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September 16, 2025, 5:00 PM
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Top News

Megan Morrone / Axios:
OpenAI says it is developing a “different ChatGPT experience” for teens and plans to use age-prediction tech to bar kids under 18 from the standard version  —  OpenAI is developing a “different ChatGPT experience” for teens and plans to use age-prediction technology …
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: under the US-China framework, a US investor consortium that includes Oracle, Silver Lake, and a16z would hold an ~80% stake in TikTok's US business  —  Oracle, Silver Lake and Andreessen Horowitz are part of consortium that would control 80% stake  —  TikTok's U.S. business …
Financial Times:
China says the US spin-off of TikTok will use ByteDance's Chinese algorithm and the US-agreed framework includes “licensing the algorithm and other IP rights”  —  Security hawks have raised fears recommendation code could be manipulated to push propaganda
Bloomberg:
Trump extends the deadline for ByteDance to divest TikTok's US operations until December 16, the fourth such extension; a deal is expected to be finalized soon  —  President Donald Trump again extended the deadline for TikTok's Chinese parent ByteDance Ltd. to divest the platform's US operations …
Sabrina Ortiz / ZDNET:
Google launches the Agent Payments Protocol, or AP2, designed to securely facilitate agent-led payments across platforms, with the support of 60+ organizations  —  ZDNET's key takeaways  — Google announces Agent Payments Protocol (AP2).  — AP2 helps companies carry out agent-led payments securely.
Zach Vallese / CNBC:
YouTube says it has paid out $100B+ to creators over the last four years and the number of YouTube channels making over $100K from TV screens has jumped 45% YoY  —  YouTube said on Tuesday it has paid out over $100 billion to creators, artists and media companies since 2021.
Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:
YouTube unveils new livestreaming features, including letting creators transition between public and members-only streams, and ads that run next to the stream  —  At its Made on YouTube event on Tuesday, the video giant announced several new features aimed at improving the livestreaming experience.
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
YouTube unveils new generative AI tools for Shorts, including a custom version of Veo 3 called Veo 3 Fast, which includes sound, and an Edit with AI feature  —  At its Made on YouTube live event on Tuesday, the company unveiled new generative AI tools for Shorts creators.
Victoria Song / The Verge:
Apple Watch Series 11 review: slightly better battery and Sleep Score is intuitive, but the most exciting updates are coming to older watches through watchOS 26  —  No one is going to wax lyrical about the Apple Watch Series 11.  Not because it's a bad smartwatch — it's a great smartwatch, actually.
Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:
Apple Watch Ultra 3 review: a more significant upgrade than the Ultra 2, with emergency SOS via satellite, 5G, a 42-hour battery life, and a bigger display
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft announces a $30B investment in the UK over four years to support AI infrastructure and ongoing operations, including $15B to build a supercomputer  —  Microsoft's announcement comes on the same day President Trump visits Britain and Google makes its own UK investment.
Mauro Orru / Wall Street Journal:
Google plans to invest £5B in the UK for AI, energy, R&D, and more over the next two years, expecting to add 8,000+ jobs a year at businesses across the country
Nicholas G. Miller / Wall Street Journal:
HR software provider Workday agrees to acquire Sana, an AI startup specializing in workplace tools, for $1.1B; the transaction is set to close before January 31  —  the Sana acquisition also will deepen Workday's educational offerings  —  Workday is acquiring Sana, an AI company focused on workplace tools …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft adds automatic AI model selection to Visual Studio Code; it primarily favors Claude Sonnet 4 over GPT-5 or GPT-5 mini for paid GitHub Copilot users  —  Visual Studio Code now has a new auto AI model selector that favors Claude 4 over GPT-5.
Jackie Davalos / Bloomberg:
Humanoid robot startup Figure raised a $1B+ Series C led by Parkway Venture Capital at a post-money valuation of $39B, up from $2.6B in February 2024  —  Figure AI Inc., a company developing humanoid robots, has received more than $1 billion in committed capital in a financing round that values …
Yuliya Chernova / Wall Street Journal:
Jack Altman's Alt Capital raised $275M in just a month for a new fund to lead more Series A rounds at AI startups, after closing a $150M fund in February 2024  —  The former CEO of Lattice raised his fund in just a month—a lightning-fast process  —  Jack Altman has swiftly closed …
Silicon Republic:
Nory, which offers an AI-powered restaurant management system, raised a $37M Series B led by Kinnevik, bringing its total funding to $63M  —  Conor Sheridan says his AI platform frees up restaurants to focus on what matters most - “great food and even greater customer experiences”.
Alex Konrad / Upstarts Media:
Console, which uses AI agents in Slack to resolve lower-level IT support tickets, raised a $23M Series A led by DST Global Partners and Thrive Capital  —  Year-old startup Console works with Ramp, Flock Safety and Scale AI.  Now it's raised a $23 million Series A to go beyond IT, too.  —  The Upshot

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 5:00 PM ET, September 16, 2025.

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From Mediagazer

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Major brands were replaced by direct-response advertisers during commercial breaks of CBS News' December 13 town hall with Erika Kirk, moderated by Bari Weiss

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

Pamela McClintock / The Hollywood Reporter:
Disney's Zootopia 2 surpasses $1B at the global box office, the fastest PG-rated film to do so after just 17 days in release

More News

Monica Alleven / Fierce Network:
MVNO Noble Mobile launches with former presidential candidate Andrew Yang as CEO, offering cash back rewards to clients who use less than 20GB of data per month
Reuters:
Disney, Universal, and WBD sue China-based MiniMax, alleging that its image- and video-generating service Hailuo AI was built from stolen intellectual property

Earlier Picks

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Nothing raised a $200M Series C led by Tiger Global at a $1.3B valuation, taking its total funding to $450M+, and says it had $1B in total sales in early 2025
Reuters:
Study: Grok, ChatGPT, Meta AI, Claude, Gemini, and DeepSeek can be easily used to create phishing emails targeting the elderly, despite being trained to refuse
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