Techmeme
January 18, 2026, 6:00 AM

Top News

Jeremy Kahn / Fortune:
OpenAI's former Head of Policy Research Miles Brundage announces AVERI, a nonprofit aimed at advocating the idea of external audits for frontier AI models  —  Former OpenAI policy chief Miles Brundage, who has just founded a new nonprofit institute called AVERI that is advocating …
Caroline Haskins / Wired:
The AI boom is driving an unprecedented wave of data center construction, but there aren't enough skilled workers in the US, such as electricians, to keep up  —  The AI boom is driving an unprecedented wave of data center construction, but there aren't enough skilled tradespeople in the US to keep up.
More: IEEE Spectrum and Axios
X: @mukund and @davidsacks.  LinkedIn: Moses Acosta.  Bluesky: @brbarrett
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, Trak.in, Ars Technica, Spyglass, Axios, The Verge, The American Bazaar, CNBC, Digit, Android Police, Windows Central, The Register, Appleosophy, Tech in Asia, Business Standard, Moneycontrol, The Hans India, Neowin, Livemint, New York Times, Notebookcheck, Engadget, The Indian Express, PPC Land, The Hacker News, Search Engine Journal, Communicate Online, 9to5Google, TestingCatalog, The Deep View, The Guardian, Deadline, BleepingComputer, Fortune, Birchtree, Gizmodo, San Francisco Chronicle, The Information, SiliconANGLE, Forbes, Nairametrics, Simon Willison's Weblog, PC Gamer, AdTechRadar, Tom's Guide, Fast Company, Variety, The Independent, KGW-TV, Forbes Middle East, Vogue, WebProNews, Barron's Online, CBS News, PCMag, Reuters, Wired, Capital Brief, Bloomberg, The Decoder, MediaPost, Sherwood News, Adweek, The Economic Times, Mobile Dev Memo, Search Engine Land, BBC, Türkiye Today, NewsMax.com, and Axios
Elissa Welle / The Verge:
Axios:
David Sacks and top MAGA influencers are publicly opposing House Foreign Affairs Chair Brian Mast's proposed AI OVERWATCH Act to regulate AI chip sales to China  —  But the accusations are flying fast.  — “The AI Overwatch Act (H.R. 6875) may sound like a good idea, but when you examine it closely …
Rob Copeland / New York Times:
A look at Michael Saylor's Strategy, known for buying bitcoin via creative financing strategies, as its stock trades way below its peak amid the crypto downturn  —  Had you glanced too quickly at the crowd packed into Michael Saylor's Tuscan-style Miami compound, you might have assumed it was just another rich dude's party.
More: CoinGape.  LinkedIn: Rob Copeland.  Bluesky: @somershade and @jessefelder
Forums: r/Buttcoin and r/MSTR
Iain Martin / Forbes:
Listen Labs, whose AI tools help Microsoft and others run customer research and interviews, raised a $69M Series B led by Ribbit Capital at a $500M+ valuation  —  The San Francisco-based company, which has run more than 1 million customer interviews with its automated AI tools …

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