Techmeme
June 26, 2025, 6:25 PM

Top News

Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Apple overhauls EU App Store to comply with DMA: developers can push offers and alt payments, and the Core Technology Fee will be swapped for tiered commission  —  Apple has announced several major changes to its App Store guidelines in the European Union as part of its ongoing efforts to comply with the Digital Markets Act.
Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:
Source: Meta has hired highly influential OpenAI researcher Trapit Bansal to work on its AI reasoning models under the company's new AI superintelligence unit  —  Meta has hired a highly influential OpenAI researcher, Trapit Bansal, to work on its AI reasoning models under the company's …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Meta is in advanced talks to buy PlayAI, which uses AI to replicate voices for interfaces that are as “responsive as a conversation between two people”  —  Meta is expected to acquire the Palo Alto, California-based startup's technology and some of its employees …
Meghan Bobrowsky / Wall Street Journal:
Meta has poached three researchers from OpenAI's Zurich office, Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, and Xiaohua Zhai, for its superintelligence efforts  —  Social-media giant has hired Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov and Xiaohua Zhai for its superintelligence effort
Joseph Cox / 404 Media:
Internal emails: ICE is using Mobile Fortify, an app that uses facial recognition and fingerprint scanning via phone cameras to identify people in the field  —  Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is using a new mobile phone app that can identify someone based on their fingerprints …
Brian Merchant / Blood in the Machine:
Workers at Google, TikTok, Adobe, Dropbox, CrowdStrike, and other tech firms recount how managers used AI to justify firing them, speed up their work, and more  —  “What will AI mean for jobs?” may be the single most-asked question about the technology category that dominates Silicon Valley, pop culture, and our politics.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Bloomberg:
Marc Benioff says “AI is doing 30% to 50% of the work at Salesforce”, like software engineering and customer service, and its AI product has hit ~93% accuracy  —  Salesforce Inc. Chief Executive Officer Marc Benioff said his company has automated a significant chunk of work with AI …
Callan Quinn / Decrypt:
Kraken secures a MiCA license from the Central Bank of Ireland to offer crypto services across the EU, following Coinbase's approval in Luxembourg last week  —  Approval from Ireland's central bank gives Kraken the ability to operate across 27 EU states as it races to catch up to rival Coinbase.
Ian Allison / CoinDesk:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
As AI kills search traffic, Google launches Offerwall, a Google Ad Manager tool to help publishers generate revenue beyond ads, including via micropayments  —  Google's AI search features are killing traffic to publishers, so now the company is proposing a possible solution.
Anthony Robledo / USA Today:
Bloomberg:
Sources: Senate Parliamentarian raised concerns that the tax bill's ban on states from enforcing AI regulations may violate Senate rules, advising a rewrite  —  Republicans' latest attempt to use President Donald Trump's massive tax package to ban US states from enforcing artificial intelligence regulations …
Megan Morrone / Axios:
Anthropic releases preliminary results showing users who discuss emotional issues with Claude tend to grow more positive as conversations progress  —  People who talk to Anthropic's Claude chatbot about emotional issues tend to grow more positive as the conversation unfolds …
More: Anthropic, eWeek, and TechCrunch
Bluesky: @seldo.com and @nowheriaX: @anthropicaiLinkedIn: Megan MorroneForums: r/MyBoyfriendIsAI
Muyao Shen / Bloomberg:
UAE-based Aqua 1 Foundation buys $100M worth of tokens from Trump's World Liberty Financial, becoming its largest individual investor ahead of Justin Sun  —  A little known crypto fund bought $100 million of World Liberty Financial Inc. tokens, the second Middle East-based investor to put money …
M.G. Siegler / Spyglass:
A look at The Browser Company's AI-first browser Dia, which merges AI models and hides that complexity for end users, pointing to the future of web browsing  —  About a week ago, I bit the bullet.  Reading the writing very clearly on the wall, I abandoned the Arc browser and jumped ship over to Dia …
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Apple execs have discussed starting a theatrical distribution unit; Warner Bros. is distributing the F1 movie and getting a share of box office revenue  —  Six years after getting into entertainment, Apple lags behind its rivals in streaming subscribers and mainstream appeal, despite lavish spending on A-list stars
Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
A federal judge rejects a joint motion by Ripple Labs and the US SEC to approve a reduced $50M fine to settle a lawsuit over XRP sales, and chastises both sides  —  A federal judge on Thursday rejected an unusual joint motion by Ripple Labs and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission …
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: CoreWeave is in talks to acquire bitcoin miner Core Scientific, which has a market value of ~$3.7B; Core Scientific rejected CoreWeave's bid in 2024  —  A bid last year was rejected by Core Scientific as too low  —  CoreWeave is in talks to acquire Core Scientific …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Creative Commons debuts CC Signals, a framework that lets dataset holders detail how machines can or cannot reuse their content, such as for training AI models  —  Nonprofit Creative Commons, which spearheaded the licensing movement that allows creators to share their works while retaining copyright, is now preparing for the AI era.
The Information:
Sources: Instagram and TikTok are working on versions of their apps customized to run on TV screens, following YouTube's success in attracting a TV audience  —  Rejoice, couch potatoes.  TikTok and Instagram, following YouTube's lead, are working on ways to make it easier for viewers to watch videos from their apps on TV screens.

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