Meta’s newest AI model Muse Spark 1.3, unveiled yesterday, is faster and more performant on third-party benchmarks than its predecessor — with a caveat. "Muse Spark 1.3 is rolling out today with frontier performance almost too cheap to meter," Meta co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote on X, calling it Meta’s “biggest jump” yet in … Read more
Your window to save up to $200 is closing fast. Current ticket pricing ends Sept. 25 at 11:59 p.m. PT. After that, prices go up. At TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, getting ahead means more than sitting in on great sessions. It means meeting the people you need to know, seeing what’s coming before it hits the … Read more
Does AI Lie? WE’RE used to living with small lies. I was confronted by this fact when, recently, as I was preparing for a dinner party, I climbed onto a step-stool and reached into the liquor cabinet. One by one, I pulled down bottles that were nearly empty. Not surprisingly, at some point over the … Read more
On July 22, 2026, France became the latest major search market to get AI Overviews. Which means that, for once, we got to watch the before and after without having to guess. In most markets, AI Overviews crept in alongside algorithm updates and seasonal swings, and we all spent the following year arguing about how … Read more
Embattled surveillance technology company Flock Safety unveiled a “generous” severance package for voluntary employee departures on Friday, according to a report in Wired. Flock reportedly expects a significant portion of its 1,500-person workforce to express interest in the buyouts, and said it will grant them to a majority of those who are interested. The company’s … Read more
Don’t Be a Hater-Leader You aren’t literally a hater-leader. (I hope.) But you may do things that feel like hate. Leaders who focus on fixing people feel like haters to their victims. Rejection feels like hate. Development helps people grow. Fixing treats them like defects. Evolution of a Hater-Leader Hating quietly sneaks up on leaders … Read more
Dario Amodei’s plans to put third-party safety evaluators inside AI labs are taking shape: Anthropic said that staff from technology consulting giant Accenture will begin working inside the company to scrutinize its models and staff. In a blog post, Anthropic said that Faculty, a company Accenture acquired in January to act as its AI division, … Read more
That’s not malice. That’s just what the training data says. Your GEO work today is what an agent will say about you tomorrow. Declarative web protocols The AI landscape is awash with web protocols at the moment, but there’s a reason why. As websites and web platforms develop, web protocols are providing the rules, guidelines, … Read more
You have an AI product to build. Do you choose a proprietary frontier model and get moving quickly? Build on an open model and gain greater control? Fine-tune your own version? Run locally? Use multiple models? Change strategy six months from now when the economics and capabilities shift again? There may not be one right … Read more
Leading Thoughts for September 17, 2026 IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: I. Marshall Goldsmith and Mark Reiter on inertia: “Our default response in life is not to experience meaning or happiness. Our default response is to … Read more