Techmeme
May 17, 2025, 2:15 AM

Top News

Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:
OpenAI rolls out Codex, an AI coding agent powered by codex-1, a version of o3 optimized for software engineering, for ChatGPT Pro, Enterprise, and Team users  —  OpenAI announced on Friday it's launching a research preview of Codex, the company's most capable AI coding agent yet.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Apple denies removing Fortnite from alternative marketplaces in the EU and says it asked Epic Sweden to resubmit the app update excluding the US App Store  —  The game developer earlier said that Apple “blocked” its latest Fortnite app submission so that it can't be released in the US or on the third-party Epic Games Store in the EU.
Marcus Mendes / 9to5Mac:
Epic's new motion asks a US district judge to order Apple to approve Fortnite on the US App Store, calling Apple's continued refusal contempt of court  —  As reported by Mark Gurman, Epic's petition reads: … In the document, Epic also makes a point to mention Tim Cook's testimony at trial, in which he said:
Dominic Preston / The Verge:
Washington Post:
Big Tech companies are firing staff who organize protests and rejecting petitions, even as a poor job market discourages worker activism, once ubiquitous in SV  —  A tighter labor market and lower corporate tolerance have stifled once boisterous employee input on controversies over company policy, AI safety and the Israel-Gaza war.
Brian Merchant / Blood in the Machine:
A look at AI companies' lobbying push, as well as the GOP's pitch, for the amendment to ban state-level AI regulation, added to the budget reconciliation bill  —  Inside the effort to de-democratize AI  —  Today, we dive deep into the GOP's radical campaign to ban US states from passing any laws that govern AI.
MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC:
Galaxy Digital, which has traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange since 2020, started trading on the Nasdaq on Friday under the ticker GLXY; the stock closed up 4%  —  WATCH NOW  —  Mike Novogratz' crypto firm Galaxy Digital started trading on the Nasdaq Friday under the ticker GLXY.
Bloomberg:
Sources: OpenAI is expected to be a primary anchor tenant for a 5-gigawatt UAE data center, which could become one of the world's largest at 10 square miles  —  OpenAI plans to help develop a massive new data center in the United Arab Emirates that may eventually be one of the largest in the world …
Justin Lahart / Wall Street Journal:
MIT says it no longer stands behind a widely circulated research paper by its student that claimed an AI tool boosted discoveries in a materials science lab  —  The university says it has no confidence in a widely circulated paper by an economics graduate student
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Dan Primack / Axios:
Carta: VC deals are stalling at seed, with the Series A deal count falling by 79% between Q1 2022 and Q1 2025; 46% of seed deals were bridge rounds in Q1 2025  —  Top of the Morning  —  Venture capital's series progression is stalling at seed, according to new data released this morning by Carta.
More: Carta and Carta
Kelcee Griffis / Bloomberg:
The FCC approves Verizon's $9.6B acquisition of Frontier Communications after Verizon agreed to pare back what Brendan Carr called “invidious” DEI practices  —  The deal “will unleash billions of dollars in new infrastructure builds in communities across the country …
Allie Garfinkle / Fortune:
Stord, a logistics startup serving over 500 mid-market e-commerce brands, raised an $80M Series E led by Strike Capital at a $1.5B valuation and $120M in debt  —  Sean Henry of Stord.  —  Stord  —  In third grade, Sean Henry had enough of the baseball bat dilemma.

Sponsor Posts

ElevenLabs:
ElevenAgents by ElevenLabs  —  You know us for voice.  Now meet ElevenAgents — featuring Expressive Mode, our most human-sounding AI voice technology in 70+ languages with ultra-low latency.  Hear it for yourself.
Niantic Spatial:
World models need real-world data  —  Scaniverse is the gateway to spatial services — self-serve and built for AI and robotics.  Large-area 3D reconstruction from 360° cameras and precise localization, anywhere machines operate.
Zoho:
Security update: Retiring weak TLS cipher suites  —  At Zoho Corp, we are dedicated to maintaining the highest security and compliance standards.  As part of our ongoing efforts to enhance security …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
Jensen On The Ropes, Sam Altman's Conflicts, Allbirds' GPU Pivot
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Hard Fork:
A.I. Backlash Turns Violent + Kara Swisher on Healthmaxxing + The Zuck Bot Is Coming
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Max Mullen from Instacart
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
Access:
Canva's CEO on what happens when AI does the design
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
The Upstarts Podcast:
Cohere's Aidan Gomez: The Canadian Founder Taking AI Models To The World, Not Just Big Tech
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
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.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 2:15 AM ET, May 17, 2025.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Todd Bishop / GeekWire:

Earlier Picks

Reuters:
Lauren Goode / Wired:
More: Newsweek and Forbes
Bluesky: @laurengoodeX: @scobleizerLinkedIn: Christof JaritzForums: r/TrueReddit and r/politics
Jason Schreier / Bloomberg:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Niket Nishant / Reuters: