Techmeme
August 18, 2025, 8:35 AM

Top News

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Himanshi Akhand / Reuters:
Australia's ACCC says Google agreed to pay a AU$55M fine over deals with Telstra and Optus to preinstall only Google Search on Android phones from 2019 to 2021  —  Australia's competition regulator said on Monday it has begun proceedings against Alphabet's Google (GOOGL.O) …
Financial Times:
Sources: the EU and US are delaying formalizing their trade deal over “non-tariff barriers”, including relaxing the DSA, which the EU sees as a red line  —  Document formalising last month's deal delayed by squabbles over language on ‘non-tariff barriers’, bloc's officials say
Politico:
A look at OpenAI's campaign over the past year to secure its transition from a nonprofit, led by a team of Democratic insiders in California  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Sam Altman, the driving force behind ChatGPT's meteoric rise, is running a team of veteran political operatives, campaigning to secure his company OpenAI's future.
Kevin Collier / NBC News:
AI is increasingly being used in hacking, with cybercriminals using AI to enhance their capabilities and cybersecurity firms using it to find vulnerabilities  —  Hackers and cybersecurity companies have entered an AI arms race.  —  This summer, Russia's hackers put a new twist on the barrage of phishing emails sent to Ukrainians.
Marc Vartabedian / Wall Street Journal:
IVIX, which uses AI to help regulators detect financial fraud, raised a $60M Series B led by OG Venture Partners, bringing its total funding to $85M  —  IVIX, which sells its software to regulators around the world, is the latest beneficiary of venture interest in the once-shunned area of government contracts
More: CTech and IVIX
Edward White / Financial Times:
China's podcast audience is projected to reach 150M in 2025, up from ~700K five years ago, driven by grassroots hosts instinctively navigating China's red lines  —  There has been a surge in grassroots broadcasts of personal stories and discussion of societal issues
Bluesky: @mranthropology and @yaqiu
X: @patrickc and @edwardwhitenz.  LinkedIn: Edward White
Ashley Capoot / CNBC:
A profile of Epic Systems CEO Judy Faulkner, who has led the EHR software company for 46 years, building it into one of the largest US private tech companies  —  Do not go public.  Do not acquire or be acquired.  Software must work.  —  These are the first three of the 10 commandments …
Bluesky: @jordannovet and @lorak
Patrick Howell O'Neill / Bloomberg:
Interview with Trent Brunson, R&D director at cybersecurity firm Trail of Bits, which won $3M and 2nd place in DARPA's AI Cyber Challenge, behind Team Atlanta  —  Last week, the Pentagon's long AI Cyber Challenge, or AIxCC, came to a head onstage in Las Vegas.

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Featured Podcasts

Sources:
A quiet investor's $10 billion bet on AI, chips, and defense
Candid conversations with the leaders shaping what's next in AI and the broader tech industry. Hosted by Alex Heath, who has covered Silicon Valley for more than a decade.
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Cheeky Pint:
The company building America's uranium supply from scratch
Stripe cofounder John Collison interviews founders, builders, and leaders over a pint.
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Grit:
The Difference Between 1% Improvements and 10x Growth | Immad Akhund
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Lenny's Podcast:
How a 19-year-old intern built the growth engine behind this $2B AI company | Hector Serrano
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:
Big Tech's Ugly Week, Getting Rich At Anthropic, AI Costs Plunge
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
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Machine Gods:
OpenAI's Latest Discoveries Spark a Backlash + Help! My Kid Hates AI
The official podcast of the singularity, from Casey Newton and Kevin Roose. Twice-weekly news, analysis, and interviews with the people who are building the future.
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Michael S. Rosenwald / New York Times: