The week in San Francisco technology, read and picked by hand. No algorithm, nothing in here because someone paid for it.
Tuesday · · 8 minute read
Anthropic investors and prospective IPO buyers are discussing a valuation of approximately $1.5 trillion, down from the previously expected $2 trillion. This follows Q3 revenue rising 45% sequentially to $16.8 billion, a sharp slowdown from the prior quarter’s growth.
Reported by Reuters, via StrictlyVC, 2026-10-16
Austin startup Atlas Atomics, founded this year, raised approximately $400 million in Series A funding. The company, valued at $1.9 billion, develops heavy-water nuclear reactor technology that does not require enriched uranium. General Catalyst led the investment round, with Andreessen Horowitz also participating.
Reported by investing.com, via StrictlyVC, 2026-10-14
Applied Materials has opened a $5 billion research facility in Santa Clara, California, aimed at accelerating the development of AI chips. The facility seeks to cut chip-development cycle times by 30% by co-locating partners including TSMC, Intel, Samsung, Micron, SK Hynix, and Broadcom.
Reported by MTS, 2026-10-12
Google's Gemini 4 Argon became globally available on Oct 13, 2026. Developers and enterprises can access it via API in AI Studio and the Gemini platform. Google AI Ultra subscribers can use it in Google Antigravity, while Ultra and Pro subscribers have access in the Gemini app and AI Mode in Search. Koray Kavukcuoglu, SVP, Google DeepMind and Chief AI Architect, Google, stated, "We’re giving developers, enterprises, scientists, and consumers access to our latest frontier model." The model launches at an introductory price of $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens.
Argon is built for deep work in complex, real-world tasks across coding, finance, legal, cybersecurity, and science. It ranks #1 on the Vals Index, which measures model performance across critical economic sectors. Google teams have used Argon to increase agentic code submissions by over 35% and reduce code rollbacks by nearly a third. Fairwind Program partners, including Wiz, are using Argon to secure sensitive government data and protect critical healthcare infrastructure, safeguarding patient records.
Reported by Google, via Bay Area Times, 2026-10-14
Tesla revealed its redesigned second-generation Roadster with SpaceX thrusters on October 15, 2026. The vehicle was shown at an event outside Waco, Texas, demonstrating its ability to use high-powered fans and thrusters to perform manoeuvres, including lifting itself over other Tesla vehicles. Tesla demonstrated the car accelerating from 0 to 60 miles per hour in one second.
Tesla plans to build the long-delayed vehicle in 2028, with reservations currently open for two of its three trims. The Performance trim requires a $50,000 reservation, while the Thrust trim requires $250,000. Engineering VP Lars Moravy confirmed the Roadster uses 10 thrusters connected to 600 litres of compressed air. The project has faced multiple delays since its initial reveal almost nine years ago. YouTuber Marques Brownlee expressed scepticism about the claims, asking, "This is a prank, right?"
Reported by TechCrunch, via StrictlyVC, 2026-10-16
Eight U.S. states have sued OpenAI. They allege ChatGPT reinforced delusions, encouraged dangerous behaviour, and helped users, including teenagers, plan self-harm or violence. This represents the most significant coordinated state legal action yet against an AI company.
Reported by Reuters, via StrictlyVC, 2026-10-15
Flock CEO Garrett Langley stated on October 14, 2026, that his company has not ended any contracts with customers over product abuse. He made this announcement at the Disrupt 2026 conference in San Francisco. Langley addressed criticisms regarding police departments misusing Flock's license plate reader cameras.
Reports identify officers abusing access to Flock's nationwide database of license plate detections, often to stalk individuals without permission. Langley said Flock would end a relationship for clear widespread abuse, but has not yet "fired" a customer like a police department. He acknowledged internal debate but argued against removing the product from communities fighting crime. "If a customer knowingly broke the law, we would fire them immediately. That's very easy," Langley said. The company faces ongoing controversies, including privacy fears and protests against its AI-powered surveillance.
Reported by TechCrunch, via StrictlyVC, 2026-10-14
Benchmark partners stated at TechCrunch Disrupt earlier this week that the unwritten venture capital rule against backing rival companies is under strain due to the AI boom. This long-standing practice dictates that a firm avoids investing in two companies that compete directly. The partners acknowledged that conflicts are now a matter of necessity rather than preference.
The rule has been eroding, with OpenAI and Anthropic sharing many investors. A recent dispute involved Factory, which fired board observer Chris Degnan for alleged "unethical conduct involving Cognition," a direct competitor. Degnan, who denied sharing confidential information, later joined Cognition as chief revenue officer. Vinod Khosla, whose firm Khosla Ventures backs both Factory and Cognition, publicly supported Degnan. "The harsh reality of this world is every company is evolving very quickly," said Eric Vishria, a Benchmark partner. He added that conflicts will occur as companies pivot and change.
Reported by TechCrunch, via StrictlyVC, 2026-10-16
The publication's job board currently features 623 positions focused on AI safety. More than half of these roles are based in the Bay Area. This regional concentration is observed even though some of the listed opportunities are available for remote work.
Reported by 80,000 Hours, 2026-10-16
The San Francisco school board voted on Tuesday to replace the district's elementary school lottery system. All children will attend their neighbourhood school starting in fall 2028. Five commissioners voted for the change, with two voting against it. Superintendent Maria Su openly endorsed the new policy.
This decision follows years of debate over the current lottery system, which many families found confusing and frustrating. The new policy aims for predictability and proximity, though some commissioners and parents expressed concern about the impact on choice and diversity. Commissioner Alida Fisher stated, "Neighborhood schools, by definition, will be segregated schools." Many parents advocated for more flexibility, wanting to retain the option to apply to other schools. Over the next few months, SFUSD and the board will finalise details, including how applicants for specific citywide school programmes will be selected. The board will hold three more public study sessions before a final vote to formally adopt the policy on April 13, 2027.
Reported by Mission Local, 2026-10-14
The US Department of Justice announced on Tuesday that North Korean hackers infiltrated at least 70 US companies. Prosecutors indicted and arrested at least two people, conducting searches across dozens of suspected "laptop farms" in Texas. These computers were allegedly used by North Koreans to remotely hack American companies and steal sensitive data. Federal authorities seized over 180 computers believed to have been shipped by US companies to newly hired employees. These employees were actually sanctioned North Korean spies using stolen US identities. The DOJ raided over 40 laptop farms across Texas.
The hackers are believed to have generated around $3 million in stolen funds. CrowdStrike, which assisted the FBI, stated that laptop farms are "vital" for North Korea to overcome physical, financial, and legal challenges. The FBI warned that thousands of North Korean state-controlled IT workers at Western companies pose a national security and intellectual property theft threat. The Justice Department noted that North Korean IT workers are increasingly recruiting American facilitators. "Increasingly, North Korean IT workers are turning to recruiting American facilitators to counter improved private sector detections and law enforcement actions," the Justice Department said.
Reported by TechCrunch, via StrictlyVC, 2026-10-14
On October 9, the FBI arrested OpenAI employee Abdulrahman Alfozan. He is accused of planting a hidden recording device in an executive conference room at OpenAI's San Francisco office. OpenAI discovered the surveillance device about a week prior, then alerted the FBI and fired Alfozan.
Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California charged Alfozan with using an electronic device to intercept oral communications. The device was found inserted into a USB port on a television. OpenAI stated it used internal AI models to understand the device, which had advanced encryption and audio monitoring capabilities. OpenAI also confirmed there were no indications of the individual inappropriately accessing model weights, source code, or customer data.
FBI director Kash Patel said the scheme was to "capture sensitive communications about the company’s super intelligence technology." Alfozan, who started on the product team in July 2025, faces five years in prison if convicted.
Reported by TechCrunch, via StrictlyVC, 2026-10-14
AI coding agents, systems that write and ship code, now trigger 60% of deployments on Vercel, compared to 3% at the beginning of 2026. Vercel took 10 years to reach 1 billion deployments, then added 1.5 billion more in the last 10 months.
Reported by Molly O'Shea, 2026-10-16
Aaliyah Español-Rivas, a Mission Local intern, returned to SoMa in the summer of 2026, finding eight childhood landmarks gone. These included StarCo, Archipelago Books, and All Stars Donuts. Some had been replaced by newer businesses, others were vacant. Her family had relocated from SoMa to the Mission District in 2002 after being priced out.
The changes reflect ongoing gentrification in the neighbourhood. As students, Español-Rivas and her friends spoke at a Board of Supervisors meeting against a proposed seven-story high-rise that would have cast a shadow on a local park. The community's comments led to its unanimous rejection. Her grandmother, she noted, instilled in her that "If you don’t look back to where you came from, you’ll never reach your destination." Cultural events like the Parol Festival and Pistahan continue, alongside classes teaching Filipino history and activists, preserving parts of the community's heritage.
Reported by Mission Local, 2026-10-13
"Speaking at TechCrunch Disrupt earlier this week, the partners of Benchmark acknowledged that the AI boom is straining the unwritten rule of venture capital that a firm does not back two companies that compete head-on."
At what point does your VC partner become an IP leak risk? At some point do they choose to back a horse, quite possibly at the toughest times for a founder?
As the saying goes "If you want loyalty buy a dog."
