January 22, 2026

Spotify brings AI-powered Prompted Playlists to the U.S. and Canada: Now available in the US and Canada, Spotify's AI-powered Prompted Playlists let users describe what they want to hear using natural language commands. Read More

From invisibility cloaks to AI chips: Neurophos raises $110M to build tiny optical processors for inferencing: Neurophos is taking a crack at solving the AI industry's power efficiency problem with an optical chip that uses a composite material to do the math required in AI inferencing tasks. Read More

Former Google trio is building an interactive AI-powered learning app for kids: Big tech companies and upcoming startups want to use generative AI to build software and hardware for kids. A lot of those experiences are limited to text or voice, and kids might not find that captivating. Three former Google employees want to get over that hurdle with their generative AI-powered interactive app, Sparkli. Read More

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Not to be outdone by OpenAI, Apple is reportedly developing an AI wearable: Should this wearable materialize, it could be released as early as 2027, according to a report on the device. Read More

Anthropic has to keep revising its technical interview test so you can't cheat on it with Claude: Since 2024, Anthropic's performance optimization team has given job seekers a take-home test to make sure they know their stuff — but as AI coding tools have gotten better, the test has had to change a lot to stay ahead of AI-assisted cheating. Read More

Google reportedly snags up team behind AI voice startup Hume AI: Google has hired the CEO and top top behind voice AI startup Hume AI, signaling that voice is increasingly becoming the preferred interface over screens. Read More

Here’s what you should know about the US TikTok deal: A number of investors are competing for the opportunity to purchase the app, and if a deal were to go through, the platform's U.S. business could have its valuation soar to upward of $60 billion. Read More

A timeline of the US semiconductor market in 2025: From leadership changes at legacy semiconductor companies to wishy washy policy around chip exports, a lot happened last year. Read More

Disrupt tickets are officially on sale at the lowest rates of the year. Lock in Super Early Bird pricing plus 50% off a second ticket of the same type, available to the first 500 registrants or until Jan 31. Join 10,000+ founders, investors, and operators for curated networking, hear from 250+ speakers across 200+ sessions, and demo innovations for 300+ startups Oct 13–15 in San Francisco.

Kindred talks home-swapping platform for travelers, Chef Robotics introduces AI into commercial kitchens, and Character.AI addresses chatbot safety with teens.

Tiger Global, Microsoft to fully exit Walmart-backed PhonePe via its IPO: Tiger Global and Microsoft are offering up their full stakes in the company, while Walmart is choosing to retain its majority stake, and selling up to 45.9 million shares. Read More

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