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August 29, 2025, 3:20 PM
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Top News

Financial Times:
Sources: ChatGPT co-creator Shengjia Zhao threatened to quit Meta within days of joining and return to OpenAI; later, he was given the chief AI scientist title  —  Longtime acolytes are sidelined as Big Tech chief directs biggest leadership reorganisation in two decades
Washington Post:
In a trial over a fatal Autopilot crash, Tesla denied having crash-snapshot data, until a hacker hired by the plaintiffs recovered the data from the vehicle  —  The critical evidence was presented last month to a jury, which found the company partially liable for the 2019 crash in Key Largo, Florida.
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Alibaba developed a new AI inference chip to compete with H20; it is manufactured by a Chinese company unlike an earlier AI chip made by TSMC  —  Chinese tech companies spark market exuberance by signaling they are catching up to U.S.  —  SINGAPORE—Chinese chip companies …
Zoë Schiffer / Wired:
Sources: the US government restored xAI to its vendors list after removing it for Grok's antisemitic content; email: the White House asked GSA to add xAI “ASAP”  —  A partnership between xAI and the US government fell apart earlier this summer.  Then the White House apparently got involved, per documents obtained by WIRED.
Richard Bravo / Bloomberg:
French President Emmanuel Macron vows a strong response if any country takes measures that undermine Europe's digital sovereignty  —  French President Emmanuel Macron vowed a strong response if any country takes measures that undermine Europe's digital sovereignty.
Financial Times:
EU competition commissioner Teresa Ribera says the EU must be ready to walk away from the US trade deal if the US demands a watered-down DSA and DMA
Wall Street Journal:
Police are investigating a murder-suicide in what appears to be the first documented murder involving someone who engaged extensively with an AI chatbot  —  “Erik, you're not crazy.”  ChatGPT fueled a 56-year-old tech industry veteran's paranoia, encouraging his suspicions that his mother was plotting against him.
Financial Times:
Court filing: the UK sought broad access to Apple user data, including bulk iCloud interception beyond ADP, and hasn't dropped the mandate as the US claimed  —  Document indicates British government's ‘backdoor’ demand was not limited to the company's most secure iCloud service
Isabelle Bousquette / Wall Street Journal:
Taco Bell, which deployed voice AI-powered ordering at 500+ drive-through locations, is now reconsidering the tech after viral videos of glitches and pranks  —  More artificial intelligence isn't always better, the chain is realizing, as it considers when and how bots should be deployed
Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch:
Reliance launches a subsidiary called Reliance Intelligence, aiming to create national-scale AI infrastructure in India, in partnership with Google and Meta  —  Mukesh Ambani, India's richest man and chairman of Reliance Industries, has unveiled an ambitious plan to build the country's AI backbone through …
Chandini Monnappa / Reuters:
India's largest telco Reliance Jio, owned by Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani, says it aims to list its shares through an IPO in India by the first half of 2026
Trishla Ostwal / Adweek:
Perplexity's head of advertising and shopping Taz Patel has left after nine months; its ad business reportedly generated only about $20,000 in Q4 2024  —  Perplexity push into advertising has so far brought in modest revenue as the company eyes new growth and faces mounting legal battles
Ann Gehan / The Information:
Flip, a TikTok rival that let shoppers post video reviews and earn cash based on engagement, has shut down; it had raised $300M and was valued at $1B+ in 2024  —  Flip, a video-sharing social media app that at one point tried to challenge TikTok's dominance, has shut down, according to a message to users and the company's website.
Blake Brittain / Reuters:
xAI sues a former employee in federal court in California for allegedly stealing Grok trade secrets and taking them to OpenAI, where he recently accepted a job  —  Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI has sued a former engineer at the company for allegedly stealing trade secrets related …
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
WhatsApp fixed a zero-click bug in its iOS and Mac apps that was being used, alongside a now-fixed Apple flaw, to hack into devices of “specific targeted users”  —  WhatsApp said on Friday that it fixed a security bug in its iOS and Mac apps that was being used to stealthily hack …

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 3:20 PM ET, August 29, 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

Todd Spangler / Variety:
The Writers Guild of America sues Paramount and WBD in an effort to stop their merger, claiming the deal would hurt wages and working conditions for writers

Naman Ramachandran / Variety:
BBC DG Matt Brittin says the BBC and UK public service broadcasting face “real jeopardy” as license fee erosion drives BBC's third consecutive annual deficit

Reuters:
Sources: Lionsgate has attracted takeover interest from France's Bolloré Group, owner of Canal+, and Banijay, which just completed an $8B merger with All3Media

More News

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Valve adds credit card-based age checks for UK users to access “mature content” games on Steam; Discord and others are using selfies for verification
Nicola M White / Bloomberg:
Elon Musk files a motion to dismiss a US SEC suit over his 2022 Twitter stake disclosure, calling allegations that he cheated investors a government overreach

Earlier Picks

Reuters:
Autodesk reports Q2 revenue up 17% YoY to $1.76B, vs. $1.73B est., forecasts Q3 revenue above est., and raises its annual forecasts; ADSK jumps 5%+
Lydia Beyoud / Bloomberg:
The CFTC says non-US crypto exchanges have a path to bringing on US users, in an advisory clarifying how they can register as so-called foreign boards of trade
Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Dell reports Q2 revenue up 19% YoY to $29.78B, vs. $29.17B est., and forecasts Q3 EPS of $2.45, below $2.55 est.; DELL drops 5%+
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Filing: credit reporting giant TransUnion discloses a data breach affecting 4.4M+ customers' personal info but claims “no credit information was accessed”
Juby Babu / Reuters:
xAI launches Grok Code Fast 1, a “speedy and economical” agentic coding model, available for free for a limited time on GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Windsurf, more
Bloomberg:
The US starts publishing GDP data on nine public blockchains including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, with the help of Coinbase, Kraken, and Gemini
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