Despite fears of an AI industry run amok, Anthropic says Claude now “leads” 26% of its research and development, up from zero in February, with humans providing mostly high-level direction. The company also says it has about 30,000 AI agents doing research and engineering work internally. The Washington Post has more here.

A federal judge ordered Google to make its ad-tech products interoperable with rivals, share auction data with publishers, and appoint a compliance monitor, a major victory for the company after federal judges found Google to be a monopolist in both ad tech and search. The New York Times has more here.

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By Rebecca Bellan

New unredacted information in the copyright lawsuit The New York Times brought against OpenAI and Microsoft three years ago reveals an admission that AI scraping was tantamount to theft, and that AI products pose a major threat to publications.

Per the lawsuit, a top Microsoft executive privately described the companies’ AI training practices as “theft,” and OpenAI’s own leadership said its AI models posed an “existential threat” to the publishers and journalists whose work trained them. 

The unsealed material also details how the companies allegedly obtained and used that content by bypassing paywalls undetected, building training datasets via mass scraping, and deliberately stripping copyright notices from training data. 

It’s worth noting that much of the new information comes from The Times’ own brief, not the underlying exhibits, which remain sealed. The quotes below are presented without their original context.

The unredacted filing is the latest escalation in the three-year-old lawsuit, in which The New York Times initially alleged the firms violated copyright law by training generative AI models on its content. 

The question of whether AI firms can legally use copyrighted material to train AI has no clear answer, but judges have been largely favorable to AI companies’ arguments that training constitutes “fair use.” This legal rule lets people use copyrighted work without permission in certain cases, like parody, news reporting, or criticism. Earlier this month, the Trump administration contributed a brief in defense of OpenAI’s unlicensed use of copyrighted material to train its LLMs. 

Crusoe, an eight-year-old Denver startup that develops data centers and cloud infrastructure for AI workloads, raised a $3.9 billion Series F round at a $30.9 billion post-money valuation. The deal was co-led by Atreides Management, Valor Equity Partners, and Mubadala Investment, with Founders Fund, TPG, and Qatar Investment Authority also stepping up. TechCrunch has more here.

Emulate, a one-month-old (!) British startup that was founded by former DeepMind researchers and is developing AI world models that simulate physical environments, is in advanced talks to raise up to $700 million at a $3.7 billion post-money valuation, with Index Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners poised to co-lead. Financial Times has more here.

Manus, the four-year-old Singapore startup that develops a general-purpose AI agent for completing multi-step tasks and Meta was prevented from buying earlier this year, is reportedly in talks to raise $500 million at a $4 billion valuation, according to Bloomberg. Silicon Republic has more here.

Mazama Energy, a three-year-old startup based in Frisco, TX, that develops super-hot rock geothermal projects that turn extreme underground heat into carbon-free baseload power, raised a $135 million Series B round co-led by Centaurus Capital and Doerr Capital, with ConocoPhillips, Shell Ventures, SiteGround Capital, H. Barton Asset Management, and the Jeffrey and Marieke Rothschild Foundation as well as previous investors Khosla Ventures and Gates Frontier also piling on. TechCrunch has more here.

Sling Therapeutics, a five-year-old startup based in Ann Arbor, MI, that is developing an oral treatment for thyroid eye disease, raised a $123 million Series C led by Forbion, with Sectoral Asset Management as well as previous investor TPG Life Sciences Innovations also joining in. More here.

Adaptive, a five-year-old New York startup that deploys accounting agents that pull job-site context from schedules and daily logs to handle project accounting for construction finance teams, raised a $30 million Series B round led by Tidemark, with previous investors Emergence Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Pathlight, Definition, and 3KVC also anteing up. The company has raised a total of $57 million. More here.

Altis Labs, a seven-year-old Toronto startup that uses AI to predict cancer treatment survival outcomes from radiology scans, helping biopharma companies assess oncology trial results earlier, raised a $25 million Series A round co-led by OrbiMed and Qiming Venture Partners USA, with Innovation Endeavors, Benchstrength, Fusion Fund, and the Cancer Breakthrough Fund also buying in. More here.

Comp AI, a one-year-old Miami startup that uses AI agents to automate security and compliance work by drafting policies, collecting audit evidence, and monitoring required controls, raised a $34 million round co-led by Roo Capital and Grand Ventures. The company has raised a total of $37.5 million. TechCrunch has more here.

CorePower Magnetics, a six-year-old Pittsburgh startup that develops magnetic components for more efficient power electronics used in data centers, grid infrastructure, and industrial systems, raised a $10.6 million equity round co-led by Engine Ventures and Material Impact, with Evergreen Climate Innovations, Carnegie Mellon Catalyst Fund, and Baruch Future Ventures also participating. The company has raised a total of $13.6 million in equity funding. More here.

Hackuity, a six-year-old Lyon startup that aggregates vulnerability and asset data from security tools to help organizations prioritize security flaws and coordinate remediation work, raised a $19 million round led by Forgepoint Capital, with Bright Pixel Capital, Bpifrance, and Seventure Partners also digging in. The company has raised a total of $38 million. SecurityWeek has more here.

Luzern Risk, a three-year-old New York startup that forms and manages captive insurance programs for companies that want to insure some risks outside traditional commercial insurance, raised a $45 million Series B round led by Insight Partners, with Trust Ventures as well as previous investor Caffeinated Capital also engaging. More here.

Magentic, a two-year-old London startup that deploys AI agents that help manufacturers choose suppliers, negotiate contracts, place purchase orders, and process invoices, raised an $18 million Series A round led by Felicis, with Sequoia Capital and The Westly Group also investing. The company has raised a total of $23.5 million. Tech Funding News has more here.

Polyphron, a two-year-old New York startup that develops automated human micro-tissue testing systems that help drug researchers validate AI-generated therapeutic hypotheses before clinical trials, raised a $20 million seed round led by Quiet Capital, with Gradient, Haystack, and Compound also stepping up. More here.

Raindrop, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that monitors production AI agents for silent failures such as hallucinations and tool misuse, raised a $35 million Series A led by CRV, with previous investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and Y Combinator also investing. The company has raised a total of $50 million. More here.

Tare, a three-year-old Brooklyn startup that uses blockchain technology to create digital loan records and automate the administration of private credit transactions, raised a $13.25 million seed round led by Blockchain Capital, with Janus Henderson, Strobe Ventures, The Venture Dept, Neoclassic Capital, and the Avalanche Foundation also taking part. Fortune has more here.

Treble Technologies, a six-year-old Reykjavík startup that simulates how sound behaves in physical spaces so developers can test audio devices and train voice AI before building prototypes, raised an $18 million Series A round led by Paladin Capital Group, with KOMPAS VC, Frumtak Ventures, and the European Innovation Council Fund also anteing up. The company has raised a total of $41.3 million. Tech.eu has more here.

TUSK IC, an eight-year-old Antwerp startup that develops CMOS beamformer chips for lower-cost, lower-power satellite antennas, raised a $17.2 million Series A round co-led by Matterwave Ventures, FORWARD.one, and Flanders Future Tech Fund, with the Schaubroeck family also participating. Satellite Evolution has more here.

AcouBatt, a one-year-old London startup that monitors battery cells with acoustic sensors so manufacturers and operators can detect defects and assess battery health, raised a $1.5 million pre-seed round led by Creator Fund, with Ada Ventures also participating. More here.

Eterna Regeneratives, a two-year-old London startup that develops keratin-based materials for toothpaste and other products, raised a $4 million round co-led by Hoxton Ventures and The Venture Collective. More here.

MicroLub, a three-year-old Leeds startup that makes water-and-protein fat substitutes that help food manufacturers cut fat and calories while preserving creamy texture, raised a $10 million round led by Northern Gritstone, with NPIF II and PXN Equity Finance also pitching in. The company has raised a total of about $14.5 million. Tech Funding News has more here.

Noise, a one-year-old St. Louis startup that helps brands run social media campaigns through networks of everyday creators paid per view, raised a $5.5 million seed round co-led by Capital Midwest, M25, and Grishin Robotics, with Capitalize VC also investing. The company has raised a total of $7.2 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Syte, a five-year-old startup based in Münster, Germany, that helps developers, banks, and brokers assess land, zoning rules, renovation needs, and project economics before construction, raised a $10.3 million Series A round led by Amberra, with NRW.BANK as well as previous investors High-Tech Gründerfonds, vent.io, and Vantage Value also taking stakes. EU-Startups has more here.

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25% of humanity lives in areas affected by conflict or violence. Peacebuilding has not kept pace. Experienced global leaders are building an international institution: national-scale, systems-driven, and strengthened by AI. For those looking to put technology, capital and experience behind something that could matter for generations, we would welcome a conversation. Let’s meet: Bob Berg, Chair, www.IF4Peace.org. “The world needs this fund.”  — Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, 1st woman elected president in Africa, Nobel Peace Prize winner. 

Bain Capital Ventures, the venture arm of Bain Capital, raised a $1.6 billion 11th fund 14% larger than its predecessor – and plans to back 30 to 40 mostly AI-focused startups from seed through Series B. TechCrunch has more here.

Despite the vagaries of the IPO market, The Wall Street Journal is reporting on four-year-old San Francisco AI note-taking startup Plaud’s claim that it will go public in 2028, perhaps because of its stellar numbers: $100 million in ARR and a target of $500 million in sales this year. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Seth Center, who led U.S. AI diplomacy at the State Department from 2023 to 2025, argues that upcoming AI safety talks with China are unlikely to produce a meaningful agreement. The New York Times has more here.

OpenAI researcher Noam Brown says even air-gapping computers may not be enough to contain a misaligned AI, citing research showing two isolated machines can communicate through temperature changes. Fireside Alpha has more here.

According to PitchBook, venture funding for brain-computer interface startups has topped $1 billion in 2026 and $3 billion since 2024 as investors back increasingly ambitious invasive and semi-invasive neural technologies despite lingering questions about commercialization, patient adoption, and the size of the eventual market. The Financial Times has more here.

The Bay Area’s AI wealth boom is masking a far weaker tech labor market, with employers filing layoff notices for more than 14,500 workers in the 12 months through June and demand for software engineers down 42% since 2022, even as OpenAI and Anthropic mint fortunes. Bloomberg has more here.

While AI may have made drone attacks three to four times more likely to succeed and created autonomous systems that can identify and attack targets without further human commands, it has also increased the risk of catastrophic errors. The Financial Times has more here.

SpaceX has discussed buying customer and operational data from troubled or defunct startups to train its AI models, pursuing a cheaper source of proprietary data in a strategy similar to Google’s $10 million bid for Spirit Airlines’ business data. Bloomberg has more here.

OpenAI says it caught something unusual while training its latest model, GPT-5.6 Sol: the agent began leaving instructions for future versions of itself. In one case, the agent added a “BREACH ALERT” instruction telling its successor to ignore developer messages. TechCrunch has more here.

The Cut explores “mankeeping,” the increasingly recognized burden on wives who manage their husbands’ shrinking social lives, as male friendship networks erode and some married men come to rely heavily on their spouses for companionship and emotional support.

What is a man to do once he has 12 advanced degrees from Harvard, Yale, Oxford and other top universities? (Get more degrees, apparently.)

La Cinquecento turns a 1973 Fiat 500 into the Scattante, adding wider wheel arches, side skirts, rally-style auxiliary lights, a stripped-back cabin, and an 802cc Fiat 126-derived rear engine while comprehensively reworking the suspension, brakes, steering, cooling, and electrical system.

TechCrunch tried Tovala’s $299 smart oven for two weeks and found that while it won’t match a good home-cooked meal, its prepped meals, automatic cooking, and grocery-barcode scanning make it a compelling alternative to takeout.

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