Techmeme: Anthropic updates Claude usage policy, adding stricter cybersecurity rules and explicitly banning the development of WMDs, and loosens political content rules (Emma Roth/The Verge)

Top News

Alex Heath / The Verge:

Sam Altman says OpenAI “totally screwed up some things” on the GPT-5 rollout and confirms plans to fund a brain-computer interface startup to rival Neuralink — Over dinner, OpenAI CEO's addressed criticism of GPT-5's rollout, the AI bubble, brain-computer interfaces, buying Google Chrome, and more.

More: Wired, CNBC, The Verge, Business Insider, The Register, Bloomberg, The Decoder, Futurism, iPhone in Canada, Inc.com, Livemint, Crypto Briefing, Tech in Asia, and Breitbart

Bluesky: @alexeheath.com and @adeincambodia. Threads: @crumbler

X: @shakeelhashim and @laurengoode

Forums: r/OpenAI, r/singularity, and Slashdot

Ina Fried / Axios:

An interview with Sam Altman on spending billions on AI infrastructure, wanting Chrome if it's really for sale, AI models saturating the chat use case, and more — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is still talking like the future belongs to him, a week after the rollout of the company's latest model raised …

More: Platformer, The Verge, Mercury News, Cautious Optimism, Implicator.ai, and Sherwood News

X: @stshank, @inafried, @shiringhaffary, and @verge. Forums: r/singularity

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Appfigures: ChatGPT's app for iOS and Android hit $2B in global consumer spending, including $1.35B so far in 2025, up 673% YoY; Grok made ~$25.6M this year — ChatGPT's mobile app is raking in the revenue. — Since launching in May 2023, ChatGPT's app for iOS and Android devices …

More: iPhone in Canada, TestingCatalog, and GreenBot

Bluesky: @fry69.dev and @stevenjcbuckley

Anne Trafton / MIT News:

Researchers say they used generative AI algorithms to design novel antibiotics targeting drug-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae and MRSA — The team used two different AI approaches to design novel antibiotics, including one that showed promise against MRSA. — PRESS INQUIRIES

More: BBC, eWeek, Semafor, The Gateway Pundit, Euro Weekly News, and GB News

LinkedIn: Adil Mohammed, Hassan Syed, and Hisham Al-Assam. Forums: r/artificial

Bloomberg:

Meta's standalone Meta AI app, launched in April 2025, offers an uneven experience, hallucinating and not personalizing replies despite access to Meta accounts — The Meta AI app offers an uneven experience, posing a sharp contrast to Mark Zuckerberg's lofty artificial intelligence ambitions.

More: iPhone in Canada. Bluesky: @caseynewton. Threads: @tomwarrenuk. X: @markgurman, @natlungfy, and @jackson198285

LinkedIn: Suman Kanuganti and Natalie Lung

Emma Roth / The Verge:

Anthropic updates Claude usage policy, adding stricter cybersecurity rules and explicitly banning the development of WMDs, and loosens political content rules — The AI startup's new policy now specifically bans using Claude to help develop biological, chemical, radiological, or nuclear weapons.

More: Anthropic. Bluesky: @numerius, @davekasten, @doublehelix, and @caseynewton

Bloomberg:

Sources: some investors seek to replace N26's co-CEOs after German financial regulator Bafin identified new deficiencies in the digital bank's internal controls — Some investors in N26 are urging the German digital bank's two chief executive officers to step down, following fresh criticism …

More: Financial Times, Finextra, PYMNTS.com, and Sifted

Carmen Reinicke / Bloomberg:

CoreWeave's IPO lockup expires, letting holders of 80%+ of its Class A shares sell; its stock fell 33% in the two days after its Q2 earnings amid selloff fears — CoreWeave Inc.'s March initial public offering has been a roaring success for anyone lucky enough to get in at the start.

Norah Mulinda / Bloomberg:

Opendoor CEO Carrie Wheeler steps down, with Shrisha Radhakrishna named president and interim CEO; OPEN jumps 8%+ — Opendoor Technologies Inc., a real estate company that became a meme stock in recent months, said Chief Executive Officer Carrie Wheeler is stepping down immediately as the board searches for a replacement.

More: Benzinga, CNBC, RealEstateNews.com, The Real Deal, Yahoo Finance, and Notorious R.O.B.

X: @chrisatgradient, @bshurt79, @ericjackson, @ericjackson, @aj_whowrites, @shrisha, @apompliano, @ericjackson, @trackfilings, and @chrisatgradient

CoinDesk:

Mike Novogratz's Galaxy says it has secured $1.4B in debt financing to expand its Helios data center in West Texas, aiming to boost AI and HPC capabilities — The firm, led by Mike Novogratz, projected its deal with AI cloud firm CoreWeave could generate $1 billion in annual revenue over 15 years.

More: The Block, Cointelegraph, and crypto.news

Richard Nieva / Forbes:

How Google's Jigsaw and pollster Scott Rasmussen plan to use AI to survey Americans on political views to find common ground ahead of the US' 250th anniversary — A collaboration between the tech giant and a polling nonprofit will gather five to 10 people each from every congressional district …

More: Columbia Journalism Review. Bluesky: @christianthiels. X: @richardjnieva

David Keohane / Financial Times:

SoftBank-owned PayPay files for a US listing; sources: PayPay aims to raise $2B+ at a $10B+ valuation, and the listing could happen by the end of the year — Sale of American depositary shares could value payments company above $10bn and help fund AI bets — PayPay has filed for a US listing …

More: Bloomberg, Nikkei Asia, The Japan Times, MarketWatch, Reuters, and Tech in Asia

Ben Thompson / Stratechery:

Meta's strong Q2 shows it has learned it must give investors short-term results to get permission for long-term investments, such as its AI ambitions — Meta delivered blowout earnings the same quarter that Mark Zuckerberg doubled down on AI; I don't think it was a coincidence.

More: ExchangeWire.com, Geekout Newsletter, Social Media Today, and ITPro

X: @simonw, @natolambert, @teortaxestex, and @kabir_base

Akila Quinio / Financial Times:

Klarna reports Q2 revenue up 25% YoY to $823M and net loss up 194% YoY to $53M, as it prepares for a second attempt at a US IPO, after pausing plans in April — Revenues jump a fifth to $823mn as Swedish buy now, pay later group continues US expansion and neobank drive

More: Klarna, Tech Funding News, Finextra, Barron's Online, and Payments Dive

Sponsor Posts

Google:

Try Gemini 3 Pro — Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life

Shopify:

Transform ML Experimentation with Tangle — Save months of compute time with Tangle, built by Shopify. Try this open-source platform to simplify ML workflows, ensure reproducibility, and seamlessly share with collaborators.

Zoho:

Contract Signed. Project Ready. Tasks Created. — Every project begins with a promise; a contract that outlines the deliverables, the timelines, and the terms. But for most businesses …

IDrive:

Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Sponsor Techmeme

Featured Podcasts

Lenny's Podcast:

The 100-person AI lab that became Anthropic and Google's secret weapon | Edwin Chen (Surge AI)

Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.

Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.

Big Technology Podcast:

AI Device Wars Heat Up, RIP Metaverse?, Netflix Acquires Warner Brothers

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.

Channels with Peter Kafka:

"Hollywood is Truly Freaked Out." Inside the Netflix/WBD Deal with Lucas Shaw

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.

Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.

Hard Fork:

OpenAI Calls a 'Code Red' + Which Model Should I Use? + The Hard Fork Review of Slop

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.

Access:

Is Roblox making the internet better or worse? We asked the CEO

A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.

Subscribe to Access.

Decoder with Nilay Patel:

Anthropic's quest to study the negative effects of AI is under pressure

A show from the Verge about big ideas - and other problems.

Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.

Add your podcast here

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 2:35 PM ET, August 15, 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.