Type One Energy raised $200M to build a fusion power plant by 2034
Type One Energy is betting that its lean approach to fusion power will get a power plant on the grid faster, and investors have rewarded it with $200 million.
WireUnwired Topic Startups
OpenAI will start watermarking ChatGPT’s text in the EU
OpenAI will watermark ChatGPT and Codex text in the EU to comply with the AI Act. Editing can make the invisible marks harder to detect, it says.
Etched fields funding offers at $40B+ valuation, sources say
Just a couple of months after its last big raise, the AI chip startup is already being plied with investment offers at double or more its current value, sources tell TechCrunch.
Reflection debuts Beam, a open-weight AI model to rival Chinese models at lower compute cost
Nvidia-backed Reflection AI unveils Beam, its first open-weight model, which it says rivals GLM-5.2 on reasoning with far less inference compute. Weights are due this month.
Instinct brings its AI agent to group chats, even for friends without an account
Instinct is launching group chats that let friends use its AI agent together for tasks like planning trips, organizing carpools, and coordinating events. The company says personal accounts remain separate, with permission required before personal agents share information or take action.
TikTok rolls out an AI shopping assistant and one-click checkout
TikTok describes its new Shopping Assistant as a conversational AI agent designed to help users discover and purchase products.
At 19, founder raises $11 million for Ghost, maker of a $3,499 computer for personal AI
Ghost announced Monday its official emergence from stealth and an $11 billion seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz.
Hot Girl Hotline is like ‘Dear Abby’ for the AI era
Founded by two sisters, Hot Girl Hotline uses AI to give young women personalized dating and relationship advice, with an emphasis on safety and avoiding emotional dependency.
5 startups that caught VCs’ attention at the latest PearX demo day
TechCrunch attended Pear’s latest demo day and discovered which startups generated the most buzz, from spatial models to chips for local AI.
HackerRank’s AI interviewer offers a glimpse into what job interviews could become
HackerRank’s AI interviewer has already conducted more than 500,000 interviews, with Snowflake, Snorkel, and Capgemini among its early testers.
OpenAI launches visual ads that appear alongside image generation results
OpenAI said the new visual ads will show up after your image generation results appear in the U.S. only for now.
Lola Vision Systems is trying to make it easier to run AI models on chips
Lola Vision Systems is one of TechCrunch's Battlefield 200 Companies
Open or closed AI? How founders are choosing what to build on at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026
Learn how founders are choosing between building on open or closed AI at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026. Register now to save up to $100 and get a second pass at 50% off.
Researchers are tracking a Chinese AI ‘agent fleet’
Independent researchers discovered an agent swarm that seems to be running on Tencent's infrastructure and targeting Alibaba's map service, Amap.
Meet the Startup Battlefield 200 judges who’ll decide the winner at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026
Meet the final five Startup Battlefield judges who'll decide who wins the pitch competition at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026. Get your pass now to save up to $100, and get a second at 50% off.
Can Safeworld convince people that gen AI robots won’t hurt them?
Safeworld is building digital humans to make sure robots don't hurt the real ones.
Google froze its open source bug bounty program due to a ‘significant rise’ in AI submissions
AI slop seems to be overwhelming bug bounty programs.
Can ‘super intelligence’ and a non-binding safety pact solve AI’s image problem?
On Equity, we discussed the Trump administration's attempts to rebrand AI.
OpenAI safety employee resigns, claiming the company’s ‘culture is broken’
By his own admission, David Robinson is “something of a cliché”: an employee at a leading AI company who issues a dire warning while resigning from their job.
All the AI agents that can live in your text messages
We created a list of the most notable AI agents that can live in your text messages, from general assistants to agents designed for families, travel, and work.