The ‘most important consumer earnings report of the season’ lands this week

Lina Khan points to Figma IPO as vindication of M&A scrutiny

A surprising figure is celebrating Figma’s successful IPO: Lina Khan, former chair of the Federal Trade Commission. In a Friday afternoon post on X, Khan linked to an article about Figma’s impressive first day of trading and argued the IPO is “a great reminder that letting startups grow into independently successful businesses, rather than be...

Anthropic cuts off OpenAI’s access to its Claude models

AIMPWAAugust 2, 2025

Anthropic has revoked OpenAI’s access to its Claude family of AI models, according to a report in Wired. Sources told Wired that OpenAI was connecting Claude to internal tools that allowed the company to compare Claude’s performance to its own models in categories like coding, writing, and safety. TechCrunch has reached out to Anthropic and...

STARTUPs

Ethan Thornton of Mach Industries takes the AI stage at Disrupt 2025

AIMPWAAugust 1, 2025

Autonomous weapons, decentralized strategy, and startup speed — this isn’t the future of defense, it’s the now. At TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, Ethan Thornton, CEO and founder of Mach Industries, steps onto the AI Stage to talk about how next-gen defense is being built from the ground up with AI at its core. Inside the AI...

From Meta’s massive offers to Anthropic’s massive valuation, does AI have a ceiling?

AIMPWAAugust 1, 2025

Meta is still going all-in on the AI talent war, with Mark Zuckerberg reportedly reaching out to top recruits himself, throwing around jaw-dropping compensation packages that top $1 billion over multiple years. And Meta’s latest target? Mira Murati’s new startup, Thinking Machines Lab. It’s a bold play in an already overheated market. While Zuck eyes...

Google bets on STAN, an Indian social gaming platform

AIMPWAAugust 1, 2025

Google has backed STAN, an Indian social gaming platform that connects gamers with creators, communities, and publishers. Google’s investment comes as part of an $8.5 million equity funding round, which also saw investment from Japanese gaming giants Bandai Namco Entertainment, Square Enix, and Reazon Holdings. Aptos Labs and King River Capital, as well as existing...