AI & SaaS News, Oct 24: Arc Shutdown, Claude Auto Mode

Last checked October 24, 2026 · News roundup

Today in brief: Arc, the browser many Mac users swore by, stops working on December 22, and Claude's apps switch to auto mode by default next week. Canva shipped its own image model, OpenAI opened its fast Decisions API to everyone, and Salesforce agreed to buy Braze for about $5.66 billion. Security teams have two patch jobs: Fortinet and Okta.

Each fact below was checked against the company announcement or the outlet named beside it between October 22 and 24, 2026. Where we rely on one outlet's reporting, the text says so.

Part 1 · AI

Claude auto mode becomes the default in the Claude apps next week

Anthropic said on October 22 that, starting next week, sessions in the Claude web, desktop and mobile apps will run in auto mode by default on Pro, Max and Team plans. Instead of asking you to approve each step, "an automated check blocks risky actions," and you can switch back to manual approvals at any time. Claude Code already made auto mode its default for these plans in August; this extends it to the consumer apps, where Claude increasingly runs tools and connectors on your behalf.

The announcement does not mention Free or Enterprise plans, and there is no price change: auto mode uses your normal plan limits.

Who it affects: paying individuals and Team workspaces. What to do: if you connect Claude to email, files or payment tools, decide now whether you want auto mode for that work. The checker screens actions, not the add-ons you install, so it still pays to check a Claude skill before you add it.

Canva Craft: Canva's first AI image model opens to all users

Canva released Craft, its first in-house image generation model, on October 22. TechCrunch reports that it works in two stages: one plans layout, scale and text placement, and a second draws the image. Output goes up to 2K resolution in up to 30 aspect ratios, and Canva trained it on human-designed templates such as posters, menus and social posts rather than photos. Generated images can be turned into editable layered designs.

Every Canva user can open it from the Dream Lab tab, and developers get it through the Canva API. Canva has not published credit costs or plan limits for Craft, and two cheaper variants, Craft-fast and Craft-ultrafast, are "coming soon." TestingCatalog notes that Craft debuted fourth on the DesignArena image leaderboard. Canva also says it plans to bring image generation to ChatGPT and Gemini through its MCP connector.

Why it matters: if you mostly need on-brand graphics with legible text, test Craft before paying for a separate image tool.

OpenAI Decisions API price: $0.10 per million input tokens, no output fees

OpenAI made its Decisions API generally available on October 22. Rather than writing text, it returns a probability, a choice or a score, which suits routing, triage and "what should the agent do next" steps. It runs on GPT-6 Luna, and OpenAI says responses now take 100 to 180 milliseconds instead of one to three seconds (TechCrunch). Speak's CTO says time between actions fell from 1.4 to 0.13 seconds.

The GA release adds image input, prompt caching and up to 400 questions per request (up from 200), plus US and EU data residency, according to Unite.AI's summary of the docs.

It is not the leader yet: TechCrunch notes OpenAI's model ranks 8th and 14th on two public decision-model indexes, behind TypeSafe's Jev and others. Teams paying per output token for yes/no calls should run a cost test.

Claude on Google Cloud gets an Anthropic-managed option, and Opus 5.5 fast mode is GA

Google Cloud and Anthropic launched a second way to run Claude on October 22. In the new Anthropic-managed option, Anthropic processes the data under its own commercial terms, on Google Cloud infrastructure, while you sign in with Google Cloud IAM and pay on your Google Cloud bill. Spend counts toward eligible Google Cloud commitments, and new Claude Platform features such as Managed Agents (beta), skills and code execution arrive on day one. The existing Google-managed option keeps VPC Service Controls, customer-managed keys and regional data residency, but gets new tools later. Google says pricing is the same for both.

The same day, Anthropic's release notes list fast mode for Claude Opus 5.5 as generally available: up to 2.5 times faster output at $8 per million input tokens and $40 per million output tokens.

What to do: pick based on who you want as data processor and whether you need features on launch day. More on agent tooling sits in our guides to Claude Code and AI agents.

Part 2 · SaaS & business

Is Arc browser shutting down? Yes, on December 22, 2026

The Browser Company, owned by Atlassian since a $610 million deal in 2025, announced on October 22 that Arc will be sunset. New Arc accounts can no longer be created. On November 23, Arc Search for iOS and Android loses its AI features, including Browse for Me, plus sign-in and tab sync; it keeps working as a basic browser. On December 22, Arc stops working on Mac and Windows, accounts are deactivated and personal data is deleted within 30 days, TechCrunch reports.

The company blamed the rising cost of keeping a browser secure and is moving its engineers to Dia, its AI-first browser. CEO Josh Miller said Arc cannot be open-sourced without also releasing ADK, the proprietary engine behind Dia. According to Android Authority, the latest Arc build adds an export for passwords, bookmarks, extensions, history, Spaces and folders, which works with any compatible browser.

What to do this week: update Arc, run the export, and decide between Dia (TechCrunch says Arc features stay free there, with AI optional) and another browser before December.

Salesforce buys Braze for $5.66 billion: what Braze customers should expect

Salesforce agreed on October 20 to buy customer engagement platform Braze for $47.50 in cash per share, an enterprise value of about $5.66 billion. Salesforce expects to close in its fiscal 2028, which starts February 1, 2027, after shareholder and regulatory approval. Braze will keep its name, and co-founder Bill Magnuson plans to stay on as CEO. The deal adds real-time messaging and AI personalization next to Marketing Cloud.

For customers, TechRepublic reports that Braze says existing contracts, support and integrations continue and renewals follow the usual process. Nothing has been said about future pricing, packaging, or whether new features will require other Salesforce products.

What to do: if your Braze renewal falls in the next year, ask for a price cap or longer term now, while the buyer's plans are still unknown. We log vendor price moves like this in our SaaS price change tracker.

1Password for Agents: let AI agents log in without seeing your passwords

1Password launched 1Password for Agents on October 22. When a personal AI agent needs to sign in somewhere, it requests the login, you approve it, and 1Password fills it in on the site, so the agent never sees the password or one-time code. It costs nothing extra on 1Password Individual and Family accounts hosted on 1Password.com; .eu and .ca accounts are not supported yet. Meta's Muse and the Grok bot roll out first "over the coming days," with Claude Duet, ChatGPT Work, Perplexity, Ramp and others listed as coming soon.

The launch landed with new numbers: annual recurring revenue topped $500 million, up from $400 million a year earlier, and the company now counts more than 200,000 business customers, BetaKit reports. If you already pay for 1Password, this is the safer way to hand an agent your logins.

Fortinet and Okta patches: the versions to install before November 10

Fortinet shipped what it calls a security hardening release on October 22 for FortiOS, FortiManager and FortiAnalyzer, after earlier fixes for FortiMail and FortiAuthenticator. The flaws were found in testing with frontier AI models, and Fortinet thanked Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and SpaceX. It is withholding CVE details until November 10, and warns attackers could compare patches with AI to build exploits quickly, so internet-facing devices go first.

Separately, Okta disclosed CVE-2026-115547 on October 22, rated 9.1 (critical), in Okta Access Gateway before 2026.10.2. It lets someone who already has admin console access run system commands; no exploitation has been reported.

Can't upgrade yet? Fortinet advises limiting HTTPS and SSH admin access to trusted IPs and enforcing MFA for administrators.

Reader questions, answered briefly

Will I lose my Arc bookmarks and passwords?

Only if you do nothing. Arc keeps working until December 22, and the latest version can export passwords, bookmarks, extensions, history, Spaces and folders to Dia or another browser. After shutdown, accounts are deactivated and personal data is deleted within 30 days, so export well before then.

How do I turn off Claude auto mode?

Anthropic says you can switch back to manual approvals at any time once auto mode becomes the default next week on Pro, Max and Team. In manual mode, Claude asks before each step instead of relying on its automated risk check. That makes sense for sensitive tasks like sending email or moving files.

Is Canva Craft free to use?

Canva has not said. It describes Craft as available to all Canva users worldwide from the Dream Lab tab, but it has not published how many generations each plan includes or what the model costs through the API. Check the AI allowance shown in your account before relying on it for bulk work.

Will Braze prices go up after the Salesforce deal?

Nothing has been announced. Braze says current contracts, support and integrations continue and renewals follow the normal process. The deal is not expected to close until Salesforce's fiscal 2028, which starts February 2027, so near-term pricing should stay under your existing contract terms.

Sources (accessed October 23–24, 2026): TechCrunch, Arc (Oct 22) · Android Authority, Arc export (Oct 22) · Claude on X, auto mode (Oct 22) · TechCrunch, Canva Craft (Oct 22) · TestingCatalog (Oct 23) · TechCrunch, Decisions API (Oct 22) · Unite.AI (Oct 22) · Google Cloud blog, Claude (Oct 22) · Releasebot, Claude release notes (Oct 22) · TechRepublic, Salesforce–Braze (Oct 21) · 1Password blog (Oct 22) · BetaKit, 1Password ARR (Oct 22) · Fortinet (Oct 21) · Okta advisory (Oct 22) · Cyber Security News, Okta (Oct 23)