timef 09/25/2025

From dating apps and AI-powered matchmaking to full-on digital companionship, artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming a third party in our most personal relationships. But is it truly helping us find deeper connection — or just reshaping romance into an algorithmic illusion?

Jon McNeill (DVx Ventures), Aileen Lee (Cowboy Ventures), and Steve Jang (Kindred Ventures) share what AI founders need to know now: from defensibility to term sheets. TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 takes place October 27–29 in San Francisco. Register before tomorrow ends to save up to $668.

Doorstep integrates into existing delivery apps and then, using phone sensors, tracks when a driver has entered a building, gone up an elevator, and made it to the desired doorstep.  

Teen Accounts first rolled out to Instagram a year ago after Meta and other popular social networks were grilled by U.S. lawmakers for not doing enough to protect teens on their services.

The AI platform Clarifai has launched a new reasoning engine that it claims will make running AI models twice as fast and 40% less expensive.

Ticktock! Less than 2 days remain to secure savings of up to $668 on your TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 pass. This offer ends tomorrow, September 26, at 11:59 p.m. PT. If you haven’t registered yet, now’s the moment.

Databricks is on the hook to pay at least $100 million to OpenAI in this deal, even if customer usage falls short. It's a bet, but one that Databricks has already hedged.

Apple is blaming the EU's enforcement of the DMA for delaying the launch of some features in the EU, saying the rules are "leading to a worse experience" for Apple customers in the bloc by exposing them to new risks and reducing choices.

Starpath is changing the space-rated solar panel industry in its quest to build off-world colonies.

Drivers who listen to TuneIn will now receive real-time alerts, including extreme weather warnings and other emergencies. 

Spotify is launching a music spam filter, labeling AI tracks, and clarifying its rules around AI voice clones.

Nothing is making its affordable devices brand CMF into a separate entity with headquarters in India.

While the industry's biggest players cement ever-tighter partnerships, Google is hellbent on capturing the next generation of AI companies before they become too big to court.

The accelerator has introduced a new application track called Early Decision, designed for students who want to start companies but don’t want to drop out.

X sued the Indian government in March over content takedown orders issued through its centralized portal.

In a new, scathing Financial Times op-ed, the former Sequoia Capital honcho compares the White House to Tony Soprano's pork store, calling its new H-1B visa plan another "brutish extortion scheme."

Medical device funding is hitting levels we haven’t seen since 2021, with investors pouring billions into diagnostics and imaging companies. While innovation has raced ahead, a fundamental problem still hasn’t changed: Critical medical hardware like MRI machines cost millions of dollars and is limited to large hospitals. So how do you take one of the […]

A new call recording app is gaining traction for offering to pay users for voice data from calls, which is sold to AI companies.

The exemption would allow the Amazon-owned autonomous vehicle company to commercially deploy its custom-built robotaxis, which lack traditional controls like pedals and a steering wheel.

Lithium Americas asked for a small change to the loan repayment period, which spurred the latest Trump administration request for equity.

Lithium Americas asked for a small change to the loan repayment period, which spurred the latest Trump administration request for equity.

Lithium Americas asked for a small change to the loan repayment period, which spurred the latest Trump administration request for equity.

The decision to let users hide end screens is a welcome addition to the platform, especially since they can end up covering the last bit of a video and make it hard to see what's happening in some cases.

A fresh $100 million and an interesting partnership with AMD has slightly bumped Cohere's valuation up.

Microsoft is integrating OpenAI rival Anthropic's AI into Copilot, marking another step towards the disentangling of Microsoft and OpenAI.

At TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, GTM pros Max Altschuler, Alison Wagonfeld, and Marc Manara take the Builders Stage to show founders how to build a go-to-market engine that doesn’t just support the product, but also scales with it.

A couple of months ago, the founders behind YC-backed social app Candle were in “pivot hell,” cycling through more than a dozen ideas after joining Y Combinator’s Fall 2024 batch, while the clock on their seed money ticked down. Alex Ruber, previously an engineer at Apple, and Parth Chopra, formerly an engineer at Asana and […]

As Instagram celebrates the 3 billion milestone, it also plans to roll out features that help users control what content is algorithmically recommended to them.

This news comes just a few weeks after Oracle allegedly inked a $300 billion compute deal with OpenAI that surprised the market.

Tips and tricks for customizing your iPhone with iOS 26's Liquid Glass.

The AI Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, happening October 27–29 in San Francisco, is officially locked and loaded, featuring the powerhouses shaping the future of artificial intelligence. Explore the full agenda and grab your pass with savings of up to $668.