Techmeme
January 7, 2026, 8:30 PM

Top News

Ina Fried / Axios:
OpenAI unveils ChatGPT Health, which lets users import medical records and other data from health apps into ChatGPT, available to a small group via a waitlist  —  OpenAI is expanding its capabilities by adding a dedicated health tab to ChatGPT, allowing people to bring in electronic medical records …
Kate Clark / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Anthropic plans to raise $10B led by Singapore's GIC and Coatue Management at a $350B valuation before the new investment, up from $183B in September  —  The startup behind chatbot Claude is raising money from investors including GIC and Coatue Management
Wall Street Journal:
Apple announces JPMorgan Chase as the new issuer of the Apple Card, taking over from Goldman Sachs, with an expected transition in about 24 months  —  After more than a year of negotiations, a deal to take over Goldman Sachs's role in Apple program is expected to be announced soon
Financial Times:
Polymarket is disputing that the US mission to capture Nicolás Maduro constituted an “invasion”, refusing to pay out bets on a contract with $10.5M+ in wagers  —  Prediction market disputes US raid amounted to an invasion in fight over more than $10.5mn in wagers
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
WhatsApp rolls out new group chat features: member tags that show user roles, text stickers generated from any word, and custom event reminders  —  WhatsApp on Wednesday said it's rolling out new features to group chats, including member tags, text stickers, and event reminders.
Vicky Ge Huang / Wall Street Journal:
Trump family's World Liberty Financial says its entity World Liberty Trust has applied for a US banking license, which would let it issue the USD1 stablecoin  —  Critics have said World Liberty and its stablecoin pose a major conflict of interest for President Trump
Qianer Liu / The Information:
Sources: China has told some local tech companies to temporarily halt purchase orders for Nvidia's H200 chips while officials deliberate whether to approve them  —  The Chinese government this week asked some tech companies to temporarily halt plans to buy Nvidia's H200 AI chips …
Lucas Manfredi / The Wrap:
WBD's board unanimously rejects Paramount's amended $108.4B acquisition offer, saying the bid still has “significant” risks compared to Netflix's $83B offer  —  The board says the revised $108.4 billion bid continues to offer “significant costs, risks and uncertainties” compared to its $83 billion deal with Netflix
Katherine Doherty / Bloomberg:
Polymarket agrees to supply Dow Jones outlets like the WSJ and Barron's with prediction market trading data for online and in print, its first media partnership  —  Polymarket will supply Dow Jones with trading data under a new partnership, the latest in a string of deals between exchanges …
Bloomberg:
Cecilia D'Anastasio / Bloomberg:
Researcher: Grok generated ~6,700 sexually suggestive or “nudifying” images per hour on X between January 5 and January 6; 85% of all Grok images are sexualized  —  Elon Musk's X has become a top site for images of people that have been non-consensually undressed by AI …
Hugh Langley / Business Insider:
Politico:
Utah launches a pilot program with health tech startup Doctronic to let AI systems handle routine prescription renewals for patients with chronic conditions  —  That raises new questions about the safety of automating prescription refills, including how they should be regulated.
Amrith Ramkumar / Wall Street Journal:
Docs: Character.AI and Google agree to settle lawsuits with families of teenagers who killed or harmed themselves after interacting with Character.AI's chatbot  —  The cases involving Character.AI's virtual companions highlighted concerns about artificial intelligence and mental health
Gabriele Steinhauser / Wall Street Journal:
Cambodia extradites Chen Zhi, the chairman of online scam conglomerate Prince Group, to China; in October, the US DOJ seized Chen's bitcoin worth nearly $12B  —  Justice Department accused Chen Zhi of running a sprawling scam empire targeting Americans  —  Chen Zhi, the alleged ringleader …
Lizette Chapman / Bloomberg:
Lux Capital raised $1.5B for its ninth fund, the largest in its history, to back companies focusing on fields like breakthrough science and national security  —  Venture firm Lux Capital raised $1.5 billion for its ninth fund — the largest in its more than 20-year history …
Ben Weiss / Fortune:
Crypto infrastructure provider Fireblocks agrees to acquire accounting platform TRES Finance, sources say for $130M in cash and equity; TRES raised $11M in 2023  —  TRES Finance cofounders Tal Zackon (left) and Eilon Lotem.COURTESY OF TRES FINANCE  —  The blockchain infrastructure company Fireblocks …
Terrence O'Brien / The Verge:
Spotify launches Listening Activity on iOS and Android, letting users view friends' real-time listening via the sidebar alongside chats, as an opt-in feature  —  The company is also adding a Request to Jam option to mobile chats. … Since almost day one, Spotify has offered the ability …

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.
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.
Zoho:
ETL tool evaluation checklist: 6 things to look for before you choose  —  Your data is only as valuable as your ability to move, prepare, and access it efficiently.  Choosing the wrong ETL tool can lead to months of rework …
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.

Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
Apple After Tim Cook, OpenAI's New Mojo, Meta's Internal Tracking Escapade
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.
Hard Fork:
Tim Cook's Legacy + The Future of U.B.I. With Andrew Yang + 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.
The Upstarts Podcast:
Chapter's Cobi Blumenfeld-Gantz: From Palantir To $3B Medicare Disruptor
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
Lenny's Podcast:
How Anthropic's product team moves faster than anyone else | Cat Wu (Head of Product, Claude Code)
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.
Access:
Silicon Valley finally has its "Succession"
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
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 8:30 PM ET, January 7, 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.

More News

Earlier Picks

Jay Peters / The Verge:
Puyaan Singh / Reuters:
Chris Welch / Bloomberg: