TechCapsules

At TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, Google Search product VP Robby Stein led a session on scaling product decisions from MVP to billions of users. The fireside chat examined how teams balance speed, trust, and reliability when every update impacts a global audience. Stein drew on his experience at Instagram, Stamped, and Google’s AI Mode, which now serves over a billion monthly users. He highlighted the need to evolve experimentation practices and maintain user confidence as products grow.

Disney announced that Karandeep Anand will become senior executive vice president and chief technology officer, a newly created role, starting October 2. Anand comes from leading the chatbot firm Character.AI and will report to CEO Josh D’Amaro. The executive will supervise enterprise technology, infrastructure, data and AI platforms, product and engineering, and coordinate segment technology teams to modernize Disney’s tech delivery. Disney highlighted his background in infrastructure, consumer tech and artificial intelligence, citing his experience at Meta, [...]

At Salesforce’s Dreamforce event, Figure AI founder and CEO Brett Adcock declared that the company is “building a new species” by embedding onboard intelligence into humanoid robots. Adcock reiterated the claim during a conversation with CEO Marc Benioff, emphasizing the goal of creating a new order of intelligence rather than merely producing machines. Figure AI has showcased prototype robots performing domestic tasks in controlled settings, and the company plans to scale production as AI capabilities improve. The announcement [...]

Elon Musk announced on X that The Boring Company is planning a “simple, precursor Hyperloop” tunnel linking Austin and San Antonio. The proposed 80‑mile conduit would run at speeds above 200 mph, shrinking a two‑and‑a‑half‑hour drive to roughly 30 minutes with nonstop express service between dedicated Loop stations. The concept echoes the company’s garage‑style stations used in Las Vegas and follows earlier, unbuilt proposals for the corridor dating back to 2021. The plan arrives after a $3 billion funding round [...]

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei released a plan to “pace the frontier,” urging a slowdown in AI development, while Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang dismissed regulatory concerns, echoing former President Donald Trump. TechCrunch’s Equity podcast featured Kirsten Korosec, Sean O’Kane, and the author debating the feasibility of such a slowdown. The discussion highlighted industry consensus on safety measures, the lack of detailed implementation plans, and skepticism about whether voluntary coordination can replace formal regulation. The debate underscores growing tension [...]

Hidetaka Miyazaki, the creator behind FromSoftware’s seminal titles such as Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Sekiro and Elden Ring, said in a Guardian interview that his new role as company president has exposed him to a parade of “weird” gaming executives. He joked that he draws inspiration from those meetings, using the personalities of rival CEOs as templates for some of the series’ notorious enemies. Miyazaki, promoted in 2014 just before Bloodborne’s release, explained that the exposure to [...]

Elon Musk announced that The Boring Company is planning a “simple precursor Hyperloop” linking Austin and San Antonio, promising travel times under 30 minutes. The company’s official account echoed Musk’s claim, saying it would be “excited and honored” to build the “massive infrastructure project.” While The Boring Company has completed a tunnel‑based transit system in Las Vegas, many earlier proposals—including projects in Chicago, Los Angeles, and a New York‑Washington corridor—have stalled. The latest pitch followed Musk’s repost of an [...]

ConsoneAI, a Wetherby‑based AI firm, has been named a finalist in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s 2026 Emerging Technologies Competition for its drug‑development platform, DioScor. The system predicts drug efficacy and side‑effects across genders, ethnicities, and age groups in 90 seconds, using AI to model human and animal responses while accounting for genetic and demographic variables. Founder Mo Kosar highlighted the platform’s potential to shorten drug approval timelines and reduce bias in clinical trials. DioScor also offers a [...]