August 18, 2025

TechCrunch Top 3

Grammarly gets a design overhaul, multiple AI features: Grammarly now has a new document-based interface, built on the back of Coda, the productivity startup it acquired last year. The interface also sports an AI assistant, as well as a few AI tools meant for students and professionals, including an AI grader, proofreader, and citation finder. Read More

'Crazy conspiracist' and 'unhinged comedian': Grok's AI persona prompts exposed: The website for xAI's Grok chatbot is exposing the system prompts for several of its AI personas, including a "crazy conspiracist" that seems designed to handhold a user into believing that "a secret global cabal" controls the world. Read More

Hank Green's Focus Friend app is climbing the App Store charts — and it's extremely cute: If you fail to stay focused, you will make an anthropomorphic bean very sad, because its knitting project depends on your ability to stay on task. Read More

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Afternoon Must-Reads

X's declining Android app installs are hurting subscription revenue: X is struggling on Android with installs down by 49% year-over-year as of June 2025. Read More

Why Paradigm built a spreadsheet with an AI agent in every cell: Paradigm raised a $5 million seed round and is releasing it's AI-powered spreadsheet to the general public. Read More

The wait is almost over: The 2025 Startup Battlefield 200 list drops August 27: After reviewing thousands of groundbreaking applications from around the globe, we're just days away from announcing the 2025 Startup Battlefield 200. Read More

HR giant Workday says hackers stole personal data in recent breach: The HR tech giant said it had no indication of any unauthorized access to customer systems, but has not ruled out a breach affecting customers' personal information. Read More

Linktree goes dark in India — and the company isn't sure why: Linktree is "investigating" an issue that has made its link-in-bio platform inaccessible in India for several days. Read More

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Last but Not Least

Substack writers can now direct US readers to (often cheaper) web-based subscriptions on iOS: Substack's iOS app rolls out support for web-based payments, which can save subscribers money. Read More