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January 27, 2026, 4:45 PM
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Kimi:
Moonshot says Kimi K2.5 builds on K2 with “pretraining over ~15T mixed visual and text tokens” and “can self-direct an agent swarm with up to 100 sub-agents”  —  Today, we are introducing Kimi K2.5, the most powerful open-source model to date.
Bloomberg:
Chinese startup Moonshot releases Kimi K2.5, saying the model can process text, images, and videos simultaneously and beats its open-source peers in some tests  —  Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.-backed Moonshot AI released an upgrade of its flagship model, heating up a domestic arms race ahead …
Cecilia Kang / New York Times:
TikTok settles a California lawsuit ahead of a landmark social media addiction trial; Snap recently settled the suit, while Meta and YouTube remain defendants  —  The settlement means TikTok will avoid a trial where plaintiffs had planned to argue that social media platforms are inherently defective …
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Amazon plans to close all 57 Fresh and 15 Go locations in the US, as it pivots its physical retail strategy to focus exclusively on Whole Foods  —  Amazon's homegrown grocery stores are getting shelved.  —  The company said Tuesday morning that it's closing all of its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh locations …
Will Douglas Heaven / MIT Technology Review:
OpenAI for Science launches Prism, a free LaTeX-based text editor that embeds GPT-5.2 to assist in scientific paper drafting and citation management  —  OpenAI just revealed what its new in-house team, OpenAI for Science, has been up to.  The firm has released a free LLM-powered tool …
Raphael Satter / Reuters:
WhatsApp launches Strict Account Settings, a high-security mode to protect high-risk users like journalists and public figures from sophisticated cyberattacks  —  Meta's WhatsApp messaging service is offering users an advanced security mode, joining a growing number of U.S. tech firms …
Henry Chandonnet / Business Insider:
Clawdbot creator Peter Steinberger says he is changing the name of the viral AI agent to Moltbot after he “was forced to rename the account by Anthropic”  —  - Clawdbot, the viral AI agent that's leading techies to buy up Mac Minis, is now named Moltbot.
Washington Post:
US court filings detail Anthropic's Project Panama, an effort to “destructively scan” up to 2M books with a hydraulic “cutting machine” led by an ex-Google exec  —  In early 2024, executives at artificial intelligence start-up Anthropic ramped up an ambitious project they sought to keep quiet.
Jeff Horwitz / Reuters:
Court filings: Mark Zuckerberg approved allowing minors to access AI chatbot companions that safety staffers warned were capable of sexual interactions  —  Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg approved allowing minors to access AI chatbot companions that safety staffers warned were capable …
Ashley Capoot / CNBC:
An interview with Mozilla president Mark Surman about plans to deploy its ~$1.4B in reserves to fund an AI “rebel alliance” to challenge companies like OpenAI  —  From his small, snow-covered farm outside Toronto, home to cats and a dog, and soon some donkeys …
Emily Nicolle / Bloomberg:
Tether launches USAT, a US-regulated stablecoin issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, marking the company's direct return to the US market that it left in 2018  —  Tether Holdings SA said it has launched a US-focused stablecoin, as the world's largest issuer of dollar-pegged tokens prepares to return to crypto's largest market.
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple releases iOS 12.5.8 for the iPhone 5s and iPhone 6, extending software support for these devices to 13 and 12 years after their respective launches  —  Alongside iOS 26.2.1, Apple today released an updated version of iOS 12 for devices that are still running that operating system update …
New York Times:
Internal Slack message: Sam Altman tells OpenAI staff that “What's happening with ICE is going too far” and he hopes President Trump “will rise to this moment”  —  Business leaders continue to feel pressure to speak out about the immigration crackdown and the fatal shooting of two U.S. citizens.
Robert Hart / The Verge:
Google adds Gemini 3 to AI Overviews as the default model globally and now lets users ask follow-up questions “seamlessly” via AI Mode  —  Gemini 3 is coming to AI Overviews and you can ask follow-ups for a ‘seamless Search experience.’  —  Google is making Search less about links and more about AI.
David Gilbert / Wired:
Meta blocks users from sharing links to ICE List, which compiles names of DHS staffers; Meta cites a policy against “asking for personally identifiable” info  —  Users of Meta's social platforms can no longer share links to ICE List, a website listing what it claims are the names of thousands of DHS employees.
Pascale Davies / Euronews:
France plans to replace Microsoft Teams and Zoom with French-made and Outscale-hosted Visio by 2027, as part of a push to drop US software vendors in government  —  France announced that it will roll out the Visio platform across all government departments by 2027.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google expands Android's anti-theft suite, including a dedicated toggle for its Failed Authentication Lock feature on devices running Android 16 or later  —  Google on Tuesday announced an expanded set of Android theft protection features, designed to make its mobile devices less of a target for criminals.
Tyler Katzenberger / Politico:
California Governor Gavin Newsom says he will launch a review into whether TikTok is violating state laws by censoring content critical of President Trump  —  In a separate X post Monday, the governor's press account said Newsom was launching the review after his office “received reports …
Bobby Allyn / NPR:
TikTok US says it doesn't “have rules against sharing the name Epstein in direct messages” and is “investigating why some users are experiencing issues”
Kyt Dotson / SiliconANGLE:
Ai2 launches Open Coding Agents, starting with SERA, an open-source family that includes 32B and 8B parameter models designed to adapt to private codebases  —  Artificial intelligence is moving swiftly, changing how developers craft, as code flows ever faster into repositories such as GitHub …
Samuel Stolton / Bloomberg:
The EU gives Google a six-month deadline to lift technical barriers to rival AI search assistants on Android and give key data to other search engine providers  —  Google was handed a six-month European Union deadline to lift technical barriers to rival AI search assistants on Android …
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google expands its AI Plus subscription to 35 new countries and territories, including the US at $7.99/month, with “enhanced access” to Gemini 3 Pro and more  —  After introducing the plan internationally in September, Google is bringing its AI Plus subscription to 35 new countries, including the US.
Steven Melendez / Fast Company:
Privacy-focused MVNO Cape, which has raised $61M from a16z and others, launches across the US following a March 2025 beta, offering a $99 monthly plan  —  A privacy-centric cellphone carrier called Cape is now officially available across the United States, offering a unique set of features …
More: Cape

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 4:45 PM ET, January 27, 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.

From Mediagazer

Associated Press:
A US district court judge agrees to permanently block the Trump administration from implementing an executive order to end federal funding for NPR and PBS

Ted Johnson / Deadline:
A new filing from Nexstar in the DirecTV lawsuit says the existing restraining order freezing the Nexstar-Tegna merger could jeopardize assets of both companies

Qassim Abdul-Zahra / Associated Press:
Iraqi officials say a US journalist was kidnapped in Baghdad and security forces are looking for her captors; one outlet identified her as Shelly Kittleson

More News

Laya Neelakandan / CNBC:
UPS plans to eliminate 30,000 jobs in 2026 as part of winding down its partnership with Amazon, and expects $3B in savings related to the Amazon unwind
Samantha Cole / 404 Media:
Pornhub parent Aylo says it will restrict UK users from February 2, after six months of complying with the UK's OSA; users who verified their ages can log in

Earlier Picks

Chris Welch / Bloomberg:
Samsung says the Galaxy Z TriFold costs $2,899, or $899 more than the Galaxy Z Fold 7, launching in the US on January 30 exclusively via its website and stores
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
SEC filing: Pinterest plans to lay off less than 15% of its workforce by Q3 and cut back on office space, saying it is “reallocating resources” to AI teams
Katie Tarasov / CNBC:
Corning says Meta committed to paying up to $6B through 2030 for fiber-optic cable in its AI data centers, and it plans to expand its Hickory, NC, factory
Katarina Hoije / Bloomberg:
TikToker Khaby Lame partners with Nasdaq-listed Rich Sparkle in a $975M, 36-month deal, including an AI version, to monetize his 360M social media followers
Wired:
Documents: a whistleblower details the Boshang scam compound in Laos that defrauded victims of ~$2.2M over 11 weeks and utilized a system of worker debt bondage
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