Block's new voice model sounds eerily human

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories this weekend

View this email online in your browser  October 25, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 Block's new voice model sounds eerily human: Block said that the voice model can run locally on a MacBook M4 Max Read More The AI graveyard: a running list of projects and startups that didn't make it: From Apple's repeatedly delayed Siri AI to OpenAI's messy "super app" launch, here's a look at the AI projects that shut down or missed expectations. Read More Hottest toy for Christmas? Nvidia CEO plays with adorable Microduck robots, 20,000 sell: The robots, stomping their little feet and making tiny R2-D2 noises, sat, fell down dead for a "nap," and summersaulted on voice command. Read More A message from Go Beyond the Bay Area, Join Us at Founder Summit At TechCrunch Founder Summit on November 4 in Boston, you can deepen your expertise on hiring, product market fit, pitching, founder leadership, and much more in a dynamic, intimate environment. Get ahead of the competition and show the world what the East Coast can build with a 25% discount using the code Daily25. Register Now Sunday Must-Reads Forced to pick, Grok’s AI model chooses Republicans. OpenAI’s picks Democrats. : A new study found Grok's AI overwhelmingly recommends Republican candidates while OpenAI's GPT favors Democrats, with the two AI models disagreeing in more than 90% of nearly 500 election races. Read More The hottest AI wearables and gadgets you should know about: We compiled a list of all the hottest AI wearables, including Muse Charm, Bee, Friend, Plaud, and more. Read More PHP-ocalypse: How two critical web bugs almost broke the internet: Two critical bugs in the PHP web programming language, used by the majority of the internet, threatened to upend the internet — and it's unlikely to be the last major software scare. Read More These clever apps show off the iPhone Duo's potential: From retro cassette players and virtual notebooks to flight trackers and even a digital toaster, developers are finding creative ways to take advantage of Apple's first foldable iPhone. Read More OpenAI says it will no longer train its AI models on the live internet, citing “significant risks”: OpenAI will cut frontier models off from the internet weeks after one of its engineers said that solution wouldn't work. Read More Last but Not Least What some of Anthropic’s backers are worth before its IPO: Early-stage and follow-on investors in the AI lab are already sitting on major paper returns. 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