Alexa+, Amazon’s upgraded, generative AI-powered version of its Alexa assistant, is available to all U.S. customers as of Wednesday. The company said that the AI feature will be free to Prime members across devices. Meanwhile, anyone can use Alexa+ for free via the Alexa website or mobile app, with some limitations.
“We have tens of millions of customers using Alexa+ now, and now…
Accel doubles down on Fibr AI as agents turn static websites into one-to-one experiences
February 5, 2026
While advertising and targeting have become increasingly personalized, the website – the final destination for that traffic – has remained largely static. Fibr AI aims to bridge that gap by using AI agents to turn generic webpages into one-to-one experiences…
Semiconductor startup Positron has secured $230 million in Series B funding, TechCrunch has exclusively learned. The outfit plans to use the capital to speed up deployment of its high-speed memory chips, a critical component for the chips used for AI workloads, sources…
Lotus Health nabs $35M for AI doctor that sees patients for free
February 4, 2026
A growing number of people are asking OpenAI’s ChatGPT and other LLMs about their health, often discovering that the chatbots provide remarkably useful medical insights.
KJ Dhaliwal (pictured left), who in 2019 sold the South Asian dating app Dil Mil for $50 million, says he has been thinking about the inefficiencies of the U.S. healthcare system ever since he was a child acting as a medical…
Fitbit founders James Park and Eric Friedman have announced the launch of a new AI startup called Luffu that aims to help families proactively monitor their health. The duo are developing an “intelligent family care system” that will start with an app experience…
Peak XV Partners, a leading venture capital firm in India and Southeast Asia, has seen a fresh round of senior departures. These follow other leadership exits over the past year as it pushes ahead with plans to deepen its focus on AI investing and expand its footprint in the…
Carbon Robotics built an AI model that detects and identifies plants
February 3, 2026
What is and isn’t a weed that needs to be eliminated in the field is determined by the eyes of the farmer – and now, increasingly, by a new AI model from Carbon Robotics.
Seattle-based Carbon Robotics, which builds the LaserWeeder – a robot fleet that uses lasers to kill weeds – announced a new AI model, the Large Plant Model (LPM), on Monday. This model recognizes plant…
Sometimes, you might be sitting on a hot product and not know it until the market demands it.
After launching as a digital business card that doubled as a lead capture tool for sales teams, Birmingham, Alabama-based Linq pivoted a few times before landing on an idea last…
Digital meeting notetakers like Read AI, Fireflies.ai, Fathom, and Granola help record and transcribe online meetings. But for in-person or more versatile options, many people prefer physical recording devices. These physical notetakers transcribe audio and give users…
A peek inside Physical Intelligence, the startup building Silicon Valley’s buzziest robot brains
February 2, 2026
From the street, the only indication I’ve found Physical Intelligence’s headquarters in San Francisco is a pi symbol that’s a slightly different color than the rest of the door. When I walk in, I’m immediately confronted with activity. There’s no reception desk, no gleaming logo in fluorescent lights.
Inside, the space is a giant concrete box made slightly less…
