News Digest — 2026-07-25

Top Stories

Anthropic launches Opus 5

TechCrunch AI · 2026-07-24

Anthropic has launched Opus 5, a new iteration of its flagship AI model that outperforms Fable 5 on several benchmarks and offers improved privacy features by removing the 30-day data retention policy. The model is more affordable and less restrictive than previous versions, while maintaining strong performance in tasks like computer vision and code analysis.

Bluesky’s AI assistant Attie expands into an open social research tool

TechCrunch AI · 2026-07-24

Bluesky's AI assistant Attie has introduced a new feature called Quests, enabling users to conduct open-ended research on trending topics and influential accounts across the Bluesky network and other AT Protocol-integrated platforms. The update aims to address slowed user growth and explore new ways to engage users and potentially monetize the service. Attie, originally designed for custom social feed creation, is now expanding into a broader research tool for the open social web.

I tried out OpenAI’s new AI keypad — which will be fun for some coders and slightly mystifying to everyone else

TechCrunch AI · 2026-07-25

OpenAI has launched a new AI-powered keypad called Micro, designed to work with ChatGPT and appeal to tech enthusiasts, particularly coders. The device, developed in collaboration with keyboard designer Work Louder, has drawn attention due to OpenAI's recent legal dispute with Apple and allegations that a similar smart home product was developed by former Apple engineers. The keypad's sleek design and functionality remain niche, primarily catering to a specific audience within the tech community.

As US weighs response to Chinese AI, industry urges against broad open-weight restrictions

TechCrunch AI · 2026-07-24

AI companies, including Nvidia and Mistral, urge policymakers to avoid broad restrictions on open-weight AI models as Washington debates responses to Chinese AI and alleged model distillation.

Why Cognition bought Poke: AI personality is becoming a competitive advantage

TechCrunch AI · 2026-07-24

The acquisition brings Poke’s conversational style and interaction model to Cognition’s coding agent Devin, reflecting a growing belief that how AI assistants interact with users is as important as the models powering them.

World

Midjourney acquired the astrology app Co-Star

TechCrunch AI · 2026-07-24

The AI lab Midjourney continues to expand its purview beyond image and video generation.

Prentis, new AI lab co-founded by Reid Hoffman, Mark Pincus in talks to raise $100M

TechCrunch AI · 2026-07-24

The neolab is betting that automating routine computer tasks will soon outpace coding as AI's biggest use case.

‘AI communism’, rogue models, and the why Kimi K3 spooked Wall Street

TechCrunch AI · 2026-07-24

Chinese AI lab Moonshot’s open model Kimi went viral this week for reasons that had less to do with the model itself and more to do with how the U.S. AI industry reacted to it. Meanwhile, an unreleased OpenAI model wandered outside its test environment and ended up connected to a real security breach at Hugging Face — a reminder […]