TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 countdown: AI agents, infrastructure panels and OpenAI's newly launched Dots headline the October 13-15 agenda

Across ten promotional posts from October 6-12, TechCrunch detailed its Disrupt 2026 conference (October 13-15, Moscone West, San Francisco): 200-plus sessions, 250 speakers, an AI-infrastructure panel, and an OpenAI session on Dots, an always-on personal…

TechCrunch spent October 6-12 promoting Disrupt 2026, which runs October 13-15 at Moscone West in San Francisco and is expected to draw more than 10,000 attendees. The published agenda is heavily AI-focused: breakout sessions on physical AI, Anthropic staff running Claude agents, trustworthy AI evaluations, inference economics with Cerebras, and AI in space; interactive roundtables on physical AI, enterprise software, fundraising, and healthcare AI adoption; and a Smart Systems Stage panel with Ambrosia Energy CEO Ben Longmier and Bloom Energy's Bill Thayer on power, data centers, cooling, and grid constraints from AI compute demand. OpenAI's Alexander Embiricos, product lead for Dots — described as an always-on personal agent with its own cloud computer that connects to everyday apps and works on goals in the background, launched days before the conference — will speak in a session titled 'What Comes After the Chatbot?' covering agent direction, privacy, and trust. Other named speakers include RJ Scaringe (Rivian), Andrew Feldman (Cerebras Systems), Cat de Jong (Anthropic), and Les Karpas (NVIDIA). The event advertises 200-plus sessions (one post says exactly 200) across six stages, 250 speakers, 300-plus exhibiting companies, and Startup Battlefield 200, where 20 finalists compete for a $100,000 prize. Ticket marketing throughout the week offered discounts of up to $100 ending at 8 a.m. PT on October 13, 50% off a second eligible pass, passes starting at $299, and a $75 Expo+ pass for people affected by layoffs. Every report is event marketing; none contains a security incident, product launch detail beyond the Dots description, or research result.

• TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 runs October 13-15, 2026 at Moscone West in San Francisco, with doors at 8 a.m. PT on October 13.
• Expected attendance is more than 10,000 founders, investors, and operators.
• Agenda scale: 200-plus sessions across six stages (one October 12 post says 200 sessions), 250 speakers, and 300-plus exhibiting companies.
• Startup Battlefield 200 features 20 finalists competing for a $100,000 prize.
• AI sessions include physical AI, Anthropic staff running Claude agents, trustworthy AI evaluations, inference economics with Cerebras, and AI in space.
• OpenAI's Alexander Embiricos, product lead for Dots, speaks in 'What Comes After the Chatbot?'; Dots is an always-on personal agent with its own cloud computer and app connections, launched days before the event; the session covers agent…
• AI infrastructure panel features Ambrosia Energy CEO Ben Longmier and Bloom Energy's Bill Thayer on power, data centers, cooling, and grid constraints.
• Other named speakers: RJ Scaringe (Rivian), Andrew Feldman (Cerebras Systems), Cat de Jong (Anthropic), Les Karpas (NVIDIA).