News
Silicon Valley news.
- A former Thiel fellow’s startup just launched a drone it says can replace police helicopters
Brinc launched its newest 911 response drone this week, as the company seeks to expand its prominence in the public safety industry.
TechCrunch · 3/25/2026
- Microsoft exec Charles Lamanna on how AI is creating an expensive new request from job candidates
Lamanna's comments at GeekWire's Agents of Transformation event reflect how access to AI models is becoming as fundamental as salary in compensation negotiations. Read More
GeekWire · 3/25/2026
- Amazon just bought a startup making kid-size humanoid robots
The acquisition of Fauna Robotics is the second robotics startup Amazon has purchased this month.
TechCrunch · 3/25/2026
- With $3.5B in fresh capital, Kleiner Perkins is going all in on AI
The fundraise includes $1 billion for investing in early-stage startups, and $2.5 billion for late-stage growth businesses.
TechCrunch · 3/25/2026
- New Mexico just handed Meta its first courtroom defeat over child safety, and the rest of the country is watching
The dollar amount isn’t as important as the fact that this is the first jury verdict of its kind against Meta over harm to young people.
TechCrunch · 3/25/2026
- Lululemon bets Epoch Biodesign can eat its shorts, literally
Startup Epoch Biodesign uses enzymes to break plastic waste down into monomers, the chemical building blocks that can be used to make new plastic.
TechCrunch · 3/25/2026
- OpenAI’s Sora was the creepiest app on your phone — now it’s shutting down
Though the underlying Sora 2 video- and audio-generation model is scarily impressive, there was not sustained interest in an AI-only social feed.
TechCrunch · 3/24/2026
- Accel, Prosus pick six ‘off-the-map’ startups for inaugural India cohort
The six startups were selected from over 2,000 applications and will receive $500,000 to $2 million each.
TechCrunch · 3/24/2026
- Kentucky woman rejects $26M offer to turn her farm into a data center
A "major artificial intelligence company" reportedly offered a Kentucky family $26 million to build a data center on their farm.
TechCrunch · 3/24/2026
- Epic Games layoffs impact 82 workers at Seattle-area office as part of broader cuts
Epic is laying off 1,000 employees across the company, or about 20% of its workforce, citing reduced engagement with "Fortnite." Read More
GeekWire · 3/24/2026
- OpenAI is shutting down Sora, its powerful AI video model, app and API
OpenAI is shuttering Sora, its stand-alone AI video generation app and social network, and the availability for developers to access the Sora 2 video model family through its application programming interface (API) to rely on it for their own products or video generation pipelines.The announcement came abruptly this afternoon with OpenAI posting a message on X and not giving an exact shutdown date for the services, instead promising "timelines for the app and API and details on preserving y
VentureBeat · 3/24/2026
- Anthropic hands Claude Code more control, but keeps it on a leash
Anthropic’s new auto mode for Claude Code lets AI execute tasks with fewer approvals, reflecting a broader shift toward more autonomous tools that balance speed with safety through built-in safeguards.
TechCrunch · 3/24/2026
- Spotify tests new tool to stop AI slop from being attributed to real artists
The idea behind the new tool is to give artists more control over which tracks are associated with their name on Spotify.
TechCrunch · 3/24/2026
- Databricks bought two startups to underpin its new AI security product
With an overflowing war chest from its recent $5 billion raise, Databricks is buying startups and looking for more. It acquired Antimatter and SiftD.ai.
TechCrunch · 3/24/2026
- Crusoe makes big battery buys for its data centers
Form Energy and Redwood Materials both received orders from the data center developer.
TechCrunch · 3/24/2026
- Brinc unveils Guardian, a Starlink-connected drone that could ‘replace the police helicopter’
Guardian is the world’s first Starlink-connected drone. It pairs with a robotic charging nest that automatically swaps batteries and helps the drone quickly redeploy. Read More
GeekWire · 3/24/2026
- Drone home: Brinc moving to massive new HQ and factory in Seattle amid startup’s rapid growth
Brinc is taking over 35,000 square feet at West Canal Yards, in a former fish cannery along the Lake Washington Ship Canal in Queen Anne. Read More
GeekWire · 3/24/2026
- Anthropic’s Claude can now control your Mac, escalating the fight to build AI agents that actually do work
Anthropic on Monday launched the most ambitious consumer AI agent to date, giving its Claude chatbot the ability to directly control a user's Mac — clicking buttons, opening applications, typing into fields, and navigating software on the user's behalf while they step away from their desk.The update, available immediately as a research preview for paying subscribers, transforms Claude from a conversational assistant into something closer to a remote digital operator. It arrives inside
VentureBeat · 3/24/2026
- Arm is releasing the first in-house chip in its 35-year history
Arm is producing its own CPU for the first time. It developed the CPU with Meta, which is also the chip's first customer.
TechCrunch · 3/24/2026
- OpenAI’s plans to make ChatGPT more like Amazon aren’t going so well
OpenAI says it's moving away from Instant Checkout, which allowed users to buy items directly through the ChatGPT interface.
TechCrunch · 3/24/2026
- Cloudflare’s new Dynamic Workers ditch containers to run AI agent code 100x faster
Web infrastructure giant Cloudflare is seeking to transform the way enterprises deploy AI agents with the open beta release of Dynamic Workers, a new lightweight, isolate-based sandboxing system that it says starts in milliseconds, uses only a few megabytes of memory, and can run on the same machine — even the same thread — as the request that created it. Compared with traditional Linux containers, the company says that makes Dynamic Workers roughly 100x faster to start and between 10x and 100x
VentureBeat · 3/24/2026
- Google TV’s new Gemini features keep fans updated on sports teams and more
Three Gemini-powered features are coming to your Google TV. This includes visual responses, deep dives, and sports briefs.
TechCrunch · 3/24/2026
- OpenAI adds open source tools to help developers build for teen safety
Rather than working from scratch to figure out how to make AI safer for teens, developers can use these policies to fortify what they build.
TechCrunch · 3/24/2026
- Talat’s AI meeting notes stay on your machine, not in the cloud
The subscription-free AI meeting notes app is a local-first twist on notetaking tools like Granola.
TechCrunch · 3/24/2026
- BKR Capital raises $14.5M (so far) to invest in Black founders
BKR Capital announced Monday that its Fund II closed $20 million Canadian toward its $50 million target.
TechCrunch · 3/24/2026
- Crunchyroll confirms data breach after hacker claims unauthorized access
Crunchyroll said it continues to investigate the data breach involving its users' personal information.
TechCrunch · 3/24/2026
- Doss raises $55M for AI inventory management that plugs into ERP
Doss's AI-powered inventory management system integrates with existing ERP systems. The Series B round was co-led by Madrona and Premji Invest.
TechCrunch · 3/24/2026
- Tech Moves: More changes at Xbox; Remitly taps new accounting chief; Atlassian CTO steps down
Another Xbox leader departs; Remitly names a new accounting leader; and more key personnel changes. Read More
GeekWire · 3/24/2026
- Big ideas, early traction: AI founders pitch VCs at Seattle-area startup showcase
Ten founders pitched VCs at B.E.L.L.E's Seattle AI Startup Showcase, covering everything from property management and housing development to fraud prevention and R&D compliance. Read More
GeekWire · 3/24/2026
- The three disciplines separating AI agent demos from real-world deployment
Getting AI agents to perform reliably in production — not just in demos — is turning out to be harder than enterprises anticipated. Fragmented data, unclear workflows, and runaway escalation rates are slowing deployments across industries.“The technology itself often works well in demonstrations,” said Sanchit Vir Gogia, chief analyst with Greyhound Research. “The challenge begins when it is asked to operate inside the complexity of a real organization.” Burley Kawasaki, who oversees agent deplo
VentureBeat · 3/24/2026