Techmeme
March 19, 2026, 12:55 AM

Top News

Andy Greenberg / Wired:
Google, iVerify, and Lookout researchers discover DarkSword, a hacking tool used by Russia-sponsored and other hackers to target iOS 18 via Ukrainian websites  —  A powerful iPhone-hacking technique known as DarkSword has been discovered in use by Russian hackers.
Rustin Banks / The Keyword:
Google updates Stitch, which lets users turn natural language prompts into UI designs, introducing an “AI-native” design canvas and a reasoning design agent  —  Stitch is evolving into an AI-native software design canvas that allows anyone to create, iterate and collaborate on high-fidelity UI from natural language.
Alfred Ng / Politico:
During a Senate hearing, FBI Director Kash Patel says FBI does purchase “commercially available information” that can be used to track people's location history  —  The U.S. Supreme Court has required law enforcement agencies to obtain a warrant for getting people's location data …
Zach Vallese / CNBC:
Facebook launches Creator Fast Track, offering big Instagram, TikTok and YouTube creators guaranteed monthly pay and boosted reach to post on Facebook  —  Meta on Wednesday launched a new program aimed at luring top creators from TikTok and YouTube to Facebook, offering guaranteed pay and boosted reach.
Jyoti Mann / The Information:
Meta confirms a critical security incident after an internal rogue AI agent's actions led to the exposure of sensitive data to employees without authorization  —  A rogue AI agent recently triggered a major security alert at Meta Platforms, by taking action without approval that led …
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
Cloudflare says it has appealed the €14.2M fine issued by Italy for refusing to block pirate sites on its 1.1.1.1 DNS service, calling the amount “staggering”  —  Cloudflare said it has appealed a fine issued by Italy over the company's refusal to block access to websites on its 1.1.1.1 DNS service.
Laurent Giret / Thurrott:
Perplexity releases its Comet browser app for iOS and iPadOS with a built-in AI assistant, four months after launching on Android  —  Perplexity's Comet AI browser is coming to iOS and iPadOS today, four months after its previous launch on Android.  The mobile browser comes with a built-in AI assistant …
Paresh Dave / Wired:
Walmart is embedding its own chatbot Sparky in ChatGPT after conversion rates via OpenAI's Instant Checkout were 3x lower than those requiring clicking out  —  After OpenAI's Instant Checkout feature fell short, Walmart is instead embedding its Sparky chatbot directly into ChatGPT and Google Gemini.
Threads: @eric_seufert
Mike Isaac / New York Times:
Sources: several tech companies, including OpenAI, are encouraging the DOD behind the scenes to back away from designating Anthropic a “supply chain risk”  —  Tech companies have been reluctant to directly confront Trump administration officials over their contract feud with the A.I. start-up.
Kanika Talwar / WWD:
Dina Bass / Bloomberg:
Micron reports Q2 revenue up 196% YoY to $23.9B, vs. $19.7B est., expects 2026 capex to exceed $25B, vs. $22.4B est., and forecasts Q3 revenue above estimates  —  Micron Technology Inc. warned that it will need to spend heavily on production to meet burgeoning demand, overshadowing …
Anthropic:
Anthropic releases a survey of 80,508 Claude users' views, hopes, and fears about AI, calling it “the largest and most multilingual qualitative study”  —  Last December, tens of thousands of Claude users around the world had a conversation with our AI interviewer to share how they use AI …
Upstarts Media:
Compute startup Andromeda raised new funding from Paradigm at a $1.5B valuation, bringing Paradigm's total to $60M; it passed a $100M revenue run rate in 2025  —  Once a service spun up by AI investors Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross, Andromeda has now raised $60M from Paradigm to stand alone.
Brent Lang / Variety:
Director Coerte Voorhees says he is using AI to feature Val Kilmer in “a significant part” in an indie film, with the cooperation of the late actor's estate  —  Five years prior to his death in 2025, Val Kilmer was cast as Father Fintan, a Catholic priest and Native American spiritualist, in “As Deep as the Grave.”
Graham Fraser / BBC:
The UK government withdraws a proposal to let AI companies train on copyrighted works unless creators opt out, after backlash from artists like Dua Lipa  —  The UK government has backtracked on its position on copyright and AI, stating it must take time to “get this right”.
Madison Mills / Axios:
Ramp data: Anthropic is capturing ~73% of all spending among companies buying AI tools for the first time, up from a 50/50 split with OpenAI in January  —  Anthropic is now capturing over 73% of all spending among companies buying AI tools for the first time, according to customer data from Ramp.
Reuters:
Counterpoint: Apple's China smartphone sales surged 23% YoY in the first nine weeks of 2026, while the overall market fell 4% amid rising Android phone prices  —  Apple (AAPL.O) posted a 23% surge in China smartphone sales in the first nine weeks of 2026, bucking a broader market decline …
Ben Weiss / Fortune:
Stripe and Paradigm-backed blockchain startup Tempo launch the Machine Payments Protocol, which uses Tempo's new blockchain to handle AI agents' transactions  —  The fintech giant Stripe along with Tempo, a blockchain startup incubated by the payments company as well as the venture firm Paradigm …
Anirban Sen / Reuters:
Google DeepMind appoints Jasjeet Sekhon, Bridgewater's chief scientist and head of AI, as chief strategy officer; Sekhon helped build Bridgewater's AIA Labs  —  Jasjeet Sekhon, a top Bridgewater Associates executive, is joining Google's artificial intelligence unit DeepMind as its chief strategy officer …
LinkedIn: LinkedIn

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ProPublica:

Earlier Picks

Andrew E. Freedman / Tom's Hardware:
The Information:
Bloomberg:
Cristina Criddle / Financial Times:
Steven Levy / Wired:
Yoolim Lee / Bloomberg: