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August 25, 2025, 10:50 AM
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memeorandum
WeSmirchTop News
| Wall Street Journal: |
a16z, OpenAI's Greg Brockman, and others launch Leading the Future, a pro-AI super PAC network with $100M+ in funding, hoping to emulate crypto PAC Fairshake — Venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and OpenAI President Greg Brockman are among those helping launch and fund Leading the Future| Dean W. Ball / Hyperdimensional: |
A look at the growing torrent of US state-based AI bills, as the states shift from comprehensive AI regulation to focus on narrower issues, like mental health — A check-in — Introduction — This newsletter first started picking up readers because of my writing about AI regulations in state governments.
More: Implicator.ai, The Colorado Sun, Marginal Revolution, Bloomberg, GovTech, GovTech, and Forbes. X: @deanwball
| Bloomberg: |
Perplexity launches Comet Plus, a $5/month tier offering curated content, and says it has allocated $42.5M for publishers, which will receive 80% of the revenue — The company has clashed with media outlets over use of their work. — Add us on Google — Perplexity AI Inc. is offering publishers … | Lora Kolodny / CNBC: |
Nevada records: xAI terminated its public benefit corporation status on May 9, 2024, and when xAI merged with X, the company remained without its PBC structure — When Elon Musk created his artificial intelligence startup xAI in 2023, he incorporated it as a Nevada public benefit corporation … | Wall Street Journal: |
Sources detail Intel's two-week roller-coaster ride, from Trump demanding CEO Lip-Bu Tan step down to the US government becoming Intel's biggest shareholder — The Truth Social post, the White House meeting, the deal: How the struggling chip company managed a two-week roller-coaster ride| Cheng Ting-Fang / Nikkei Asia: |
Sources: TSMC plans to stop using Chinese chipmaking equipment, like AMEC's etching tools, from its most advanced 2nm process to avoid potential US restrictions — TAIPEI — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is eliminating the use of Chinese chipmaking equipment in its most advanced chip plants … | Vicky Ge Huang / Wall Street Journal: |
An interview with Eric Trump on how he became a crypto evangelist after several banks cut off the Trump family's accounts following the January 6 Capitol riot — Real-estate executive has been at the vanguard of the first family's rapid entry into the cryptocurrency business
More: Bitcoin Insider, Blockchain News, and Cointelegraph
| Andrew Hill / Financial Times: |
How German delivery giant DHL uses automation and AI to help offset an ageing workforce, with one in three support staff set to retire in the next five years — The German delivery company says artificial intelligence is not taking jobs, but filling gaps in a stretched workforce| Jennifer Maas / Variety: |
Netflix plans to open its first Netflix House locations, 100K-sq-ft entertainment and shopping venues, in Philadelphia on November 12 and Dallas on December 11 — Netflix has set the opening dates for its much-hyped, 100,000-square-foot permanent entertainment and shopping destinations in Philadelphia and Dallas.| Financial Times: |
Spotify Co-President and CBO Alex Norström says price increases are “part of our toolbox now”, adding that they will be accompanied by new services and features — Price increases and cost-cutting led to streamer's first annual profit last year
More: PhoneArena, Benzinga, Trak.in, Reuters, Moneycontrol, and Daily Sabah
| Tatum Hunter / Washington Post: |
Vertical streaming apps charging $20/week are beating Netflix, Hulu, and Paramount+ in user growth with their 60-second mini dramas optimized for mobile viewing — Streaming apps that charge $20 a week for absurd, 60-second soap operas are winning audiences that rival Hulu and Paramount+.| Omar El Chmouri / Bloomberg: |
Riyadh-based Humain debuts Humain Chat, an Arabic and English conversational AI app powered by its Allam LLM and designed around Islamic values and heritage — Humain, Saudi Arabia's leading artificial intelligence company, has launched a conversational AI app for Arabs and Muslims …
X: @humainai
| David Keohane / Financial Times: |
Sony's gaming execs, designers, and studio founders describe how Sony wants its first-party studios to contribute more to revenue growth and take measured risks — PlayStation owner wants its standalone ‘first-party studios’ to contribute more to revenue growth and take measured risks
More: Game World Observer, Tech4Gamers, GamingBolt, GamesRadar, Gameranx, Screen Rant, Decrypt, Push Square, and TheGamer
| Brave: |
Researchers detail a now-fixed flaw in Perplexity's Comet AI browser that let an attacker use an indirect prompt injection to manipulate it into taking actions — The threat of instruction injection — At Brave, we're developing the ability for our in-browser AI assistant Leo to browse the Web on your behalf, acting as your agent.
More: Simon Willison's Weblog, Implicator.ai, Constellation Research, BleepingComputer, Engadget, ZDNET, The Register, and The Hacker News
X: @zack_overflow, @0x, @shivan_kaul, @lukemulks, @brave, @zack_overflow, @brave, @brave, @zack_overflow, @brave, @brave, @zack_overflow, and @brave. Bluesky: @sungkim. Mastodon: @simon@fedi.simonwillison.net
Forums: Hacker News, Hacker News, and Beehaw
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