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November 17, 2025, 9:15 AM
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Top News

Cade Metz / New York Times:
Sources: AI startup Project Prometheus raised $6.2B, including from Jeff Bezos, who is its co-CEO, his first operational role since leaving Amazon in July 2021  —  Called Project Prometheus, the company is focusing on artificial intelligence for the engineering and manufacturing of computers, automobiles and spacecraft.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple plans three high-end iPhones for fall 2026 and lower-end iPhones and an Air 2 six months later; Mac Pro gets deprioritized; Jeff Williams retires  —  Apple's iPhone is getting its biggest makeover yet — both to its features and release schedule.  Here's what's happening to the company's flagship product.
Ben Bergman / Business Insider:
In an informal survey of 300+ Cerebral Valley AI Conference attendees asking which $1B+ valuation startup to short, most voted Perplexity, followed by OpenAI  —  - An audience at a top AI conference in San Francisco was asked what startup they would short.  — Perplexity, an AI search …
Brandon Vigliarolo / The Register:
Chinese toymaker FoloToy suspends sales of its GPT-4o-powered teddy bear, after researchers found the toy gave kids harmful responses, like about fire and kinks  —  Consumer advocacy researchers at PIRG tested four AI toys, and none of them passed muster  —  Picture the scene …
Bloomberg:
US filing: Peter Thiel's Thiel Macro sold 537,742 Nvidia shares, worth ~$100M as of September 30, during Q3, amid rising concerns about an AI investment bubble  —  Peter Thiel's hedge fund Thiel Macro LLC sold off its holdings in Nvidia Corp. during the third quarter, marking another retreat …
New York Times:
Investigation: $28B+ in crypto tied to illicit activity flowed into crypto exchanges like Binance over the last two years, as President Trump embraces crypto  —  President Trump has started his own cryptocurrency business and vowed to make the United States the world's “crypto capital.”
Nikkei Asia:
Tokyo-based Sakana AI raised a ~$135M Series B from MUFG, Khosla, Macquarie, NEA, Lux, and others at a ~$2.6B valuation, becoming Japan's most valuable unicorn  —  TOKYO — Artificial intelligence company Sakana AI has completed a funding round that pushed its value to approximately 400 billion yen …
Zoë Schiffer / Wired:
Q&A with OpenAI CEO of Applications Fidji Simo on joining OpenAI, ChatGPT users' mental health, profitability, data center deals, her chronic illness, and more  —  As OpenAI expands in every direction, the new CEO of Applications is on a mission to make ChatGPT indispensable and lucrative.
M.G. Siegler / Spyglass:
The FT's Tim Cook retirement story could be a “trial balloon” from people close to him, if Cook decides to leave on a high note after Apple's Q1 earnings report  —  Might Tim Cook retire as CEO of Apple in early 2026?  There are signs...  Two weeks ago, Tim Cook turned 65.
Connie Loizos / TechCrunch:
Empower: US BNPL use has grown to 91.5M users, with 25% financing groceries, as default rates accelerate and most loans aren't reported, creating “phantom debt”  —  When Nigel Morris tells you he's worried about the economy, you listen.  As industry observers know …
Jeffrey Dastin / Reuters:
Sources: Demis Hassabis pursued a Nobel as a DeepMind goal and favored high-minded work over short-term revenue or a stronger AI race position for Alphabet  —  Demis Hassabis has spent much of the past decade trying to unlock the secrets of the universe through artificial intelligence.

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From Mediagazer

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

Sam Roberts / New York Times:
Arthur L. Carter, who started a Connecticut newspaper in 1981, bought and sold The Nation, and founded the New York Observer in 1987, has died at 93

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

Tim Higgins / Wall Street Journal:
Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Sundar Pichai have each discussed lunar and orbital AI data centers, which could offer steady solar power with fewer regulations

Earlier Picks

Ben Cohen / Wall Street Journal:
A look at Flighty, a flight-tracking app that often beats airline updates; downloads went up 3x when the FAA cut air traffic during the US government shutdown
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