Meta is on the cusp of launching third-party integration with WhatsApp in Europe — something that’s required by the Digital Markets Act (DMA). It’s rolling out “over the coming months” with WhatsApp’s level of end-to-end encryption (E2EE) maintained. Meta says that BirdyChat and Haiket will be the first third-party services to implement messaging interoperability with…
Apps like TikTok and Whatnot allow small-business owners to peddle their wares in real time—and make real profits. Aaliyah Arnold, the 21-year-old founder of BossUp Cosmetics, goes live on TikTok a few times a week. Each livestream will last anywhere from 4 to 12 hours. Thousands tune in to watch her pack mystery boxes for…
In the debut episode of the Build Mode podcast, host Isabelle Johannessen sits down with Deon Nicholas, co-founder of Forethought AI, to unpack what it really takes to build a lasting company with and for your customers from day one. Build Mode is TechCrunch’s new podcast that pulls back the curtain on how startups actually…
I never really believed self-driving cars would make it to the UK, so you can imagine my surprise when I found myself clambering into one of Wayve’s autonomous vehicles for a journey around north London a few weeks ago. In June, the company announced plans with Uber to begin trialing Level 4 fully autonomous robotaxis…
Alembic Technologies has raised $145 million in Series B and growth funding at a valuation 13 times higher than its previous round, betting that the next competitive advantage in artificial intelligence will come not from better language models but from proprietary data and causal reasoning. The San Francisco-based startup, which builds AI systems that identify…
Autodesk CMO Dara Treseder on the biggest campaigns of 2025—and how her company uses campaigns to advance its brand. Marketers are setting the cultural conversation—with their successes as much as their missteps. But which campaigns are creating healthy tension? When is the right time to walk back a rebrand? Autodesk CMO Dara Treseder breaks down…
If there’s one thing that VCs agree on when backing AI startups, it’s that AI requires a different investment approach than prior technological shifts. “It’s a funky time,” said Aileen Lee, founder and managing partner of Cowboy Ventures, onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025. The longtime VC noted that the rules of investing have significantly shifted…
This is an excerpt of Sources by Alex Heath, a newsletter about AI and the tech industry, syndicated just for The Verge subscribers once a week. I spent yesterday at Eric Newcomer’s Cerebral Valley conference in San Francisco, which is now in its third year. I’ve attended this event for three years in a row…
Artificial intelligence agents powered by the world's most advanced language models routinely fail to complete even straightforward professional tasks on their own, according to groundbreaking research released Thursday by Upwork, the largest online work marketplace. But the same study reveals a more promising path forward: When AI agents collaborate with human experts, project completion rates…
A new study suggests that learning languages could help your brain—and body—stay younger for longer. Speaking multiple languages may protect both your brain and body by slowing down the biological aging process, increasing resilience as you get older, according to a new international study.
