July 23, 2026

TechCrunch Top 3

US government says Iran-linked hackers are disrupting American water and energy providers: An updated government advisory warns that Iranian hackers are exploiting systems used by water and energy providers. Read More

Anthropic updates Claude voice mode with more capable models: Claude's new voice model will let you reschedule your meeting or draft an email. Read More

Runway launches AI model router as generative media gets crowded: The Media Router is a tool that automatically selects the best image, video, or audio generation model for a request based on whether a developer prioritizes quality, speed or cost. Read More

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Afternoon Must-Reads

Tesla's robotaxis are moving in reverse: The number of paid robotaxi miles traveled fell 36% in the second quarter, despite expanding to new cities, according to Tesla's own figures. Read More

Meta launched a new AI optimism ad set to a song about human extinction: David Bowie's song "Five Years," which Meta used in a supposedly inspiring advertisement, is about humans learning that they have five years left to live before the apocalypse. Read More

Experts say exploiting Anthropic's Fable isn't how Kimi K3 got so good: "I don't think you get a model this strong and this quickly on the heels of Fable doing strictly distillation," one expert told TechCrunch. Read More

Patreon lays off 20% of its workforce: In a memo to staff that was posted online, Conte said the company's core business is strong, but the platform has to respond to market changes and adjust its cost structure to remain stable. Read More

Tesla's door handles may spur new US safety rules: The new rule-making process follows a series of incidents, including fatal ones, in which people have become stuck inside cars. Read More

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Last but Not Least

AI chip startup Etched defies skeptics, hits $10.3B valuation from big-name investors : Etched, founded by three Harvard dropouts, has created new chips and memory components that speed up inference on any AI model -- no GPUs required, it says. Read More

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