Techmeme
February 15, 2025, 1:25 PM

Top News

Eric Geller / Wired:
Memo: CISA orders a review of every position related to election security work since 2017, to comply with Trump's January 20 EO on “ending federal censorship”  —  The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has frozen efforts to aid states in securing elections, according to an internal memo viewed by WIRED.
Michael Nuñez / VentureBeat:
Perplexity releases Deep Research, offering five queries daily to free users and 500 to subscribers, available now on the web and soon on iOS, Android, and Mac  —  Perplexity shattered the artificial intelligence market's status quo today by launching Deep Research, a tool …
Wired:
Romance scams may rise as isolation grows and generative AI helps scammers scale; the FBI says US victims lost nearly $4.5B to such scams over the past decade  —  Romance scams cost victims hundreds of millions of dollars a year.  As people grow increasingly isolated, and generative AI helps scammers scale …
Bloomberg:
Source: TSMC is considering a controlling stake and fully operating Intel's US factories after a Trump team request, as Trump aims to boost US manufacturing  —  - TSMC would take controlling stake in potential partnership  — Administration aims to boost manufacturing of advanced chips
Emily Nicolle / Bloomberg:
Tether's venture arm acquires a minority stake in Italian football club Juventus, as part of a broader push to integrate digital assets into sports franchises  —  Tether Holdings SA de CV said it's acquired a minority stake in Juventus Football Club SpA, as one of crypto's most valuable companies continues …
New York Times:
OpenAI's board unanimously rejects the $97.4B bid by Elon Musk and a consortium of investors, calling it “Mr. Musk's latest attempt to disrupt his competition”  —  Bret Taylor, the chairman of OpenAI's board, said the artificial intelligence company was “not for sale.”
Katie Roof / Bloomberg:
CB Insights: a record 1,200 VC-backed unicorns have yet to IPO or get acquired; Carta: fewer than 30% of 2021 unicorns raised funding in the past three years  —  The billion-dollar startup bubble is deflating, and more than $1 trillion in value is locked up in companies with dwindling prospects.
Dwarkesh Patel / Dwarkesh Podcast:
Q&A with Google Gemini co-leads Jeff Dean and Noam Shazeer on Google's path to AGI, the future of Moore's Law, TPUs, inference scaling, open research, and more  —  Two of Gemini's co-leads on Google's path to AGI  —  This week I welcome on the show two of the most important technologists ever, in any field.
Oliver Knight / CoinDesk:
Argentine President Javier Milei posted and then deleted an X post promoting Libra, a memecoin that rose 2,000%+ to a $4.4B market cap before plunging 95%+  —  Milei deleted his original promotional tweet and revealed that he wasn't aware of its details.  —  What to know:
The Information:
Sources: Anthropic expects to burn $3B in 2025, down from $5.6B in 2024, and make up to $3.7B in revenue in 2025, as it seeks to catch up with OpenAI  —  After burning $5.6 billion in cash last year, Anthropic said it would reduce that amount by nearly half in 2025 and projected up to $3.7 billion …
Olivia Poh / Bloomberg:
Sources: SoftBank-backed eFishery, Indonesia's high-profile agritech startup, cuts over 1,000 jobs, or ~90% of its workforce, and weighs a potential liquidation  —  - Indonesia's high-profile agritech startup cuts over 1,000 jobs  — Company unraveling after allegedly faking most of its revenue
More: Tech in Asia
Brody Ford / Bloomberg:

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Featured Podcasts

Access:
OpenClaw for normies is here
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
The Nick, Dick and Paul Show:
When AI Kills
Nick Bilton, Dick Costolo, and Paul Kedrosky pull back the curtain on AI, startups, and the future rushing toward us, all with healthy dose of irreverence.
Subscribe to The Nick, Dick and Paul Show.
Big Technology Podcast:
OpenAI vs. Anthropic's Direct Faceoff + Future of Agents — With Aaron Levie
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
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Great Chat:
OpenAI's new media M&A and old media exposé
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
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Invest Like the Best:
Alan Waxman - Private Credit and the Modern Financial System
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
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Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ryan Roslansky: Turning AI Anxiety into Skills for the Future of Work
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
 

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Jordan Novet / CNBC:
Bloomberg:
Molly White / Citation Needed:
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Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: