News Digest — 2026-07-14

Top Stories

Video-generation startup PixVerse raises $439M, valuation soars past $2B

TechCrunch AI · 2026-07-14

PixVerse, a Singapore-based video-generation startup, has raised $439 million in a Series C extension, increasing its valuation to over $2 billion. The funding will support expansion of its world model offerings and global customer reach, with investors including Alibaba and Lollapalooza Capital. The company offers a range of video generation models for consumer, professional, and game development use cases.

Hermes agent maker Nous Research in talks for new funding at $1.5B valuation

TechCrunch AI · 2026-07-13

Nous Research, founded by Jeffrey Quesnelle, Karan Malhotra, Ryan Teknium, and Shivani Mitra, is finalizing a $75 million funding round at a $1.5 billion valuation, with leading investment from Robot Ventures and USV, following the success of its Hermes agent that includes built-in skills for coding, web search, and image understanding, and learns from user behavior automatically. The company's Hermes competes directly with OpenClaw, a similarly positioned agent that gained viral attention, and has also released specialized language models for coding and math.

Uber’s product chief on hotels, robotaxis, and why the company doesn’t want to be “everything for everyone”

TechCrunch AI · 2026-07-14

Uber is expanding beyond ride-hailing and delivery into areas like hotel bookings, concierge services, and boat rentals, while also developing a dedicated autonomous vehicle data unit called AV Labs. The move aims to strengthen partnerships with self-driving technology companies and build a data advantage, though it raises questions about its potential to become a comprehensive 'everything' app. AI is being integrated in ways that impact both riders and drivers.

Already rich, already successful, why the last wave of tech winners is grinding again

TechCrunch AI · 2026-07-14

A growing number of successful tech executives are returning to AI research and development, joining companies like Anthropic and launching their own AI-focused startups. This shift reflects a renewed focus on AI's potential for significant financial and technological gains, despite the industry's current saturation. Key figures such as Tom Blomfield, Mike Krieger, and Chamath Palihapitiya are actively involved in advancing large language model technologies or building enterprise AI solutions.

Waze is getting a bunch of new AI-powered features

The Verge AI · 2026-07-13

Waze is integrating Google's Gemini AI assistant to enhance voice-based features like reporting traffic incidents and finding destinations using natural language commands. The app is also introducing a 'less chatty' mode for quieter voice prompts and adding Motorcycle Mode with improved routing and ETAs.

Technology

Siri AI is already changing how I use my iPhone

The Verge AI · 2026-07-13

Apple has launched a public beta of iOS 27, introducing a revamped Siri AI that is already influencing how users interact with their iPhones. While the update includes minor improvements like faster app launches and enhanced Messages features, the standout change is the more capable Siri AI, which marks a significant step toward a more intelligent assistant. The beta is still in early stages and relies on developer support for full potential.

The 6 wildest claims in Apple’s lawsuit against OpenAI

The Verge AI · 2026-07-13

Apple has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that three former employees were involved in unauthorized access to confidential hardware information, including coaching Apple staff on bypassing security checks and requesting show-and-tell sessions during interviews. The claims center on Tang Tan, Chang Liu, and Yu-Ting 'Alyssa' Peng, who left Apple to join OpenAI, with Tan now serving as its chief hardware officer.

World

Satya Nadella has issued a shocking warning to companies using AI

TechCrunch AI · 2026-07-13

Of all the debates raging about the potential downsides of AI, there is one worry causing the most hand-wringing among AI enthusiasts in Silicon Valley — that the giant AI labs that sell proprietary models are somehow acting like Trojan horses.