What we're reading, in the order we're reading it.
Anthony and Harry's working stream — links, charts, tweets, and short takes. The unprocessed inputs behind the briefings.
Google’s new framework helps AI agents spend their compute and tool budget more wisely
Researchers introduce BATS and Budget Tracker, two new methods that help agents prioritize high-value actions, cutting API costs by over 30% while boosting accuracy.
Ai2’s new Olmo 3.1 extends reinforcement learning training for stronger reasoning benchmarks
Ai2 updates its Olmo 3 family of models to Olmo 3.1 following additional extended RL training to boost performance.
Okibo launches autonomous, AI-guided painting and drywall finishing EG7+ robot
Okibo announced the release of the autonomous, AI-guided painting and drywall finishing EG7+ robot, which extends to 24 feet for construction projects.
Could America win the AI race but lose the war?
The US has gone all-in on artificial intelligence. But the idea of an end-of-times battle with China over tomorrow’s key technology is part delusion, part lobbying tool for Silicon Valley
ARX Robotics unveils Hector UGV to boost speed, range and autonomous capability for land forces
ARX Robotics has unveiled Hector, a wheeled, medium-class unmanned ground vehicle designed to increase speed, range and operational standoff for European land forces.
Toss a bitcoin to your Lightcone – LW + Lighthaven’s 2026 fundraiser
TL;DR: Lightcone Infrastructure, the organization behind LessWrong, Lighthaven, the AI 2027 website[1], the AI Alignment Forum, and many other things…
Even in Silicon Valley, skepticism looms over robots, while ‘China has certainly a lot more momentum on humanoids’
“The humanoid space has a very, very big hill to climb,” said Cosima du Pasquier, founder and CEO of Haptica Robotics.
Kindle’s New AI Feature Can Answer Questions About Your Books (Whether Authors Want It or Not)
The Kindle app’s new feature will provide AI-generated tips to explain your book’s plot or how the characters relate to one another, though it’s currently only available on the iOS...
People Are Already Creating Ghoulishly Horrifying Sora Disney Videos
Sora users have been churning out edgy AI Disney and Pixar style trailers well before Disney signed a licensing agreement with OpenAI.
Why Kids Find Cognitive Offloading Irresistible
Today’s students upload content to an AI and present its analysis as their own thinking. Research reveals why this cognitive offloading is irresistible and how to counter it.
Inside Rivian’s big bet on AI-powered self-driving
Rivian demonstrated the progress it’s made, and in the process showed just how far it still has to go to make its cars autonomous.
Diagnostic Accuracy of Artificial Intelligence for the Detection of Papilledema on Fundus Images: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Papilledema, a vision-threatening, raised intracranial pressure manifestation, must be recognized quickly to avoid permanent optic nerve injury. AI techniques and deep learning models, while pro…
Gavin Newsom pushes back on Trump AI executive order preempting state laws
California governor says order pushes ‘grift and corruption’ instead of innovation just hours after president’s dictum
YouTube channels spreading fake, anti-Labour videos viewed 1.2bn times in 2025
Exclusive: More than 150 anonymous channels using cheap AI tools to spread false stories about Keir Starmer, study finds
AI Isn’t Killing Education
Personal Perspective: AI doesn’t crush education, it reveals how brittle its rituals have become.
When Doing Gets Easy, Deciding Gets Difficult
As AI makes many tasks effortless, the real strain shifts inward—toward judgment, priorities, and the quiet psychological work of leading yourself.
AI is bringing old nuclear plants out of retirement
The White House has promised to quadruple nuclear power by 2050.
We’re running out of good ideas. AI might be how we find new ones.
What if the best use of AI is restarting the world’s idea machine?
Interview: Canva reveals what creativity in the age of AI and why Affinity is free for all
I spoke to Anna Wood, Product Marketing Lead at Canva about the company’s latest updates and what it all means for designers and creators
The next phase of AI is agentic, and it starts with data architecture
AI’s next breakthrough isn’t bigger models—it’s better architecture
The race to zero downtime is on – and AI is leading it
AI-powered self-healing infrastructure is redefining reliability
This tiny Ryzen AI Max+ mini PC rivals a laptop-class RTX 4070
This tiny Ryzen AI Max+ mini PC rivals a laptop-class RTX 4070
SaaStr AI App of the Week: Kintsugi — The AI That Puts Sales Tax on Autopilot
Every week, we highlight an AI-powered app that’s actually solving real problems for B2B and Cloud companies. This week: Kintsugi. The next generation AI agent for B2B tax compliance. The...
Anthropic’s Chief Scientist Says We’re Rapidly Approaching the Moment That Could Doom Us All
Anthropic’s chief scientist Jared Kaplan says humanity will soon have a big decision to make on whether to take the “ultimate risk” on AI.
Low-Code/No-Code Tools: Customization Hack for AI Engineers
How can AI ML engineers build AI faster without deep coding expertise? Discover how LCNC AI tools simplify customization and boost productivity via AI training.
Big Tech’s Get-Rich-Quick Scheme for AI: Fire Everyone, Release a Mediocre Model
Want to sound smart at your holiday party? Our weekly AI news wrap-up gives you the lowdown on infighting at Meta, another underwhelming OpenAI launch, a tale of scammer revenge,...
Netflix growing up, data center jet engines, and the circular AI economy
Today on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec and Anthony Ha discuss what happens when the startup that used to mail you DVDs grows up and tries to buy a legacy entertainment...
AI Toys for Kids Talk About Sex, Drugs, and Chinese Propaganda
Plus: Travelers to the US may have to hand over five years of social media history, South Korean CEOs are resigning due to cyberattacks, and more.
Why Humanoid Robots and Embodied AI Still Struggle in the Real World
General-purpose robots remain rare not for a lack of hardware but because we still can’t give machines the physical intuition humans learn through experience
Is The Washington Post’s new AI podcast a hallmark of the future?
The Post calls the podcast an “AI-powered tool” that turns its articles into an audio news digest.
How to Mitigate AI Bias: Proven Strategies for Fair AI
Learn how to mitigate AI bias with proven strategies for diverse data, bias testing, human oversight, and governance.
AI Crosses The Sacrosanct Line In Mental Health Of Being Clinical Instead Of Just Informational
It is one thing for AI to be informational. But it now has gone into being clinical. Is this good or bad? What is the difference? An AI Insider analysis.
I Reverse Engineered Claude’s Memory System, and Here’s What I Found!
When I reverse-engineered ChatGPT’s memory system, I found it uses pre-computed summaries injected into every prompt. But Claude’s approach is different. Through extensive experimentation, I discovered Claude uses on-demand tools...
Artificial Intelligence News for the Week of December 12; Updates from Couchbase, DXC Technology, Qlik & More
Solutions Review Executive Editor Tim King curated this list of notable artificial intelligence news for the week of December 12, 2025. Keeping tabs on all the most relevant artificial intelligence…
AI Mode, Content & Search Index
Our tests show that Google’s AI Mode doesn’t retrieve page content from the live web during the query fan out process. Instead, it gets it from somewhere else, and that...
Google AI Search Update: Completely New Grounding Format
Gemini’s grounding context has a completely new format which I don’t fully understand yet. It seems custom to different prompt types and breaks outside the old index 1, index 2…etc...
Meta sees role reversal as it adopts Alibaba’s Qwen to train AI models
Throughout 2023 and 2024, Chinese firms keen to catch up with the US used Meta’s Llama to help them build their own models.
How user prompts shape your content visibility in AI search.
A single article. Seven different queries. Radically different passages surfaced. This isn’t a bug. It’s the ranker doing exactly what it’s supposed to do—and it reveals something important about how...
Google Removes AI Videos of Disney Characters After Cease and Desist Letter
Google has taken down dozens of AI-generated videos of Disney-owned characters after the studio sent a cease and desist letter on Wednesday.