|
January 2, 2026, 8:10 PM
|
Mediagazer
memeorandum
WeSmirchTop News
| Bloomberg: |
xAI's Grok says “lapses in safeguards” led it to create sexualized images of people, including minors, in response to X user prompts; X took some images down — Elon Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot Grok has created sexualized images of people including minors …
More: CNBC, Reuters, BBC, The Present Age, The Register, Spitfire News, Forbes, Engadget, The Guardian, Politico, The Verge, Ars Technica, seangoedecke.com, Mediaite, Straight Arrow News, Los Angeles Times, MediaPost, PetaPixel, New York Post, Axios, The Decoder, The Record, The Economic Times, Tom's Guide, Financial Times, The Hill, Euractiv, Mashable, CBS News, CNBC-TV18, MediaNama, The Hans India, Metro.co.uk, Joe.My.God., and KnowTechie
X: @grok, @elonmusk, @grok, @parsatajik, @samanthataghoy, @mehdirhasan, @andrewcurran_, @robshrum, @snazzylabs, @8ap, @arictoler, @ednewtonrex, @miles_brundage, @ogdfarmer, @theo_wayt, @alexinexxx, @icyvert, @dril, @mrjeffu, @jj_denhollander, @whatapityonyou, @altymcaltalt3, @miles_brundage, @electricfutures, @itsbighonkin, @sarafortexlege, @adamlowisz, @baracenler, and @clusterbitch_. LinkedIn: Melanie Ensign
| Maggie Harrison Dupré / Futurism: |
On top of nonconsensual porn images, X users seem to be using Grok to alter images to depict real women being sexually abused, humiliated, hurt, and even killed — Earlier this week, a troubling trend emerged on X-formerly-Twitter as people started asking Elon Musk's chatbot Grok to unclothe images of real people.
More: The Atlantic, Ars Technica, Copyleaks, Gizmodo, TMZ.com, Inc42 Media, Türkiye Today, Telegraph, The New World, CBS News, and NDTV Profit
Bluesky: @mharrisondupre, @stevepeers, @caseynewton, @charlotte2153, @kincsobiro, and @mharrisondupre
| Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch: |
India orders X to stop Grok from generating obscene content, giving it 72 hours to submit an action-taken report or risk losing its “safe harbor” protections — India has ordered Elon Musk's X to make immediate technical and procedural changes to its AI chatbot Grok after users … | Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: |
Pebble unveils the Pebble Round 2, a smartwatch with a rounded screen and basic health and activity tracking but no heart rate monitor, shipping in May for $199 — Shortly after bringing back the Pebble smart watch and launching a low-cost AI smart ring, Pebble is readying yet another new product: the Pebble Round 2.
More: Pebble, Tick Talk w/ Eric Migicovsky on YouTube, MacRumors, PCMag, Parker Ortolani, Android Headlines, TechRadar, KnowTechie, Techaeris, XDA Developers, 9to5Google, ZDNET, The Verge, T3, iPhone in Canada, Digital Trends, Lifehacker, CNET, Android Authority, Android Police, Engadget, How-To Geek, Droid Life, TechEBlog, and Gizmodo
| Melissa Heikkilä / Financial Times: |
Yann LeCun admits that Llama 4's “results were fudged a little bit”, and that the team used different models for different benchmarks to give better results — The AI pioneer on stepping down from Meta, the limits of large language models — and the launch of his new start-up
More: Business Insider and Implicator.ai
X: @luke_metro, @pfau, @gjmcgowan, @minhsmind, @modestproposal1, @stefanfschubert, and @stefanfschubert. LinkedIn: Yann LeCun
| Carl Franzen / VentureBeat: |
xAI launches Grok Business, priced at $30 per seat/month, for SMBs, and Grok Enterprise, whose price is not listed publicly, for larger organizations — xAI has launched Grok Business and Grok Enterprise, positioning its flagship AI assistant as a secure, team-ready platform for organizational use.
More: The Information and The Indian Express
Bluesky: @thecleric, @bmsimp, @followtheh, @jmberger.com, @carnage4life, @joeuchill, @paularmstrongtbd, @scottjshapiro, @caseynewton, and @leokitty
| CNBC: |
Ilya Lichtenstein, sentenced in Nov. 2024 to five years in prison for hacking Bitfinex, has been released early due to First Step Act, Trump's prison-reform law — The Russian-U.S. national who hacked crypto exchange Bitfinex and stole nearly 120,000 bitcoin said he has been freed …
More: LAW.com, The Register, The Verge, Blockonomi, Coinspeaker, CoinDesk, BeInCrypto, The Block, DL News, Cryptonews, The Crypto Times, and Alternet.org
| Michael Kan / PCMag: |
California launched a free tool on January 1 that lets residents request the deletion of their personal data from over 500 registered data brokers — Reclaiming your digital privacy is getting easier in California. The state has launched a free tool that simplifies the opt-out process …
More: State of California, Palm Springs Desert Sun, Washington Post, and NBC Bay Area
Forums: r/LosAngeles and r/privacy
| Dan Wang: |
Tech analyst Dan Wang reflects on the Chinese Communist Party vs. Silicon Valley, AI and manufacturing, how China and the US are building the future, and more — One way that Silicon Valley and the Communist Party resemble each other is that both are serious, self-serious, and indeed, completely humorless.
More: Marginal Revolution, Blockchain.News, and CNBC
X: @hassankhan, @zdch, @zhengdongwang, @kevinakwok, @hassankhan, @nabeelqu, @buccocapital, @chr1sa, @greg_ip, @stevehou, @s8mb, @mattzeitlin, @bgurley, @richardhanania, @joshdcaplan, @mylesudland, @renesellmann, @rtylercrown, @conorsen, @jchengwsj, @discoplomacy, @eric_is_weird, @ctbeiser, @mattzeitlin, @sbanjo, @mikeelgan, @danwwang, @birdyword, @phequals7, @rmcentush, and @richardhanania
LinkedIn: James Lloyd and Mark Pesce
Bluesky: @gnat, @frankpasquale, and @conorsen. Mastodon: @yiningkarlli@mastodon …. Forums: Hacker News
| Bill Allison / Bloomberg: |
Filing: OpenAI President and co-founder Greg Brockman donated $25M to Trump's super PAC, MAGA Inc., in H2 2025; Crypto.com operator Foris DAX donated $20M — President Donald Trump's super political action committee raised $102 million in the second half of 2025, fueled by eight-figure donations …
More: HuffPost, SFGATE, New York Times, CNN, and Politico
| Simon Goodley / The Guardian: |
Uber rewrote its UK driver contracts to act as an agent, rather than a supplier, of taxi services outside London, to avoid the UK's new 20% “taxi tax” on fares — Hailing app will now act as agent rather than supplier outside London, avoiding VAT requirement| Rachel Clun / BBC: |
As of January 1, UK crypto buyers are required to share their account details with tax officials or face penalties, as the UK seeks to collect unpaid taxes — People buying cryptocurrency in the UK now need to share their account details or face penalties, in changes that came into effect on 1 January.| Bloomberg: |
Chinese AI chip startup Biren's stock jumped almost 76% in its trading debut in Hong Kong, after the company raised ~$717M in its IPO priced at ~$2.52 per share — Shares of Shanghai Biren Technology Co. jumped almost 76% in their trading debut on Friday, marking the best …
More: TrendForce, Nikkei Asia, South China Morning Post, Reuters, The Information, Caixin Global, and Reuters
| Sneha Kumar / Reuters: |
Baidu says its AI chip unit Kunlunxin has confidentially filed for a Hong Kong IPO, aiming for a spin-off; a December fundraising reportedly valued it at ~$3B — Chinese internet search giant Baidu (9888.HK) said on Friday its AI chip unit Kunlunxin has confidentially filed a listing application … Sponsor Posts
ElevenLabs:
ElevenAgents by ElevenLabs — You know us for voice. Now meet ElevenAgents — featuring Expressive Mode, our most human-sounding AI voice technology in 70+ languages with ultra-low latency. Hear it for yourself.
ElevenAgents by ElevenLabs — You know us for voice. Now meet ElevenAgents — featuring Expressive Mode, our most human-sounding AI voice technology in 70+ languages with ultra-low latency. Hear it for yourself.
Niantic Spatial:
World models need real-world data — Scaniverse is the gateway to spatial services — self-serve and built for AI and robotics. Large-area 3D reconstruction from 360° cameras and precise localization, anywhere machines operate.
World models need real-world data — Scaniverse is the gateway to spatial services — self-serve and built for AI and robotics. Large-area 3D reconstruction from 360° cameras and precise localization, anywhere machines operate.
Zoho:
Zoho Projects Infinity: Build your projects, your way — Embrace an upgraded project management platform—one that adapts to your workflows, and not the other way around. Say hello to our newest version: Zoho Projects Infinity.
Zoho Projects Infinity: Build your projects, your way — Embrace an upgraded project management platform—one that adapts to your workflows, and not the other way around. Say hello to our newest version: Zoho Projects Infinity.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.Featured Podcasts
Cheeky Pint:
The history and future of AI at Google, with Sundar Pichai
Stripe cofounder John Collison interviews founders, builders, and leaders over a pint.
Subscribe to Cheeky Pint.
Big Technology Podcast:
More OpenAI Executive Drama, Is Siri Seriously Broken?, Meta's Elusive Next Hit
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Grit:
How Kevin Mandia Built the Most Trusted Name in Cybersecurity
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Lenny's Podcast:
Head of Growth (Anthropic): "Claude is growing itself at this point" | Amol Avasare
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Hard Fork:
The Future of Addictive Design + Going Deep at DeepMind + HatGPT
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ryan Roslansky: Turning AI Anxiety into Skills for the Future of Work
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
About This Page
This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 8:10 PM ET, January 2, 2026.
The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.
From Mediagazer
April Roach / CNBC:George Grylls / The Times:
New York Times:
Upcoming Tech Events
More News
| Kieran Smith / Financial Times: |
More: iPhone in Canada and COINOTAG
LinkedIn: Justin Hotard, Gennaro Cuofano, Dr Marko Sjoblom, and Robert Byggmästar. Bluesky: @robertscotthorton. Forums: Slashdot
Earlier Picks
| Rishabh Jaiswal / Reuters: |
More: CNET, South China Morning Post, Ars Technica, The Independent, Interesting Engineering, SPACE.com, iPhone in Canada, PCMag, ISPreview UK, Cord Cutters News, Business Today, Gizmodo, The Register, SpaceNews, Digit, Tech in Asia, Channels Television, Business Insider, Analytics India Magazine, Nairametrics, The Verge, The Hill, Neowin, Moneycontrol, Computerworld, Hürriyet Daily News, and Engadget
X: @michaelnicollsx, @blaze_r935, @seattle_rt, @wagamemnonglenn, @marcushouse, @philipjohnston, @bassonbrain, @iniallanderson, @justin_je_mabie, @teslatino, and @yrouel86. Bluesky: @fack
Mastodon: @jknodlseder@mastodon.social, @knud@mastodon.social, and @hannorein@mastodon.social. Forums: r/space
| Philosopher Count: |
X: @briancalbrecht, @saikatc, @harryh, @jankulveit, @daniel_271828, @krishnanrohit, @besttrousers, @jsevillamol, @mortenstostad, @robinhanson, @t_holden, @erikbryn, @daveg, @dwarkesh_sp, @stevehou, @deepdishenjoyer, @alltheyud, @elocinationn, @garrytan, @garrytan, @briancalbrecht, @pawtrammell, @pawtrammell, @yonashav, @briancalbrecht, @tszzl, @jackwiseman_, @alltheyud, @digeconlab, @mylesudland, @ks_kulk, @garrytan, @drydenwtbrown, @dwarkesh_sp, @dwarkesh_sp, and @dwarkesh_sp
LinkedIn: Octavian Adrian Tanase and Viktor Shvets
| Vincent Chow / South China Morning Post: |
More: ZDNET, arXiv.org, Business Insider, WinBuzzer, Bloomberg, Constellation Research, Computerworld, Implicator.ai, Bloomberg, Pandaily, SiliconANGLE, and Blockonomi