AI and Tech News, 14 Oct 2026: Character.AI, HomeView, Gemini Argon

Twenty stories today, and a few of them are big: Character.AI's bankruptcy, Apple's HomeView launch and a record Microsoft security update. Here's everything you need to know.

1. Character.AI Files for Chapter 11, and Disney Is the First Bidder

The chatbot maker filed in Delaware to sell its assets after legal and regulatory pressure. Disney put in a $20M opening bid for a non-exclusive license to some of its intellectual property, which other buyers can still top.

2. Apple Unveils the $299 HomeView Smart Display and a $149 HomePod Mini

HomeView is a wall or tabletop hub built around Siri AI, and it ships November 13. The new HomePod mini arrives October 30, alongside a new Apple TV 4K.

3. An OpenAI Engineer Faces Charges Over an Alleged Recording Device in an Executive Meeting Room

Federal prosecutors allege the 35-year-old engineer hid a microphone device in an executive conference room at OpenAI's San Francisco office. OpenAI said it had fired him and referred the case to the FBI. The charges are allegations and haven't been proven in court.

4. Gemini 4 Argon Opens Up to Google AI Pro and Ultra Subscribers

The model was first limited to cyber-defense partners. Now it's in the Gemini app and AI Mode for paying subscribers, while AI Studio access is reserved for Ultra. Antigravity access reached Pro subscribers on October 15.

5. Kospi Slides 5.46% as SK Hynix Sinks 10% and Samsung 7.4%

The memory chip selloff deepened on Tuesday after China's CXMT said it would unveil next-generation server DRAM this year. The Kospi closed at 6,035.35.

6. Crediting AI Investment, the IMF Lifts Its 2026 Global Growth Forecast to 3.1%

The upgrade of 0.1 percentage points comes largely from AI infrastructure spending. Still, the IMF warned that a steep drop in AI investment could cut global output by 1.1% by 2028.

7. Bumble Agrees to Sell to Ithaca Holdings for $1.3B in Cash

Shareholders will receive $6.05 per share, about 138% above the stock's October 9 close. Ithaca co-founders Ravi Gupta and John Hegeman will become co-CEOs.

8. October Patch Tuesday Fixes More Than 1,400 Microsoft Flaws, a New Record

The release includes an actively exploited Windows Shell zero-day that bypasses Mark of the Web protection. Microsoft keeps using AI tools to find and fix vulnerabilities.

9. Nvidia Gets Ready to Announce $2B in New European AI Investments

Jensen Huang said the deals, due within a week, add to $8B invested in Europe over the past year. He named new funding for Doctolib, Genesis AI, Pigment and Entalpic.

10. A Jury Finds Arm Breached Its License With Qualcomm, Then Awards Just $2

The Delaware federal jury gave Qualcomm only nominal damages and sided with Arm on several other claims. So both companies claimed victory in the second trial between them.

11. Meta Says Hackers Took Code and Data on About 1,500 People From GitHub

Attackers used an employee's stolen credentials to reach some of Meta's code repositories. Meta said 99% of the stolen material was code, and the personal data was mostly about U.S. staff.

12. Applied Intuition Reportedly Has Investment Offers Valuing It at $30B or More

The Information reported that the offers would double the autonomy software company's $15B valuation from its last round. They could also lead to a new raise of about $1B.

13. Decagon, the AI Customer Service Startup, Reportedly Held Early Sale Talks With ServiceNow

Decagon, valued at $4.5B in January, reportedly hired a bank to gauge buyer interest. ServiceNow has denied that it's interested.

14. Anthropic Swaps Git for Scion, Its Own Source Control System

A seven-person team built Scion after daily code merges at Anthropic grew from about 2,500 in May to more than 30,000 in September. Anthropic won't open-source it.

15. Anyone Can Now Run Private AI-Built Apps on Android Through Google Play

Users in the U.S. can now build apps in Google AI Studio and install them privately through Google Play with a standard Google account. No developer account needed.

16. Facebook Now Lets You Shape Your Feed by Typing Your Interests

Meta brought its Your Algorithm controls from Instagram to Facebook Feed and Reels. Large language models read plain-language descriptions of what people want to see more or less of.

17. Amex Rolls Out a Framework to Stop AI Agents From Making Unapproved Purchases

Customers set and approve limits such as merchant, maximum amount and expiry date. The agent then gets a payment token tied to that intent, not the real card number.

18. Sarfraz Maredia, Uber's Head of Autonomous Mobility, Is Leaving After 12 Years

He departs on November 16. His duties will be split between senior directors Samarth Kejriwal, for driverless operations, and Aaron Emrich, for autonomous delivery.

19. Mind Robotics, a Rivian Spinoff, Names Former Ford EV Chief Doug Field as President

Field, who also led Apple's car project and Model 3 engineering at Tesla, will run day-to-day work at the industrial robotics startup. It has raised over $1B.

20. Pluto Security, an AI Security Startup, Raises $42M

The funding covers an $8.5M seed led by TLV Partners and a $34M Series A led by Jump Capital. Pluto's software monitors the AI tools and agents employees use and build.