Latest AI News
Meta quietly launches vibe-coded gaming app Pocket
Meta is getting into gaming with the launch of a new app calledPocket, which allows people to generate small, interactive apps and games using AI prompts. The software, a result of Meta’sacquisitionof the team at thevibe-coded gaming platform Gizmoearlier this year, describes itself as “a creative platform for making and sharing gizmos,” which is what the interactive experiences are called. It also offers a scrollable feed where you can play with gizmos others have made. Based on theapp’s screenshots in Google Play,there are many similarities to Gizmo’s original app,which is still listed. Like Pocket, Gizmo also offers a way to use written AI prompts to build small, interactive experiences, and it includes a discovery feed. Alessandro Paluzzi,a reverse engineer and regular spotter of new apps and features, first noticed the app’s launch this morning and published a Play Storescreenshotof the app on X. According to data from app intelligence providerAppfigures, however, Pocket was first launched on June 29, 2026 on the App Store and Google Play. (Because of its newness, the firm can’t tell if it’s yet to see any downloads.) #Metais working on a new app called Pocket 👀ℹ️ A new creative platform to make and share gizmos.pic.twitter.com/zFjMU5jj1U Other outlets, includingBusiness InsiderandInvesting.com, have also reported on Paluzzi’s discovery. Meta has not yet responded to a request for comment. Pocket is another example of Meta’s push to make AI creation tools more mainstream, extending its earlier efforts, which included AI-generated images created viaits Meta AI app, and AI videos created withits app called Vibes.It has also added AI features across its social platforms and into itsvideo-editing app for creators, Edits. Given that Meta has not officially announced Pocket’s debut, it’s likely that Pocket is still in its initial experimentation phase. Its counterpart Gizmo, however, had generated 635K lifetime installs across both iOS and Google Play, according to Appfigures, which noted it had a 98% positive sentiment.
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Yep, we’re using OpenClaw to date now
Ben Guez has “a bunch of potential international wives in [his] DMs,” thanks to an automated script he set up using OpenClaw, Claude code, and Instagram trial reels. “I think it’s crazy, like the potential is insane right now,”Guez, a content creator and startup founder, told TechCrunch. “I’m not sure if everyone’s gonna think it’s good, but I mean, it’s working.” How is Guez is wooing so many women? First, he uses the open source AI agentOpenClawto track World Cup match results. After each game, OpenClaw triggers Claude to create and post a nearly identical Instagram “trial reel” with the same template. In the video, Guez stares out a train car window looking dejected, with the caption: “I can’t believe {COUNTRY} lost… If any {COUNTRY} girls need emotional support… my DMs are open.” Guez has made the same post, save for the country name, more than a dozen times. But you can’t tell when you look at his profile, since trial reels don’t show up on a creator’s public page. Since he launched this automation, Guez has gotten over one million views and 200 DMs in a few days. That volume is even more impressive considering that Guez says in his profile that he will only answer DMs sent viaCanary, his AI language learning app, which means that these women have to download his app. You have to hand it to him: Guez is really taking “work smarter, not harder” to another level. But once these women realize he doesn’t actually care about Tunisian soccer, wouldn’t they feel played? “They’re not feeling angry, they’re more impressed, like, ‘Oh, you’re thinking outside of the box, you’re a genuis,’” Guez said. “I think as long as you’re open [about] what you’re doing, I think it’s fine.” TechCrunch was not able to independently verify the actual reactions of these women, so we’ll just have to take Guez’s word for it. But we can tell you that Guez isn’t the only guy getting creative with theviral AI assistant. While Guez’s methods are a bit more outrageous, other people see OpenClaw as a way to streamline the process of setting up dates. Jeff Weisbein, founder of a tech PR firm, uses OpenClaw to help him figure out where to take dates across different neighborhoods in South Florida. “I’m meeting women who are in various parts of South Florida, so I don’t know all of the restaurants or things to do,” Weisbein told TechCrunch. “I have my bot just kind of do all the research and make a document with links to why it’s a choice for whatever type of date it is.” When I fill him in on Guez’s OpenClaw scheme, he bursts out laughing. “I guess I’m not leveraging OpenClaw to the fullest,” he said. “But definitely in the realm of using OpenClaw to facilitate a task that I would manually have to do otherwise.” Like Guez, Weisbein doesn’t hide the fact that he’s using AI tools to help plan dates (it backfired, though, when one woman told him, “I hate AI agents”). In a way, asking OpenClaw where to go for happy hour in Fort Lauderdale isn’t that different from Googling the coolest neighborhood bars, but Weisbein says he would draw the line at using AI to mediate his actual conversations with women. “I have seen people create bots and ways to swipe using OpenClaw, and I wouldn’t do that. They say it’s a numbers game, but if that’s what it takes… that seems like a pretty terrible way to do it,” he said. “I feel like you shouldn’t delegate your communication when you’re in a relationship with someone to AI.” People seem hesitant to let AI meddle once there’s an actual connection, but a tech worker named Cailey said that once she’s decided to end a flirtation, she doesn’t mind using Claude to break things off. “I started using Claude and created an automation that crafts ‘I no longer wish to see you’ messages based on a few key terms I would enter about the date. It’d then automatically send them for me at random times so that I wouldn’t feel the anxiety of when to send,” she told TechCrunch. “It worked really well, until I mentioned it to someone I was on a date with, who I then had to send an automated message to, and he asked if he was talking to Claude or Cailey.” What’s worse: getting ghosted, or getting broken up with by an AI? Wish you could have a team of experts at your beck and call?NanoClaw is the first personal AI assistant to support agent swarms.We've got you covered – no matter the need.pic.twitter.com/X5vcf4Cmve OpenClaw rocked the tech world with its potential when it went viral this spring, but security advocates have continuouslywarned usersabout the dangers of giving an AI assistant unilateral control over all of your accounts. For Lazer Cohen, the co-founder of the security-focused OpenClaw alternativeNanoClaw, there are steep privacy implications of outsourcing personal relationships to AI, even if his company advertises date planning as a potential use case on X. “Whenever you’re giving an agent access to personal information and accounts, you need human-in-the-loop approval,” Cohen told TechCrunch. “We’ve all heard the stories of OpenClaw creating dating profiles for people without their knowledge or consent, or OpenClaw dating coaches spilling to other groups that they’re being used as a dating coach too.” NanoClaw has found its way into Cohen’s love life, though he uses it in a way that’s a bit more wholesome than mass-producing reels that ask heartbroken soccer fans to slide into his DMs. “My wife and I personally use our NanoClaw assistant, Rosie, to manage the schedules of our five children,” he said. “But ‘claws’ are widely used to help couples get to the child-rearing phase.”
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Microsoft launches its own AI deployment company with $2.5 billion commitment
On Thursday, Microsoft announced a new operating business called Microsoft Frontier company, focused on delivering successful enterprise AI deployments with Microsoft’s existing AI tools. The project will be backed by a $2.5 billion investment from Microsoft, as well as 6,000 industry and engineering experts. In a statement announcing the venture, Microsoft’s Commercial Business CEO Judson Althoff resisted the Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) label that is often applied to these ventures. “This goes beyond what has been labeled as Forward-Deployed Engineering,” Althoff wrote, “and will be the largest, most capable, outcome-driven engineering organization in the industry.” Nonetheless, the venture bears a striking similarity to a number of FDE-based AI ventures announced in recent months. Justtwo days earlier, Amazon Web Services announced an internal commitment of $1 billlion for its own AI deployment venture, explicitly embracing the FDE model.Both OpenAI and Anthropichave launched joint ventures along similar lines, although those efforts also involve outside capital from private equity firms. Microsoft’s existing client base will give the new effort a significant head start, as the company has already deployed engineers to much of the Fortune 500. The announcement cites an early partnership with the London Stock Exchange Group, as well as Unilever, Land O’Lakes, and Accenture.
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How to Escape OpenAI, Anthropic, and Their Expensive APIs
Enterprises are grappling with the ever increasing token costs. So, how to put an end to this?
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Skyroot Sets Date for Vikram-1 Orbital Test Flight from Sriharikota
Skyroot Aerospace’s Mission Aagaman will test India’s first privately developed orbital rocket and gather flight data for future launches.
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How Vibe Coding Became a Hiring Opportunity for This Observability GCC
New Relic CEO Ashan Willy says AI-generated code is increasing demand for observability and creating new opportunities for India’s GCCs.
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India's AI Funding Boom in H1 2026 Left Most Startups Starving
India’s AI-native startups drew nearly $1 billion in H1 2026, but on the back of two mega deals from Neysa and Sarvam AI.
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Microsoft Invests $2.5 Bn to Launch Frontier Company to Help Businesses Deploy AI
Microsoft also named Rodrigo Kede Lima as President of the Frontier Company.
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How AceCloud Plans to Win India's Enterprise AI Market
As Indian enterprises move AI out of sandboxes and into core operations, the case for locally governed infrastructure, built on cost, compliance, and real-time performance, is no longer theoretical.
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Cognizant Launches Governance Platform to Manage Agentic AI Risks in Enterprises
Cognizant has launched Neuro AI Trust, a governance platform that provides real-time monitoring and policy enforcement across AI models and agents.
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MeitY Directs WhatsApp to Halt Username Rollout in India
WhatsApp said the feature is not yet live and includes safeguards against impersonation, but the government wants further consultations before any launch.
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Indian tech tycoon bets $30M of his own money to build AI alternative to Microsoft Office
Indian serial entrepreneur Bhavin Turakhia is making a $30 million personal bet that there is still room for another enterprise AI company. His new venture,Neo, is built on a simple premise: workplace software designed before the AI era cannot simply be upgraded with chatbots — it has to be redesigned from the ground up. Turakhia, 46, is no stranger to ambitious enterprise technology bets. Over the past two decades, he has co-founded companies including Directi, Radix, Titan, and banking software firm Zeta, largely backing them with his own cash before bringing in outside investors. He’s doing the same with Neo. Turakhia told TechCrunch he is bootstrapping this much money because he believes AI marks a technology shift significant enough to justify rebuilding workplace software from scratch. “If you want to build an iPhone, you can’t take the parts of a Nokia and somehow convert it into an iPhone,” he said. Launched internally in April this year, Neo is an enterprise work platform that combines project management, documents, file storage, and AI into a single product. The goal, Turakhia said, is to make AI an active participant in day-to-day work rather than just another assistant employees turn to separately. Turakhia argued most incumbents face a structural disadvantage when adding AI to products designed before generative AI. Neo, he said, was designed from the ground up for AI and is model-agnostic, allowing enterprises to switch between AI models rather than being tied to a single provider. He’s not alone in thinking this way. Investor Chamath Palihapitiya initially launched enterprise AI coding venture 8090 with his own capital beforeraising a $135 million funding roundthis week. Still, Turakhia’s bet comes as enterprise AI has emerged as one of the most competitive areas in technology. Microsoft, Google, and Salesforce are embedding AI across their workplace software. Meanwhile every startup from the giant labs like Anthropic and OpenAI, to the productivity companies like Notion and Superhuman are racing to reshape how businesses use AI in their daily workflow. Turakhia argued enterprise software has never been a winner-takes-all market, saying even a small share of global enterprise AI spending would represent a sizeable company. “Even if we end up with 2% to 5% market share, that’s larger than anything I’ve built so far,” he said. For the past few months, Neo has been in internal use across Turakhia’s companies, including Zeta. The company plans to begin rolling out the software to mid-sized businesses in the coming months, initially targeting knowledge workers across technology, consulting, and professional services firms. Turakhia said Neo’s initial platform was built in three months, with AI extensively used in the development process, work he estimates would have taken more than a year with a much larger engineering team before generative AI. The Bengaluru-based startup currently employs about 45 people, including 18 engineers. Turakhia told TechCrunch that it expects to grow to around 100 employees by the end of the year, with most new hires focused on AI and software engineering.
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