TechCrunch Top 3

Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). Image Credits: Andrew Harnik / Getty Images

1. Are AI summaries anti-competitive? A group of Democratic senators thinks so, and they're urging the FTC and the Justice Department to investigate. They say the latest AI features are stomping on creators and publishers while they're down. Read More

2. Bye, bye cute Nuro bots: Nuro was always known for its cute autonomous delivery bots, but it seems building that fleet was not cheap. Now, the startup is pivoting to license its self-driving tech to OEMs and mobility companies. Read More

3. Mistral goes multimodal: The French AI startup has released its first model that processes images as well as text. The model, Pixtral 12B, is akin to Anthropic's Claude family and OpenAI's GPT-4o. Read More

Morning Must-Reads

Image Credits: Jay P. Morgan / Getty Images

🍸 Can I buy you a mocktail? Tired of dates plying you with drinks at every opportunity? Dating app Drybaby connects sober and sober-curious singles. The app also has a weekly newsletter that highlights local sober-friendly events. Read More

🤖 Adtech embraces AI: Profitable Indian adtech firm InMobi has raised $100 million in debt to fund potential acquisitions of AI companies ahead of its planned IPO next year. InMobi is hoping to go public at a $10 billion valuation. Read More

🧑‍💻 No rest for the wicked: Sergey Brin is back working at Google on AI "pretty much everyday," in large part because he had too much FOMO to stay out of this "big, fast-moving field." Read More

🩸 No blood oxygen feature for Americans: The Apple Watch Series 10 won't feature the sought-after blood oxygen level feature in the U.S. due to an ongoing patent battle with medical device company Masimo. Read More

🫨 Can a wearable help with ADHD? Sydney-based Neurode says its wearable headband can track and treat ADHD symptoms by using electrical stimulation to balance the brain. Sign me up! Read More

📱 Apple's core AI strategy: Apple's new developer tools show us that the real power of Apple Intelligence is going to be leveraged by third-party apps, argues TC's Sarah Perez. Read More

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Around the Web

🥲 Ask forgiveness, not permission: Facebook is asking for forgiveness after admitting to scraping every Australian adult user's public data to train its AI, without giving them an option to opt out. The company said it wasn't required to do so under privacy law, reports ABC. Read More

🔮 Singapore sees crypto rise: Bloomberg reports that in Singapore, payments using stablecoins topped almost $1 billion in the second quarter. Merchant outlets are leading the trend, saying that crypto payments are efficient and cheap. Read More

🪧 Going on strike: The New York Times Tech Guild, which represents 600 staffers, has voted to strike in protest of stalled contract negotiations, reports Axios. The union is bargaining for better wages and workplace policies, like remote work rights. Read More

Before You Go

Image Credits: Bumble

🎣 Catfishing 2.0: Bumble will introduce new AI features that help prospective daters with "conversation support" and "profile creation" this winter. That's going to make it impossible to know if the person you're flirting with online actually has any game. Read More