Alibaba's Qwen tech lead steps down after major AI push

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories to start your morning

View this email online in your browser  March 04, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 Alibaba's Qwen tech lead steps down after major AI push: Reactions rippled through Alibaba's Qwen team after tech lead Junyang Lin stepped down following a major model launch. Read More A suite of government hacking tools targeting iPhones is now being used by cybercriminals: Security researchers say exploits used by governments to hack into iPhones have been found to be used by cybercriminals. They warned of an emerging market for "secondhand" exploits. Read More One startup's pitch to provide more reliable AI answers: crowdsource the chatbots: CollectivIQ looks to give users more accurate answers to their AI queries by showing them responses that pull information from ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Grok — and up to 10 other models — all at the same time. Read More Disrupt 2026: Where deals and ideas ignite Oct 13–15 at San Francisco's Moscone West, 10,000 founders, investors, and operators gather for high-signal insights, curated connections, and real momentum. Sign up! A message from LILT AI See Multilingual AI in Action: Platform Tour Take a guided look inside LILT's AI-native platform, where adaptive AI and human expertise seamlessly unite. Watch this video to see how teams streamline workflows, ensure brand voice fidelity, and deliver multilingual content faster than ever. Watch Video Morning Must-Reads Claude Code rolls out a voice mode capability: Anthropic is stepping up its game in the AI coding space with the rollout of Voice Mode in Claude Code. Read More AI companies are spending millions to thwart this former tech exec's congressional bid: A tech billionaire-backed super PAC is spending $125 million to undercut candidates pushing for AI regulation. New York's Alex Bores, a former tech executive himself, is one of them. Read More TikTok down for some in US, thanks to second Oracle outage since sale: TikTok experienced a similar outage just days after ByteDance divested the app's U.S. operations. Read More Meet the MacBook Neo, Apple's colorful answer to the Chromebook, starting at $599: Apple is offering the MacBook Neo at a more affordable price point by using an A18 Pro chip, which is used in the iPhone 16 Pro. Read More Father sues Google, claiming Gemini chatbot drove son into fatal delusion: A father is suing Google and Alphabet, alleging its Gemini chatbot reinforced his son's delusional belief it was his AI wife and coached him toward suicide and a planned airport attack. Read More A message from Snyk Agentic security for AI-powered software AI-native applications are dynamic, unpredictable, and moving at machine speed. Evo by Snyk introduces a new era of "agentic security"—using specialized AI agents to discover, test, and protect your AI ecosystem. Meet Evo Last but Not Least Eight Sleep raises $50M at $1.5B valuation: Eight Sleep said it was free-cash-flow positive in 2025, and plans to use the new funding for new products, global expansions, and clinical validation. Read More Check out some of our other newsletters: StrictlyVC TechCrunch Events TechCrunch Mobility Want to adjust your daily newsletter schedule? You can do it right here Got a tip? Get in touch securely. Want to advertise on TechCrunch? advertise@techcrunch.com Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. Unsubscribe Member Center Privacy Policy Copyright © 2026 TechCrunch Media LLC 501 2nd Street, Suite 650, San Francisco, CA 94107

Hacked traffic cams and hijacked TVs: How cyber operations supported the war against Iran

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories this afternoon

View this email online in your browser  March 03, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 Hacked traffic cams and hijacked TVs: How cyber operations supported the war against Iran: After U.S. and Israeli forces started bombing Iran, reports say cyber operations have disrupted communications, supported surveillance activities, and been used in psychological operations. Read More Claude Code rolls out a voice mode capability: Anthropic is stepping up its game in the AI coding space with the rollout of Voice Mode in Claude Code. Read More Apple's rumored MacBook Neo, a lower-cost, colorful laptop, could launch this week: This would mark the first time Apple competes with cheaper hardware like the Chromebook. Read More Disrupt 2026: Where deals and ideas ignite Oct 13–15 at San Francisco's Moscone West, 10,000 founders, investors, and operators gather for high-signal insights, curated connections, and real momentum. Sign up! A message from UK Office for Investment UK Quantum - The Commercial Frontier Building on historic strengths in physics, cryptography, and computing, the UK is becoming the commercial frontier of quantum computing. This multi-decade journey is now seeing early-stage commercial trials in finance, healthcare, and energy. By 2033, the UK aims to deliver a quantum‑enabled economy. Explore The Opportunity Afternoon Must-Reads Audible launches a cheaper 'Standard' subscription plan, challenging Spotify: Under the new Standard plan, subscribers will lose access to the audiobooks they've consumed when they unsubscribe. The Premium plan lets users keep the audiobooks they've listened to even if they unsubscribe. Read More AI companies are spending millions to thwart this former tech exec's congressional bid: A tech billionaire-backed super PAC is spending $125 million to undercut candidates pushing for AI regulation. New York's Alex Bores, a former tech executive himself, is one of them. Read More Anduril aims at $60 billion valuation in new funding round: The funding round would come less than a year after Anduril's Series G, which closed in June with $2.5 billion against a $30 billion valuation. Read More TikTok down for some in US, thanks to second Oracle outage since sale: TikTok experienced a similar outage just days after ByteDance divested the app's U.S. operations. Read More Fig Security emerges from stealth with $38M to help security teams deal with change: Fig traces data flows in the security stack and then alerts security teams when changes at any point affect detection or response capabilities. Read More A message from Microsoft and NVIDIA Know before you go: What's new with Microsoft at NVIDIA GTC Explore ways to engage with Microsoft at the leading AI conference of the year. Read the Azure Tech Community Blog for all the details on Microsoft-led talks and panels, in-booth sessions, hands-on labs, demos, and more. See what's coming and mark your calendars for the activities aligned to your AI goals. We can't wait to see you there. Read the blog You missed these chats from Disrupt: Kindred talks home-swapping platform for travelers, Chef Robotics introduces AI into commercial kitchens, and Character.AI addresses chatbot safety with teens. Watch on Cheddar.com Watch on Streaming Last but Not Least ChatGPT's new GPT-5.3 Instant model will stop telling you to calm down: The company says the new model will reduce the "cringe" that's been annoying its users for months. Read More Check out some of our other newsletters: StrictlyVC TechCrunch Events TechCrunch Mobility Want to adjust your daily newsletter schedule? You can do it right here Got a tip? Get in touch securely. Want to advertise on TechCrunch? advertise@techcrunch.com Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. Unsubscribe Member Center Privacy Policy Copyright © 2026 TechCrunch Media LLC 501 2nd Street, Suite 650, San Francisco, CA 94107