Techmeme
September 13, 2025, 10:50 AM

Top News

Grace Kay / Business Insider:
Internal email: xAI lays off hundreds of data annotation team staffers, following a strategic shift to prioritize specialist AI tutors over generalist roles  —  - The layoffs follow a strategic shift to prioritize specialist AI tutors over generalist roles.
Financial Times:
How Kalshi is shaking up US sports betting, as its board member and CFTC Chair nominee Brian Quintenz takes a permissive stance on sports prediction markets  —  Kalshi is spearheading a legal battle to expand access to online betting, with support from some in Trump's circle
Lauren Goode / Wired:
Researchers say videos of Charlie Kirk's shooting fall into a policy gap on social media platforms, between allowable “graphic content” and “glorified violence”  —  Videos of the shooting spread across TikTok, Instagram, and X. Researchers say that in some cases …
Gabe Rivera / Techmeme News:
On Techmeme's 20th birthday, its founder explains what's behind the site's consistency, debunks some supposed media trends, and outlines future directions  —  Please clap for Techmeme  —  Techmeme turns 20 freaking years old today.  This is our self-congratulatory post marking the occasion.
Rebecca Bellan / TechCrunch:
Shares of transit software company Via closed at $49.51 in their NYSE debut, above the $46 IPO price, giving Via a market cap of ~$3.9B, after raising $492.9M  —  Investors took a cautious approach to transit software startup Via's IPO on Friday, with shares opening below the company's IPO price …
Javier Bastardo / Forbes:
Downloads of Jack Dorsey-backed Bluetooth P2P messaging app Bitchat spiked to 48K+ in Nepal during recent protests, according to Bitchat developer “callebtc”  —  The Nepali government blocked access to 26 major social media platforms on September 4, including Facebook, X, YouTube, and Instagram.
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Opendoor's new chairman Keith Rabois says “I don't know what most” of its 1,400 employees do and the company doesn't need “more than 200 of them”  —  Opendoor co-founder and newly minted board chair Keith Rabois said remote work and a “bloated” workforce have been a drag …
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Robby Walker, one of Apple's most senior AI executives who was in charge of Siri until earlier this year, is leaving the company next month  —  Apple Inc.'s Robby Walker, one of the iPhone maker's most senior artificial intelligence executives, is leaving the company, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Amit Chowdhry / Pulse 2.0:
AI video generation startup Higgsfield raised a $50M Series A led by GFT Ventures  —  Higgsfield.ai, a rapidly growing company specializing in AI for video creation, has announced the successful close of its $50 million Series A funding round.  The investment was led by GFT Ventures and joined …

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More News

Tanaya Macheel / CNBC:
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Earlier Picks

Daniel Kuhn / The Block:
Rebecca Bellan / TechCrunch:
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Ina Fried / Axios: