News Digest — 2026-07-16

Top Stories

Applied Computing wants to give oil and gas operators an AI model for the entire plant

TechCrunch AI · 2026-07-16

Applied Computing, a London-based startup, has raised $20 million to develop an AI model called Orbital designed to integrate sensor data, engineering documentation, and physical laws for oil and gas plants. The model aims to improve decision-making by analyzing real-time data across thousands of sensors and predicting facility states more accurately than traditional methods. The company emphasizes bridging the gap between fragmented data sources in energy operations.

SpaceX falls to $135 IPO price ahead of Starship launch

TechCrunch AI · 2026-07-15

SpaceX's stock price dipped to $135.27 shortly after its IPO, marking a decline from its peak of over $200, as investor sentiment has shifted due to market volatility and skepticism toward Elon Musk's ambitious space goals. The stock has declined weekly since the IPO, influenced by a small float of only 4% of shares traded on Nasdaq and broader tech market corrections. The downturn reflects growing caution around Musk's futuristic vision and impacts investor confidence in the company's long-term prospects.

Whatnot acquires Shaped to power real-time live shopping recommendations

TechCrunch AI · 2026-07-15

Whatnot has acquired Shaped, a machine learning company, to enhance its real-time product recommendation system for live shopping. The integration aims to improve personalization and responsiveness in a dynamic environment where inventory and buyer demand change rapidly. The acquisition underscores Whatnot's focus on AI-driven solutions for live commerce.

Microsoft patches record number of security vulnerabilities, citing its use of AI

TechCrunch AI · 2026-07-15

Microsoft released 570 security patches, including two zero-day vulnerabilities, in its regular Patch Tuesday update, attributing the increase to the use of AI in identifying software flaws. One zero-day affects Windows Server, allowing privilege escalation, while another in SharePoint is being actively exploited by hackers, with CISA issuing a warning. The company says AI is enabling faster detection of previously undetected vulnerabilities in its products.

Amid hardware legal battle, OpenAI releases a $230 keyboard for Codex

TechCrunch AI · 2026-07-15

OpenAI has launched a $230 light-up keyboard, the Codex Micro, co-designed with Work Louder, aimed at enhancing user interaction with its AI coding assistant Codex. The device features customizable keys, a joystick, and a dial to adjust AI reasoning levels, serving as a command center for managing AI agents. The release is part of OpenAI's limited-run foray into hardware, signaling a strategic but niche move into physical computing products.

Technology

Thinking Machines amps up its bet against one-size-fits-all AI with its first open model, Inkling

TechCrunch AI · 2026-07-15

Thinking Machines Lab has released its first open-weight AI model, Inkling, which allows developers to download and modify the model directly. With 975 billion parameters and training on 45 trillion tokens across text, image, audio, and video, Inkling is designed to offer adaptable, calibrated responses and support user-controlled 'thinking effort' levels, challenging the dominance of one-size-fits-all AI models.

Microsoft is reportedly training salespeople to talk down OpenAI and Anthropic

TechCrunch AI · 2026-07-15

Microsoft is reportedly training its sales team to highlight the efficiency and security advantages of its own AI models over those of OpenAI and Anthropic, particularly in office applications. The strategy emphasizes Microsoft's end-to-end system as a key differentiator, with direct comparisons made to competitors like Anthropic's Claude. This shift comes amid Microsoft's growing reliance on these companies for its AI capabilities, making the competitive approach more notable.

Hack suggests AI music generator Suno scraped YouTube for training data

TechCrunch AI · 2026-07-15

A hacker claimed to have accessed Suno's source code through a supply chain attack, revealing that the AI music generator allegedly scraped audio from YouTube, Deezer, and other platforms. Suno defends its practices under fair use, but major record labels argue it violates DMCA and YouTube's terms of service. The breach also exposed customer data, and Suno has not informed users about the incident.