Tiny startup Arcee AI built a 400B-parameter open source LLM from scratch to best Meta's Llama

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories this afternoon

View this email online in your browser  January 28, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 Tiny startup Arcee AI built a 400B-parameter open source LLM from scratch to best Meta's Llama: 30-person startup Arcee AI has released a 400B model called Trinity, which it says is one of the biggest open source foundation models from a U.S. company. Read More With Apple's new Creator Studio Pro, AI is a tool to aid creation, not replace it: Apple's Creator Studio Pro leverages AI to help creators with tedious tasks — like finding clips or building slides — without trying to do the work for them. Read More Chrome takes on AI browsers with tighter Gemini integration, agentic features for autonomous tasks: Google Chrome is adding Gemini in the sidebar and is rolling out an agentic feature for AI Pro and Ultra users. Read More Be the first to know when news breaks Subscribe to our News Alerts, and you won't miss a thing. Breaking news, exclusives, and special reports—straight to your inbox. Sign up for News Alerts! A message from Antigravity Antigravity A1: Drones Done Differently A1 has launched as the world's first 360 drone, offering immersive flight like nothing else out there. Fully FCC-certified and unaffected by recent regulatory updates (sub-249g), A1 is available nationwide. From Jan 26 to Feb 9, all bundles are 15% off. Check out A1 Afternoon Must-Reads Waabi raises $1B and expands into robotaxis with Uber: Waabi has secured a $750 million Series C round to accelerate autonomous trucking, and another roughly $250 million commitment from Uber to deploy 25,000 robotaxis exclusively on its platform. Read More Tesla profit tanked 46% in 2025: The company's sales fell for a second year in a row, as Tesla looks to AI and robotics, including a new $2 billion investment in CEO Elon Musk's company xAI. Read More Snap gets serious about Specs, spins AR glasses into standalone company: The social media company's smartglasses are set to be released to the public later this year. Read More Tesla is killing off the Model S and Model X: The company will stop making the pioneering EVs in the second quarter of 2026, CEO Elon Musk announced Wednesday. Read More Trump's acting cybersecurity chief uploaded sensitive government docs to ChatGPT: A report cited officials as saying that Homeland Security sought to determine if there was any harm to government security as a result of the lapse. Read More A message from PulpaTronics Metal-free RFID tag disruptor secures retail trials. PulpaTronics offers fully recyclable, metal-free RFID tags for inventory tracking. Unlike 45 billion single-use tags made with metal antennas, we transform paper into conductive circuits to cut CO2 emissions by 60% and costs by 30%, helping you achieve ESG goals and better margins. Other major retailers have joined. Why haven't you? Join Us 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. Watch on Cheddar.com Watch on Streaming Last but Not Least Amazon says it is laying off 16,000 employees: This is Amazon's second layoff after the company cut 14,000 corporate jobs in October. Read More Check out some of our other newsletters: StrictlyVC TechCrunch Events TechCrunch Mobility Want to adjust your daily newsletter schedule? You can do it right here Got a tip? Get in touch securely. Want to advertise on TechCrunch? advertise@techcrunch.com Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. Unsubscribe Member Center Privacy Policy Copyright © 2026 TechCrunch Media LLC 501 2nd Street, Suite 650, San Francisco, CA 94107