Techmeme
February 11, 2025, 9:15 AM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:
Investors led by Elon Musk make an unsolicited $97.4B bid to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, complicating Sam Altman's plans to convert to a for-profit  —  Unsolicited offer complicates Sam Altman's plans to convert OpenAI to a for-profit company — A consortium of investors led …
More: CNN, MacRumors, Engadget, Tom's Hardware, TechCrunch, BBC, Variety, Yahoo Finance, Forbes, The Decoder, Benzinga, Fortune, New York Times, The Economic Times, Tech Funding News, TESLARATI, El País, New York Magazine, Silicon Republic, PetaPixel, Verdict, TechRadar, Wall Street Pit, Financial Times, Gizmodo, Computerworld, Tech.co, Android Headlines, Moneycontrol, ITPro, NBC News, The Rundown AI, BetaNews, Le Monde, PYMNTS.com, Digital Music News, The Independent, Euractiv, Blockonomi, CryptoSlate, TechSpot, PhoneArena, Reuters, Windows Central, RNS, Information Age, UPI, SFist, One America News Network, PC Gamer, Neowin, SiliconANGLE, Decrypt, VentureBeat, The Hill, Tom's Guide, iClarified, The Sun, HotAir, The Guardian, Spyglass, Mashable, Adweek, CBS News, SlashGear, Fast Company, Futurism, Business Insider, Politico, Digital Trends, The Boston Globe, San Francisco Business Times, Inc, and Metro.co.uk
The Hill:
In response to Elon Musk's $97.4B OpenAI bid, Sam Altman says on X “no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want”; Musk replies “swindler”  —  OpenAI CEO and co-founder Sam Altman appeared to shut down a reported offer from an investor group led …
Ina Fried / Axios:
Sam Altman says “OpenAI is not for sale” and “OpenAI's mission is not for sale”, especially to “a competitor who is not able to beat us in the market”  —  - “OpenAI is not for sale. … - Altman said the board has not determined a valuation for OpenAI's operations yet …
CNBC:
Investors behind the $97.4B OpenAI bid include xAI, Baron Capital, Valor, Atreides, Vy Capital, Joe Lonsdale's 8VC, and an investment vehicle led by Ari Emanuel  —  Elon Musk is leading a group of investors in offering to buy control of OpenAI for $97.4 billion, CNBC confirmed.
Wall Street Journal:
Reuters:
Paris AI summit: US VP JD Vance warns the EU that excessive AI regulation could strangle the tech and rejects content moderation as “authoritarian censorship”  —  U.S. Vice President JD Vance warned Europeans on Tuesday that what he called their excessive regulation …
Kevin Roose / New York Times:
Paris AI summit takeaways: Europe has regulation regrets, AI doomsayers have lost ground, and policymakers can't seem to grasp how soon powerful AI could arrive  —  At times, Kevin Roose writes, it feels like he is watching policymakers on horseback trying to install seatbelts on a passing Lamborghini.
Liv McMahon / BBC:
The US and the UK did not join France, China, India, and other countries in signing an international AI agreement in Paris, without explaining their reasons  —  The UK and US have not signed an international agreement on artificial intelligence (AI) at a global summit in Paris.
Wall Street Journal:
At the AI Action Summit in Paris, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says the bloc plans to mobilize €200B to invest in AI to catch the US and China  —  The announcement underscores efforts from the EU to position itself as a key player in the AI race
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Google Calendar removes Pride month, Black History Month, Holocaust Remembrance Day, and other events, saying it wasn't “scalable or sustainable” to keep them  —  Google says it switched to only showing default entries for public holidays and national observances last year.
Umar Shakir / The Verge:
Gloria Li / Financial Times:
Chinese EV maker BYD unveils a “God's Eye” self-driving system and aims to install it on its entire lineup, including its ~$9,600 Seagull hatchback  —  Tesla rival will equip hatchback on sale for less than $10,000 with features usually found only on upscale vehicles
Steve Nadis / Quanta Magazine:
In a January paper, three computer scientists presented a faster hash table, one of the oldest data structures, disproving a 40-year-old data science conjecture  —  Together, Krapivin (now a graduate student at the University of Cambridge), Farach-Colton (now at New York University) …
Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch:
Google brings NotebookLM Plus, its AI research assistant tier with higher usage limits, to Google One AI Premium subscribers, and debuts a 50% student discount  —  Google has expanded NotebookLM Plus, a paid version of its AI-based note-taking and research assistant, to individual users subscribed …
Lizette Chapman / Bloomberg:
Dublin-based Tines, which uses AI to automate tasks in cybersecurity and other business operations, raised $125M at a $1.13B valuation, up from $600M in 2024  —  - Business software company raised $125 million from investors … The deal boosted Tines' valuation by more than 80% from its previous value of $600 million last year.

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Earlier Picks

Dan Mangan / CNBC:
Bloomberg:
Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
Scott Rosenberg / Axios:
Kelcee Griffis / Bloomberg: