OpenAI has fired three researchers from its safety team for allegedly sharing confidential company information with an outside AI safety organization. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta subpoenaed OpenAI as part of a broader investigation into cybersecurity risks involving its models, following the company’s AI agents hacking Hugging Face earlier this year. Reuters has more here.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have regulated smart glasses and other wearable recording devices, saying its definition was too broad and some protections already exist under state law. TechCrunch has more here.

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By Ivan Mehta

Airbnb rolled out its new AI-powered search this week as part of its fall update, a significant step for a company that has been slow and deliberate about AI. Co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky has said in the past that a chatbot-only interface is not fit for travel discovery. With more AI on the way to the Airbnb app, I caught up with Chesky over Zoom to talk about how the company is approaching it, where interfaces are headed, why consumer AI still isn’t working, and what role voice will play.

Chesky hasn’t changed his mind on chatbots. He said they aren’t good for browsing or shopping because they give you a few options at a time, and you have to take multiple turns before reaching a result. But he doesn’t see the current version of Airbnb’s search as the final form either: its interface will evolve over time.

“I think that I’ve believed for a long time that a chatbot isn’t the right interface for e-commerce. I think what you’re seeing today is also not the endgame for e-commerce or for travel or shopping. I think that there’s going to be some interface that is, you know, I don’t want to call it a midpoint, but something between a chatbot and what you see in the first version we shipped,” he said.

Continued Chesky: “You know, a lot of people want some things … to be fast and easy, like ‘Book me a flight, I don’t want to look at it.’ With Airbnb, they enjoy looking at the product. Travel studies show that people actually derive more pleasure in planning and anticipating travel than they do traveling. So you don’t want to take the inspiration and the browsing and the library experience of dreaming away.”

Chesky sees a second problem with chatbots, which is that they are built for one person. He feels that they aren’t a collaborative interface, which matters for a product that people often use with family and friends. Over the next three to six months, the company’s task is to explore interfaces that enable “multiplayer” AI, meaning AI that several people, such as a group planning a trip together, can use at once.

AnaCardio, a nine-year-old Stockholm startup that develops an oral drug designed to strengthen heart contractions in patients with advanced heart failure, raised a $70.9 million Series B round co-led by Novo Holdings and the Ljungström family office, with additional participation from Helsinn and Innovestor Life Science as well as previous investors Pureos Bioventures, Sound Bioventures, Industrifonden, Flerie, and LLD Nybohov Invest. The company has raised a total of around $113.4 million. More here.

Armadin, a one-year-old Palo Alto startup founded by Mandiant founder Kevin Mandia that deploys AI agents that simulate cyberattacks to identify exploitable attack paths for enterprises and government agencies, raised a $255.5 million Series B round at a $2.5+ billion post-money valuation. The deal was co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and Accel, with Bain Capital Ventures and Redpoint as well as previous investors 8VC, Ballistic Ventures, Google Ventures, In-Q-Tel, Kleiner Perkins, and Menlo Ventures also participating. The company has raised a total of $445 million. SecurityWeek has more here.

Varda Space, a five-year-old startup based in El Segundo, CA, that manufactures pharmaceuticals in orbit and returns them to Earth using reusable reentry capsules, raised a $251 million Series D round co-led by Lux Capital and Natural Capital, with Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Caffeinated Capital, General Catalyst, 8090 Industries, Giant Step, and Also Capital also buying in. The company has raised a total of $598 million. More here.

Volantis, a four-year-old San Francisco startup developing optical interconnects that use laser light to link AI processors with memory chips, raised an $88 million round co-led by Lachy Groom and Abstract Ventures, with John Doerr, VXI Capital, Triatomic, Susa Ventures, Dwarkesh Patel, Naveen Rao, and Sholto Douglas also investing. Reuters has more here.

ArkeaBio, a five-year-old Boston startup that develops vaccines designed to reduce methane emissions from livestock, raised a $15 million Series A2 round led by AgriZeroNZ, with Breakthrough Energy also investing. Dealroom has more here.

Daptic, a three-year-old New York startup that helps manufacturers determine applicable regulations and manage compliance requirements throughout product design and development, raised a $15 million Series A round led by Canvas Ventures, with IA Ventures and 8VC also chipping in. The company has raised a total of $22 million. More here.

Doxx, a one-year-old Miami startup that provides private networks where people and AI agents can browse, communicate, transfer files, and block malicious destinations, raised a $38 million Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with Animo Ventures and Focal.vc also investing. More here.

Foundational, a one-year-old London startup that combines satellite-mounted reflectors, automated laser ground stations, and software to deliver precise satellite positioning data, raised a $10.9 million pre-seed round. Investors included Inflection, BACKED, Final Frontier, Adjacent, and Type One Ventures. Tech Funding News has more here.

Heartbeats, an eight-year-old Tokyo startup that operates digital trading card services for sports and entertainment franchises, raised a $15 million round. Vertex Ventures Japan invested in the deal. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

OuterSignal, a one-year-old New York startup that uses AI agents to help consumer brands personalize marketing, advertising, merchandising, and customer engagement for individual customers, raised a $22 million Series A round co-led by Long Journey Ventures and Abstract Ventures, with BAM Ventures, Top Shelf Ventures, SuperAngel.Fund, and AME Cloud Ventures also taking stakes. More here.

Relay, an 11-year-old company based in Raleigh, NC, that develops smart radios that use AI to turn frontline workers’ conversations into operational records, raised a $36 million round led by International Paper, with Cerity Partners Ventures as well as previous investor G2 Ventures also participating. The company has raised a total of $90+ million. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Astrocyte Pharmaceuticals, a 12-year-old company based in Groton, CT, that develops drugs that target brain-support cells to treat concussions, traumatic brain injuries, and strokes, raised a $9.5 million Series B round led by DeepWork Capital, with MintPharma Capital, Waterstar Capital, Dynagrow Capital, and Angel Star Ventures also anteing up. The company has raised a total of $40 million including financing and grants. More here.

Blackswan Space, a seven-year-old Vilnius startup that develops software and spacecraft payloads for autonomous orbital navigation, docking, inspection, and servicing, raised a $2.8 million seed round led by Iron Wolf Capital, with Lemonade Stand and NGL Ventures also buying in. The company has raised a total of $3.6 million. Payload has more here.

Deepslate, a two-year-old startup based in Templin, Germany, that develops speech-to-speech AI models that process and generate audio directly for insurers, contact centers, and software platforms, raised an $8.7 million seed round led by 42CAP, with Alstin Capital and SIVentures also digging in. Tech Funding News has more here.

Destro AI, a one-year-old Brooklyn startup that develops AI software that coordinates robots and human workers across warehouse logistics operations, raised an $8 million seed round co-led by Base10 Partners and Bonfire Ventures, with CoFound Partners also engaging. TechCrunch has more here.

Frank, a two-year-old Lisbon startup that uses an AI assistant to automate administrative work, insurance quotes, and claims tracking for brokerages, raised a $3.3 million round. Investors included Armilar and Start Ventures. More here.

Osavul, a four-year-old Luxembourg startup that uses AI to analyze public and private data and warn organizations of cyber, physical, and information attacks, raised a $9.6 million Series A round led by 33N Ventures, with Balnord and G+D Ventures as well as previous investor 42CAP also taking part. The company has raised a total of approximately $13.6 million. Tech Funding News has more here.

Photon, an 11-month-old San Francisco startup that lets developers deploy AI agents across messaging channels including iMessage and WhatsApp, raised a $4.5 million seed round co-led by Gradient and A*, with Vercel, HongShan, Z Fellows, Llama Ventures, and Karman also anteing up. TechCrunch has more here.

Quotr, a two-year-old Berkeley startup that uses AI to turn construction plans into material takeoffs, cost estimates, bids, and procurement orders, raised a $4 million seed round led by Llama Ventures. More here.

R1 Therapeutics, a one-year-old startup based in Redwood City, CA, that develops a drug that blocks intestinal phosphate absorption in dialysis patients with chronic kidney disease, raised a $3 million Series A round from Samsara BioCapital. More here.

Satlyt, a two-year-old startup based in Sunnyvale, CA, and Nairobi that develops software enabling satellites to run AI models and share computing workloads in orbit, raised an $8 million seed round led by Non Sibi Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Skopos Bio, a Melbourne oncology startup founded this year that is developing radioactive-molecule therapies that target hard-to-treat cancers, raised an $8.4 million seed round. Investors included Tenmile, Tin Alley Ventures, and Yosemite. Dealroom has more here.

Walapay, a two-year-old New York startup that provides fintechs and financial institutions with API infrastructure for multi-currency accounts, foreign exchange, and cross-border payments, raised a $4.6 million seed round led by Generative Ventures, with Commerce Ventures, Polygon, Verda Ventures, NGC Ventures, FGV Capital, AAF, Jsquare, Knollwood, and Big Brain Holdings also investing. More here.

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Anti Fund, the five-year-old Miami venture firm co-founded by Jake Paul and Geoffrey Woo, is seeking $400 million for its second fund, a big step up from the $30 million it raised for Fund I less than a year ago. The firm says its portfolio includes OpenAI, Anduril, Cognition, Helion, and Erebor. Axios has more here.

Salesforce agreed to acquire Listen Labs, a three-year-old San Francisco AI-powered customer research startup whose agents can design studies, recruit participants, conduct interviews, and simulate how customers might respond to products or marketing. Financial terms were not disclosed. Listen Labs has raised a total of $100 million from investors such as Ribbit Capital, Sequoia Capital, Conviction, Evantic, Pear VC, and Florent Venture Partners. (If this sounds familiar, it’s because we told you this was coming a few weeks ago.) More here.

Anthropic’s IPO prospectus reveals that Broadcom has agreed to lend the AI company up to $42 billion to help finance a $125.2 billion, five-year lease of computing capacity. Meanwhile, Anthropic is expected to become Broadcom’s largest chip-design customer next year, underscoring the increasingly circular financing behind the AI boom. Reuters has more here.

Speaking of Anthropic, the company is reportedly targeting an IPO as soon as mid-November and could begin formally marketing the offering the week of Nov. 9, putting the AI company on track to start trading before Thanksgiving after previously pushing back its listing plans. Bloomberg, which says investor day invites have gone out for October 14th at Anthropic’s headquarters in San Francisco, has more here.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and other tech executives privately challenged Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei at the White House over his public warnings about AI risks, exposing tensions within an industry that had just presented a united front on voluntary safety principles. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

The New York Times profiles Binance founder and majority shareholder Changpeng Zhao, who is living in Abu Dhabi and advising governments on crypto regulation despite serving four months in a U.S. prison for running “a crypto exchange depicted in court papers as a haven for Russian money launderers, Iranian sanctions evaders and Islamic State terrorists.” More here.

President Donald Trump is likely to name Jay Clayton – the current director of national intelligence and former SEC chair – as his new AI czar, with Clayton possibly retaining his intelligence post, as well. CBS News has more here.

Y Combinator named former founders Vivian Shen and Raphael Schaad as general partners. Shen previously co-founded coding-and-math education startup Juni Learning and later founded AI tutoring startup Acely, while Schaad founded calendar app Cron, which was acquired by Notion. More here.

Google’s aggressive push of AI into schools is fueling a backlash as teachers and parents report students becoming dependent on the technology for schoolwork. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

A growing consensus holds that AI companies should be liable when their agents go rogue, but applying existing law may prove messy when autonomous systems act without human direction. Courts will have to wrestle with questions of intent, foreseeability, negligence, and who is responsible when an AI does something its creators did not explicitly authorize. The New York Times has more here.

Visit Sweden has launched an “Introvert Travel Agency” offering trips built around quiet, personal space, and optional socializing.

Weird names for everyday stuff like that cardboard sleeve that goes around your Starbucks cup.

Aman and Remote Lands unveiled a 15-night private-jet tour of Asia for 2028 priced from $164,888 per person, with stops including Tokyo, Angkor Wat, Tiger Leaping Gorge, Bhutan’s Tiger’s Nest Monastery, and the Taj Mahal. The trip also includes a sushi-making class with a master chef and samurai sword lessons in Tokyo, plus a private helicopter flight over Angkor Wat.

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