Techmeme
April 21, 2025, 2:25 AM

Top News

Every:
A comparison of OpenAI's o3, o4-mini, and GPT-4.1; Aaron Levie says o3 nailed a multi-step financial modeling task; Scale AI CEO says o3 is “a big breakthrough”  —  Our take on what's powerful, what's practical, and what's still TBD … If you've been following AI news this week …
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Paul Graham likened Palantir's ICE work to “infrastructure of the police state”; a Palantir exec said Paul's view is like Google's when it killed Project Maven  —  One of the founders of startup accelerator Y Combinator offered unsparing criticism this weekend …
Wall Street Journal:
A half-marathon in Beijing featured a road race with human runners and 21 Chinese humanoid robots, highlighting both the progress and limitations of such robots  —  A half-marathon in Beijing featured a road race between human runners and 21 robot models—and showed how far robots still are from mimicking people.
Financial Times:
A look at the race to turn brainwaves into fluent speech, as researchers at universities in California and companies use brain implants and AI to make advances  —  Californian researchers and groups such as Precision Neuroscience use implants and AI to make advances in ‘voice prosthesis’
Ben Weiss / Fortune:
Coinbase faces pump-and-dump accusations after its subsidiary Base launched a “content coin” on Zora; Coinbase clarifies that Base will never sell the tokens  —  Jesse Pollak is the creator of Base, a new blockchain from Coinbase.  —  Winni Wintermeyer for Fortune
Knight First Amendment Institute:
A deep dive into AI as a normal technology vs. a humanlike intelligence and how major public policy based on controlling superintelligence may make things worse  —  An alternative to the vision of AI as a potential superintelligence  —  We articulate a vision of artificial intelligence (AI) as normal technology.
Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
Q&A with Dan Kim and Hassan Khan, former officials at the CHIPS Program Office, on subsidizing supply versus coercing demand, the program's future, and more  —  An interview with Dan Kim and Hassan Khan about their work distributing CHIPS program money, and why they are optimistic about U.S. industrial policy going forward.
Christopher Grimes / Financial Times:
The success of A Minecraft Movie, set to hit $700M in ticket sales globally this weekend, signals Hollywood's breakthrough in adapting video games into films  —  While superhero franchises flag, ‘A Minecraft Movie’ shows the industry has finally cracked the formula for translating popular games into films
Mark Bergen / Bloomberg:
How YouTube is adapting to the AI era; a VP expects that in five years, every video uploaded to YouTube could be dubbed automatically into every spoken language  —  The video giant, turning 20, tries to keep the content spigot flowing while appeasing its army of broadcasters and copyright holders.
Ruth Reader / Politico:
After lobbying US Congress to shelve the Senate-passed KOSA bill in 2024, Meta has now made headway in lobbying for an app store age-verification bill  —  The Facebook founder is lobbying Congress to leave his firm alone — and making headway.  —  To protect kids online …

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Featured Podcasts

Channels with Peter Kafka:
A Hollywood Manager Explains the New Rules of Show Biz
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
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Training Data:
Simulating Humans at Scale: Simile's Joon Sung Park
Sequoia Capital partners host conversations with leading AI builders and researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the evolving technologies and their implications.
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Invest Like the Best:
Kareem Amin - The Unusual Approach to Company Building
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
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Grit:
Why 80% of the Fortune 100 Chose Qualtrics | Ryan Smith
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
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Lenny's Podcast:
The hidden pattern behind successful products | Mark Pincus (founder of Zynga)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
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Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
AI's Mythos Moment: Rishi Sunak on preparing governments for AI
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.
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More News

Krishnapriya V.S. / The India Forum:

Earlier Picks

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