Santa Cruz Works News — Updates on Events, Community Stories & Local Innovation

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NOTE: Our blogs are typically “assisted by AI”. We use AI to assist us in research and style the way a human editor would.

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Doug Erickson 10/3/26 Doug Erickson 10/3/26

When Fiction Gets There First: Sentient and a Real AI Safety Chief Sound the Same Alarm

Tony J. Hughes imagined it. AI safety scientist Geoffrey Irving warns of it. Scott Galloway says Trump and Xi just missed a chance to address it. Fiction and forecast are converging.

Doug Erickson 12/9/25 Doug Erickson 12/9/25

Book Review: Sentient – Meet Your Maker by Tony J. Hughes

Tony J. Hughes’s Sentient – Meet Your Maker arrives at a moment when society is collectively renegotiating its relationship with artificial intelligence. The book is a speculative psychological thriller, but to treat it as merely fiction would miss its deeper contribution.

October 3, 2026

Court Throws Out Archer's Counterclaims Against Joby for Good

A federal judge has dismissed Archer Aviation's counterclaims against Santa Cruz-based Joby Aviation a second time, this time with no option to refile. Joby's core trade-secret case keeps moving.

Could the Monterey Bay Region Support a Data Center?

Data centers are becoming a midterm battleground. In the tri-county region, they're a political flytrap: the economics don't work, and our communities' collective will makes them a nonstarter from the start.

Omni's Trevor Heath to CEOs: Bet Big on AI, But Don't Stop Hiring

Omni's Trevor Heath told CEO Works luncheon attendees how AI powered the ex-Looker startup's 10x scale-up, and why governance, semantic layers, and human judgment still matter.

October 1, 2026

RoboticsCats' AURA Foresight Team Takes Third Place in $11M XPRIZE Wildfire Competition

Santa Cruz Accelerates alum RoboticsCats and its international consortium, AURA Foresight, earned third place and $500,000 in XPRIZE Wildfire's Autonomous Wildfire Response track, capping a four-year journey from team formation to podium.

September 30, 2026

Santa Cruz Is Hiring: Joby, Feanix, Paystand and More Have Open Roles

Santa Cruz companies are hiring. Explore current openings at Joby Aviation, Feanix Bio, Paystand, Swellcycle, and other local employers across tech, manufacturing, sustainability, and more.

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Vote to Rename Titans of Tech!

Vote on your top three names for the rebranded Santa Cruz Works Titans event. Voting closes Sunday, with the new name announced Monday.

Where the Mayoral Candidates Stand on the Joby Agreement

Last week SC Works published an article about the Santa Cruz Mayor's race and the City's partnership with Joby Aviation. It generated interest but also some confusion. One candidate expressed concern about how we characterized her stance. We apologize if there was confusion. To give residents a clear view of where the candidates agree and disagree, we asked them to respond to the same Yes or No questions.

September 29, 2026

Open Culture Science and the Case for Biology You Can Talk To

At NeuMoS 2026 in Zurich, Santa Cruz's Open Culture Science soft-launched an AI-run lab platform that turns plain-language requests into living experiments, and made a serious case for leading a new field.