Techmeme
January 22, 2026, 3:55 PM

Top News

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple expanded the job of hardware chief John Ternus to manage design teams at the end of 2025, solidifying his status as a leading CEO candidate  —  Apple Inc. has expanded the job of hardware chief John Ternus to include design work, solidifying his status as a leading contender …
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Google rolls out Personal Intelligence in AI Mode to access users' Gmail and Google Photos data for more tailored responses, for US Pro and Ultra subscribers  —  AI Mode, Google's conversational Search feature for complex questions, is getting more personalized.
The Information:
A look at Craig Federighi's approach to AI at Apple; sources say he led a push to use other companies' models to help launch a revamped Siri later in 2026  —  Last fall, Apple's software chief, Craig Federighi, delivered a warm message to a meeting of the company's combined software and AI groups.
Semafor:
Sources: the US and China have approved the sale of TikTok's US business to a group of mostly US investors led by Oracle and Silverlake, set to close this week  —  The US and China have signed off on a deal to sell TikTok's US business to a consortium of mostly US investors led by Oracle and Silverlake …
Will Knight / Wired:
An analysis of 5,290 AI research papers at NeurIPS: 141, or ~3%, had US-China AI lab collaboration, vs. 134/4,497 in 2024; Llama featured in 106 Chinese papers  —  WIRED analyzed more than 5,000 papers from NeurIPS using OpenAI's Codex to understand the areas where the US and China actually work together on AI research.
New York Times:
NYT and CCDH analysis: Grok created and shared 1.8M+ sexualized images of women between December 31 and January 8, after Elon Musk promoted the feature on X  —  Over nine days, Elon Musk's Grok chatbot generated and posted 4.4 million images, of which at least 41 percent were sexualized images of women.
Lora Kolodny / CNBC:
Waymo launches its robotaxi service in Miami, its sixth market, initially covering a 60-square-mile area, and partners with Moove for fleet management  —  Alphabet's Waymo said Thursday that its robotaxi service is now open to paying riders in Miami, kicking off a 2026 market expansion.
Mia Sato / The Verge:
Cate Blanchett, Cyndi Lauper, and 800+ creatives launch “Stealing Isn't Innovation” to protest unauthorized AI training, backed by RIAA, SAG-AFTRA, and others  —  Cate Blanchett, Cyndi Lauper, George Saunders, and other creatives say that AI companies are …
Rebecca Bellan / TechCrunch:
Elon Musk says Tesla launched robotaxi rides in Austin with no human safety driver; Tesla's AI lead says Tesla is “starting with a few unsupervised vehicles”  —  Tesla is offering passengers robotaxi rides in Austin without a human safety driver in the front seat.
On Substack:
Substack launches its Substack TV app for Apple TV and Google TV in beta for free and paid subscribers, with access matched to their current subscription levels  —  Today we're launching the Substack TV app for Apple TV and Google TV.  Substack is the home for the best longform …
Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:
Google launches free SAT practice exams in the Gemini app, providing students with performance analysis and detailed explanations for incorrect answers  —  Prepping for the SAT is nobody's idea of fun, but Google aims to make it less stressful with AI.  The company announced that it's …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Spotify expands its AI-powered Prompted Playlists beta to Premium subscribers in the US and Canada, following initial testing in New Zealand  —  Spotify is rolling out Prompted Playlists, a new AI playlist creation tool, to Premium subscribers in the U.S. and Canada.
Bloomberg:
Sources: the US Senate's crypto market structure bill is likely to be delayed by several weeks as key lawmakers shift their focus to a housing legislation push  —  A sweeping US crypto market bill is likely to be delayed by at least several weeks as key lawmakers shift their focus …
Core Memory:
Q&A with recently departed OpenAI VP of Research Jerry Tworek, who claims OpenAI's shift toward more conservative ways made high-risk, pioneering work harder  —  Are all the AI superpowers playing it too safe?  —  ∙ Paid  —  On January 5th, famed AI researcher Jerry Tworek stunned world+dog …
AJ Dellinger / Gizmodo:
xAI engineer Sulaiman Ghori says he has “left” the startup, after saying on a podcast last week that xAI has skirted regulations while building its data centers  —  Interesting timing.  —  Sulaiman Ghori, an engineer at Elon Musk's AI startup xAI, went on the podcast Relentless …
Bloomberg:
A US House panel okays a bipartisan bill pushing congressional oversight of AI chip exports and banning Nvidia Blackwell sales to China for at least two years  —  Congress is one step closer to gaining the authority to review artificial intelligence chip sales to China …
Jeff John Roberts / Fortune:
Binance files for a European MiCA license in Greece, where it has also set up a holding company  —  Binance, the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange, has formally applied for a pan-European license known as MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets) that digital asset firms operating in the continent must obtain before July 1.

Sponsor Posts

Airtable:
The central nervous system of your business  —  Used by 80% of Fortune 100 companies, Airtable combines AI with the scale of an infinitely flexible, no-code system.  With all your data in one place, it's like mission control for your company.
Intel:
5G's most deployed platform  —  Powering live networks with built-in Inference across Core and RAN.  That's the power of Intel Inside®
Zoho:
Zoho MCP: Launching the future of work  —  Picture your SDR's Monday morning.A deal just closed.  Normally that means: update the CRM record, create a Books invoice, open a Desk ticket for onboarding …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Invest Like the Best:
Shyam Sankar - Celebrating Heretics
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Grit:
How Sierra Is Pulling Ahead in the AI Race | Co-founder Bret Taylor
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Lenny's Podcast:
The most successful AI company you've never heard of | Qasar Younis
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Big Technology Podcast:
AI Revenue Explodes, Dario's Memo, McDonald's CEO's Baby Burger Bite
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Hard Fork:
OpenAI's Fog of War + Betting on Iran + Hard Fork Review of Slop
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
His Excellency Khaldoon Al Mubarak: Investing in an AI-Driven World
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 3:55 PM ET, January 22, 2026.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Earlier Picks

Rajesh Mascarenhas / Bloomberg:
Bloomberg: