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December 17, 2025, 11:05 AM
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The Information:
Sources: Amazon is in talks to invest $10B+ in OpenAI at a $500B+ valuation, with OpenAI using AWS Trainium; Microsoft keeps the rights to sell OpenAI's models  —  Amazon is in talks to invest $10 billion or more in OpenAI, according to three people familiar with the discussions.
Wall Street Journal:
WBD recommends shareholders reject Paramount's unsolicited $108.4B cash bid, calling the offer “illusory” and saying it believes Netflix's proposal is superior  —  Warner raised concerns about the credibility of Paramount's ‘illusory’ offer and its backing from the Ellison family
Financial Times:
Sources: Blue Owl Capital won't back Oracle's planned $10B, 1GW data center in Michigan, after funding talks stalled due to concerns over debt terms and delays  —  Investment firm concerned about tougher debt terms and the risk of delays to the vast project
Rachel Metz / Bloomberg:
OpenAI updates ChatGPT Images to generate images up to 4x faster and edit uploads more precisely, and adds a new section in ChatGPT's app and website for images  —  OpenAI is rolling out an update to ChatGPT that's intended to generate images better and faster, the latest move …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google brings its vibe coding tool Opal to Gemini on the web, letting users create their own custom AI-powered mini apps, called Gems, which can be reused later  —  Google's vibe-coding tool, Opal, is making its way to Gemini.  The company on Wednesday said it is integrating the tool …
Bloomberg:
Sources: at least six Chinese AI companies, like chip firms Montage and GigaDevice, are set to IPO in Hong Kong in the coming weeks, aiming to raise up to $1B  —  At least six Chinese companies related to artificial intelligence are set to go public in Hong Kong in the coming weeks …
Vismaya V / Decrypt:
Bhutan pledges up to 10K bitcoin, valued at ~$1B, to develop Gelephu Mindfulness City; Arkham: Bhutan holds 5,984 BTC, ranking seventh among sovereign holders  —  The 10,000 BTC will generate yields for GMC's growth while being held long-term, with Bhutan ruling out selling the reserves.  —  In brief
Dia Rekhi / The Economic Times:
Sources: Apple is in preliminary talks with India-based CG Semi, which offers chip assembly and testing services, to assemble and package chips for the iPhone  —  Exploratory conversations have taken place between Murugappa Group-owned CG Semi, which is building an outsourced semiconductor assembly and test …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Waymo is in discussions to raise $15B+ led by Alphabet at a ~$100B valuation, up from 45B+ in October 2024, and has a $350M+ annual revenue run rate  —  Waymo, Alphabet Inc.'s autonomous driving unit, is in discussions to raise more than $15 billion at a valuation near $100 billion …
Kevin Collier / NBC News:
Google sues the Chinese-speaking cybercriminal group known as Darcula, behind an alleged US text message phishing ring, in the US, seeking a restraining order  —  Google says the group's tools enabled scammers with little technical skill to impersonate agencies like the IRS and the USPS at a massive scale.
More: WWL-TV
Akash Sriram / Reuters:
Hut 8 partners with Fluidstack to build an AI data center in Louisiana for Anthropic, backed by a 15-year, ~$7B lease, starting with 245MW of computing capacity  —  Hut 8 (HUT.O) has signed a deal valued at about $7 billion to lease a data center in Louisiana, it said on Wednesday …
Lora Kolodny / CNBC:
California's DMV says a California administrative law judge ruled that Tesla engaged in deceptive marketing around its Autopilot and “Full Self-Driving” systems  —  A California administrative law judge recently ruled recently that Tesla's marketing around its “Autopilot” and …
Reuters:
Crypto exchange HashKey closed flat in its Hong Kong debut, after rising as much as 6.6% before falling 8.4% intraday, amid a weakness in digital assets  —  Cryptocurrency exchange HashKey Holdings Ltd (3887.HK) made a flat debut in Hong Kong on Wednesday amid recent weakness in digital assets …
Robert Hart / The Verge:
Google launches CC, an experimental AI assistant that delivers a personalized daily “Your Day Ahead” briefing email based on users' emails, calendar, and docs  —  Google's new AI agent delivers a morning briefing personalized using your emails and calendar.
Reuters:
Sources: Google is working on a new initiative to make its AI chips run PyTorch better and is working closely with Meta, as the two discuss Meta using TPUs  —  Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google is working on a new initiative to make its artificial intelligence chips better at running PyTorch …
Igor Bonifacic / Engadget:
OnePlus 15R review: the new $700+ device is fast with a big battery and a vibrant 165Hz OLED, but one less camera than 2024's 13R and only four years of support  —  The tradeoff is an even worse camera than the OnePlus 15.  —  I know what you're thinking, didn't OnePlus release a new phone just last month?
Vlad Savov / Bloomberg:
Circana: US game console spending fell 27% in November to $695M, the lowest in the pivotal month for holiday shopping since 2005, after a tough year for makers  —  US spending on video game consoles fell 27% last month, marking the worst November in two decades as tariffs and rising component costs pushed prices to record highs.
Jennifer Maas / Variety:
Sources: Disney has been hesitant to license its IP to Roblox because it doesn't consider it a safe platform, bucking the trend followed by Netflix and others  —  Here's a stat that might shock anyone who isn't the parent of a Gen Alpha kid: As of October 2025, online gaming platform Roblox boasted …
More: Dexerto and Glossy

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From Mediagazer

Pew Research Center:
Survey: 80% of Americans say being informed about the news is essential to voting, but only 8% say people in the US have a responsibility to pay for news

Michael Savage / The Guardian:
In written testimony, a private investigator says Mail titles remained his “best customers” for two years after his 2005 conviction for disclosing private info

Caitlin Huston / The Hollywood Reporter:
Fox-owned podcasting company Red Seat Ventures acquires subscription monetization company Supercast, as it ramps up its podcasting efforts

More News

Earlier Picks

Xiaomi Mimo:
Xiaomi releases MiMo-V2-Flash, an open-weight MoE model with 309B total and 15B active parameters, saying it excels in reasoning, coding, and agentic scenarios
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
X updates its ToS to claim the rights to the “Twitter” trademark and countersues Operation Bluebird after the startup filed an application to trademark the term
Jessica Testa / New York Times:
Netflix announces a partnership with iHeartMedia to exclusively publish 15+ video podcasts from early 2026, including The Breakfast Club and My Favorite Murder
New York Times:
The US threatens penalties against European companies, like Mistral and Spotify, if the EU does not roll back regulations and lawsuits targeting US tech giants
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