January 22, 2026

TechCrunch Top 3

Spotify brings AI-powered Prompted Playlists to the U.S. and Canada: Now available in the US and Canada, Spotify's AI-powered Prompted Playlists let users describe what they want to hear using natural language commands. Read More

From invisibility cloaks to AI chips: Neurophos raises $110M to build tiny optical processors for inferencing: Neurophos is taking a crack at solving the AI industry's power efficiency problem with an optical chip that uses a composite material to do the math required in AI inferencing tasks. Read More

Former Google trio is building an interactive AI-powered learning app for kids: Big tech companies and upcoming startups want to use generative AI to build software and hardware for kids. A lot of those experiences are limited to text or voice, and kids might not find that captivating. Three former Google employees want to get over that hurdle with their generative AI-powered interactive app, Sparkli. Read More

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Morning Must-Reads

Google reportedly snags up team behind AI voice startup Hume AI: Google has hired the CEO and top top behind voice AI startup Hume AI, signaling that voice is increasingly becoming the preferred interface over screens. Read More

Snapchat gives parents new insights into teens' screen time and friends: With these new features, Snap is likely looking to appease regulators and parents over concerns about safety and screen time on its platform. Read More

A timeline of the US semiconductor market in 2025: From leadership changes at legacy semiconductor companies to wishy washy policy around chip exports, a lot happened last year. Read More

Not to be outdone by OpenAI, Apple is reportedly developing an AI wearable: Should this wearable materialize, it could be released as early as 2027, according to a report on the device. Read More

Anthropic has to keep revising its technical interview test so you can't cheat on it with Claude: Since 2024, Anthropic's performance optimization team has given job seekers a take-home test to make sure they know their stuff — but as AI coding tools have gotten better, the test has had to change a lot to stay ahead of AI-assisted cheating. Read More

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Disrupt 2026 tickets are live and at the lowest rates

Disrupt tickets are officially on sale at the lowest rates of the year. Lock in Super Early Bird pricing plus 50% off a second ticket of the same type, available to the first 500 registrants or until Jan 31. Join 10,000+ founders, investors, and operators for curated networking, hear from 250+ speakers across 200+ sessions, and demo innovations for 300+ startups Oct 13–15 in San Francisco.

You missed these chats from Disrupt:

Kindred talks home-swapping platform for travelers, Chef Robotics introduces AI into commercial kitchens, and Character.AI addresses chatbot safety with teens.

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Last but Not Least

Tiger Global, Microsoft to fully exit Walmart-backed PhonePe via its IPO: Tiger Global and Microsoft are offering up their full stakes in the company, while Walmart is choosing to retain its majority stake, and selling up to 45.9 million shares. Read More