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January 19, 2026, 9:25 AM
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| Sarah Friar / OpenAI: |
OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar says compute grew from 0.2 GW in 2023 to 0.6 GW in 2024 to ~1.9 GW in 2025 and ARR grew from $2B in 2023 to $6B in 2024 to $20B+ in 2025 — We launched ChatGPT as a research preview to understand what would happen if we put frontier intelligence directly in people's hands.
More: WebProNews, Benzinga, Neowin, Sadagopan's weblog …, Analytics India Magazine, and CTech
X: @rohanpaul_ai, @alternatejones, @signulll, @chatgpt21, @benbajarin, @benitoz, @zephyr_z9, @signulll, @firstadopter, @jimcramer, @andrewcurran_, @the_ai_investor, @sundeep, @kimmonismus, @bearlyai, @therealadamg, @dr_gingerballs, and @vraserx. LinkedIn: Sarah Friar
Forums: r/singularity and r/OpenAI
| The Information: |
Sources: after five Thinking Machines staff left, investors are rattled, potentially impacting fundraising; two researchers quit via Slack during an all-hands — The timing couldn't have been more awkward for Thinking Machines Lab. — On Wednesday, during an all-hands meeting at the AI startup …
More: The Decoder, WinBuzzer, The Information, and The Indian Express
| Jack Dunn / Variety: |
On Joe Rogan's JRE, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck discuss Hollywood and AI; Damon says Netflix wants movies to restate the plot because viewers are on their phones — Matt Damon and Ben Affleck recently appeared on the “Joe Rogan Experience” to promote their new Netflix film “The Rip,” …
More: Spyglass, NME, International Business Times, WCSH, Spyglass, Business Insider, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, PowerfulJRE on YouTube, Screen Rant, Just Jared, The Independent, The A.V. Club, primetimer.com, Entertainment Weekly, Benzinga, The Week, Daily Mail, Fox News, and Whiskey Riff
X: @clairlemon, @zymazza, @trungtphan, @pourfairelevide, @forrestpknight, @dead_baseball, @barondestructo, @thecinesthetic, @tom_lsoo, @freightalley, @bearlyai, @lynaldencontact, @lookatmymeat1, @danielrpk, @khuze_elikhulu, @owl_posting, @mattzeitlin, @ross__hendricks, @lthomasnews, @ctachio83984, @andthatsbb, @jackposobiec, @groditid, @jtfoz, @xqc, @robkhenderson, @blackmajikman90, @hdmoviesource, @grummz, @dead_baseball, @colin_gladman, and @dead_baseball. Threads: @carnage4life
| George Hammond / Financial Times: |
Sources: Sequoia plans a big investment in Anthropic, joining a round led by GIC and Coatue, which are investing $1.5B each, as Anthropic aims to raise $25B+ — Silicon Valley investor to write first cheque for AI start-up after recent leadership overhaul — Sequoia Capital is lining …
More: eWeek, TechCrunch, Silicon Republic, Tech Monitor, The Decoder, WebProNews, Benzinga, The Next Web, Analytics India Magazine, SiliconANGLE, Neowin, The Information, Tech in Asia, The Straits Times, PYMNTS.com, CNBC, Reuters, and Bloomberg
Bluesky: @bwnash, @johnholland, @tyleraking.com, and @edzitron.com
| Financial Times: |
The IMF says the “surprisingly resilient” global economy is at risk of a sharp AI boom reversal, but “the levels of market frothiness” are below the dotcom bust — Fund's chief economist says there are reasons to be concerned about a potential AI correction| Alex Isenstadt / Axios: |
Source: Elon Musk donates $10M to boost pro-Trump Senate candidate Nate Morris, seeking to replace Mitch McConnell, in Musk's largest-ever Senate donation — Elon Musk has cut a massive $10 million check to bolster Nate Morris, an outsider, pro-Trump candidate running to succeed retiring …
X: @axios
| Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: |
Similarweb: Threads had 141.5M DAUs on iOS and Android as of January 7, driven by Instagram promotions, while X had 125M DAUs; X continues to lead on the web — A report from market intelligence firm Similarweb suggests that Meta's Threads is now seeing more daily usage than Elon Musk's X on mobile devices.
More: Moneycontrol, MacRumors, 9to5Mac, The Verge, PhoneArena, Android Headlines, Forbes, Digit, PYMNTS.com, Ukrainian National News, Analytics Insight, Gizmodo, and Irish Independent
X: @theandreboso, @wongmjane, @gmiller, @jeremiahdjohns, @the_ai_investor, @clairlemon, @briannawu, @theandreboso, @aziz0nomics, @aziz0nomics, @boredelonmusk, and @jeremiahdjohns. Bluesky: @carnage4life
Threads: @dikaiosvne, @thespacemechanic, @calbucci, and @tomgara
| Bradley Olson / Wall Street Journal: |
Similarweb: Claude's web audience more than doubled in December 2025 compared with December 2024, as many coders spent their holiday breaks on a “Claude bender” — Developers and hobbyists are comparing the viral moment for Anthropic's Claude Code to the launch of generative AI| Jez Corden / Windows Central: |
Sources: Microsoft is preparing to launch a session-based ad-supported Xbox Cloud Gaming tier in 2026; users note Xbox Cloud Gaming now references “ad support” — Users have been noticing that Xbox Cloud Gaming has begun referencing “ad support” while launching games, confirming our earlier report.
More: Screen Rant, GamingBolt, iPhone in Canada, XboxEra, Pure Xbox, Digit, Digital Trends, and Tech4Gamers
| Palmer Luckey / @palmerluckey: |
Meta's VR layoffs may help the industry long term, as most affected roles focused on first-party content and games that competed with the broader ecosystem — I have an opinion on the Meta layoffs that is contrary with most of the VR industry and much of the media, but strongly held. This is not a disaster. They still employ the largest team working on VR by about an order of magnitude. Nobody else is even close. The “Meta is
More: Business Insider, The Ghost Howls, Futurism, and The Game Business
| John Sakellariadis / Politico: |
Sources: political appointees at the US CISA blocked Acting Director Madhu Gottumukkala's attempt to oust the agency's Chief Information Officer Robert Costello — The personnel spat began late last Thursday afternoon after Costello was given a so-called management-directed reassignment …
Bluesky: @metacurity.com and @laurenmeidasa
| Bloomberg: |
Shenzhen-based UBTech signs deals to supply its Walker S2 humanoid robots to Airbus and Texas Instruments, and says it aims to produce 10,000+ units in 2026 — UBTech Robotics Corp. shares jumped after the China-based humanoid maker received an order from Airbus SE, bolstering the outlook …
More: Tom's Hardware, The Robot Report, Tech in Asia, South China Morning Post, and Dow Jones Newswires. LinkedIn: Ray Wang
| Erin Woo / The Information: |
Sources: internal Google data shows Gemini API calls surged from 35B in March 2025 to 85B in August 2025; Google says Gemini Enterprise hit 8M subscribers — Google's improvements to its Gemini AI models are boosting the company's top line. — Over the past year, Google's business selling access … | Counterpoint Research: |
Chinese smartphone shipments fell 1.6% YoY in Q4 2025 and 0.6% YoY for 2025 due to weak demand, rising prices, and memory shortages; iPhone shipments rose 28% — Type: — Insight — Team Counterpoint — Counterpoint research is a young and fast growing research firm covering analysis of the tech industry.
More: Moneycontrol, WebProNews, Tech in Asia, Bloomberg, and DigiTimes
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