Autonomous agents are the hottest thing in AI. OpenAI, Meta, Google, Instinct, and others promise their agents can scour the internet on your behalf, doing anything from booking a dinner reservation and cleaning out your inbox to buying new shoes. But what happens when the rest of the internet won't play nice?

In recent weeks, users of services like Meta's Muse, xAI's Grok, OpenAI's Dots, and Instinct have reported blocks preventing their AI agents from performing tasks across top websites. Yelp told TechCrunch that it only allows AI agents that pay for its data licensing program, while Delta Air Lines is preventing them from booking ticket …

Read the full story at The Verge.

OpenAI's ChatGPT Atlas browser is gone, but now ChatGPT's Google Chrome extension is getting some upgrades that allow it to use the browser tabs you already have open. With the extension installed, OpenAI says ChatGPT can now view your browser tabs when you tag Chrome in ChatGPT's web or desktop app, posting a demo video showing someone asking ChatGPT to compare the three tabs they have open with sofas they're considering.

A few big upgrades for Chrome users today! We're bringing the power of computer use to anyone who uses Chrome.

First up: ChatGPT can now use your tabs in Chrome to make answers more useful and get things done for you.

If …

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Though movies about disruptive tech founders are nothing new, 2026 has been unusually stacked with features that take a much more critical look at how Silicon Valley is reshaping our reality. Aaron Sorkin's The Social Reckoning frames Mark Zuckerberg as a robotic villain whose ambitions are destabilizing society. Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim's You Can See Everything paints a damning picture of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes as she prepares for her ongoing stint in prison. After years of being widely celebrated as a visionary, you can see how the larger narrative around Elon Musk has shifted in projects like Alex Gibney's Musk docume …

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President Donald Trump posted a series of photos on Truth Social showing off renovations to the White House - but one of them appears to be modified with AI. The picture, which compares an old White House column to a "restored" one, has several discrepancies and was flagged by Google's AI detector as "made or edited with OpenAI."

As pointed out by users on Reddit, the picture of the "restored" column has an uneven number of steps on both sides of the structure. The number of steps also doesn't match up with the ones in the "before" photo. Additionally, the before and after photos appear nearly identical in angle and detail; the reflection i …

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OpenAI is facing a new wave of lawsuits from eight US states that accuse the company of harming children and misleading customers about the safety of ChatGPT, as reported earlier by Reuters. The lawsuits, filed separately by Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, West Virginia, Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho, and Montana, allege OpenAI unlawfully put profits over safety when developing ChatGPT.

The string of complaints claims that OpenAI violated local consumer protection laws by failing to warn customers about the dangers of ChatGPT, citing several lawsuits filed by the family members of teens and adults that allege the AI chatbot played a role in their loved …

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Last week, Anthropic and OpenAI looked like they had the AI race to themselves, pulling ahead with increasingly powerful models that left their rivals in the dust. Google seemed hopelessly far behind, while Meta, despite spending billions to revive its floundering AI ambitions, had yet to establish itself as a serious contender. Even the latest models coming out of China, impressive as they were, appeared to be playing catch-up.

Then, in the space of a few days, everything changed. Google and Meta both unveiled frontier models they claim can go toe to toe with the best from OpenAI and Anthropic. Suddenly, the race is back on - and it's anyo …

Read the full story at The Verge.

OpenAI claims a former employee took more than 100 files related to its product plans before joining Apple. In a document filed on Wednesday, OpenAI accuses the unnamed employee of sending this information to a personal account and then presenting it to Apple leadership, including the vice president of the company's operations in Asia.

The filing, reported earlier by Reuters, is tied to a legal battle between Apple and OpenAI over trade secrets - but this time, OpenAI is doing the accusing. It alleges that the files in question contain images of at least one unreleased device, along with supplier information, engineering data, project files …

Read the full story at The Verge.

It's not clear exactly for what purpose the recording device was used, but FBI director Kash Patel said the scheme was to "capture sensitive communications about the company’s super intelligence technology." 

An OpenAI engineer was arrested after the company said it discovered a "sophisticated recording device" hidden in one of its offices. The employee was identified as Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi national. Alfozan is charged with using or endeavoring to use a device to intercept oral communications, according to a press release from the Department of Justice.

OpenAI's post about the incident says it used its AI models to "understand the device and where it had come from, identifying that a specific employee had planted it a few days earlier."

As noted by the DOJ, OpenAI found the device plugged into a TV's USB port in an executiv …

Read the full story at The Verge.

A federal judge ruled that Apple can access OpenAI's interview materials involving former Apple employees, as well as private messages and testimony from key figures in the case.

Three fired OpenAI safety researchers dispute allegations of mishandling sensitive information, warning in an open letter that their dismissals are creating a chilling effect on the company’s AI safety culture.

It had previously been reported that the AI lab's annualized revenue was some $70 billion, but a new report claims it's a whole lot less than that.

OpenAI's flood of proofs deviated from the guidelines set by a group of mathematical researchers consulted by the frontier lab.

ChatGPT’s teen safeguards are meant to protect vulnerable users, but new testing found the chatbot continues encouraging engagement during crises and potentially encourages unhealthy relationships with the AI itself.

OpenAI is launching a new user interface that will bring interactive visuals to ChatGPT.

OpenAI’s Alexander Embiricos is coming to the AI Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, just days after the launch of Dots. Join this conversation by registering for your pass. Get you pass now to save up to $100 and get a second at 50% off.

OpenAI will watermark ChatGPT and Codex text in the EU to comply with the AI Act. Editing can make the invisible marks harder to detect, it says.

Still failing to read the room, Sam Altman thinks the world should accept "some bad things happening" for the benefits of artificial intelligence.

This is an incredible bargain to offer humanity while Forbes says you're worth about $3.3 billion, and the bad things under discussion include other people getting hacked, scammed, and otherwise abused by the technology that made you that $3.3 billion. — Read the rest

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The new ads will begin to appear later this month in the U.S. only for now, and will feature products and services from an initial test group of advertisers.

By his own admission, David Robinson is “something of a cliché”: an employee at a leading AI company who issues a dire warning while resigning from their job.