Techmeme
February 3, 2023, 2:20 PM

Top News

Financial Times:
Sources: Google invested ~$300M in Anthropic for a ~10% stake, making the generative AI startup use the money on Google Cloud, echoing Microsoft's OpenAI deal  —  Cash-for-computing deal shows how large tech groups are investing in companies at the vanguard of generative AI
Kevin Roose / New York Times:
Inside ChatGPT's rushed launch, as OpenAI feared that rivals might upstage them; Sam Altman now worries about regulatory backlash and inflated expectations  —  Even inside the company, the chatbot's popularity has come as something of a shock.  —  One day in mid-November …
Forbes:
Rohan Goswami / CNBC:
Activision Blizzard settles with the SEC for $35M, over claims of violating federal whistleblower protections and not maintaining adequate disclosure standards  —  - Activision Blizzard will settle with the SEC for $35 million, over claims that the company violated federal whistleblower protections …
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: the FTC is preparing an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, though the timing remains in flux, and is also scrutinizing Amazon Prime's bundling practices  —  Federal Trade Commission considers challenge to array of practices by Amazon, a target of criticism from Chair Lina Khan
BuzzFeed News:
Twitter ending free API access could have the unfortunate side effect of killing many useful bots, like @MakeItAQuote, @BigTechAlert, @_weather_bot_, and more  —  “I'm not paying a dime to Elon lol.”  —  Pranav Dixit  —  One of the most popular bots on Twitter is @MakeItAQuote, which has more than 565,000 followers.
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
TechCrunch:
Mitchell Clark / The Verge:
Elon Musk says Twitter will start sharing revenue from reply-thread ads with creators who are subscribed to Twitter Blue Verified, but doesn't share any details  —  Elon Musk says that Twitter will start sharing revenue from reply-thread ads with creators who are subscribed to Twitter Blue Verified.
Aaron Tilley / Wall Street Journal:
Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Apple:
Davey Alba / Bloomberg:
Sundar Pichai says Google will make LLMs like LaMDA available “in the coming weeks and months”, and users will be able to use them “as a companion to search”  —  Google parent Alphabet Inc. reported fourth-quarter results that narrowly missed analysts' expectations …
Alphabet:
Dave Lee / Financial Times:
Amazon, Meta, Alphabet, and Microsoft will collectively incur $10B+ in charges related to 50,000 job cuts, real estate changes, and other cost saving measures  —  Amazon, Meta, Alphabet and Microsoft reveal hefty price tag as they rein in spending  —  Amazon, Meta, Alphabet and Microsoft …
Matt Richtel / New York Times:
Some US emergency services operators say they are inundated with false, automated calls by the Apple Watches or iPhone 14s of skiers and fitness enthusiasts  —  911 dispatchers are buried under an avalanche of false, automated distress calls from skiers and other Apple device owners who are very much alive.
Amitoj Singh / CoinDesk:
As the spat between Binance and WazirX escalates, Binance invites the Indian crypto exchange to withdraw its assets held in Binance wallets after February 3  —  The solution ostensibly ends worries about what would happen to customer funds if Binance and WazirX end their collaboration.
Wall Street Journal:
Documents offer a look at the four men, including a former child actor, who once owned ~86% of Tether Holdings, incorporated in 2014, and their ties to Bitfinex  —  The stablecoin has become a lucrative business at center of crypto economy  —  Tether Holdings Ltd. operates a $68 billion stablecoin …
Amazon:
Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:
Sports Illustrated publisher Arena Group is working with AI startups Jasper and Nota to help produce articles from its own content library and pitch journalists  —  Arena Group uses the technology to help produce Men's Journal pieces such as workout tips  —  The publisher of Sports Illustrated …
Rita Liao / TechCrunch:
Two days after approving decentralized social network Damus, Apple complies with China's ask to remove the app from the App Store in China for “illegal” content  —  Damus, one of the fastest-growing Twitter alternatives, has been pulled from China's App Store just two days after the app was approved by Apple.

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Featured Podcasts

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Earlier Picks

Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
Tom Schoenberg / Bloomberg: