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January 16, 2026, 2:30 PM
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| Financial Times: |
OpenAI plans to test ads below ChatGPT replies for users of free and Go tiers in the US; source: OpenAI expects to make “low billions” from ads in 2026 — $500bn start-up seeks ways to fund expansion and fend off competition from rivals Google and Anthropic
More: OpenAI, CNBC, Associated Press, The Economic Times, Thurrott, Mobile Dev Memo, Search Engine Land, BBC, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, 9to5Mac, Bloomberg, The Verge, Implicator.ai, Adweek, Fast Company, Axios, Sherwood News, iPhone in Canada, Analytics India Magazine, Crypto Briefing, Türkiye Today, NewsMax.com, and The Deep View
X: @brianmcc, @scobleizer, @scaling01, @simonw, @brij, @openai, @rishabhmjain, @tahatesser, @openai, @openai, @teksedge, @inafried, and @eric_seufert
Forums: r/ChatGPT, r/singularity, r/technology, and Slashdot
| Maxwell Zeff / Wired: |
OpenAI will match ads to conversation topics using some personalization data, but claims it will not sell user data or expose user conversations to advertisers — OpenAI says ads will not influence ChatGPT's responses, and that it won't sell user data to advertisers.
More: Telegraph, WebProNews, and Futurism
| Elissa Welle / The Verge: |
OpenAI expands its $8/month ChatGPT Go subscription tier to the US and the rest of the world, after previously launching it in India and some other countries — 'ChatGPT Go' is available worldwide for $8 per month. … OpenAI is expanding a low-cost subscription tier called ChatGPT Go to the US and the rest of the world.| Alex Heath / Sources: |
Sources: Thinking Machines lacks a clear product or business strategy and has been struggling over the past couple of months to raise a new round of financing — More Thinking Machines employees are in talks to join OpenAI. Also: Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe on ACCESS and the Sources Live @ Davos lineup.
More: Newcomer, Implicator.ai, The Information, and Analytics India Magazine
Bluesky: @prietschka, @michaeli, and @edzitron.com
| Wired: |
More: Gizmodo, Fortune, The Information, Benzinga, WebProNews, Implicator.ai, David Shapiro's Substack, eWeek, The Rundown AI, TechCrunch, Neowin, Spyglass, The Decoder, Wired, Sherwood News, and Digit
X: @jonchu, @alexrkonrad, @signulll, @kimmonismus, @ns123abc, @scobleizer, and @fidjissimo
| SemiAnalysis: |
Analysis: Colossus 2, one of the world's largest AI datacenters, will use as much water/year as 2.5 average In-N-Outs, assuming only drinkable water and burgers — A different perspective on the datacenter water debate, forget tokens/watt or tokens/dollar, it's about tokens/burger …
X: @thezvi, @firstadopter, and @sriramk
| Natalie Lung / Bloomberg: |
DoorDash Chief Revenue Officer Lee Brown is departing the delivery app company after less than six months; long-term VP Shanna Prevé will succeed Brown as CRO — DoorDash Inc. Chief Revenue Officer Lee Brown is departing the delivery app company after less than six months to pursue a new opportunity.
More: The Information
| Darren Loucaides / Financial Times: |
A profile of Wikipedia as it faces myriad challenges, including attacks from Elon Musk and the far right, reduced traffic due to AI, and a legal battle in India — As the website turns 25, it faces myriad challenges from regulators, AI, the far right and Elon Musk
More: Block Club Chicago, ZDNET, PCMag, Chicago Tribune, Futurism, Cord Cutters News, San Francisco Chronicle, and ABC. Bluesky: @sjvn
| Emma Roth / The Verge: |
More: The Register, Anil Dash, Wikimedia Foundation, Wikimedia Foundation, Wikipedia, Diff, The Independent, Observer, Wired, 9to5Mac, Freedom of the Press …, and Wikipedia
X: @lsanger, @lsanger, @amritat, @25yearsagolive, and @trevortimm
LinkedIn: Tim Frank, Jason W. Eckert, and Anil Dash
Bluesky: @chrisoregan, @celebrityhottub, @depthsofwikipedia, @newsguy, @wikimediafoundation.org, and @wikimediafoundation.org
Mastodon: @kottke@mastodon.social and @joebeone@techpolicy.social
| Emma Roth / The Verge: |
More: Ars Technica, Wikimedia Enterprise, TechCrunch, Associated Press, AfroTech, WebProNews, MediaNama, CNBC, Social Media Today, The A.V. Club, Reuters, Sherwood News, The Decoder, Engadget, Constellation Research, and Blockonomi
LinkedIn: Arul George Scaria and Lane Becker
Bluesky: @nickgarcia, @tjheffernan, @emilymbender, @adzebill, @craiggrannell, and @levikornelsen. Mastodon: @carnage4life@mas.to
Forums: r/BetterOffline, r/news, r/technology, r/wikipedia, and Slashdot
| Alex Heath / Sources: |
Unsealed docs from Elon Musk's OpenAI lawsuit, set for a jury trial on April 27: Sutskever's concerns about treating open-source AI as a “side show”, and more — This is an excerpt of Sources by Alex Heath, a newsletter about AI and the tech industry, syndicated just for The Verge subscribers once a week.
More: The Verge, Mercury News, TESLARATI, and Courthouse News Service
X: @shiringhaffary, @wholemars, @sawyermerritt, @wholemars, @_nathancalvin, @wholemars, @worksleeve, @beylin, @trenttullis, @chamath, @empathic_lead3r, @bookdepth, @mikekhristo, and @wholemars. Bluesky: @alexeheath.com
| Davis Giangiulio / CNBC: |
Cloudflare acquires AI data marketplace Human Native for an undisclosed sum, to help it develop a system where AI developers pay creators for training content — Cloudflare is acquiring artificial intelligence data marketplace Human Native, the company said Thursday, as it expands its push …
More: WebProNews, Analytics India Magazine, Tech in Asia, Advanced Television, The Decoder, BMI, Cloudflare, SiliconANGLE, Pulse 2.0, Crypto Briefing, and FinSMEs. Bluesky: @druce.ai
| Reuters: |
Italy's competition watchdog opens two investigations into Microsoft's Activision Blizzard over sales practices the regulator calls “misleading and aggressive” — Italy's competition watchdog on Friday announced investigations into Microsoft's (MSFT.O) Activision Blizzard unit over allegedly … | Dina Bass / Bloomberg: |
ClickHouse, a Snowflake challenger that offers an OLAP database management system, raised $400M led by Dragoneer at a $15B valuation, up from $6.35B in May 2025 — Dragoneer is leading a $400 million funding round for the startup. — Database technology startup ClickHouse Inc … | Sean Hollister / The Verge: |
Meta says it will discontinue Workrooms, its VR space for workers, on February 16, and stop selling Quests and Horizon services to businesses from February 20 — Meta continues to trickle out the bad news for VR. … Today, the company announced it's shutting that space down …
More: Meta, The Register, Gizmodo, Thurrott, Business Insider, iPhone in Canada, Engadget, Tech in Asia, PCMag, Mashable, Android Headlines, Constellation Research, and Road to VR
X: @yoda, @kojirovr, and @playtest_vr. Bluesky: @flglchicago. Mastodon: @rysiek@mstdn.social. Forums: r/OculusQuest
| Supantha Mukherjee / Reuters: |
TikTok says it will roll out new age detection tech, which analyzes profile information to predict whether a user is under 13, across Europe in the coming weeks — TikTok will start rolling out new age-detection technology across Europe in the coming weeks, it told Reuters on Friday …
More: Ukrainian National News, UPI, Irish Examiner, Engadget, and Telecompaper
Bluesky: @westernbirding.com and @druce.ai
| Nicole Sperling / New York Times: |
Q&A with Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos about the $83B WBD bid, Trump's involvement in the deal, maintaining a 45-day theatrical window for WBD releases, and more — The company's co-chief executive sat down for an extensive interview for the first time since announcing plans to buy Warner Bros. Discovery's film and TV business.
More: Gizmodo, The Verge, WebProNews, The Hollywood Reporter, primetimer.com, Screen, StreamTV Insider, Media Play News, GamesRadar, Far Out Magazine, Deadline, Engadget, Variety, The Wrap, PR Daily, /Film, Spyglass, Inc, World of Reel, Android Headlines, and Screen Rant
Forums: r/TheBigPicture, r/oscarrace, r/MediaMergers, and r/boxoffice
| Phuong Nguyen / Reuters: |
Vietnam's military-run telecom company Viettel begins construction of the country's first chip plant, with trial production expected to start by late 2027 — Vietnam's military-run telecom company Viettel on Friday began construction of the country's first semiconductor fabrication plant …
More: The Business Times, RCR Wireless News, Tech in Asia, Nikkei Asia, and Vietnam+
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