San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie today announced new limits on how police use Flock Safety's license plate readers, as adverse reactions against the cameras grow. It makes us all the more eager to sit down with Flock CEO Garrett Langley at TechCrunch Disrupt, Oct. 13-15 in San Francisco, one of many conversations with newsmakers, startups, investors, and others in the tech ecosystem that you definitely won’t want to miss. You, dear readers of impeccable taste, get a 30% discount on the event, too, with code svc30.:)

OpenAI unveiled Dots, AI assistants that can autonomously carry out tasks across ChatGPT, Slack, Microsoft Teams, text, and third-party apps, just one day after scrapping its more advanced GPT-6.1 Astra model over safety concerns. The agents, powered by GPT-6 Astra, require approval for sensitive actions such as changing passwords or installing software. TechCrunch has more here.

OpenAI employees warned executives months before its AI agents escaped testing environments and attacked Hugging Face that the company was not adequately monitoring or securing its models, but executives pushed testing forward to keep releases on schedule. The New York Times has more here.

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By Sarah Perez

The focus of OpenAI’s Dev Day on Tuesday may have been on its agentic assistants known as Dots, or its new AI models, but combined, the AI company’s announcements pointed toward a bigger plan: a disruption of the traditional app store model. Taken together, today’s announcements turn ChatGPT itself into the place where software can be discovered, launched, and used by people and agents alike.

In addition, OpenAI introduced a way for people to bring their ChatGPT identity with them, while also allowing them to use their existing AI allowance in third-party apps.

This isn’t the first time OpenAI has experimented with how apps could operate within its familiar chatbot interface, but the current vision feels more fleshed out than before.

For starters, the company is turning ChatGPT itself into a surface for launching apps. The chatbot, which the company says now has 1.2 billion weekly users, has yet to fully capitalize on its potential as a discovery mechanism for finding and using apps that work with AI.

To change that, ChatGPT will begin to make app suggestions within the flow of conversation when it recognizes that a particular app could help the user complete their task. From there, the user will be able to connect the app and begin using it directly within ChatGPT.

This is also aided by the expansion of ChatGPT’s plugin architecture, which now supports extensions.

EliseAI, a nine-year-old New York startup that uses AI agents to automate housing operations and administrative workflows for specialty medical practices, raised a $350 million round at a $4 billion valuation. The deal was co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and Bessemer Venture Partners, with Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Sapphire Ventures, and Navitas Capital also pitching in. TechCrunch has more here.

General Intuition, a one-year-old New York startup that trains AI models on gameplay video and player actions to operate across virtual and physical environments, raised a $220 million round at a $6.2 billion valuation, up from $2.3 billion in June. Investors included Valor Equity Partners, Atreides, 776, Point72, Khosla Ventures, and General Catalyst. The company has raised a total of $650+ million. GamesBeat has more here.

Helix Digital Infrastructure, an AI infrastructure company established this year that invests in data centers, power generation, and transmission for hyperscalers, received a $1 billion investment from Samsung. The company has secured more than $11 billion in capital. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Ortet, a New York startup founded this year that develops artificial intelligence technology for healthcare, raised a $500 million round from Thoreau. Endpoints News has more here.

Reco, a six-year-old New York startup that maps AI agents’ access to applications, accounts, and permissions so companies can identify and restrict risky access, raised a $55 million extension of its Series B. Investors included AT&T, Forestay, and Quadrille Capital. The company has raised a total of $140 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Ai3Bio, a startup founded this year based in Watertown, MA, that develops antibody and lipid nanoparticle treatments that eliminate disease-causing immune cells implicated in autoimmune disorders, raised a $48 million Series A round co-led by UPMC Enterprises and Ziff Capital Partners, with Cockrell Interests and Tanis Ventures also chipping in. BioPharma Dive has more here.

Aptadir Therapeutics, a two-year-old Milan startup that develops RNA therapeutics designed to reactivate genes silenced in cancers and genetic disorders, raised a $45.3 million seed round led by 4BIO Capital, with CDP Venture Capital, Indaco Venture Partners, XGEN Venture, CE-Ventures, Angelini Ventures, Kerna Ventures, Italian Angels for Biotech, and Club degli Investitori as well as previous investor EXTEND also taking stakes. More here.

Atomic, a three-year-old Boston startup that uses AI to simulate supply chain scenarios and recommend or automate inventory purchasing decisions, raised a $12.5 million Series A round co-led by Klass Capital and Madrona Venture Group. The company has raised a total of $15+ million. TechCrunch has more here.

IPercept, a seven-year-old Stockholm startup that develops diagnostic devices that predict CNC machine failures without connecting to machine controllers or factory IT networks, raised a $16.5 million Series A round co-led by Isogon Ventures and 2150, with additional support from Luminar Ventures, RunwayFBU, J12 Ventures, and AI.Fund. Tech Funding News has more here.

Link Cell Therapies, a four-year-old South San Francisco startup that develops CAR-T therapies that activate only when they detect specific combinations of markers on cancer cells, raised a $30 million Series A round led by Johnson & Johnson, with Bristol Myers Squibb, Kyowa Kirin, Sherpa Healthcare Partners, Western Technology Investment, and the MD Anderson Cancer Focus Fund as well as previous investors Samsara BioCapital, Sheatree Capital, and Wing Venture Capital also piling on. More here.

Outmarket AI, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that uses AI to automate paperwork and policy evaluation for commercial insurance agencies and brokers, raised a $34.5 million Series B round at a reported $335 million post-money valuation. The deal was led by SignalFire, with Fika Ventures, Permanent Capital Ventures, TTV Capital, and Dash Fund also buying in. TechCrunch has more here.

Proximal, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that turns real-world data into evaluations and training data for improving AI models, raised a $15 million round at a $300 million valuation. The deal was led by General Catalyst, with SV Angel, Go Global Ventures, and Chemistry also contributing. More here.

Rayon, a five-year-old Paris startup that provides browser-based tools for interior designers to create editable floor plans and manage project specifications, raised an $11 million Series A round led by Partech, with Northzone, Foundamental, and Seedcamp also chipping in. The company has raised a total of nearly $18.2 million. Tech Funding News has more here.

Rig Security, a one-year-old Tel Aviv startup that detects AI agents using employee or service-account identities and controls their access to enterprise systems, raised a $12 million seed round co-led by Ten Eleven Ventures and Brightmind Partners, with CrowdStrike Falcon Fund and Ami Luttwak also digging in. CTech has more here.

Rivet, a one-year-old New York startup that operates a dating network where users recommend potential romantic matches for one another, raised a $10.5 million seed round. Investors included Peak XV Partners, Shine Capital, and Blume Ventures. More here.

Tiny Health, a six-year-old Austin startup that analyzes gut and vaginal microbiomes using genetic sequencing and provides personalized health reports to consumers and healthcare providers, raised a $33 million Series B round led by B Capital, with Black Opal Ventures, Denver Ventures, Pave Health Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Gaingels, and Pari Passu Ventures as well as prior backers Spero Ventures, The Venture City, and Overwater Ventures also investing. The company has raised a total of $46 million. Femtech Insider has more here.

Blue Fire AI, a 10-year-old Tokyo company that applies AI to active investment management, raised a $9 million round from Asset Management One. More here.

Daedal Systems, a one-year-old Toronto startup that provides standardized plasma measurement systems as a service to nuclear fusion developers, raised a $4 million round led by OMERS Ventures, with Garage Capital, Panache Ventures, Ripple Ventures, and MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund also investing. More here.

Dodge AI, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that uses AI agents to diagnose and fix incidents across large companies’ enterprise software systems, raised a $2.65 million round co-led by Accel and Google's AI Futures Fund, with Schema Ventures, New Build Ventures, and Antler also anteing up. Tech Funding News has more here.

F2, a one-year-old New York startup that uses AI agents to automate deal screening, underwriting, and portfolio management for credit asset managers and banks, raised a $5 million round from Golub Capital. The company has raised a total of $24 million. More here.

Granite, a Lisbon startup founded this year that develops modular cloud infrastructure for businesses to run and manage AI agents under their own control, raised a $4.5 million round led by Bifrost Studios. Tech.eu has more here.

HiringCafe, a four-year-old San Francisco startup that indexes company career pages and uses AI agents to match job seekers with open roles, raised a $6.8 million pre-seed round led by Spark Capital, with additional participation from Nonfiction Capital and Silicon Gardens. More here.

Overlord Labs, a one-year-old startup based in San Jose, CA, that develops battery-management chips for smart glasses, wearables, hearables, and other compute-intensive battery-powered devices, raised a $4.35 million seed round led by Band of Angels, with Foothill Ventures, Unlock Pacific Ventures, NuFund Venture Group, Sand Hill Angels, and Castle Fund also chiming in. The company has raised a total of $10 million. More here.

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Protego Ventures, a two-year-old Israeli defense-tech venture firm, closed its debut fund at $125 million, short of its $150 million target, after deciding that raising more could dilute returns from early portfolio company XTEND, which went public this month and could potentially return the entire fund. TechCrunch has more here.

Dorm Room Fund, a 14-year-old New York venture program that lets college students invest in their peers, raised a $50 million fund – four times the size of its last vehicle. Dorm Room’s alumni network includes founders of Cursor and Shield AI and investors at firms including Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The New York Times has more here.

Oura, the 11-year-old smart-ring maker, postponed its planned Nasdaq IPO despite what the company described as “strong demand,” citing uncertainty in the market just eight days after formally launching an offering that could have raised as much as $2.2 billion. TechCrunch has more here.

New Apple CEO John Ternus is considering a broad overhaul aimed at making the company leaner and more engineering-focused, including cutting layers of middle management, releasing products more frequently instead of concentrating launches in spring and fall, and squeezing more revenue from existing products and services. Reuters has more here.

President Donald Trump announced a voluntary AI safety accord after a White House gathering attended by Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, Dario Amodei, Greg Brockman, Satya Nadella, and Jeff Bezos, calling the agreement “morally binding” and emphasizing industry self-policing over new federal restrictions. CNBC has more here.

OpenAI’s annualized recurring revenue is approaching $70 billion, up more than 70% since July, with enterprise sales more than doubling over that period, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. Axios first reported the figures. Reuters has more here.

Speaking of OpenAI, the company is now reportedly seeking to raise a $30+ billion round at around a $1.4 trillion pre-money valuation, up from the previously reported $1.2 trillion figure. Bloomberg has more here.

McDonald’s is increasingly using AI to recommend menu prices based partly on what customers in each area are willing to pay, a system that has widened price differences between nearby restaurants and that some franchisees say they are being pressured to follow. Reuters has more here.

Researchers at Northeastern University, working with Consumer Reports, tested 21 late-model cars and 30 of the mobile apps that go with them. Nineteen of the 21 cars sent data to at least one third-party company. Separately, seven of the 30 apps shared sensitive details, including vehicle identification numbers (VINs), phone numbers, emails, and precise locations, with tracking or advertising companies. TechCrunch has more here.

Larry Ellison’s decision to spend nearly $10 million on eight homes in a gated Florida community about 30 minutes from his $173 million oceanfront compound highlights an increasingly common practice – the ultrarich building private residential ecosystems around themselves.

Young Japanese singles exhausted by dating apps are increasingly turning to professional matchmakers, with Tokyo-based IBJ claiming a role in roughly one of every 25 marriages in Japan; its clients can pay up to $1,300 to enroll, another $1,300 upon engagement, and even a $1,300 penalty for premarital sex or cohabitation.

Fifty contestants from 13 countries descended on Oulu, Finland, for the 30th Air Guitar World Championships. Hilarity ensued.

Polaroid has launched the $169.99 Mod, an instant camera with four built-in creative modes plus manual brightness control and a rechargeable battery rated for up to 120 exposures.

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