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Open or closed AI? How founders are choosing what to build on at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026

For AI startups, choosing a model isn’t necessarily a one-time architecture decision anymore.

Open models are improving. Frontier APIs keep advancing. Models can be customized for specific workloads, and some companies are building products that use multiple models rather than committing to one. That gives founders more ways to build — and more decisions about where to spend, what to own, and how much flexibility to preserve as the technology changes.

At TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, four conversations approach those decisions from different points in the AI stack, from multi-model applications and customized models to infrastructure and the chips underneath them.

Secure your Disrupt pass to hear how AI leaders are navigating those choices. Save up to $100 on your pass now and get a second pass at 50% off. Or for a limited time, get a $75 Expo+ Pass if you’ve been affected by a layoff.

When one AI...

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PwC and Cohere form an enterprise AI alliance, launching first in Canada

PwC and Cohere have announced a global alliance to sell secure enterprise AI, beginning in Canada, with no client, value or timeline disclosed. Cohere markets itself as a sovereign AI company while completing a merger with Germany’s Aleph Alpha in which Cohere shareholders take roughly 90%, as Europe drafts

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Apple adds new Full Disk Access controls on Macs because of AI agents

Apple will add new controls to Full Disk Access on the Mac. Users will only be able to give an app that level of access “with very explicit user action”. The company announced the change on its developer news site on Friday and said AI agents were the reason. “As

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Dutch eyewear chain Hans Anders stops selling Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses

Hans Anders, one of the largest Dutch eyewear chains, has stopped selling Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses in the Netherlands and Belgium. The chain told Reuters on Friday that privacy concerns were behind the move. Dutch online retailer Wehkamp has also paused sales, Business Insider reported. “This decision follows the

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OpenAI’s chip chief tells More Than Moore he doesn’t fully trust AI design

OpenAI’s own AI models changed parts of its Jalapeño chip, and its engineers could not always say why. In one example, they saved more than 13% of die area, Richard Ho told Ian Cutress of More Than Moore. Ho leads OpenAI’s hardware team, and the interview was published

When one AI...

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PwC and Cohere form an enterprise AI alliance, launching first in Canada

Apple adds new Full Disk Access controls on Macs because of AI agents

Dutch eyewear chain Hans Anders stops selling Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses

OpenAI’s chip chief tells More Than Moore he doesn’t fully trust AI design