Justice Department says North Koreans have infiltrated dozens of US companies

U.S. authorities warn that sanctioned hackers are increasingly targeting Americans to act as facilitators between breached U.S. companies and Pyongyang.

Scimplify raises $25M to challenge China’s grip on critical materials with AI

Scimplify’s annualized revenue run rate has tripled to $200 million as it eyes U.S. expansion.

Cerebras CEO pushes back on AI doomsday warnings

Cerebras CEO Andrew Feldman has a message for AI leaders spreading doomsday warnings: Maybe stop talking? At TechCrunch Disrupt, he argued that the industry’s focus on AI’s risks is drowning out its potential benefits.

FBI arrests OpenAI employee accused of planting hidden recording device in conference room

It’s not clear exactly for what purpose the recording device was used, but FBI director Kash Patel said the scheme was to “capture sensitive communications about the company’s super intelligence technology.” 

Licube wants to be the fuel provider to the fusion power industry — see how at TechCrunch Disrupt

Fusion power plants will need a lot of lithium, and Licube is preparing to be a key supplier.

Niobia takes the guesswork out of some of tech’s most expensive mistakes

The San Francisco startup aims to help battery and chip manufacturers identify defects on production lines, reducing downtime and costly mistakes.

Flox Intelligence is building AI to keep wildlife away from trains, airports, and roads

Flox’s edge devices can identify animals and use species-specific sounds to drive them away from critical infrastructure.

Forget rockets — Longshot wants to fire cargo into space from a gun. See it at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026

Longshot is trying to build a gun big enough to make space data centers a reality.

Pluto Security raises $42M as AI gives enterprise security teams a new headache

The problem with giving everyone in a company access to AI tools is that people will use them in unexpected ways. And that fact is steadily seeding fears that companies now have new, gaping security holes in their systems or, at least, will soon.

Amex introduces a framework to prevent AI agents from making unauthorized purchases

American Express is introducing a new framework designed to ensure AI agents only make purchases their users have authorized, potentially preventing costly mistakes and disputes as AI-powered shopping grows.