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Google built a great smart speaker, but Gemini isn’t ready for it
AI | The Verge
Smart speakers have spent the past few years searching for a compelling second act. Beyond music, timers, and controlling your lights, they've struggled to justify taking up space on the kitchen counter. AI promised to change that. Amazon debuted its new hardware powered by a rev
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SpaceX has an AI device prototype, and it sure sounds phone-ish
AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch
SpaceX reportedly showed investors a "handset-like" AI device before going public. It could be another signal SpaceX wants to expand into wireless.
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Ashton Kutcher leaving Sound Ventures to launch new VC firm with Morgan Beller
AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch
Sound built its reputation on concentrated, high-conviction bets in category-leading AI labs, while Kutcher's new fund appears to be chasing the layer underneath those companies — the infrastructure and energy that power them.
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Cloudflare’s new policy pushes AI companies to pay for publishers’ content
AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch
Cloudflare is giving AI companies until September 15 to separate web crawlers used for search from those used for AI training and agents, or risk being blocked by default on many publisher sites.
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Venice AI becomes a unicorn with $65M Series A as its privacy-first AI platform takes off
AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch
Venice AI is already profitable, with annualized run-rate revenues of over $70 million, CEO Erik Voorhees said.
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Gemini Spark, Google’s agentic assistant, is now available on Mac
AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch
Google's 24/7 agentic assistant, Gemini Spark, comes to Mac alongside other improvements, like real-time tracking and support for more apps.
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Builders Stage agenda revealed: Practical strategies for scaling startups at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026
AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch
The Builders Stage is returning to TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, bringing together 10,000+ founders, startup operators, and investors for practical conversations. and Q&A on what it takes to build and scale successful companies. Register now to save up to $330.
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Meta, like SpaceX, looks to turn excess AI compute into cash
AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch
Meta is developing plans for a cloud infrastructure business, selling access to AI compute power and models. The move would pit it against the big cloud providers like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure.
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Deploying retail AI to scale personalisation and customer insight
AI News
Optimising retail AI infrastructure drives the successful deployment of personalisation systems and real-time customer insight. Leaders are replacing static customer interaction patterns with data pipelines capable of modifying the user environment during a live session. Static l
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Japan’s answer to its worker shortage: An AI model for 10 million robots
AI News
Japan’s AI robots plan just went from a talking point to a formal national strategy. This week, the government confirmed the numbers everyone’s been quoting: 10 million AI-powered robots deployed across 18 industries by 2040, backed by public funding of up to one trillion yen, or
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Bank of England reviews AI rules for agentic AI in finance
AI News
The Bank of England is reviewing whether existing rules can cover the use of agentic AI in finance, including payments, trading, cybersecurity, and operations. Deputy Governor Sarah Breeden said existing regulatory frameworks were not designed for AI agents that can act without d
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Anthropic deploys Claude Sonnet 5, Fable and Mythos restored
AI News
Anthropic has launched Claude Sonnet 5 and restored access to its Fable and Mythos frontier models following a federal export control review. The decision marks the conclusion of an eighteen-day operational pause triggered by a US government export control directive on June 12, w
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