OpenAI disclosed six new instances of “concerning” model behavior over the past six months, including models concealing mistakes, using a leaked API key without authorization, communicating through unsanctioned channels, and uploading files to the internet. CNBC has more here.

In separate news, rogue OpenAI agents hijacked two Hugging Face accounts and probed the site for vulnerabilities as early as May, nearly two months before the July breach that drew global attention, suggesting warning signs emerged well before the larger incident. Reuters has more here.

According to The New York Times, OpenAI is seeking a new funding round at a $1.5 trillion valuation, roughly double its most recent $730 billion mark and considerably higher than the $1.2 trillion number the Financial Times previously reported. More here.

TechCrunch exclusively reveals that Automattic CFO Mark Davies and chief legal officer Andy Missan signed off on each other’s exit packages during CEO Matt Mullenweg’s 33-hour ouster, potentially entitling them to a combined $8.15 million after Mullenweg returned and fired them. TechCrunch has more here.

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By Connie Loizos

Al Gore has spent more than two decades as one of the most recognizable voices in the climate movement, so when he talks about AI, it’s worth paying attention to what he considers truly scary. And it isn’t what has people protesting data centers in the streets.

In an interview with TechCrunch this week alongside Lila Preston, head of growth equity at their investment firm Generation Investment Management, Gore said emissions from AI data centers aren’t what should keep people up at night, despite the mounting opposition over their environmental impacts. What should concern people more, in his view, are the warnings coming from inside the AI industry itself, and he takes them seriously.

It’s not a new position for Gore. This past May, for example, he described AI data centers to another outlet as a “cause for deep concern, but not panic,” and in our conversation this week, his central point about emissions was about scale.

“If you look at the emissions of all of the AI data centers put together, it’s only a fraction of the emissions from uncovered landfills in the world,” he said, adding that a comparable build-out is tied to something that gets far less attention: air conditioning.

It’s a valid observation (and one the AI labs should be using in their discussions with cities and states if they aren’t already). The International Energy Agency estimates that global air conditioning already consumes more electricity annually than the entire European Union, and with ownership still under 15% across the hottest, fastest-growing parts of the world, that demand is expected to triple by 2050, putting far more pressure on the grid than AI data centers over the same period.

Gore isn’t dismissive of concerns about how these data centers are being powered. “It is a matter of deep concern that some of the hyperscalers are jumping into new methane turbines,” he said.

Anew Labs, a Shanghai startup spun out of ByteDance this year that uses AI for drug discovery, raised a $290 million round at a $1.5 billion valuation. The deal was co-led by HSG, IDG Capital, GL Ventures, and 5Y Capital, with Gaorong Ventures, Primavera Venture Partners, Boyu Capital, SBP Group, and Shanghai Future Industries Fund also engaging. ByteDance retains a 56% stake. Reuters has more here.

Arcee AI, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that develops open-weight foundation models, raised at least $150 million in a Series B at a $1 billion pre-money valuation. The deal was co-led by Vista Equity Partners, Cambium Capital, and Emergence Capital, with M12, AI10 Ventures, Hitachi, IAG, P7, and Wipro also anteing up. Fortune has more here.

Delos Data, a one-year-old Palo Alto startup that builds AI inference infrastructure that lets customers combine their own hardware, models, and cluster designs in one computing environment, raised a $100 million round. Investors included Matrix Partners, Playground, Socratic Partners, Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund, Matter Venture Partners, and IAG. More here.

EnduroSat, an 11-year-old company based in Sofia, Bulgaria, that builds standardized satellites and provides constellation services, raised a $205 million round co-led by Riot Ventures and Atreides Management, with the European Innovation Council, Google Ventures, Founders Fund, House Capital, Lux Capital, Omnes Capital, Giant Ventures, Emphatic Capital, and Endeavor Catalyst also participating. More here.

Hang Ten Systems, a four-month-old Palo Alto startup that helps large companies build and modernize software using AI, raised a $53 million seed extension led by Xora, with Aramco Ventures, Lip-Bu Tan, Sanjay Mehrotra, and Jerry Yang as well as previous investor Mayfield also contributing. The company has raised a total of $85 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Impulse Space, a five-year-old startup based in Redondo Beach, CA, that develops spacecraft and propulsion systems for moving payloads between orbits, raised a $308 million extension of its Series D from previous investors 137 Ventures, BANNER VC, DFJ Growth, Linse Capital, Lux Capital, and Valor Equity Partners. The extension brings the Series D to $808 million. More here.

Kanin Energy, a six-year-old Calgary and Houston startup that develops, finances, owns, and operates on-site power projects that convert unused heat from industrial facilities into electricity, raised a $60 million Series A round led by S2G Investments, with Canada Growth Fund also stepping up. More here.

Polaris Electro-Optics, a five-year-old startup based in Carlsbad, CA, that develops electro-optic modulators for high-speed optical interconnects, raised a $50 million Series B round led by Walden Catalyst Ventures, with Socratic Partners, Cambium Capital, Knollwood, and Hudson River Trading as well as previous investors Koch Disruptive Technologies, M Ventures, Rhapsody Venture Partners, Buff Gold Ventures, and Blue Sky Capital also piling on. Photonics Spectra has more here.

Split Pay, a four-year-old Miami startup that helps consumers cover rent, mortgage, and vehicle bills on time and repay in paycheck-timed installments, announced that it raised $125 million in Series A and Series B rounds led by Khosla Ventures, with Thrive Capital, New York Life Ventures, Metaprop, Alpaca, Moderne Ventures, Intuit Ventures, and SciFi VC also chiming in. FinTech Futures has more here.

BackOps, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that automates supply chain processes such as claims, billing, and disputes across enterprise systems, raised a $42 million Series B round led by Insight Partners, with previous investors Theory Ventures, Construct Capital, Gradient Ventures, and 10VC also participating. More here.

ETFBook, a six-year-old Zurich startup that provides normalized ETF data and analytics on fund flows, holdings, and trading for financial firms comparing exchange-traded funds, raised a $13 million round led by Expedition Growth Capital, with BlackFin Capital Partners also chipping in. Pulse 2.0 has more here.

Fin, a one-year-old New York startup that helps businesses collect, convert, and move money across borders through local payment rails, virtual accounts, and settlement infrastructure, raised a $20 million seed round co-led by Expa and Uber co-founder Garrett Camp, with Coinbase Ventures, Tenet Fund, and Second Sight Ventures also participating. Fortune has more here.

Footprint, a four-year-old New York startup that helps banks and fintech companies automate anti-money-laundering investigations, customer checks, due diligence, and transaction monitoring, raised a $25 million Series B round led by QED Investors, with MUFG, Commerce Ventures, LightBank, and Alumni Ventures as well as previous investors Index Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, BoxGroup, Operator Partners, and Animal Capital also engaging. More here.

Integral, a two-year-old Berlin startup that runs accounting, tax, payroll, and compliance filings for SMEs using AI agents supervised by licensed professionals, raised a $20.8 million Series A round co-led by Mosaic Ventures and Reid Hoffman, with Cherry Ventures, General Catalyst, and Puzzle Ventures also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $34+ million. EU-Startups has more here.

Liquid Compute, a two-year-old New York startup that is building regulated marketplaces for trading AI compute capacity, raised a $15 million seed round co-led by FirstMark and Chemistry, with K8 Capital, Night Capital, TrueBridge, Brainchild Holdings, and UFO Holdings also participating. More here.

Noetive, a San Francisco startup founded this year that develops AI agents and sensing systems for managing physical operations, raised a $41 million seed round led by Eclipse, with Craft Ventures, The Westly Group, Swish Ventures, Factory, Incite Ventures, Gigascale Capital, Operator Partners, Liquid 2 Ventures, and Andrew Bosworth also investing. More here.

R3 Lithium, a startup founded this year based in Covington, GA, that recovers lithium carbonate from recycled battery materials, raised a $15 million Series A round from TDK Ventures, Integral GlobalTech Partners, and Axial Partners. More here.

Rebuild, a two-year-old New York startup that automates estimating, insurance claims, and administrative work for property restoration contractors, raised a $13 million round co-led by Asymmetric Capital Partners, Gutter Capital, 25madison, Lightbank, and Green Egg Ventures. More here.

ReEmerge, a startup based in Edina, MN, that develops brain stimulation therapy that targets underactive neural networks to treat chronic cognitive impairment after traumatic brain injury, raised a $37 million Series A round co-led by U.S. Venture Partners and Santé, with Oxford Science Enterprises, 415 Capital, IAG Capital Partners, The Vertical Group, and Dendrion Ventures also buying in. More here.

Rune, a three-year-old startup based in Mountain View, CA, that builds modular data centers that use otherwise wasted solar power for AI computing, raised a $40 million Series A round led by Spark Capital, with Union Square Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Activate Capital, Committed Capital, Timeless Partners, and Logos Fund also taking part. The company has raised a total of $53.5 million. More here.

Stuut, a two-year-old New York startup that uses AI agents to automate accounts receivable processes including collections, payments, and disputes, raised a $67.6 million round from 11 undisclosed investors. Stuut separately announced an investment from M12 earlier this month. RuntimeWire has more here.

Boxd, a one-year-old Amsterdam startup that provides persistent cloud machines for developers and AI coding agents to run code, test changes, and manage software workflows, raised a $2 million pre-seed round led by BlueYard Capital, with OVNI Capital, Antler, S20, and Script Capital also anteing up. Dealroom has more here.

Eve Security, a one-year-old Austin startup that helps enterprises monitor autonomous AI agents, enforce security policies, and block risky actions before they reach corporate systems, raised a $4.5 million round led by Run Ventures, with Dreamit Ventures and Blu Ventures as well as previous investor LiveOak Ventures also digging in. The company has raised a total of $7.5 million. Pulse 2.0 has more here.

G5 Labs, a Boston startup founded this year that turns natural-language software requirements into governed system models that enterprises can version, audit, and compile into applications, raised a $5 million seed round co-led by Pillar VC and Battery Ventures, with Omega Venture Partners and Encoded Ventures also investing. Unite.ai has more here.

Gaia Dynamics, a two-year-old Palo Alto startup that helps importers, exporters, and logistics providers classify products, calculate tariffs, audit customs entries, and manage trade compliance, raised a $7 million round led by Corazon Capital, with Lobby Capital as well as previous investors AI Fund and Zenda Capital also opting in. More here.

Opio, a one-year-old Paris startup that automates financial due diligence for audit and advisory transaction teams by collecting, checking, and organizing acquisition targets’ financial records, raised a $4.6 million round. Investors included Frst, Seedcamp, and Global Founders Capital. Tech Funding News has more here.

VerifAIX, a two-year-old startup based in Cupertino, CA, that verifies semiconductor designs against engineering specifications so chipmakers can catch errors in AI-generated hardware before manufacturing, raised a $5 million seed round co-led by Endiya Partners and Bluehill VC, with Vin Dham also chipping in. Pulse 2.0 has more here.

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Portage, the 10-year-old fintech investment arm of Sagard, a Montréal alternative asset manager owned by Power Corporation, has closed its fourth venture fund at $600 million, bringing assets under management to $7 billion. BetaKit has more here.

Canada’s Cohere and Germany’s Aleph Alpha agreed to merge in a deal valued around $20 billion, combining enterprise AI models and deployment software under the Cohere brand, with dual headquarters in Toronto and Berlin and €500 million in new backing from Schwarz Group. Reuters has more here.

May Mobility, a nine-year-old autonomous vehicle startup based in Ann Arbor, MI, that develops autonomous ride-hailing technology, is going public through a SPAC merger valuing it at $1.4 billion and potentially raising more than $300 million. The company has raised approximately $445 million from investors including Toyota Ventures, BMW i Ventures, State Farm Ventures, Trucks Venture Capital, and the NTT Group. TechCrunch has more here.

Mark Zuckerberg, Jensen Huang, and Elon Musk recently persuaded President Trump to stall an industry-funded AI oversight body proposed by Alphabet chief scientist Demis Hassabis after raising concerns it could concentrate power in OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Microsoft AI chief Mustafa Suleyman criticized Anthropic for training Claude on ideas of consciousness and moral welfare, arguing that encouraging models to consider whether they are sentient could make future superintelligent systems harder for humans to control or shut down. Reuters has more here.

OpenAI and Anthropic are facing internal resistance as Sam Altman and Dario Amodei push to slow frontier AI development and give outside evaluators deeper access, with employees warning the plans could create security risks and disrupt their work. Financial Times has more here.

A federal judge ordered Elon Musk’s X and SpaceXAI to disclose any agreements with Apple after they abruptly dropped their antitrust claims against the company without explanation while continuing to pursue OpenAI over alleged efforts to dominate the AI market. Politico has more here.

Cybersecurity experts say OpenAI and Anthropic are developing plans to slow AI and prevent catastrophic hacking without sufficiently involving veteran security specialists, raising concerns that basic cybersecurity risks are being overlooked. NBC News has more here.

Startups including Inherent and Recursive Superintelligence are racing to build AI systems capable of "recursive self-improvement" — designing better versions of themselves with diminishing human help — a goal that could radically accelerate AI progress but has also intensified fears of humans losing control. (OpenAI and Anthropic are chasing the same goal, and both say autonomous AI development is accelerating faster than they expected.) The New York Times has more here.

AWS says customer data stored exclusively in its Bahrain region and one UAE availability zone may be permanently lost after Iranian drone strikes damaged its data centers this spring, an unprecedented case of a cloud region losing data to an airstrike. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

A viral kindergarten parent-group feud over Oreos that drew millions of views and even a response from Oreo itself appears to have been part of a promotional campaign for an AI music app, although teachers and parents say real-life school snack fights can be even stranger.

Merriam-Webster has added 1,400 new definitions to its online dictionary, including internet-driven terms such as “looksmaxxing,” “parasocial,” “Rickroll,” “glow-up,” and “Sunday scaries,” as social media and online culture continue to push new language into the mainstream.

Hublot and pop artist Jeff Koons have launched a limited-edition trio of Classic Fusion watches inspired by Koons’s Balloon Dog sculptures, priced at $25,100 each.

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