Techmeme RSS Feed

BREAKING: Thinking Machines has terminated its CTO, Barrett Zoph, due to unethical conduct according to two sources familiar with the matter. CEO Mira Murati announced the news at an all-hands with employees today. Soumith Chintala will be taking over as CTO. (Kylie Robison/@kyliebytes)

21h

X updates Grok to prevent the "editing of images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis" and geoblocks it for all users "where it's illegal" (Karissa Bell/Engadget)

21h

Coinbase pulls support from the US Senate's crypto market structure bill ahead of a key vote; CEO Brian Armstrong says there are "too many issues" with the bill (Nikhilesh De/CoinDesk)

22h

YouTube now lets parents set time limits on their kids' YouTube Shorts feed, ranging from 15 minutes to two hours, with an option for zero minutes coming soon (Stevie Bonifield/The Verge)

23h

Trump signs an order to impose a 25% tariff on chips "transshipped through the United States to other foreign countries", as part of the Nvidia H200 deal (Josh Wingrove/Bloomberg)

UK PM Keir Starmer says X indicated to government officials it was acting to comply with UK laws by restricting the generation of non-consensual sexual images (Financial Times)

Novee, which utilizes proprietary AI models to perform automated penetration testing, emerges from stealth with a $43M Series A and an $8.5M seed (Chris Metinko/Axios)

PJM trims summer 2027 peak demand forecast to ~160 GW from ~164 GW because some projects, including data centers, lack firm service or construction commitments (Naureen S Malik/Bloomberg)

OpenAI strikes a multibillion-dollar agreement to buy 750 MW of computing capacity from Cerebras over three years; sources: the deal is worth more than $10B (Wall Street Journal)

Bitchat, a P2P messaging app launched by Jack Dorsey, has emerged as a key lifeline for people in Uganda and Iran facing government-imposed internet shutdowns (Reuters)

Digg, rebooted under original founder Kevin Rose and Alexis Ohanian, launches its open beta; the site had been open to 67,000 users on an invite-only basis (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)

2026 may be the year of the mega IPO, as sources say Anthropic, OpenAI, and SpaceX took early steps to go public, setting up a watershed moment for the AI boom (New York Times)

Verizon says it is "aware of an issue impacting wireless voice and data services for some customers", as thousands of users report no cellular reception (Jacob Krol/TechRadar)

California AG Rob Bonta opens an investigation into xAI over the proliferation of nonconsensual, sexualized images generated by Grok, and urges xAI to act (Politico)

Elon Musk claims he's "not aware of any naked underage images generated by Grok" and that Grok's operating principle is to "obey the laws of any given country" (Raphael Satter/Reuters)

Elon Musk claims he's "not aware of any naked underage images generated by Grok" and that Grok's operating principle is to "obey the laws of any given country" (Reuters)

Depthfirst, which provides AI tools for codebase scanning, credential exposure protection, and threat monitoring, raised a $40M Series A led by Accel Partners (Lucas Ropek/TechCrunch)

Google launches Personal Intelligence, a Gemini feature that links to Gmail, Google Photos, Search, and YouTube history to tailor answers, for paid subscribers (Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNET)

Sources: the Trump administration is weighing a substantial shift in its cyberstrategy, including by enlisting private companies to assist with cyberattacks (Adam Sella/New York Times)

Dutch court hearing: Nexperia claims Chinese owner Wingtech pushed for tech transfers out of Europe and threatened execs; Wingtech attacks Nexperia's management (Bloomberg)

Belgium-based Aikido Security, which offers automated security guardrails for developers, raised a $60M Series B led by DST Global at a $1B valuation (Supantha Mukherjee/Reuters)

Source: Microsoft has become one of Anthropic's top clients and was recently on pace to spend nearly $500M/year for Anthropic's AI to power Microsoft products (The Information)

Tel Aviv- and Boston-based IO River, which helps companies manage multiple CDN and edge networks, raised a $20M Series A led by Venture Guides and New Era (Chris Metinko/Axios)

UK police say they banned Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from a soccer match in 2025 after Copilot hallucinated a fake West Ham-Maccabi match in an intelligence report (Tom Warren/The Verge)

Pittsburgh-based Skild AI, which makes robotics foundation models, raised a $1.4B Series C at a $14B+ valuation, up from ~$4.5B in June 2025 (Samantha Kelly/Bloomberg)

Airbnb hires Meta executive Ahmad Al-Dahle, who led the generative AI and Llama team after working at Apple, as its CTO, as it aims to add more AI to its app (Natalie Lung/Bloomberg)

Polymarket is hosting a growing number of contracts tied to military conflicts, including China invading Taiwan; possible US strikes in Iran has $18M+ in trades (Denitsa Tsekova/Bloomberg)

Sources: McKinsey pilots an overhaul in how it recruits its next generation, asking candidates to use its AI tool Lilli to analyze a case study during a test (Financial Times)

Alpaca, which builds software to let companies offer stocks, ETFs, and other financial instruments, raised a $150M Series D led by Drive at a $1.15B valuation (Ben Weiss/Fortune)

Sources: Chinese chip designer Montage, a Shanghai-listed company valued at $22B, plans a Hong Kong IPO that could raise $900M+, backed by Alibaba and JPMorgan (Dave Sebastian/Bloomberg)

Sources: Chinese authorities told domestic companies to stop using cybersecurity software made by ~12 US and Israeli companies due to national security concerns (Reuters)

How Ireland, an early data center winner, missed out on much of the current AI boom, hampered by creaking infrastructure and a strained electricity grid (Bloomberg)

Ahead of WEF 2026, the IMF urges governments to step up support for young workers displaced by AI, arguing candidates could use AI "rather than compete with it" (Delphine Strauss/Financial Times)

China's market regulator says it is investigating Trip.com, the country's largest online travel agency, over alleged antitrust conduct, without offering details (Bloomberg)

US Big Tech companies have been on an energy-related hiring spree; Workforce.AI says Microsoft has hired 570+ people with energy-related expertise since 2022 (Tasmin Lockwood/CNBC)

UK satellite company Open Cosmos wins a highly contested Ka-band spectrum license, used for high-speed internet, beating companies backed by Peter Thiel (Josh Gabert-Doyon/Financial Times)

In South Korea's competition to develop an indigenous AI model, three of the five finalists used foreign open-source code, which they argue is practical (Jiyoung Sohn/Wall Street Journal)

Highlights from IEDM 2025: 3D NAND is suddenly relevant again, interconnect metals beyond copper are emerging, 2D materials that could replace silicon, and more (SemiAnalysis)

The UK government drops plans for mandatory digital IDs to work in the country, marking a reversal from when the UK first announced the policy in September 2025 (BBC)

An interview with IMG President Adam Kelly on streaming platforms' increasing share of sports media rights, live sports as an antidote to AI content, and more (Josh Noble/Financial Times)

Q&A with Reid Hoffman on wanting Silicon Valley to speak out against the Trump administration, AI regulation, the role of AI in art and creativity, and more (Katie Drummond/Wired)

Analysis: DeepSeek's hedge fund parent High-Flyer posted 56.6% average returns across its quant funds in 2025, boosting potential cash available for DeepSeek (Bloomberg)

India lacks specific policies or zoning regulations for overseeing quick commerce dark stores, which are projected to hit 5,000 to 5,500 by FY2026 end, per HSBC (The Economic Times)

Elon Musk says Tesla will stop selling FSD after February 14 and will offer it only as a monthly subscription; FSD is already available for $99 per month (Danny Lee/Bloomberg)

WithCoverage, which replaces traditional insurance brokers with its AI-based flat-fee risk management model, raised a $42M Series B led by Sequoia and Khosla (Ryan Lawler/Axios)

Sources: Chinese officials told customs agents that Nvidia H200 chips are barred from China and instructed local tech companies not to buy them unless necessary (Reuters)

An inside look at a Myanmar online scam center that opened in 2024 with 3,500 workers from ~30 countries and closed in November 2025 after rebels captured it (New York Times)

The US urged UN members to take a tougher stance against North Korea IT worker scams and crypto thefts; an October 2025 report said 40+ countries were affected (Jonathan Greig/The Record)

Saudi Arabia's PIF transfers ~$12B worth of gaming company shares, including Nintendo, to Savvy Games; PIF transferred 11M Take-Two shares in December 2025 (Bloomberg)

How smuggled Starlink receivers and customized software let some Iranians evade a near-total internet blackout as the regime brutally cracked down on protesters (Financial Times)