Cydney Hayes
Anthropic has filed for IPO. And so it begins
Plus, is demand for compute high enough to justify all these data centers?
More AI researchers defect from Google DeepMind, fueling rumors of a sclerotic strategy inside the company
The three young engineers behind new data startup Data-Limited Regime are claiming they turned down the tech giant’s $300M retention offer
You can learn nothing about a16z’s private ‘You Can See Everything’ showing
Everyone was friendly but notably sketchy at the AMC Metreon, where the VC firm co-hosted a screening with one of the film’s producers
Mercor cuts at least 50 employees across multiple teams
New people chief at the company promised to ‘keep the talent bar high,’ though some terminated employees were considered ‘top performers’ and recently received raises
The hottest club at Tech Week is a line
This line has everything: Anthropic super fans, promotional coffee, free API credits, and women with phone numbers
Paul Graham takes on Pope Leo XIV (Biblical fail!)
Plus, AI finally gives us something of value: A fun new meme
Nurses union takes to Market Street to demand ‘Palantir out!’ of their hospitals
Outraged by AI meddling in staffing, bed placement, and patient data, health care workers say they’ve have had enough
The rise (and rise) of the nerd reich
‘The Nerd Reich’ author Gil Durán connected the dots from Silicon Valley to the White House to the possible end of the world. He may take on Gavin Newsom next
The hottest tech party we’re happy we missed
Plus, Dario Amodei is being dragged everywhere, so to speak
It’s Studio BBA’s city, we just live in it
Whether you’ve dined at Mister Jiu’s, caffeinated at Tartine, or worked 9-9-6 from an industrial-chic AI office, you’ve probably spent time in the handsome world created by this little-known architecture firm. In fact, some people never leave it
‘I’ve just never seen an environment that was so inappropriate’: Former SF Standard director of growth alleges sexual harassment and retaliation
A complaint filed last week on behalf of Julia Ryan names the newsroom’s parent company and its CEO Griffin Gaffney
Dreamforce protestors demand Marc Benioff ‘defend democracy’
Despite his ICE jokes and closeness to Trump, union organizers and activists believe the Salesforce CEO will still fight for progressive causes
What should we make of the AI doomsday campaign?
Plus, Daniel Lurie fumbles a TikTok post (RARE!)
Burning Man dirt costs first-time laundromat owners hundreds of dollars in damage
Local laundromats are forced to deal with broken machines and filthy floors every year when Burners return to the city
Adrian Daub knows what tech wants from politics: ‘Control without responsibility’
The author of ‘What Tech Calls Governing’ on DOGE, AI, and our chances of pushing back
Founders from Down Under
Hyped up by AI and their own big ambitions, waves of charmingly-accented Australians are making a splash in San Francisco
How will we spend all that AI money?
Plus, Horsies — the ultimate arbiter of SF cool — declares AI lame
Modern Relics closed after being ransacked in burglary
Jewelry store owner Alix Blüh recalls discovering the damage earlier this month: ‘Broken glass everywhere… Just everything destroyed.’
Anti-surveillance protestors flock to Chris Larsen’s house
Plus, TikTok’s newest aesthetic is the anti-AI girlie
The internet hates the new Instagram logo. What do professional designers think?
Four graphics experts critique the mega-platform’s ‘cleaner and more modern’ wordmark
Corgi kills short-lived website that ranked its female employees
The ‘demeaning’ website was spun up by a local founder with no relationship to the company
‘Members of the LGBTQ+ community have legitimate reasons to be sensitive about privacy’
After backlash, Badlands and Toad Hall management is ‘pausing’ surveillance of patrons in San Francisco but continues to employ it in Portland and Sacramento
Bay Area artists commit to avoiding venues employing surveillance technology
Tune-Yards, Deerhoof, and others are among more than 300 artists who’ve signed a pledge organized by local digital rights activists
The new AI billboard locals actually like
Plus, OpenAI did a brand trip for influencers
Yalies raised $17 million this summer in Nob Hill hacker house
For a group of fresh-faced entrepreneurs, securing VC funding was probably easier than finding white clam pizza
For the Hacker Herren, every day is Oktoberfest
Hoisting a pint with members of the nationwide beer-guzzling men’s club as they train for Munich
Substack adds AI detection tool to its platform
The feature will help make sure the platform doesn’t ‘turn into LinkedIn,’ per CEO Chris Best
Yardsale has won over Cole Valley with après-ski vibes
After months of construction delays and $30,000 worth of damaged inventory, an outdoor equipment store and coffee shop is finally open
Hundreds of ‘sex machines’ delivered across the street from Rainbow Grocery
We really hope the mailman dropped them off by saying, ‘I’m here to deliver a package…’
Stop AI protestor sentenced to jail, hopes to reconnect with Rafael Mandelman
The anti-AI group is shifting its focus away from AI companies and toward City Hall
Privacy rights advocates push back against data collection devices in Castro bars
Badlands management says they will continue to use Patronscan despite public outcry
‘AI’s not going to break your heart the way real life does’
Poet Shawn Smucker talks to Gazetteer SF about art, loneliness, and his viral poem, ‘Please Use AI’
Even Stanford grads are angry at the system
Plus, after being stuffed in lockers his whole life, Zuck was allowed to sit with the jocks at the pep rally
Why do these Castro gay bars have TSA-style face scanners?
A handful of neighborhood bars have installed facial recognition devices that collect and share customers’ names, addresses, genders, and indiscretions with each other
‘Nerdy escorts’ are selling intimacy-as-a-service to AI founders
Plus, in the tasteslop era, we’re keeping our eyes peeled for bad tech streetwear
A Stop AI activist is standing trial after blockading OpenAI HQ last year
Wynd Kaufmyn is prepared to serve time if it helps spread the group’s warnings about the dangers of artificial intelligence
Can you actually buy a house with Anthropic stock? Probably not
‘You can’t just say, I’ll sell my house for a thousand almonds, or, in this case, a thousand shares of OpenAI or Anthropic’
Aella wants to know how you’d defile a cow
Could you hack it in a house full of AI doomer rationalist influencers? I’m willing to try
From Sam Altman’s ‘fun’ hair to Elon Musk’s ‘twisting’ lips: How courtroom artists capture giants
Three trial veterans describe their approaches to depicting the rich and infamous during the Musk v. Altman trial
Jury sides with Altman in OpenAI case
Plus, the Standard gets tech help from journalism’s newest whiz kid
Hell on Bay Wheels
The Google Gemini ads currently dominating the city’s bike share fleet are the latest targets for culture jamming
The aestheticization of government secrets
Plus, in shocking news, new college grads don’t like the technology that’s ruining their futures
New troubles at Mercor: Infighting, ‘face time slavery,’ and ‘inhumane working conditions’
Former staffers offer a look inside the human data startup, where the hours are brutal, employees say they’re getting stiffed, and the CEO is a 23-year-old billionaire who wants to be Elon Musk
The girls are crabbing
The Crabby Baddies and other young, net-savvy women across the city are getting hooked on crustaceans
Sam Altman has a lot of feelings. And a lawsuit by Elon Musk. But mostly a lot of feelings
Plus, Canva is accused of anti-Palestine censorship
Sam Altman wants to sell you these sneakers for $160, plus tax and biometric data
World x Future Basics now offer Cyto XLiftoffs at World’s Union Square eye-collection center
Reading Palantir: Why the defense tech giant’s manifesto may signal panic inside the company
The war tech firm is suffering from a lethal combo of stock price superinflation and midterms anxiety
Dean Preston’s PUML is punching up
The former District 5 Supervisor is collecting progressive media talent like Infinity Stones to push the city’s narrative leftward
Rick Perlstein thinks right-wing voices on Substack are ‘a gift’
The preeminent historian of American conservatism was spotted on a bestsellers leaderboard behind Andrew Tate. He’s not too broken up about it
Slop is truth, truth slop
Plus, the attacks on Sam Altman’s house have people wondering how we got here
Come for the all-night coffee, stay for the AI insurance
There are, in fact, no corgis at the Corgi Cafe, a new startup-run 24-hour coffee shop in FiDi
Downtown murals of Iryna Zarutska are right-wing dogwhistles
Funded by tech CEOs, the outdoor displays amplify racist rhetoric under the guise of memorializing a Ukrainian refugee killed last summer
A beloved magazine about writers and money is reborn as a newsletter
Manjula Martin, Rahawa Haile, and friends are resurrecting ‘Scratch’ as a place for writers to talk about money, art, and how they survive
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative sued for gender discrimination by director
The lawsuit alleges women at the company were paid less and systemically tasked with menial labor
‘When you land in Vegas, it feels like this’: Gambling on the future of gaming at GDC
Video games offering cash payouts are on the rise, and developers are betting that they’ll spread
Reclaiming em dashes — and other battles in the AI age
Plus, the White House ruins Wii Sports
Finally, a defense of brainrot
It’s a modern virtue, so says an AI exec. Plus, send me tips about the gaming industry
San Francisco’s future spokespeople: Coyotes
A new city ad is rumored to be in the works, headed up by ‘Last Black Man in San Francisco’ director Joe Talbot
Soon Technology is tech-pilled and loving it
A Vice Media alum’s ‘new media’ company offers up friendly coverage to an increasingly controversial industry
Wars within wars
Anthropic’s loss is OpenAI’s gain. Plus, the mysterious “Dime” appears at Sightglass
Guerrilla outdoor campaign decrying ‘GROK CHILD PORN’ appears around the city
The mysterious marketing push comes amid public uproar and international investigations into sex abuse material generated by Elon Musk’s chatbot
Who (allegedly) runs tech?
Two magazines investigate. Plus, the people want a ‘Silicon Valley’ reboot
How the uncanny valley could kill the Valley
Porn performer Siri Dahl and others have started sounding the alarm about AI's impacts on privacy, free speech, and legal sex work
The high-fantasy cult of Anthropic
Plus, its fight with the Pentagon, OpenAI and Meta race to deploy AI agents to the masses, and tasteless AI people argue about taste
The New Liberals just want to enjoy their Tax Havens
At The Irish Bank, policy wonks debate the Billionaire’s March and Georgist land taxes
Substack reports mass data leak: ‘This sucks. I’m sorry’
The popular newsletter platform was breached in October 2025
Manic Monday: Even AI turns to crabs eventually
Plus, the Billionaires March, a blind item for female founders, and more madness from the tech world to start your week
Time to Rho
As its San Francisco team swells, the fintech startup Rho is moving to greener pastures
What, exactly, is OpenAI in 2026?
A new rumor that OpenAI will release earbuds hints at internal anxieties over revenue and the future of the company
Gap falls into crypto
Why has Sam Altman’s crypto project installed a biometric data-collection tool inside, of all places, the Marina Gap store?
‘They’ve pickled each others’ brains’
Longtime entrepreneur and critic Anil Dash on where the tech industry has been and where it may be going
Move fast and sell books
Former tech reporters Sarah Lacy and Paul Carr are running The Best Bookstore in Union Square like a startup
Server farm to table
AI-generated images are rising in popularity on delivery apps and menus across SF. How far will we take this race to the bottom in food photography?
Print is forever
As AI rises, the Bay Area is awash in a full-on print revival, from magazines to books to this website’s own quarterly paper
Hand in hand
In the Panhandle, an 18-year-old is building muscles and community through arm wrestling
Tech holiday parties are getting smaller
Holiday parties used to feature Greek gods and Gatsby themes. Now they’re lucky to have a magician or inflatable shark
All the edgelords pray at Star of the Sea
Among the tech bros who funded a shrine to the first millennial saint at a church on Geary Boulevard
Cloudflare CEO: Resistance to Gemini is coming from inside Google
It’s the latest shot fired by Cloudflare amid concerns over the search giant’s use of its monopoly to hoover up AI control
Dear Abby: Enough is enough
Abby Connect is the latest AI company to resort to ragebait for a billboard campaign. It may also be the most ridiculous
Charlie Day’s team didn’t know about those tech billboards
San Francisco-based AI company Kilo Code plastered the city with ads riffing on a popular meme from ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.’ That was news to the actor’s Los Angeles-based gang
Exit, pursued by ChatGPT
Adam Strauss’s ‘Before I Forget’ puts AI centerstage whether audiences want it there or not
Department of Public Health reached out to local tattoo artist about permitting after TechCrunch Disrupt
Tattd, a tattoo app, put a Hayes Valley artist and her clients at risk for an off-the-books pop-up last month
Who gets a tattoo at a tech convention?
There’s no better way to remember your TechCrunch Disrupt experience forever than to get a free flash tat
The American AI strategy
As the government shutdown drags on, VCs gathered at the Commonwealth Club to look at boobs on their phones and hear two congressmen gab about AI
Artificialize your intelligence for $25 an hour
Craigslist is full of calls for ‘research participants’ to help train AI models. You only need to give a bit of your humanity
So funny we forgot to laugh
AI slop billboards have gotten so absurd that even an obvious satire is being taken seriously
Beta-testing a new world order
Today, SafetyWing wants customers for its insurance products. Tomorrow, it wants statehood
