Tech & AI News Roundup — October 3, 2026, 4:01 PM UTC

Quick links to what's actually happening in AI, tech, and IT right now — curated from real reporting, not rewritten, so you can go read the full story wherever it's genuinely worth your time.

Jack Dorsey’s Bitchat disappears from app stores in India after government order

Bitchat has become largely unavailable in India as a result of the restrictions. — TechCrunch

Splice CEO Kakul Srivastava thinks AI emails are killing conversations

Kakul Srivastava is the CEO of Splice, the sample platform countless producers rely on for one-shots and melodic loops. Samples pulled from the service have found their way into massive hits like Lisa's "Money" and "Espresso" by Sabrina Carpenter. (The original samples are here and here, for the curious.) Before that, Kakul held executive roles at Flickr, Yahoo, GitHub, and Adobe. Throughout her c — The Verge

Vessev built an electric ferry that almost flies

Vessev hopes its electric hydrofoil ferry will change the way people and cities think about boats. — TechCrunch

MI5 Says China’s MSS Funded Research Involving 100+ U.K.-Linked Academics

The U.K.'s domestic intelligence and security agency has warned that more than 100 academics have helped China boost its intelligence gathering efforts on behalf of Beijing's state security service. In a "Security Service Espionage Alert" issued on September 30, 2026, MI5 said the "primary purpose of the China General Technology Research Institute (CGTRI) 中国通用技术研究院 is to fund research that — The Hacker News

Warlock Exploits SharePoint Flaws to Disable Security Tools and Deploy Ransomware

The suspected China-linked threat actor known as Warlock is still continuing to weaponize Microsoft SharePoint vulnerabilities, likely both old and new, in attacks targeting organizations in Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking countries. The activity, observed by the Symantec and Carbon Black Threat Hunter Team, has hit critical infrastructure, government, and education organizations. "In the — The Hacker News

An OpenAI safety employee has quit and is sounding the alarm

David Robinson used to write the safety reports that accompanied every major model release at OpenAI. This week, he resigned from his position and is now speaking out in an editorial in The Atlantic. It's understandable if you're feeling a bit cynical about everyone suddenly coming out of the woodwork to warn about how dangerous the thing they helped build is. They did, after all, make this mess. — The Verge

The Best E-Readers That Aren't a Kindle (2026): Kobo, Boox

Want to untether your reading from Amazon? These Kindle alternatives deserve a spot on your nightstand. — Wired

Best Mosquito Repellents for Your Yard: What Works and What Doesn’t (2026)

After years of testing repellents, traps, and sprays, I found a few ways to keep the bugs at bay—and plenty that aren’t worth the effort. — Wired