Tech

Meta's future AI data center lease obligations swell to over a quarter trillion dollars

Meta said in a securities filing that it had about $278.99 billion in operating and finance leases that were not yet included on its balance sheet.

Gemini Robotics 2 brings whole body intelligence to robots

From feet to fingertips — we are teaching robots intelligent whole-body control, fine dexterity, and teamwork to complete a broad range of complex tasks.

Meta says AI is making it easier to build new apps — and more are coming

Meta says AI is making it dramatically easier to build and launch new consumer apps, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg telling investors the company has more new consumer products on the way following a recent wave of releases for Facebook Groups, Marketplace sellers, Instagram, and gaming.

The Odyssey wins the casting debate

Lessons from the visionary British director Peter Brook remain relevant for today’s cinema

Nscale buys Anyscale as it seeks to own more of the AI compute stack

British AI neocloud Nscale is buying software startup Anyscale, which helps companies scale their AI workloads across data centers and servers.

Google updates its AI software for robots

It's part of a growing trend toward using AI models to make humanoid and other robots more versatile.

Forward-deployed engineers are the AI industry’s latest talent obsession

A new study estimates only 2,000 U.S. engineers have the expertise to deliver meaningful AI ROI, as enterprises race to hire forward-deployed engineers to implement AI at scale.

With a stateless makeover, new MCP spec targets enterprise scale

Plus, a new policy for the AI protocol ensures features aren’t removed suddenly.

Scale AI has a new CEO: the current COO of Google Cloud.

Francis deSouza will begin as CEO on August 10, taking over from the interim CEO who has been leading the company since Alexandr Wang, its founder and former CEO, joined Meta in June 2025. Joe Osborne, a spokesperson for Scale AI, said the company’s new focus on building AI applications for enterprises and governments, rather than solely data labeling, has it projecting more than $1 billion in 2026 revenue.

Lilian Weng, co-founder of Thinking Machines Lab, has returned to OpenAI.

Weng had left OpenAI along with a handful of other employees to co-found the competing AI startup, which was helmed by Mira Murati, OpenAI’s former CTO. Weng recently shared a note that after being “absent for a month” to focus on her health leading up to Thinking Machines Lab’s first model release, Inkling, she was making the decision to leave behind “consistent stress and workload” to pursue “a scoped role in a more predictable place.” She is reportedly already back at OpenAI.

Scale AI hires former Google Cloud COO Francis deSouza as new CEO

deSouza replaces Alexandr Wang, who left for Meta last year.

TechCrunch Disrupt 2026’s biggest stage features leaders from Amazon, Replit, Tether, with much more to come

The Disrupt Stage is where many of the biggest conversations in technology happen, with a legacy that stretches back for more than a decade.