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January 14, 2026, 8:30 PM
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Karissa Bell / Engadget:
X updates Grok to prevent the “editing of images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis” and geoblocks it for all users “where it's illegal”  —  The company is also blocking image generation entirely from non-subscribers.
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 …
Raphael Satter / 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”  —  California's governor and attorney general said on Wednesday that they were demanding answers …
Wall Street Journal:
OpenAI strikes a multibillion-dollar agreement to buy 750 MW of computing capacity from Cerebras over three years; sources: the deal is worth more than $10B  —  The ChatGPT-maker is racing to secure more computing power, especially for responding to user queries
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.
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 …
Stevie Bonifield / The Verge:
YouTube now lets parents set time limits on their kids' YouTube Shorts feed, ranging from 15 minutes to two hours, with an option for zero minutes coming soon  —  Parents will also be able to manually create and adjust child and teen accounts on YouTube.
Josh Wingrove / Bloomberg:
Trump signs an order to impose a 25% tariff on chips “transshipped through the United States to other foreign countries”, as part of the Nvidia H200 deal  —  The US imposed a 25% tariff on imports of certain semiconductors, a key step in an agreement blessed by President Donald …
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
Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk:
Coinbase pulls support from the US Senate's crypto market structure bill ahead of a key vote; CEO Brian Armstrong says there are “too many issues” with the bill  —  CEO Brian Armstrong said there were “too many issues” with the bill.  —  Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said the exchange …
Kylie Robison / @kyliebytes:
Thinking Machines parts ways with CTO Barret Zoph, with Soumith Chintala taking over the role; sources say the termination is due to “unethical conduct”  —  BREAKING: Thinking Machines has terminated its CTO, Barret Zoph, due to unethical conduct according to two sources familiar with the matter. CEO Mira Murati announced the news at an all-hands with employees today. Soumith Chintala will be taking over as CTO.
Fidji Simo / @fidjissimo:
Fidji Simo says Barret Zoph, Luke Metz, and Sam Schoenholz are returning to OpenAI from Thinking Machines and the move “has been in the works for several weeks”
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 …
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.
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 …
Reuters:
Bitchat, a P2P messaging app launched by Jack Dorsey, has emerged as a key lifeline for people in Uganda and Iran facing government-imposed internet shutdowns  —  A little-known offline messaging app launched by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey has emerged as a key lifeline for Ugandans cut off …
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.
Naureen S Malik / Bloomberg:
PJM trims summer 2027 peak demand forecast to ~160 GW from ~164 GW because some projects, including data centers, lack firm service or construction commitments  —  The biggest US grid operator dialed back its forecast for power demand growth, offering a reality check to the frenzy around the artificial intelligence boom.
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 …
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 …
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 …

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 8:30 PM ET, January 14, 2026.

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From Mediagazer

New York Times:
The FBI searched WaPo reporter Hannah Natanson's home on Wednesday, as part of what officials called a probe into the possible sharing of government secrets

James Poniewozik / New York Times:
Tony Dokoupil's CBS News road trip, where each episode ends in a squishy pabulum, revealed the problems with CBS' Bari Weiss-era focus on viewers' feelings

Liam Scott / Washington Post:
The Office of Personnel Management is asking applicants for US military newspaper Stars and Stripes if they back Trump's policies; its EIC says he was unaware

More News

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

Earlier Picks

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
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