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January 8, 2026, 10:10 AM
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Wired:
Grok's website and app are being used to produce extremely graphic, sometimes violent, sexual imagery of adults that is vastly more explicit than images on X  —  A WIRED review of outputs hosted on Grok's official website shows it's being used to create violent sexual images and videos, as well as content that includes apparent minors.
Ina Fried / Axios:
OpenAI unveils ChatGPT Health, which lets users import medical records and other data from wellness 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 …
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Google rolls out an AI Inbox view for Gmail that shows users to-dos and summaries of topics rather than a traditional email list, first for US “trusted testers”  —  The new AI Inbox replaces the traditional list of emails with a personalized summary of what to do and what to catch up on.
Reuters:
Sources: to hedge against Beijing approval risk, Nvidia is requiring Chinese customers to pay upfront for H200 chips, with no cancellations, refunds, or changes  —  Nvidia (NVDA.O) is requiring full upfront payment from Chinese customers seeking its H200 artificial intelligence chips …
John Liu / Bloomberg:
Sources: China plans to approve some of Nvidia's H200 imports as soon as Q1 2026 but bar them from the military, some agencies, and critical infrastructure
Wall Street Journal:
Apple says JPMorgan will take over issuing the Apple Card from Goldman, which sources say will offload ~$20B in balances; the banks expect a two-year transition  —  Goldman Sachs is offloading the credit-card balances at a more than $1 billion discount  —  JPMorgan Chase has reached a deal …
Vicky Ge Huang / Wall Street Journal:
The Trump family's World Liberty Financial says its entity World Liberty Trust 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
CNBC:
China says it will investigate Meta's $2B Manus acquisition to assess compliance with laws on export controls, tech import and export, and overseas investment  —  China said Thursday it will investigate Meta's $2 billion acquisition of artificial intelligence startup Manus to assess its compliance with export control laws.
Theodore Schleifer / New York Times:
Sources: wealthy Californians are quietly mobilizing on WhatsApp and calls in a long-shot bid to oust Rep. Ro Khanna, who supports a controversial wealth tax  —  It's hard right now to be a progressive Democrat in the heart of America's tech industry.  —  Representative Ro Khanna …
Barron's Online:
Alphabet surpassed Apple in market cap for the first time since 2019 after its shares closed up 2.5% on January 7, valuing it at $3.89T, above Apple's $3.85T  —  So long, Apple .  There's a new No. 2 in the market-capitalization rankings.  Alphabet surpassed Apple in market cap on Wednesday …
Chris Welch / Bloomberg:
Samsung says Ballie, a robot announced six years ago but never released, is an “active innovation platform” within the company helping inform other products  —  Samsung Electronics Co. has once again sidelined Ballie, a long-anticipated robot that was first announced six years ago but never released.
Kate Clark / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Anthropic plans to raise $10B led by Singapore's GIC and Coatue at a $350B valuation before the new investment, up from $183B in September 2025  —  The startup behind chatbot Claude is raising money from investors including GIC and Coatue Management
Reuters:
Arm creates a “Physical AI” unit to focus on robotics and automotive sectors, as part of a reorganization that includes “Cloud and AI” and “Edge” business units  —  Chip technology company Arm Holdings has reorganized the company to create a Physical AI unit …
Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:
Cyera researchers detail Ni8mare, a critical RCE flaw that lets hackers access local instances of the n8n workflow automation platform, impacting ~100K servers  —  A maximum severity vulnerability dubbed “Ni8mare” allows remote, unauthenticated attackers to take control over locally deployed instances …
Demetri Sevastopulo / Financial Times:
Sources: China's Salt Typhoon accessed the emails of staff on powerful US House committees, detected last December, and intercepted senior US officials' calls  —  Beijing's intelligence used Salt Typhoon to access communications used by top panels in US Congress
Yoolim Lee / Bloomberg:
Samsung expects Q4 operating profit up 208% YoY to ~$13.8B, vs. ~$12.3B est., and revenue up 23% YoY to ~$64.2B, as AI server demand lifts memory chip prices  —  Samsung Electronics Co.'s quarterly profit more than tripled to a record high after global demand for AI servers sharply lifted memory chip prices.
Tom Phillips / IGN:
Lego says its Smart Brick is “here to stay” but “does not mean that we're leaving our core proposition behind”, after criticism of abandoning non-digital play  —  “It's very important to be clear, this does not mean that we're leaving our core proposition behind.”
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.
Jennifer Maas / Variety:
Roku founder and CEO Anthony Wood predicts “we'll see the first 100% AI-generated hit movie” within three years and discusses Roku's new $3/month Howdy streamer  —  Roku founder, chairman and CEO Anthony Wood has some big predictions about the pending impact of generative AI on Hollywood …
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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 10:10 AM ET, January 8, 2026.

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From Mediagazer

Lauren Hirsch / New York Times:
WBD says Paramount's new $31-a-share offer could lead to a better deal than Netflix's, potentially triggering a four-day period for Netflix to revise its bid

New York Times:
The FTC and FCC are engaging in a hostile takeover of the marketplace of ideas by treating editorial decisions as fraud and conditioning mergers on news content

Perry Stein / Washington Post:
A federal judge in Virginia has denied the DOJ's request to search Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson's devices as part of a national security leak probe

More News

Rest of World:
Chinese local governments are funding dozens of “robot training centers”, where human trainers mimic movements like folding clothes to teach the robots

Earlier Picks

Chris Kerr / Game Developer:
Ubisoft closes its mobile-focused Halifax studio weeks after majority of the workers voted to unionize, as CWA Canada says it is “demanding information”
Yantoultra Ngui / Reuters:
Chinese AI company Zhipu opened up 3.3% in its Hong Kong trading debut after raising ~$558M in its IPO at a ~$6.55B valuation, amid a flurry of AI startup IPOs
Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
Ford plans to launch an AI voice assistant on its apps this year before expanding to its vehicles in 2027, and aims to debut Level 3 autonomous driving in 2028
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
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
Gabriele Steinhauser / Wall Street Journal:
Cambodia extradites Chen Zhi, the chair of online scam conglomerate Prince Group, to China; in October 2025, the US DOJ seized Chen's bitcoin worth nearly $12B
Politico:
Utah launches a pilot program with health tech startup Doctronic to let AI systems handle routine prescription renewals for patients with chronic conditions
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