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January 14, 2026, 2:15 PM
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| Politico: |
California AG Rob Bonta opens an investigation into xAI over the proliferation of nonconsensual, sexualized images generated by Grok, and urges xAI to act — California Attorney General Rob Bonta is investigating Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI over the proliferation of nonconsensual …
More: State of California, CNBC, Bloomberg, Business Insider, Los Angeles Times, PetaPixel, and The Nation
X: @govpressoffice, @maxwelltani, @cagovernor, and @agrobbonta
Bluesky: @keithchu and @esqueer.net
| Akash Sriram / Reuters: |
Elon Musk claims he's “not aware of any naked underage images generated by Grok” and that Grok's operating principle is to “obey the laws of any given country” — Elon Musk said on Wednesday he was not aware of any “naked underage images” generated by xAI's Grok chatbot …
More: The Atlantic, BBC, The Record, The Verge, The Times, Politico, The Hill, Tom's Guide, Euractiv, Telegraph, Futurism, Sherwood News, and MacTech.com
| Sabrina Ortiz / ZDNET: |
Google launches Personal Intelligence, a Gemini feature that links to Gmail, Google Photos, Search, and YouTube history to tailor answers, for paid subscribers — ZDNET's key takeaways — Personal Intelligence scans your apps to improve Gemini answers. — The feature is off by default and won't train on sensitive data.
More: The Keyword, AppleInsider, The Verge, CNET, Engadget, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, CNBC, The Verge, Ars Technica, Thurrott, The Information, Moneycontrol, Search Engine Land, Bloomberg, T3, 9to5Google, Tech Advisor, Android Police, Neowin, Android Central, The Decoder, YouTube, 9to5Google on YouTube, Crypto Briefing, Forbes, Lifehacker, Financial Times, Business Insider, TechRadar, Fortune, Tom's Guide, Droid Life, Yahoo Tech, Digital Trends, and Android Authority
X: @dudewhoinvests, @google, @royalhansen, @omooretweets, @thisiskp_, @dflieb, @rihardjarc, @teksedge, @varunkinsights, @glenngabe, @sundarpichai, @ai_for_success, @google, @geminiapp, and @joshwoodward
LinkedIn: Srinivasan Venkatachary, Oliver Bethell, Alex Joseph, and Aybuke
Forums: r/accelerate and r/singularity
| Danny Lee / Bloomberg: |
Elon Musk says that Tesla will stop selling FSD after February 14 and will offer it only as a monthly subscription; FSD costs $8,000 upfront or $99 per month — Tesla Inc. will stop selling the advanced driver-assistance system it calls Full Self-Driving, and instead switch to an entirely monthly subscription service.
More: Business Insider, TechCrunch, InsideEVs, TESLARATI, CNET, Digital Trends, CleanTechnica, Sherwood News, Mashable, Gizchina, Wall Street Journal, Euro Weekly News, EV, Engadget, The Drive, Crypto Briefing, and Bloomberg Law
X: @elonmusk, @noblebrown, @mikebutcher, @alex_avoigt, @0xethan, @autismcapital, @williamlaurent3, @ryantanaka, @techau, @martingeddes, @fredlambert, and @not_qz
Forums: r/SelfDrivingCars, r/teslainvestorsclub, and r/TeslaLounge
| Reuters: |
Sources: Chinese officials told customs agents this week that Nvidia H200s are barred from China and told local tech companies not to buy them unless necessary — Chinese customs authorities told customs agents this week that Nvidia's (NVDA.O) H200 artificial intelligence chips are not permitted …
More: DatacenterDynamics, HotHardware, Washington Examiner, The Information, Taipei Times, Yahoo Finance, Barron's Online, Investing.com, Channel NewsAsia, BBC, Reuters, Proactive, Euronews, Blockonomi, eeNews Europe, TechWire Asia, Silicon Republic, WinBuzzer, Tom's Hardware, Türkiye Today, Modern Diplomacy, Fox Business, Times of India, Bloomberg, Agence France-Presse, Benzinga, China Economic Review, Sharecafe, and The Information
Forums: r/wallstreetbets and r/worldnews
| Reuters: |
Sources: Chinese authorities told domestic companies to stop using cybersecurity software made by ~12 US and Israeli companies due to national security concerns — Chinese authorities have told domestic companies to stop using cybersecurity software made by roughly a dozen firms from the U.S …
More: Natto Thoughts, Bloomberg, MarketWatch, Metacurity, Modern Diplomacy, CTech, and Yahoo Finance
| Jacob Krol / TechRadar: |
Verizon says it is “aware of an issue impacting wireless voice and data services for some customers”, as thousands of users report no cellular reception — Seemingly ‘SOS’ is replacing network bars — While Verizon had a good few months, with the last major outage occurring in October 2024 …
More: AppleInsider, Reuters, WJXX-TV, MacRumors, PCMag, How-To Geek, The Verge, Engadget, BleepingComputer, Bloomberg, New York Times, 9to5Mac, 9to5Google, NBC News, Wall Street Journal, Android Central, The Hill, Wired, PhoneArena, Tom's Guide, USA Today, Android Authority, KGW-TV, New York Post, Mashable, Hollywood Life, The US Sun, Droid Life, NBC Bay Area, WTTG-TV, WBNS-TV, WPXI-TV, ABC7, New Jersey Online, and New York Daily News
| BBC: |
The UK government drops plans for mandatory digital IDs to work in the country, marking a reversal from when the UK first announced the policy in September 2025 — The government has dropped plans requiring workers to sign up to its digital ID scheme in order to prove their right to work in the UK.
More: The Guardian, The Verge, The Times, Courthouse News Service, Financial Times, Sky News, Breitbart, CoinJournal, PublicTechnology, ComputerWeekly.com, Euro Weekly News, Mirror, Engadget, The Register, and Cryptonews
X: @nigel_farage, @rupertlowe10, @archrose90, @maxkendix, @rupertlowe10, @bryanglick, and @jamesmelville. Bluesky: @openrightsgroup.org
Forums: Hacker News, r/uknews, r/technology, and r/BreakingUKNews
| The Information: |
Source: Microsoft has become one of Anthropic's top clients and was recently on pace to spend nearly $500M/year for Anthropic's AI to power Microsoft products — OpenAI is Microsoft's most important AI provider and its biggest cloud server customer. — But as OpenAI does more business …
More: PYMNTS.com, The Decoder, Barron's Online, Benzinga, Windows Central, Computerworld, and Sherwood News. X: @kylebrussell
| Luz Ding / Bloomberg: |
Z.ai releases GLM-Image, an open-source AI model that it says is China's first state-of-the-art multimodal model to finish training using Huawei's Ascend chips — Chinese AI startup Knowledge Atlas Technology JSC Ltd. released a new multimodal model that it says is the country's …
More: Z.ai, Z.ai on Hugging Face, Z.ai on GitHub, Computerworld, Digit, Investing.com, Tech in Asia, South China Morning Post, and The Information
X: @zackabrams, @ivanfioravanti, @garyfung, @business, @zai_org, @teortaxestex, @xianbao_qian, @meowbooksj, @mark_k, and @jietang
Forums: r/comfyui, r/LocalLLaMA, and r/LocalLLaMA
| Ben Fritz / Wall Street Journal: |
Matthew McConaughey has secured eight USPTO trademarks of himself over the past several months to protect his likeness and voice from unauthorized AI use — Actor plans to use trademarks of himself saying ‘Alright, alright, alright’ and staring at a camera to combat AI fakes in court
More: Engadget, The Decoder, Tom's Guide, Shelly Palmer, Music Ally, WebProNews, Newser, and Telegraph. Bluesky: @frydawolff
| Financial Times: |
Sources: McKinsey pilots an overhaul in how it recruits its next generation, asking candidates to use its AI tool Lilli to analyze a case study during a test — Candidates in pilot assessed on how they prompted consulting firm's AI assistant and ability to adapt responses| Maya Perez / WebProNews: |
Bandcamp bans music and audio “generated wholly or in substantial part by AI”, hoping to build trust with fans that the music they find “was created by humans” — Bandcamp has banned music substantially generated by AI to uphold human artistry and authenticity …
More: Bandcamp Updates, TechCrunch, The Verge, Billboard, Engadget, Music Ally, Stereogum, The A.V. Club, NME, Consequence, BrooklynVegan, The Decoder, and PC Gamer
X: @danielraffel and @future_of_music
Bluesky: @negativeagent, @mwl.io, @davidgerard.co.uk, @ripridermusic, @nowplaying.cool, @lesterlee, @colinhemphill.com, @2mello.net, @lauramarie, @logicalnuisance, @rrrrroseazerty …, @mmmmmmuhh, and @bandcamp.com
Mastodon: @GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social, @dallin@writing.exchange, @headfirstonly@mastodon.social, and @n8dly@mastodon.social
Forums: Hacker News, r/BandCamp, and r/synthesizers
| Tasmin Lockwood / CNBC: |
US Big Tech companies have been on an energy-related hiring spree; Workforce.ai says Microsoft has hired 570+ people with energy-related expertise since 2022 — Big Tech has been on an energy hiring spree. — Technology companies investing heavily in artificial intelligence are bolstering … | Nikkei Asia: |
Sources: Apple and Qualcomm are scrambling to secure glass cloth fiber, used in chip substrates and PCBs, amid a surge in demand from AI giants like Nvidia — TAIPEI/TOKYO — It looks something like heavy-duty plastic wrap and is buried so deep in the guts of an iPhone that most users don't even know it exists.
More: MacRumors, Macworld, The Verge, Appleosophy, 9to5Mac, iPhone in Canada, iClarified, iDrop News, WebProNews, The Mac Observer, and AppleInsider
| Financial Times: |
How smuggled Starlink receivers and customized software let some Iranians evade a near-total internet blackout as the regime brutally cracked down on protesters — Tehran went from ‘halal internet’ to near-total blackout but activists have smuggled in Starlink devices to get information out| Delphine Strauss / Financial Times: |
The IMF urges governments to help workers displaced by AI and says policymakers should redesign education so young people use AI “rather than compete with it” — Analysis finds evidence of the technology hitting wages and employment in certain areas
More: IMF
| Natalie Lung / Bloomberg: |
Airbnb hires Meta executive Ahmad Al-Dahle, who led the generative AI and Llama team after working at Apple, as its CTO, as it aims to add more AI to its app — Airbnb Inc. has hired a former Meta Platforms Inc. executive as its new chief technology officer, as the short-term rental company … | Samantha Kelly / Bloomberg: |
Pittsburgh-based Skild AI, which makes robotics foundation models, raised a $1.4B Series C at a $14B+ valuation, up from ~$4.5B in June 2025 — Skild AI Inc., a fast-rising startup that makes software to help robots learn to complete tasks, has secured about $1.4 billion in a new funding round …
More: Pittsburgh Business Journal, TechCrunch, FinSMEs, Pulse 2.0, Technical.ly, and Crypto Briefing. X: @heysamantha
| Bloomberg: |
How Ireland, an early data center winner, has missed out on much of the AI boom due to creaking infrastructure and a strained electricity grid stopping projects — The government has a new energy plan to get investment flowing again — Every few weeks, electricians … | Supantha Mukherjee / Reuters: |
Belgium-based Aikido Security, which offers automated security guardrails for developers, raised a $60M Series B led by DST Global at a $1B valuation — Belgium's Aikido Security has raised $60 million from investors led by tech-focused private equity firm DST Global at a valuation of $1 billion …
More: Sifted, Tech.eu, FinSMEs, The Next Web, Tech Funding News, and Telecompaper. LinkedIn: Jos White
| Lucas Ropek / TechCrunch: |
Depthfirst, which provides AI tools for codebase scanning, credential exposure protection, and threat monitoring, raised a $40M Series A led by Accel Partners — Cybercriminals are increasingly using AI in their attacks. At the same time, cyber defenders are also turning to the technology to fight back.
More: FinSMEs, FinSMEs, Business Wire, and Ventureburn
| Denitsa Tsekova / Bloomberg: |
Polymarket is hosting a growing number of contracts tied to military conflicts, including China invading Taiwan; possible US strikes in Iran has $18M+ in trades — Even as prediction-market platforms have tested legal and regulatory norms like never before, most have drawn a line at one category: direct wagers on war.
Bluesky: @carnage4life
| Adam Sella / New York Times: |
Sources: the Trump administration is weighing a substantial shift in its cyberstrategy, including by enlisting private companies to assist with cyberattacks — The proposal raises a host of questions about the legality and practicality of bolstering the involvement of the private sector in offensive cyberoperations.| New York Times: |
2026 may be the year of the mega IPO, as sources say Anthropic, OpenAI, and SpaceX took early steps to go public, setting up a watershed moment for the AI boom — Call it the year of the mega initial public offering. Or the year of the I.P.O. supercycle. Or the monster listing mania, perhaps.| Tom Warren / The Verge: |
UK police say they banned Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from a soccer match in 2025 after Copilot hallucinated a fake West Ham-Maccabi match in an intelligence report — Copilot invented a nonexistent football match that was included in an intelligence report.
More: Ars Technica, Business Insider, Gizmodo, BBC, PC Gamer, The Guardian, The Athletic, and The Times
X: @stevesi, @gabriel_pogrund, @steven_swinford, @robharris, and @robharris. Bluesky: @tomwarren.co.uk
Forums: r/technology, r/europe, Slashdot, and Ars OpenForum
| The Information: |
A source details how Apple's Gemini deal works: new Siri features will launch in the spring and at WWDC, Apple can finetune Gemini, no Google branding, and more — In another AI win for Google lately, Apple announced on Monday that it will use Google's Gemini models to power … | Bloomberg: |
Dutch court hearing: Nexperia claims Chinese owner Wingtech pushed for tech transfers out of Europe and threatened execs; Wingtech attacks Nexperia's management — Dutch chipmaker Nexperia BV claimed that Chinese owner Wingtech Technology Co. was pushing for technology transfers out of Europe …
More: The Economic Times, Financial Times, Associated Press, and Reuters
| SemiAnalysis: |
Highlights from IEDM 2025: 3D NAND is suddenly relevant again, interconnect metals beyond copper are emerging, 2D materials that could replace silicon, and more — IEDM 2025 Round-Up — It's an odd time in the chipmaking industry. On one hand, we are ramping into the biggest supercycle ever seen.| Jonathan Greig / The Record: |
The US urged UN members to take a tougher stance against North Korea IT worker scams and crypto thefts; an October 2025 report found 40+ countries were affected — The U.S. on Monday urged United Nation member states to take a tougher stance against North Korean efforts to skirt sanctions through …
More: UN Web TV
| Jay Peters / The Verge: |
As part of its Reality Labs cuts, Meta is closing three VR gaming studios and will stop developing new content and features for its VR fitness app Supernatural — Developers from Twisted Pixel Games and Sanzaru Games have posted about their studios being closed down.
More: Stratechery, Breitbart, GamesIndustry.biz, Engadget, Forbes, Palo Alto, CA Patch, Video Games Chronicle, UploadVR, Kotaku, Metro.co.uk, Tech in Asia, Digital Trends, GamingBolt, WebProNews, The Overspill, Sources, Digit, and Polygon.com
X: @andythps, @dilmerv, @pranavdixit, @thedowd, @bangbangclick, @neogamespark, @afoxdesign, @sophiebaybey, @karn_ex, @hero_kvatch, @mauronl3, @jasteinerman, @asychov, @dbloodworth2, @benz145, @killian_c_u, @thejobchick, @glitchfandango, @vescosein, @victor_lucas, @raeljamsesh, @scobleizer, @bmfshow, and @tomwarren
Bluesky: @davelee.me, @marioprime, and @themoonis.gay
Threads: @kathrynyu and @denny_cloudhead
Forums: r/oculus, r/pcgaming, r/Games, and Slashdot
| Katie Drummond / Wired: |
Q&A with Reid Hoffman on wanting Silicon Valley to speak out against the Trump administration, AI regulation, the role of AI in art and creativity, and more — The LinkedIn cofounder and frequent Trump target has a simple message for his peers: “Just speak up about the things that you think are true.”
Forums: r/politics and r/siliconvalley
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