diff --git a/.github/workflows/R-CMD-check.yaml b/.github/workflows/R-CMD-check.yaml
index 3be48ad..c82d810 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/R-CMD-check.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/R-CMD-check.yaml
@@ -41,11 +41,13 @@ jobs:
           # - {os: 'macOS-latest'  , tf: 'release', r: 'release'}
 
           ## old keras/tf versions
+          # - {os: 'ubuntu-latest', tf: '2.18', r: 'release'}
+          - {os: 'ubuntu-latest', tf: '2.17', r: 'release'}
+          - {os: 'ubuntu-latest', tf: '2.16', r: 'release'}
           - {os: 'ubuntu-latest', tf: '2.15', r: 'release'}
           - {os: 'ubuntu-latest', tf: '2.14', r: 'release'}
           - {os: 'ubuntu-latest', tf: '2.13', r: 'release'}
           - {os: 'ubuntu-latest', tf: '2.12', r: 'release'}
-          - {os: 'ubuntu-latest', tf: '2.9' , r: 'release'}
 
           # these are allowed to fail
           # - {os: 'ubuntu-latest', tf: '2.14.0rc1', r: 'release'}
diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 7775124..dbc964b 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -54,4 +54,4 @@ Suggests:
     pillar,
     withr,
     callr
-RoxygenNote: 7.3.1
+RoxygenNote: 7.3.2
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 04765b7..e00c7dd 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 # tensorflow (development version)
 
+- `install_tensorflow()` installs TensorFlow v2.18 by default.
 - Fixed an issue where GPUs would not be found when running on Windows
   WSL Linux (reported in rstudio/keras3#1456, fixed in #599)
 - Fixes for NumPy 2.0 (#601)
diff --git a/R/install.R b/R/install.R
index f57b6b3..fae782d 100644
--- a/R/install.R
+++ b/R/install.R
@@ -303,7 +303,7 @@ function(method = c("auto", "virtualenv", "conda"),
   invisible(NULL)
 }
 
-default_version <- numeric_version("2.16")
+default_version <- numeric_version("2.18")
 
 parse_tensorflow_version <- function(version) {
   # returns unquoted string directly passable to pip, e.g 'tensorflow==2.5.*'
diff --git a/man/install_tensorflow.Rd b/man/install_tensorflow.Rd
index 0e2fead..0d01307 100644
--- a/man/install_tensorflow.Rd
+++ b/man/install_tensorflow.Rd
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ See \strong{Finding Conda} and \code{\link[reticulate:conda_binary]{conda_binary
 
 \item{version}{TensorFlow version to install. Valid values include:
 \itemize{
-\item \code{"default"} installs  2.16
+\item \code{"default"} installs  2.18
 \item \code{"release"} installs the latest release version of tensorflow (which may
 be incompatible with the current version of the R package)
 \item A version specification like \code{"2.4"} or \code{"2.4.0"}. Note that if the patch
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-generic-methods.R b/tests/testthat/test-generic-methods.R
index fb4a531..0719ddf 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-generic-methods.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-generic-methods.R
@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@ for (fn in list(cbind, rbind)) {
   expect_equivalent_bind_generic(fn, as.array(1L), 1L)
   expect_equal(fn(as_tensor(1:3), 1:3, dtype = "int64")$dtype$name, "int64")
   expect_equal(fn(as_tensor(1:3), 1:3, dtype = "int16")$dtype$name, "int16")
-  expect_equal(fn(as_tensor(1:3), 1:3, dtype = "float16")$dtype$name, "float16")
+  expect_equal(fn(as_tensor(1:3), 1:3, dtype = "float32")$dtype$name, "float32")
 }