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August 14, 2025, 10:25 AM
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Jeff Horwitz / Reuters:
An internal Meta doc shows its chatbots were allowed to engage in provocative conversations; Meta removed some examples, including romantic roleplay with kids  —  An internal Meta policy document, seen by Reuters, reveals the social-media giant's rules for chatbots, which have permitted provocative behavior …
Financial Times:
Sources: DeepSeek R2's launch delay is due to training issues on Huawei Ascend chips, prompting a switch to Nvidia chips for training and Huawei's for inference  —  Difficulties of training the start-up's latest system with Huawei's semiconductors highlight dependence on Nvidia
Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:
xAI co-founder Igor Babuschkin, who led xAI's engineering, says he is leaving the company to launch a venture firm that backs AI safety research and startups  —  Igor Babuschkin, a co-founder of Elon Musk's xAI startup, announced his departure from the company on Wednesday in a post …
Victoria Song / The Verge:
Apple rolls out a software update to enable a redesigned blood oxygen monitoring feature for the Watch Series 9, 10, and Ultra 2, circumventing the ITC ban  —  Apple will be rolling out a redesigned version of the feature to the Series 9, 10 and Ultra 2 today.
Zac Bowden / Windows Central:
Microsoft Windows head Pavan Davuluri says the next Windows version will be more ambient, more pervasive, and more multi-modal, as voice becomes more important  —  In a new video, Microsoft CVP and Windows boss Pavan Davuluri has teased that the future of Windows will consist of a truly ambient …
Business Insider:
Sources: Perplexity is seeking funding at a $20B post-money valuation, up from a reported $18B in its fundraising round in July 2025 and $520M in January 2024
Dasha Litvinova / Associated Press:
Russia is “partially” restricting WhatsApp and Telegram calls, saying the apps are used “to deceive and extort money” and “in sabotage and terrorist activities”  —  Russian authorities announced Wednesday they were “partially” restricting calls …
Alexandra Alper / Reuters:
Sources: the US Navy and Air Force may cancel two nearly complete HR software projects worth $800M+ to let Salesforce, Palantir, and others win similar work  —  Donald Trump's Navy and Air Force are poised to cancel two nearly complete software projects that took 12 years and well over $800 million combined …
Jennifer Ouellette / Ars Technica:
Q&A with researcher Petter Törnberg on his preprint study showing how social network structures cause problematic outcomes like filter bubbles and echo chambers  —  “The [structural] mechanism producing these problematic outcomes is really robust and hard to resolve.”
Dylan Butts / CNBC:
Foxconn reports Q2 revenue up 16% YoY to ~$59.73B, matching est., and operating profit up 27% YoY to ~$1.9B, above $1.6B est., driven by its AI server business  —  Taiwan's Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics maker, reported Thursday that its second-quarter operating profit rose 27% year …
Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
New York AG Letitia James sues Zelle, claiming that security lapses led to $1B+ in consumer fraud losses; the US CFPB dropped a similar case in March 2025  —  Zelle was sued on Wednesday by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who said the electronic payment platform's refusal …
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple's AI plans include robots, like a tabletop one in 2027, a conversational Siri, a smart speaker with a display in 2026, and home security cameras  —  Apple Inc. is plotting its artificial intelligence comeback with an ambitious slate of new devices, including robots …
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Google rolls out an optional Gemini feature that lets the AI chatbot “remember” a user's “key details and preferences” from past conversations without prompting  —  You'll no longer have to prompt Gemini in order for it to recall what you've discussed in previous chats.

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 10:25 AM ET, August 14, 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.

From Mediagazer

Bloomberg:
How Paramount's David Ellison deployed financial backing and political lobbying, including his well-connected chief legal adviser, to beat Netflix and win WBD

Ted Johnson / Deadline:
The FCC approves Charter's $34.5B merger with Cox, combining cable, fiber, and cloud units, and taking the Cox name and using Spectrum for consumer business

Jeremy Barr / The Guardian:
Memo: another CBS News producer leaves, after 46 years, and says, “We've been told to aim our reporting at a particular part of the political spectrum”

More News

Earlier Picks

Jaspreet Singh / Reuters:
Google plans to spend $9B in Oklahoma over two years on cloud and AI infrastructure, including on building a data center campus and expanding its Pryor facility
Juby Babu / Reuters:
Cisco reports Q4 revenue up 8% YoY to $14.67B, vs. $14.62B est., net income up 31% YoY to $2.8B, and forecasts Q1 revenue from $14.65B to $14.85B, above est.
Bloomberg:
Bullish shares closed up 84% at $68 in the crypto company's NYSE debut, above its IPO price of $37, giving it a $9.9B market value based on outstanding shares
Victoria Song / The Verge:
Core Devices CEO Eric Migicovsky unveils the Pebble Time 2 in four colors, with a 1.5" e-paper display, multicolor RGB backlighting, and a 30-day battery life
Mark Gurman / @markgurman:
In response to Elon Musk's claims that the App Store favors ChatGPT, Apple says that it “is designed to be fair and free of bias” and has “objective criteria”
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