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January 28, 2026, 3:50 AM
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Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Memo: Tim Cook told employees that he is “heartbroken by the events in Minneapolis” and calls for a “deescalation”  —  Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook became the latest executive to weigh in on the killing of a man in Minneapolis by federal agents …
Kate Clark / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: SoftBank is in talks to invest up to $30B more in OpenAI; SoftBank is already one of OpenAI's largest shareholders after investing $22.5B in December  —  The Japanese conglomerate is exploring further investment as part of the startup's efforts to raise up to $100 billion
David McCabe / New York Times:
TikTok says the new US entity has not updated its algorithm since the joint venture was announced, after users accused it of suppressing posts related to ICE  —  Some users had accused the app of blocking them from posting videos about Immigration and Customs Enforcement.  The app said it was a power outage issue.
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”
Will Douglas Heaven / MIT Technology Review:
OpenAI launches Prism, a free cloud-based LaTeX 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 for scientists called Prism …
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 …
Business Insider:
Amazon appears to mistakenly alert some AWS employees about planned layoffs in an email invite to a Wednesday “Project Dawn” meeting about company efficiency  —  - Some Amazon employees got a worrying calendar invitation on Tuesday.  — The invitation discussed upcoming job cuts and …
John Sakellariadis / Politico:
Sources: the interim director of CISA, Madhu Gottumukkala, triggered automated security warnings last summer by uploading sensitive documents to ChatGPT  —  Cybersecurity sensors at CISA flagged the uploads this past August, said the four officials.  One official specified there were multiple …
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  —  Pinterest said Tuesday it plans to lay off less than 15% of its workforce and cut back on office space as the company embraces artificial intelligence.
Financial Times:
Sources: Anthropic is set to raise about $20B led by Singapore's GIC and Coatue, double the amount it had targeted, at a $350B valuation  —  Company in talks to raise new funds from Coatue, GIC, Iconiq and Sequoia at $350bn valuation  —  Anthropic is set to raise about $20bn from venture capitalists …
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.
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.
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 …
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.
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 …
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.
Rocket Drew / The Information:
AI Whistleblower Initiative says OpenAI recently updated its whistleblower policy, addressing 8 of 13 recommendations and going further than Anthropic's policy  —  OpenAI recently updated its policy for handling whistleblower complaints, following concerns about AI startups ignoring what are standard rules applying to all companies.
More: AIWI and AIWI
Kate Clark / Wall Street Journal:
A look at “neolabs” such as Safe Superintelligence and Humans&, which give priority to long-term AI R&D over immediate profits; dozens have become unicorns  —  Flapping Airplanes is one of a wave of new startup research labs drawing intense interest from investors, the latest chapter in the AI race
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 …
Zijing Wu / Financial Times:
Q&A with James Wu on leaving his role as DJI's chief scientist to found FJDynamics to build robots for labor intensive sectors like agriculture and construction  —  The former chief scientist at Chinese drone maker DJI explains why he is building robots for ‘forgotten’ sectors, such as agriculture
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 …
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.

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 3:50 AM ET, January 28, 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

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
The EU antitrust watchdog hits Vivendi with additional charges for its 2023 Lagardere purchase, saying Vivendi made the deal before getting approval

Matthew Weaver / The Guardian:
Three men have been found not guilty of murdering the journalist Lyra McKee in 2019; the New IRA claimed responsibility for the killing

Associated Press:
After a short-term hold, SCOTUS denies former Fox News reporter Catherine Herridge's bid to stay an $800-a-day fine if she refuses to reveal a source

More News

Earlier Picks

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
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
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
Naga Avan-Nomayo / The Block:
Crypto payments network Mesh raised a $75M Series C led by Dragonfly at a $1B valuation, bringing its total funding to $200M
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
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”
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