Tech
Bernie Sanders’ AI ‘gotcha’ video flops, but the memes are great
In a new viral video, Senator Bernie Sanders attempted to expose how the AI industry is a threat to Americans’ privacy, but ended up demonstrating how AI chatbots’ tendency to agree with and flatter their users can lead the chatbots themselves to become a mirror of users’ own beliefs rather than a tool for discovery.
We’ve seen this problem before amid the growing number of people afflicted by “AI psychosis,” which is when an AI chatbot reinforces a mentally unstable person’s irrational thoughts and beliefs. In some cases, this dark pattern has even led users to take their own lives, several lawsuits allege.
In Sanders’ case, the AI’s sycophancy manifested as an AI chatbot that shaped its answers to suit the politician.
It’s worth noting that the interview begins with Sanders introducing himself to Claude (which he mistakenly refers to as an AI “agent”) — a move that could help influence the chatbot’s answers.
Then, as Sanders asks questions about AI companies’ data-collection practices and other privacy concerns, Claude agreeably responds with what the politician wants to hear. In part, that’s because of the way Sanders frames his questions, asking things like, “What would surprise the American people in terms of knowing how that information is collected?” or “How can we trust AI companies will protect our privacy when they use people’s personal information to make money?” These leading questions force the chatbot to accept the question’s premise and come up with a fitting response. That’s just how these things work.
And when Claude’s answer suggested a topic was more complex or nuanced than Sanders had framed it, Sanders would disagree, pushing the chatbot to concede, with a touch of AI self-deprecation, that the senator was “absolutely right.”
AI’s sycophantic nature is what can lead people down dangerous paths when they assume a chatbot is a source of universal truth, rather than a tool that can become influenced by its user.
It’s not clear whether Sanders knows this to be the case and simply doesn’t care (because this is just an ad, after all!), or whether he truly thinks he has tricked Claude into becoming a whistleblower for the AI industry.
And, of course, there’s also the question of whether Sanders’ team primed the chatbot to respond in a certain way, given that this was a staged “interview.”
While there are real concerns around data collection and privacy, things aren’t as black and white as the AI responses in this video suggest.
We already live in a world where companies collect and sell online users’ data at scale — and have been for years. We know that social media giants like Meta have turned personalized ads into a multibillion-dollar cash-printing machine. And thanks to tech giants’ regular transparency reports, we know that governments around the world routinely request access to user data for their own purposes.
AI may represent a new medium for lawmakers to potentially regulate, but personal data has long been fueling the digital economy. (Ironically, Anthropic is an AI company that has promised not to leverage personalized ads to make money, despite what its answers to Sanders may have suggested.)
While the overall conversation between Sanders and Claude misses the mark for anyone who understands how AI chatbots work, we can at least credit it with giving us some great new memes.
Tech
Anthropic releases Opus 4.8 with new ‘dynamic workflow’ tool
On Thursday, Anthropic released Opus 4.8, the newest version of its most advanced publicly available model. The model is available everywhere, with standard pricing at the same level as the previous Opus release.
The new model comes just 41 days after Opus 4.7 was released, a much faster upgrade cycle than normal for Anthropic. (The most recent Sonnet and Haiku models are three and seven months old, respectively.) The fast turnaround may have something to do with the chilly reception to Opus 4.7, which some users found disappointing.
That interval has also seen significant new releases for OpenAI’s Codex and Google’s Gemini Flash model, increasing the pressure on Anthropic to keep pace.
Opus 4.8 comes with the expected best-in-class benchmark results, but there’s also particular attention to how the model manages bad or uncertain data. In the launch post, Anthropic’s early testers found that the new model is “more likely to flag uncertainties about its work and less likely to make unsupported claims.”
Echoing this point, a testimonial from Bridgewater associates said the biggest difference in the upgrade was “Opus 4.8’s tendency to proactively flag issues with the inputs and outputs of an analysis, something other models routinely missed and left to the users to catch.”
Together with the new model, Anthropic launched a feature called Dynamic Workflows, which will be available in research preview. The system is designed to help larger models like Opus manage complex tasks across hundreds of parallel subagents.
“Claude Code alongside Opus 4.8 can now carry out codebase-scale migrations across hundreds of thousands of lines of code from kickoff to merge, with the existing test suite as its bar,” the post explains.
Anthropic is still holding back its most advanced Mythos model after a tentative preview last month raised cybersecurity concerns. However, the company hinted in today’s Opus release that the Mythos preview period might soon end, once necessary safeguards are complete.
“We’re making swift progress on developing these safeguards and expect to be able to bring Mythos-class models to all our customers in the coming weeks,” the company wrote.
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Tech
Corgi announces $106M raise at $2.6B valuation — double what it was worth 3 weeks ago
Insurance tech Corgi on Thursday announced a $106 million Series B1 raise, valuing the company at $2.6 billion, just three weeks after announcing a $160 million Series B at a $1.3 billion valuation and four months after its $108 million Series A. The company offers insurance, working specifically with startups in areas like tech, cyber, and general liability; it counts Deel and Artisan among its customers.
Even in the current go-go dealmaking environment, that sequencing is remarkable. While startups raising back-to-back rounds at steep step-ups have become almost routine, a company whose valuation doubles in three weeks is unusual enough to raise questions, particularly given the investor set in both rounds is the same.
Asked what material event justified that kind of jump in such a short window, investor Kanyi Maqubela of Kindred Ventures cited the company’s momentum. It’s an explanation may satisfy some, but the practice more generally is starting to attract scrutiny in LP circles. “There’s growing distrust of internal markups,” said one LP who backs numerous venture funds and asked not to be named. Said this person of exit mechanisms specifically, “[I]f a company [is] just getting re-priced upward with no real liquidity event, LPs notice.”
The specific concern is that a fund that invests at one valuation, then marks it up three weeks later can make portfolio performance look stronger on paper than the underlying business may justify.
In this case, Maqubela suggested, that’s not an issue for Kindred’s limited partners, nor for Corgi’s other investors, which include Prime Capital, Leblon Capital, Alumni Ventures, and Y Combinator.
“LPs really like exits above all,” Maqubela said in a message to TechCrunch. “They discount the value of markups since those aren’t always reflective of reality.” He added that in this case, revenue growth rationalized the new round.
Founded in 2024 by Emily Yuan and Nico Laqua, Corgi says it’s building coverage for what it calls “newer categories” of risk while also addressing an often underserved market among legacy insurance carriers — startups and the unique liability problems they face, including those related to AI.
“Corgi covers anything from when an AI system causes financial loss, misinformation, operational failures, or compliance issues,” Laqua told TechCrunch. “Many legacy policies either exclude these risks or handle them ambiguously.
Corgi is not alone in the insurtech market; Vouch, which is backed by Y Combinator, operates in a similar space.
When asked about the back-to-back rounds, Laqua said that insurance is a “highly capital-intensive industry,” and that “demand has accelerated quickly across new product lines and partnerships.” Building an AI-native platform compounds those costs further.
“We’re best known for our business insurance products, but the additional capital will be used to expand into new insurance categories, scale the AI underwriting platform, grow embedded distribution partnerships, and continue growing our team,” Laqua said.
Corgi has now raised $378 million in total funding from its investors.
Correction: The title of this headline originally misstated the valuation due to an editing error.
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Tech
Startup Battlefield 200 application deadline extended to June 8 after overwhelming demand
Founders, the battlefield is still open, but not for much longer.
After overwhelming demand from founders around the world, TechCrunch has extended the Startup Battlefield 200 application deadline to June 8. If you thought you missed your opportunity to pitch live on the Disrupt Stage in October at San Francisco’s Moscone West, this is your final chance to step into one of tech’s most competitive startup arenas.
Nominate a standout startup or submit your application before the deadline.
What is Startup Battlefield 200?
Startup Battlefield 200 is where ambitious early-stage startups go from unknown to impossible to ignore. Selected founders will take the spotlight at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, pitching live in front of elite investors, influential media, and the global startup ecosystem. One startup will walk away with $100,000 in equity-free funding, but every company selected gains visibility that can reshape its trajectory.
More than 1,700 startups have participated in Startup Battlefield over the years. Together, they’ve raised more than $32 billion and produced over 250 exits, including acquisitions by companies like Microsoft, Google, Salesforce, Uber, and Amazon.
This is the same competition that helped launch companies like Dropbox, Discord, Mint, Fitbit, and Trello. More than 1,500 startups have competed in Startup Battlefield, and many have gone on to become category-defining businesses.
Why founders are still racing to apply
Competition for Startup Battlefield 200 has intensified as founders look for ways to stand out in a crowded fundraising environment. The extension gives more startups the opportunity to enter, but expectations are higher than ever.
Selected startups receive:
- A free exhibit table for all three days of Disrupt.
- Four complimentary Disrupt passes.
- Branding and visibility inside the Disrupt event app.
- Press exposure and lead-generation opportunities.
- Access to founder-only masterclasses.
- The opportunity to pitch live on the Disrupt Stage.
- Direct feedback from leading venture capitalists.
- A chance to win $100,000 in equity-free funding.
Who should apply
TechCrunch is looking for bold early-stage startups with a working MVP and a vision capable of disrupting an industry. Bootstrapped, pre-seed, and seed-stage startups are encouraged to apply. Select Series A startups in capital-intensive sectors may also qualify.
If you are building something category-changing, this is your chance to prove it on one of the biggest stages in tech.
The clock is still ticking
The deadline extension was driven by overwhelming demand, but the battlefield will not stay open forever. Thousands of startups are competing for a limited number of spots, and every application is reviewed closely by the TechCrunch team.
This is your opportunity to get in front of investors, customers, media, and future partners all in one place. Nominate or apply before June 8 and fight for your place among the next generation of breakout startups.
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