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Techmeme
January 4, 2026, 2:00 AM
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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: Reuters, CNBC, The Present Age, BBC, Spitfire News, The Verge, Politico, Forbes, Ars Technica, The Register, Engadget, The Guardian, PCMag, Security Affairs, The American Bazaar, Tech in Asia, Financial Times, The A.V. Club, MediaNama, Los Angeles Times, The Economic Times, Mediaite, MediaPost, Mashable, Straight Arrow News, New York Post, The Record, Axios, seangoedecke.com, The Decoder, CNBC-TV18, CBS News, The Hill, Euractiv, Tom's Guide, The Indian Express, Reuters, PetaPixel, Joe.My.God., The Hans India, KnowTechie, and Metro.co.uk
X: @grok, @elonmusk, @parsatajik, @grok, @samanthataghoy, @mehdirhasan, @andrewcurran_, @robshrum, @ednewtonrex, @miles_brundage, @miles_brundage, @ogdfarmer, @icyvert, @baracenler, @clusterbitch_, @8ap, @altymcaltalt3, @adamlowisz, @jj_denhollander, @electricfutures, @sarafortexlege, @mrjeffu, @theo_wayt, @arictoler, @snazzylabs, @itsbighonkin, @alexinexxx, @whatapityonyou, and @dril
LinkedIn: Kristine Schachinger, David Earl Williams III, Farhan Shaikh, and Melanie Ensign
Bluesky: @kimberleyjohnson, @eoghan, @teajunkie, @sownow, @ianmoody, @flipchartrick, @iamfreetobeme, @ketanjoshi.co, @itegoarcana, @raphae.li, @seniormcgeezer, @socialmedialab.ca, @thomashansen, @balkissoon, @robertscotthorton, @kattenbarge, @kattenbarge, @kattenbarge, @rincewind.run, @mattknight, @keithwilson.eu, @mharrisondupre, @sundersays, @charliekirchoff.com, @durumcrustulum.com, @heidykhlaaf, @hypervisible.blacksky.app, @justinhendrix, and @jael
Threads: @tomgara and @carnage4life.  Mastodon: @fixatedpersonsunit@aus.social
Forums: r/technology, r/PornIsMisogyny, r/uknews, r/anime_titties, r/politics, r/ConservativeNewsWeb, r/Destiny, r/singularity, r/law, r/NewsOfTheStupid, r/BlueskySocial, r/technology, r/BetterOffline, r/popculturechat, r/thedavidpakmanshow, r/technology, r/EnoughMuskSpam, r/technology, r/news, and r/EnoughMuskSpam
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.
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
Herb Scribner / Axios:
A new Polymarket account bet $30K on Maduro's capture just hours before Trump's announcement, renewing questions on insider information in prediction markets  —  - These bets — many of which were on Maduro's capture, and are now on what happens next to the ousted leader …
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 …
Barbara Moens / Financial Times:
EU officials and policymakers say the EC will intensify its enforcement of the DMA and DSA in 2026, a move expected to renew clashes with US Big Tech and Trump  —  Challenges to Google, Meta, Apple and X will test Brussels' willingness to stick with digital rule book
Tim Bradshaw / Financial Times:
Filing: West Co, founded by Biz Stone and Evan Sharp, raised $29M; it launched the invite-only social app Tangle, “designed for intentional living”, in November  —  Biz Stone and Evan Sharp raise new funds for ‘Tangle’ as they assess the ‘devastation’ caused by online excess
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 …
Jasmine Sun / New York Times:
Tech workers in Silicon Valley are increasingly experimenting with gray-market peptide drugs from China, legal for personal use, for improving focus and more  —  Jayden Clark first heard about Chinese peptides at his Fourth of July party this past year.  —  In the backyard of a San Francisco …
Natasha Singer / New York Times:
Fueled partly by US tech companies, governments worldwide are racing to deploy GenAI in schools and universities, even as agencies such as UNICEF urge caution  —  In early November, Microsoft said it would supply artificial intelligence tools and training to more than 200,000 students and educators in the United Arab Emirates.
The Verge:
What to expect at CES 2026: laptops with new chips from Intel, Qualcomm, and AMD, more AI integrations, smart home robotics, smart glasses, and more  —  Expect plenty of laptops, smart home tech, and TVs — and lots of robots.  —  The biggest tech show of the year kicks off next week …
Financial Times:
Dating apps are pivoting to Asia as swipe-right fatigue hits the West; India, China, and Indonesia ranked among the top five markets by downloads in 2025  —  Rising numbers of ‘goal-orientated’ women are using the apps as stigma over online dating fades  —  Online dating companies are pivoting …
More: Tech in Asia

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 2:00 AM ET, January 4, 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

Bloomberg:
Sources: Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro is exploring a “super app” that integrates Disney+ with parks passes, games, merchandise, and cruise and resort apps

Jeremy Barr / The Guardian:
Speaking at an event, Sharyn Alfonsi voiced concern about “the spread of corporate meddling and editorial fear” at CBS News and uncertainty over her job

Jacob Bryant / The Wrap:
The Daily Wire undergoes layoffs, and a spokesperson says cuts were mostly in Nashville; the EIC says cuts were nowhere near 50% of staff, as some rumors stated

More News

Mishal Husain / Bloomberg:
Q&A with Kara Swisher on Sam Altman's determination to “do anything to make OpenAI win”, Elon Musk, the tech industry's Trump pivot, and more

Earlier Picks

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
Bill Allison / Bloomberg:
Filing: OpenAI President Greg Brockman was the biggest donor to Trump's super PAC in H2 2025, donating $25M; Crypto.com operator Foris DAX donated $20M
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
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