AI Daily Briefing (2026-09-04): 12 Updates from TechCrunch AI, The Verge AI, Google (The Keyword) & More

This is the 2026-09-04 daily briefing: 12 AI updates published by TechCrunch AI, The Verge AI, Google (The Keyword), Google DeepMind over the last 24 hours. Original headlines are kept as-is; every entry links to the official announcement or original report.

• TechCrunch AI | Accel reportedly in talks to lead $1B round for Thinking Machines at $40B valuation (09-03)
• TechCrunch AI | Abliteration.ai is making a business out of removing AI guardrails (09-03)
• TechCrunch AI | Meta is paying to peek at how you use their latest AI model (09-03)
• TechCrunch AI | OpenAI launches Astra, its powerful (and controversial) new model (09-03)
• The Verge AI | OpenAI’s next big AI model has ‘entered the AGI era’ (09-03)
• Google (The Keyword) | Start the year AI-ready with the Google AI Educator Series (09-03)
• Google (The Keyword) | Use your voice to get more done in Gmail, Docs, and Keep (09-03)
• The Verge AI | Nvidia launches free tool that links idle computers into a personal AI data center (09-03)
• The Verge AI | Google now lets you chat with Gmail, Docs, and Keep (09-03)
• The Verge AI | ChatGPT, Grok, and Claude all went down at the same time (09-03)
• Google (The Keyword) | 5 amazing visuals show how the male fruit fly’s brain map is advancing neuroscience (09-03)
• Google DeepMind | Introducing WeatherNext 3, our most advanced and accurate global weather AI model (09-03)

These entries are aggregated automatically from official RSS feeds by our daily pipeline. They are provided as a reading guide only — refer to the linked originals for facts and figures.