Robotics startup has real human vs. robot cage match, California responds with cease-and-desist order

The California State Athletic Commission intervened when it saw a human facing off with a humanoid robot inside the fighting ring.

US Army unit deploys drone assembled completely in-house, uses 3D-printed ‘Dragoon Bombs’ with ball bearing shrapnel
US Army unit deploys drone assembled completely in-house, uses 3D-printed ‘Dragoon Bombs’ with ball bearing shrapnel

U.S. Army soldiers are training to assemble drones and 3D-print bomb casings for field use.

AI robot company decommissioned its robots ‘Terminator-style’ in a 75-ton vat of molten steel

AI Robotics company Figure found a creative way of decommissioning its old F.02 fleet without having to allocate resources for difficult and time-consuming disassembly.

ChatGPT-6 Astra cracks 217-year-old Napoleonic code in just six hours

An AI engineer used GPT-6 Astra to reveal the contents of a cipher that hadn’t been read since the Napoleonic Wars. The task was initiated with a single image and prompt, and took just six hours from start to finish.

Iranian national extradited to US over alleged $3.4 billion state-backed hacking campaign in rare legal win for law enforcement

An Iranian-Turkish man has been extradited from Montenegro to the U.S. over his alleged role in a hacking campaign that targeted hundreds of universities, companies, and government agencies and stole more than 31 TB of academic data.

Microsoft using wetlands and native gardens to ‘camouflage’ 20-plus data center sites by blending them into nature
Microsoft using wetlands and native gardens to ‘camouflage’ 20-plus data center sites by blending them into nature

Microsoft is bringing nature-inspired landscaping to more than 20 data center sites as critics question its motives.

‘AI Torture Chamber’ triggers massive backlash for putting chatbots in simulated pain

AI “torture chamber” draws vast online criticism, and a corresponding amount of ridicule — tech newbies and AI evangelists go nuts anthropomorphizing an LLM

Open-source tool designs LEGO builds with more than 2,000 real pieces
Open-source tool designs LEGO builds with more than 2,000 real pieces

Carlos Antelo’s open-source ldraw-nova lets GPT-6 Astra and Claude Opus 5.5 design LEGO models as LDraw CAD files.

Elon Musk confirms discussions with TSMC about Terafab chipmaking collaboration

Elon Musk and TSMC reportedly discuss multiple collaboration opportunities within the Terafab project.

This week on Tom’s Hardware Premium: October 3, 2026
This week on Tom’s Hardware Premium: October 3, 2026

This week on Tom’s Hardware Premium, we open the floodgates with a free-to-access chip design week, including expert interviews, a sit-down with OpenAI on its custom ASIC, and much more.