TechCrunch Headlines

OpenAI puts Pro subscriptions on hold due to Astra demand

The company said Pro subscriptions put the most strain on its systems, so it's pausing sign-ups while adding more capacity.

Anthropic details distillation campaigns from Alibaba, Moonshot AI, and DeepSeek

A new report released Thursday by Anthropic alleges persistent distillation attacks by China-based AI companies, which have escalated in recent months as competition in the space has intensified.

TechCrunchHardware

Furo’s founders left Silicon Valley — and it’s paying off

The three 28-year-old founders behind energy startup Furo moved from Silicon Valley and back to Germany, and yet secured $4 million in funding from mostly U.S. backers.

Meta’s AI agent Muse is now the No. 2 app in the US

Meta's newest app Muse is off to a slower start than the company's other apps, like Meta AI or Threads.

TechCrunchGeneral

Proxima Fusion bets €140M on a critical fusion ingredient dominated by Asian suppliers

Proxima Fusion's new high-temperature superconducting magnet factory will help supply its commercial power plant.

TechCrunchGeneral

Amazon makes it easier to buy what you see on Prime Video

Amazon is expanding shopping integrations across Prime Video, letting viewers discover products tied to thousands of shows, movies, and live sports through X-Ray, its shopping app, and a new Lens-powe…

Anthropic reveals rogue AI agents hate CAPTCHAs, just like you

Come inside the mind of a bot trying to convince the internet it's human.

India’s Pocket FM doubles revenue run rate to $500M as AI powers 93% of audio content

Pocket FM uses AI to produce 99% of its new content, helping make content production about 80 times cheaper.

TechCrunchGeneral

Instagram’s latest feature lets you add tagged posts to your profile grid

Instagram's newest feature lets users take posts from the Tagged tab and move it to their main profile grid instead.

TechCrunchHardware

Google is making it easier to switch between password managers on Android

Google's new feature will transfer your passkeys as well

The Boring Company raises $3B in round led by UAE

The company said it plans to dig more than 150 kilometers of tunnels in the Middle Eastern country.

AI agents are flooding public services with new requests

“The vast majority of cases we find are people who are entitled to claim for something, claiming for that thing,” the researcher told TechCrunch.

TechCrunchBusiness

Bending Spoons to buy collaboration tools maker Miro for $1.36B, 90% less than its 2022 valuation

Bending Spoons is buying Miro for $1.36B, a huge dip in valuation for the workplace collaboration startup, which was valued at $17.5B in late 2021.

TechCrunchHardware

Maven Robotics wants to steal your robot deployment deal

Maven Robotics emerged from stealth today with a $100 million Series A and active deployments.

TechCrunchBusiness

Google signs its biggest rice-methane carbon credit deal with Indian startup Mitti Labs

The four-year agreement will cover rice farms across three Indian states, reaching about 100,000 hectares at peak delivery.

TechCrunchSecurity

ID verification giant IDScan confirms data breach with more than 150 million driver’s licenses stolen

The ID checking company said the data breach included people's full names and driver's licenses and other government-issued identity documents.

TechCrunchBusiness

Defense tech Mach Industries doubles valuation to $3.7B in 3 months

The buzzy startup raised $600 million in its Series C round.

Snapchat takes aim at Partiful with new event-planning features

Snapchat says the new features can be used to organize everything from birthday celebrations and sporting events to study sessions and weekend hangouts.