July 03, 2026

TechCrunch Top 3

Mark Zuckerberg tells staff that AI agents haven't progressed as quickly as he'd hoped: At an internal meeting, the Meta CEO reportedly said that AI development efforts were not moving as quickly as anticipated. Read More

Jersey Mike's IPO illustrates how bad the AI hype has become: Just for kicks, I took a look at Jersey Mike's IPO documents. Surely a sandwich shop would have no need to mention AI. But lo and behold. Read More

Meta quietly launches vibe-coded gaming app Pocket: Meta has quietly launched Pocket, an experimental AI app that lets users generate and share interactive mini games using text prompts. Read More

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Morning Must-Reads

A warning sign about AI’s real cost, courtesy of Google and Amazon: AI has made it a lot harder for tech companies like Amazon and Google to deliver on their net-zero pledges. Read More

OpenAI proposed donating 5% of its equity to a US sovereign wealth fund: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has reportedly proposed giving 5% of the company’s equity to a U.S. sovereign wealth fund, reviving discussions about letting the public share in the financial gains from the AI boom. Read More

Anthropic is discussing a new custom chip with Samsung: The news comes about a week after OpenAI announced its own custom AI chip in a partnership with Broadcom. Read More

Popular TV-tracking app TV Time is shutting down as company focuses on AI: TV Time, the popular TV-tracking app, is shutting down on July 15 as parent company Whip Media pivots toward enterprise AI products. Read More

Politician who investigated spyware abuses had his phone hacked with Pegasus spyware: A government customer of NSO Group used the company's Pegasus spyware to hack into the phone of a European politician, who at the time was serving on an EU committee tasked with investigating the spyware industry. Read More

Last but Not Least

Private space pilots are flying orbital missions for the US Space Force: True Anomaly and Rocket Lab are performing Top Gun-style satellite fly-bys for the U.S. military. Read More

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