Bluesky’s active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories this afternoon

View this email online in your browser  August 11, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 Bluesky’s active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app: Over a year following its post-election surge, Bluesky’s mobile app is seeing a continued decline in active users, though its remaining community is still relatively engaged. Read More Brad Lightcap, OpenAI's longtime COO, is leaving to 'start something new': One of OpenAI's longest-serving executives is headed out the door, although the longtime COO told staff that he was "excited to help you all advance the mission from a different vantage point." Read More General Catalyst leads $1.1B round into 2-month-old River AI: River AI, a startup founded by xAI co-founder Igor Babuschkin, has a fascinating vision for personal agents and secured $1.1 billion out of the gate. Read More A message from Alumni Ventures Invest in High-Potential Startups Like These Alumni Ventures is giving readers early access to high-potential startup opportunities across today’s most active sectors, co-invested alongside name-brand VC firms like Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Bessemer, & Y Combinator. You Get: Curated deal flow of high-potential startups, Investing alongside name-brand vc firms, No cost to see deals, No obligation to invest. See Current Deals Afternoon Must-Reads Delta investigating after someone set up fake Wi-Fi network mid-flight: The Delta flight crew switched off the aircraft's legitimate Wi-Fi network for around 30 minutes due to the incident, according to a spokesperson. Read More Anthropic says it will watermark text generated by its AI models: Anthropic will extend support for watermarking AI generations for older models as well. Read More North Korean remote IT staffer worked for US government agency, says FBI: The investigation shows that North Koreans are able to infiltrate government agencies, as well as private organizations and crypto exchanges. Read More FBI says cybercriminals are hacking into victims' online accounts to steal their intimate pictures: In a new alert, the FBI said cybercriminals are targeting adults and minors in an attempt to steal their personal and intimate pictures in extortion campaigns. Read More Google’s Gemini app surges to one billion users: Gemini is keeping pace with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which hit 1 billion monthly active users back in June.  Read More Last but Not Least OpenAI launches ChatGPT desktop app for Linux: OpenAI is finally bringing a dedicated ChatGPT desktop app to Linux operating systems. 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

Anthropic says it will watermark text generated by its AI models

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories to start your morning

View this email online in your browser  August 11, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 Anthropic says it will watermark text generated by its AI models: Anthropic will extend support for watermarking AI generations for older models as well. Read More Google co-founder Sergey Brin has now spent $100 million to fight the billionaire tax: California's Prop 40 would impose a one-time 5% tax on the net worth of the state's billionaires. Read More YouTube now requires creators to have twice as many watch hours to start earning money: Creators who want to start earning on the platform will need at least 8,000 qualified watch hours over the past year or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days. Read More A message from Alumni Ventures Invest in High-Potential Startups Like These Alumni Ventures is giving readers early access to high-potential startup opportunities across today’s most active sectors, co-invested alongside name-brand VC firms like Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Bessemer, & Y Combinator. You Get: Curated deal flow of high-potential startups, Investing alongside name-brand vc firms, No cost to see deals, No obligation to invest. See Current Deals Morning Must-Reads Mark Zuckerberg's AI manifesto is exactly why people don't like AI: On Monday, Mark Zuckerberg published a 6,500-word manifesto about personal AI, largely about the possibilities for the "personal superintelligence" systems Meta AI is building. Read More North Korean remote IT staffer worked for US government agency, says FBI: The investigation shows that North Koreans are able to infiltrate government agencies, as well as private organizations and crypto exchanges. Read More OpenAI reportedly completed a $7 billion employee tender offer: San Francisco's housing market is in trouble again. Read More Bumble ditches its rule that kept men from making the first move: Bumble is ditching the rule that it has enforced since launching in 2024. Men can finally message first. Read More Tech industry is buzzing after a Claude agent hacked into a gym: An OpenClaw agent hacked into a gym's reservation system to bump its human boss higher on a class' waitlist. And the tech industry took notice. Read More Last but Not Least Now Rippling is counter-suing tiny startup Runlayer: This lawsuit follows one filed last month by Runlayer that accused Rippling of stealing its product ideas. It's a seller- and buyer-beware market warning. 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