Laplace Intelligence, a one-year-old Ann Arbor startup founded by Howie Sun and Henry Liu out of the University of Michigan, is developing automated systems that stress-test robotics and physical AI before deployment. The company grew out of academic research on challenging autonomous driving AI in simulation, including a 2023 paper the pair published in Nature. Laplace is presenting at TechCrunch Disrupt's Startup Battlefield competition on October 13.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-13
RemoteThreat, founded in 2025 by Chris Thompson and Shawn Jones, emerged from stealth with $7 million in pre-seed funding. The startup's platform uses AI to support security teams running offensive security exercises for enterprises and government agencies, letting them test their own defenses rather than outsourcing to third-party pen testers.
darkreading.com
· 2026-10-02
Startup Abliteration.ai now hosts modified, open-weight AI models—including Z.ai's GLM-5.3—with safety refusals removed, letting users query them via browser or API. TechCrunch tested the free web version and got the model to produce password-stealing code and instructions for culturing a dangerous pathogen. The company, founded late last year and incorporated in March, frames this as a service for red-teaming and offensive security testing.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-09-03
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