August 28, 2026

TechCrunch Top 3

Open-weight AI companies are the Valley's hottest acquisition targets: There's a lot of capital pouring into the business of giving models away. Read More

An Anthropic researcher just gave us a peek at self-improving AI: Given 10 benchmarks for specific misaligned behaviors, the automated systems were able to improve performance on every single one without degrading overall performance. Read More

Brave's browser one-ups Chrome with its new support for email aliases: The feature, announced this week, allows Brave's users to sign up for websites and other online services without having to share their personal email addresses. Read More

Afternoon Must-Reads

Anthropic gets its first court win over the Pentagon’s supply-chain risk label: A federal judge ruled the Trump administration illegally labeled Anthropic a supply-chain risk, handing the AI company a victory as its second Pentagon lawsuit continues in Washington. Read More

Apple TV is raising its subscription prices again: Now, Apple TV subscriptions will cost $14.99 per month, up from its previous price of $12.99 per month. Read More

Rivian's CFO is leaving the company: Claire McDonough is stepping down on October 30 to pursue a new opportunity, the company said in a filing on Thursday. Read More

Meta executive leaves for OpenAI as the social media giant faces growing scrutiny in India: Sandhya Devanathan will oversee some OpenAI operations across Southeast Asia and Australia in her new role. Read More

Friend-focused photo-sharing app Retro snags $21M: Retro, a friend-focused photo-sharing app built by former Instagram employees, has raised more than $21 million in Series A funding. Read More

A message from ThoughtSpot

Why Traditional Analytics Are Failing Modern Teams

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Last but Not Least

More Americans oppose police license plate cameras than support them: survey: The backlash against license plate readers comes amid a wave of police abuses of surveillance cameras. Read More