The Big Four, tracked.
The live wire from the labs, refreshed every 15 minutes. Our verified read on the big launches lives in Phantom Notes.
§ Lab spotlight
AnthropicSEP 02, 2026 ↗Claude's new system prompt really doesn't want to reproduce song lyricsAnthropic publish the system prompts for their Claude consumer applications (Claude.ai and the Claude mobile apps - sadly not for Claude Cowork or Claude Code). I love that they do this, and that they...OpenAISEP 02, 2026 ↗US government sides with OpenAI on issue of training LLMs on copyrighted material"The United States has a strong interest in continuing to develop a robust and competitive
artificial intelligence industry that sets the standard for the practice and procedure of AI use
globally," t...Google DeepMindSEP 02, 2026 ↗Proactive cyber defense for governments and enterprisesxAIAUG 31, 2026 ↗The Pentagon now has its own version of ChatGPT and GrokVersions of OpenAI's ChatGPT and SpaceXAI's Grok will join Google's Gemini on the Pentagon's central portal for AI tools.
§ Our verified coverageAll of Phantom Notes →
AUG 15, 2026Gemini 3.7 Flash Is Smarter and Half Price. Read the Fine Print on Both.→JUL 24, 2026Kimi K3: The Largest Open Model Ever Does Not Exist Yet. It Is Due Monday.→JUL 22, 2026Meta Killed Llama in April. Now It Wants You to Rent Muse Spark Instead.→JUL 21, 2026Gemini 3.6 Flash Is Not Smarter Than 3.5. Google Says That Is the Point.→JUN 27, 2026OpenAI's GPT-5.6 Sol Is Its Best Model Yet. You Cannot Use It Yet, and That Is the Story.→
§ The full wire· 16 items
SEP 02, 2026Wonderful more than doubles its valuation to $5B in under 6 monthsWonderful said it will use its $550 million Series C funding to develop products faster, expand its FDE teams, and meet demand for its products.TechCrunch · industry↗SEP 02, 2026India’s richest man now wants to turn aging computers into AI-ready PCsJio is betting it can turn an aging computer into an AI-ready PC for as little as about $11 for two months.TechCrunch · industry↗SEP 02, 2026Quoting Rick BrewsterDirect2D has always been the biggest hurdle for Paint.NET on WINE, and it's clear that it will never be completed enough for Paint.NET's use. And I can't just "disable" the use of Direct2D. So, instea...Simon Willison · industry↗SEP 02, 2026HiddenLayer nabs $100M as enterprises rush to secure their AI deploymentsHiddenLayer has raised a $100M Series B from Delta-v Capital, Ten Eleven Ventures, Morgan Stanley, Microsoft's M12, Booz Allen Hamilton, and others.TechCrunch · industry↗SEP 02, 2026PSA: Amazon’s shopping AI can now tell you if that message is a scamAmazon is adding a scam-detection feature to Alexa for Shopping that can verify whether suspicious emails, texts, and other messages actually came from the retailer.TechCrunch · industry↗SEP 02, 2026Adobe acquires Indian market intelligence startup RiloThis is Adobe's second acquisition out of India after Rephrase.ai in 2023TechCrunch · industry↗SEP 01, 2026AfterQuery reportedly becomes Y Combinator’s fastest-ever unicorn, now valued at $3.2BAI model-training startup AfterQuery has reportedly raised a round that valued it at $3.2 billion, just five months after announcing its $30 million Series A at a $300 million valuation in April.TechCrunch · industry↗SEP 01, 2026GeoJSON Map ViewerTool: GeoJSON Map Viewer
I was helping Natalie gather some maps of local political boundaries (for the Granada Community Services District and the Midcoast Community Council and found a need t...Simon Willison · industry↗SEP 01, 2026Fambot introduces an ‘AI chief of staff’ for familiesFambot is building an AI “chief of staff” to help families manage the emails, calendars, school updates, sports schedules, and other logistics of raising kids.TechCrunch · industry↗SEP 01, 2026Google’s answer to Canva is an AI tool where you prompt instead of designWith Google Pics, Google is pushing deeper into the creative software market dominated by Canva and Adobe, but with a distinctly AI-first approach.TechCrunch · industry↗SEP 01, 2026Quoting Tarn AdamsThey took the letters from me! I have to talk about dwarf behavior now. I can't even talk about dwarf AI. It doesn't exist. It's dwarf behavior, and they misbehave sometimes
Tarn Adams, co-creator o...Simon Willison · industry↗AUG 31, 2026Quoting Andrew Digby325 #kakapo! The chicks from this year's record breeding season are now juveniles and so have been added to the population. In 1995 there were just 51 kākāpō left. Recovery of critically endangered sp...Simon Willison · industry↗AUG 31, 2026Nvidia’s $3.5B MediaTek bet reveals its plan for tackling Big Tech’s AI chip buildoutNvidia invests $3.5 billion into Taiwanese chipmaker MediaTek. The deal shows how Nvidia plans to stay essential to AI infrastructure as Big Tech begins to build its own AI chips.TechCrunch · industry↗AUG 31, 2026Meeting note-taker Circleback adds a free tier to attract more customersCircleback is also introducing new pricing plans starting from $14 per month.TechCrunch · industry↗AUG 31, 2026Instagram puts new limits on undisclosed AI profilesAs frustration over AI influencers has been growing, Instagram is limiting the reach of undisclosed AI profiles.TechCrunch · industry↗AUG 31, 2026The U.S. is building barriers around drones and robots, but China has scale to get around themThe U.S. is shutting out more foreign-made drones and robots. China’s scale means the global competition may simply move elsewhere.TechCrunch · industry↗