably already familiar with, thanks to its search engine by the same name. Launched in 2008, the company recently made significant investments in its browser to stay competitive byintroducing generative AI features, such as a chatbot. It alsoenhanced its scam blockerto detect a wider range of scams, including fake cryptocurrency exchanges, scareware tactics, and fraudulent e-commerce websites. In addition to blocking scams, DuckDuckGo prevents trackers and ads, and it doesn’t track user data, resulting in fewer pop-ups for users. Ladybird, led by GitHub co-founder and former CEO Chris Wanstrath, has an ambitious mission compared to rivals — it aims to build an entirely new open source browser from scratch. This means it will not rely on code from existing browsers, a feat that has rarely been accomplished. Most alternative web browsers depend on the Chromium open source project maintained by Google, which is the most widely used base for many browsers. Like other privacy-focused browsers, Ladybird will offer features to minimize data collection, such as a built-in ad blocker and the ability to block third-party cookies. The browser has yet to be launched, with an alpha version scheduled for release this year for early adopters, available on Linux and macOS. Vivaldiis a Chromium-basedbrowsercreated by one of the original developers of the Opera browser. Its biggest selling point is its customizable user interface, which allows users to change the appearance and enable or disable features. One unique feature is that the browser window changes color to match the website being viewed. Other key features include ad blocking, a password manager, no user data tracking, and productivity tools such as a calendar and notes. Operalaunchedthe Air browser in February 2025, becoming one of the first mindfulness-themed browsers in the space. WhileOpera Airfunctions like a typical web browser, it includes unique features designed to support mental well-being. These features consist of break reminders and breathing exercises. Another feature, called “Boosts,” provides a selection of binaural beats to either help improve focus or relaxation. SigmaOSis a Mac-only browser featuring a workspace-style interface that emphasizes productivity. It displays tabs vertically, allowing users to treat them like a to-do list that can be marked as complete or snoozed for later. Users can create workspaces — essentially groups of tabs — to better organize different activities, such as separating work from entertainment. This Y Combinator-backed browser hasbeen aroundfor a few years now and has introduced moreAI features,including the ability to summarize various elements of a web page, such as ratings, reviews, and prices. It also has anAI assistantthat can answer questions, translate text, and rewrite content. SigmaOS is free to use, but users who want more than three workspaces can subscribe to a plan for $8 per month, which provides unlimited workspaces. Zen Browseraims to create a “calmer internet” with its open source browser. Zen lets users organize tabs into Workspaces, and offers Split View to view two tabs side by side, among other productivity-focused features. Users can also enhance their browsing experience with community-made plug-ins and themes, such as a mod that makes the tab background transparent. This story has been updated after publication to include newly launched browsers.
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IICT’s Big Bet to Make India an Animation, Gaming & AI Powerhouse
IICT CEO Vishwas Deoskar says India's challenge has never been storytelling but combining it with technology. The institute is betting on AI, AVGC-XR education and startup incubation to change that.
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Why Enterprises Need Agentic Control Towers to Contain Rogue AI
As enterprises deploy AI agents faster than they can govern them, India's GCCs and financial institutions are becoming ‘agentic control towers’.
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AMD to Invest Up to $5 Bn in Anthropic, Supply Up to 2 GW of MI450 GPUs
Anthropic will use AMD’s Helios systems for training and inference, while AMD adopts Claude across its engineering teams.
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Google Launches Gemini 3.6 Flash and Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite, Reveals Gemini 4 to Be in Training
Google on Wednesday expanded its Gemini family with the launch of Gemini 3.6 Flash and Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite. As per the Mountain View-based tech giant, its latest models are aimed at executing high-volume AI and agentic workloads more efficiently. Gemini 3.6 Flash is claimed to use 17 percent fewer output tokens than Gemini 3.5 Flash on the Artificial Analysis Index. Meanwhile, Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is positioned as the fastest model in the 3.5 series, generating up to 350 output tokens per second.
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