~techmeme | Bookmarks (1049)

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: OpenAI updates o3-mini's chain of thought to make it easier for users “to understand how the model thinks”, available to both free and paid ChatGPT users  —  In response to pressure from rivals including Chinese AI company DeepSeek, OpenAI is changing the way its newest AI model …

Ashley Belanger / Ars Technica: Kadrey v. Meta: unsealed emails show Meta allegedly torrented 81.7TB+ of data across multiple shadow libraries through the site Anna's Archive for AI training  —  Newly unsealed emails allegedly provide the “most damning evidence” yet against Meta in a copyright case raised by book authors alleging …

Stephen Nellis / Reuters: Cerebras says it worked with Mistral to help its Le Chat app respond to user questions with 1,000 words per second, making it the world's fastest AI assistant  —  Cerebras Systems, an artificial intelligence chip firm backed by UAE tech conglomerate G42, said on Thursday it has partnered …

Wired: Sources: DOGE is pushing rapidly to develop GSAi, a custom generative AI chatbot for the US GSA to boost productivity, analyze procurement data, and more  —  The chatbot is part of Elon Musk and President Donald Trump's ambitions to use AI and other technologies to cut costs and modernize the US government.

Marina Temkin / TechCrunch: In a meeting with GOP lawmakers, Donald Trump proposed taxing carried interest as ordinary income, a policy that could sharply increase the tax bill for VCs  —  On Thursday, President Trump asked Republican lawmakers to end tax breaks on carried interest.  —  The tax break allows private equity …

Daphné Leprince-Ringuet / Sifted: France and the UAE agree to build an up to 1GW data center in France, representing €30B to €50B in investments in French and Emirati AI, chips, talent, and more  —  France and the UAE have announced a partnership to build a 1GW AI data center, representing up to €50bn in investments

TechCrunch: Kelly Stonelake, a former Meta director who was at the company from 2009 to 2024, sues Meta, alleging sexual harassment, sex discrimination, and retaliation  —  One of Meta's earliest employees is suing the company for sexual harassment, sex discrimination, and retaliation …

Annie Palmer / CNBC: Amazon expects to boost its capex to $100B in 2025, largely driven by AI and up from 2024's ~$83B, in what Andy Jassy calls a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity  —  Amazon said Thursday it plans to boost its capital expenditures to $100 billion in 2025, as it continues its investments in artificial intelligence.

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: Sources: Apple plans to unveil its long-awaited overhaul of the iPhone SE as early as next week, opting to reveal it on its website instead of at a launch event  —  - Revamped SE model is set to be unveiled in the coming days  — Apple plans flurry of 2025 products, including smart home hub

MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC: Affirm reports Q2 revenue up 47% YoY to $866M, vs. $807M est., GMV up 35% YoY to $10.1B, and active consumers up 23% YoY to 21M; AFRM jumps 10%+ after hours  —  WATCH NOW  —  Affirm shares jumped more than 15% in extended trading on Thursday after the provider of buy now, pay later loans …

Katherine Long / Wall Street Journal: DOGE staff member Marko Elez resigns after being linked to racist X posts; the 25-year-old was embedded in the US Treasury and previously worked at SpaceX and X  —  A staffer for Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency whose access to U.S. Treasury payment systems was approved …

Zaheer Kachwala / Reuters: Take-Two reports Q3 net bookings up 3% YoY to $1.37B, vs. $1.39B est., and reiterates GTA VI is set to launch in the fall of 2025; TTWO jumps 6%+ after hours  —  Take-Two Interactive Software (TTWO.O) forecast its fourth-quarter bookings below Wall Street expectations on Thursday …

Bloomberg: Sources: Winklevoss' crypto exchange Gemini is considering an IPO as soon as in 2025; cryptoasset exchange operator Bullish is also considering an IPO in 2025  —  Gemini, the cryptocurrency firm backed by the billionaire Winklevoss twins, is considering an initial public offering as soon as this year …

Sharon Goldman / Fortune: Sources: OpenAI co-founder John Schulman is joining former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati's stealth startup; he left Anthropic after joining the startup in August 2024  —  OpenAI cofounder John Schulman is joining former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati's stealth startup after departing Anthropic just five months …

Reuters: Sources say the focus of the AI Action Summit in Paris on February 10 and February 11 will be on seeking a global consensus on AI principles, not new regulation  —  All eyes are on the French capital next week to see if U.S. President Donald Trump's administration can find common ground …

Bloomberg: How India kept its satellite internet market closed to Starlink, Amazon, and more, despite poor rural connectivity; a regulator is set to publish rules in 2025  —  As global resistance to Starlink dies down, Elon Musk wants to beam connectivity across the world's most populous country.

Christopher Grimes / Financial Times: Netflix hopes its expansion into live programming boosts its nascent ad business; Bernstein estimates its two NFL games generated up to $180M in US advertising  —  Streaming group hopes boxing, wrestling and other events can also boost nascent advertising business

Zeyi Yang / Wired: The USPS halts all inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong, after President Trump ended the “de minimis” exemption, sending the e-commerce industry into chaos  —  As part of new tariffs on Chinese imports, President Donald Trump eliminated an exemption for small packages …

Preeti Singh / Bloomberg: Sources: BlackRock plans to hire ~1,200 people to build its AI teams in India and will inherit ~1,500 staff in Bengaluru through its proposed Preqin acquisition  —  - Firm is bolstering artificial intelligence teams for its hubs  — Money manager leases additional office space in Mumbai

Lina M. Khan / New York Times: Lina Khan says that DeepSeek's breakthroughs highlight how US Big Tech's monopolistic practices may actually be hampering the US' technological leadership  —  When Chinese artificial intelligence firm DeepSeek shocked Silicon Valley and Wall Street with its powerful new A.I. model …

Bloomberg: Sources: OpenAI has spent months talking about potential commercial deals for Sora with film studios, who are worried about how their data may be used and more  —  - Startup has met with Hollywood studios about commercial deals  — Studios worry about business implications of new technology

Malathi Nayak / Bloomberg: Former Google engineer Linwei Ding faces new charges of economic espionage by the US DOJ for allegedly stealing trade secrets to boost China's AI industry  —  - US claims Linwei Ding stole technology for home-grown chip  — Former engineer pled not guilty to original charges in March

Manish Singh / TechCrunch: Bengaluru-based payments startup Cashfree raised a $53M Series C led by Krafton, bringing its total funding to nearly $100M, a source says at a $700M valuation  —  Cashfree, an Indian payments startup that facilitates and processes more than $80 billion for its customers each year …

Melissa Heikkilä / Financial Times: Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman poaches three Google DeepMind former colleagues, including two who built NotebookLM's Audio Overviews and worked on Astra  —  Rival companies in fierce battle for talent in race to build powerful artificial intelligence ‘agents’