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Techmeme
August 30, 2025, 8:25 PM
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Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal:
The price per token for AI models has fallen, but costs for developers are rising as newer reasoning models require more tokens to complete tasks  —  With models doing more ‘thinking,’ the small companies that buy AI from the giants to create apps and services are feeling the pinch
Dina Bass / Bloomberg:
A study focused on OpenAI's GPT-4o mini found that LLMs can be persuaded to comply with objectionable requests using the same tactics that persuade humans  —  AI chatbots can be manipulated much in the same way that people can, according to researchers.  But first...  Three things to know:
More: Forbes and SSRN
X: @emollick and @emollick.  Bluesky: @chronotope.aramzs.xyz
Phil Hoad / The Guardian:
An inside look at how Netflix's use of data led to generic “algorithm films” intended for broad appeal, with AI set to further entrench the production style  —  When the streaming giant began making films guided by data that aimed to please a vast audience, the results were often generic, forgettable, artless affairs.
David Gilbert / Wired:
Purgatory, tied to online community The Com, claims responsibility for swatting attacks on US universities, airports, and more, charging $20 to $95 per incident  —  WIRED spoke to a self-proclaimed leader of an online group called Purgatory, which charged as little as $20 to call in fake threats against schools.
Jeff Horwitz / Reuters:
Meta created and let users create flirty chatbots and intimate images using the names and likenesses of Taylor Swift and other celebs without their permission  —  Meta has appropriated the names and likenesses of celebrities - including Taylor Swift, Scarlett Johansson, Anne Hathaway and Selena Gomez …
David DiMolfetta / Nextgov/FCW:
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem fires 24 FEMA IT staffers, including the CIO and CISO; DHS says they failed security protocols and let hackers access FEMA networks  —  Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is terminating two dozen members in the Federal Emergency Management Agency's IT department …
Brayden Lindrea / Cointelegraph:
El Salvador has split its 6K+ bitcoin across 14 wallets, describing the move as a precaution against quantum attacks, a merely theoretical threat for now  —  El Salvador has transferred its 6,274 Bitcoin into 14 new wallet addresses as part of a security measure to protect against the threat of quantum attacks.
Stefanno Sulaiman / Reuters:
TikTok suspends its live feature for the “next few days” in Indonesia, citing “increasing violence in protests” over lawmakers' pay  —  ByteDance's TikTok has suspended its live feature for the “next few days” in Indonesia following protests in the country, its spokesperson said in a statement on Saturday.
Cory Weinberg / The Information:
Filing: StubHub, which is planning a September IPO, says revenue grew 3% to $828M in H1, missing its earlier projection of $885M, with adjusted EBITDA down 7%  —  Even as StubHub makes a renewed push to go public, its business isn't expanding as quickly as it had hoped.
More: The Times
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
ChatGPT integration in Apple's Xcode 26 beta 7 defaults to GPT-5; developers can now also use Claude Sonnet 4 by signing into their paid Claude account  —  Apple has released a new beta of Xcode 26 for developers today with a pair of notable changes.  There's now support for ChatGPT 5 …

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 8:25 PM ET, August 30, 2025.

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From Mediagazer

Ashley Capoot / CNBC:
Disney and OpenAI sign a three-year deal to bring 200+ Disney characters to Sora; Disney will make a $1B investment in OpenAI and become a major OpenAI customer

Sara Guaglione / Digiday:
The Washington Post's new Your Personal Podcast, which offers AI-generated customizable podcasts, was developed under a multiyear agreement with ElevenLabs

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Arkansas PBS severs ties with the PBS network, the first state public TV system to do so since Congress cut CPB funds, citing the annual $2M+ membership cost

More News

Earlier Picks

Andreessen Horowitz:
Top 100 AI consumer apps: Gemini ranks #2 behind ChatGPT on mobile with ~50% of its MAUs, with Grok at #4; on the web, Gemini has ~12% of ChatGPT's visits
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
Karen Freifeld / Reuters:
The US makes it harder for Samsung, SK Hynix, and Intel to produce chips in China by revoking waivers for the use of US equipment in their Chinese operations
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