Techmeme
May 25, 2023, 5:00 PM

Top News

Financial Times:
Morgan Meaker / Wired:
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman visited London this week, part of a tour to ~17 cities, including Paris, Warsaw, and Lagos, to discuss AI, balanced regulation, and more  —  On a stop in London, the OpenAI CEO called for balanced regulation and warned of the risks of deepfake disinformation.
Cat Zakrzewski / Washington Post:
A profile of Microsoft President Brad Smith, a DC veteran testing his well-worn playbook to shape AI regulation, such as by endorsing the creation of an agency  —  In 2017, Microsoft president Brad Smith made a bold prediction.  Speaking on a panel at the Davos World Economic Forum …
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google starts rolling out its LLM-powered Search Generative Experience, with features like a conversational mode and shopping aspects, to Search Labs members  —  Announced at I/O 2023, Google is now rolling out the AI/LLM-powered Search Generative Experience (SGE) to users that signed up for the Search Labs program.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
TikTok is testing its chatbot, Tako, in select markets; from the right side of the app, the bot helps users discover new content and ask questions about a video  —  AI chatbots, like ChatGPT, are all the rage, so it's no surprise to learn that TikTok is now testing its own AI chatbot, as well.
Emily Nicolle / Bloomberg:
Fahrenheit, bidders led by Arrington Capital, wins an auction for Celsius Network's assets, including loans, investments, and $500M in “liquid cryptocurrency”  —  Failed crypto lender Celsius Network LLC is poised to restart as a new company after Fahrenheit LLC …
Hannah Miller / Bloomberg:
Tools for Humanity, co-founded by Sam Altman to build Worldcoin, raised a $115M Series C led by Blockchain Capital, aiming to scan everyone's eyes to create IDs  —  A crypto startup co-founded by OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman has raised new funding to further its mission of providing a digital ID for everyone on the planet.
Stan Schroeder / Mashable:
OpenAI expands its free ChatGPT iOS app, which launched in the US last week, to 11 more countries, including the UK, Germany, France, Nigeria, and South Korea  —  The smart chat assistant is at your service in 11 new markets.  —  OpenAI's ChatGPT app for iOS is available in 11 new markets.
Access Now:
Pegasus was used in the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict to target a government worker, a UN official, and others in 2021 and 2022, the first documented use in a war  —  The Armenia spyware victims include a former Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia (the Ombudsperson) …
Samuel Stolton / Bloomberg:
Margrethe Vestager says the EU and the UK disagreeing on Microsoft's Activision deal raises “important questions” and that the remedies offered convinced the EU  —  The European Union's decision to approve Microsoft Corp.'s $69 billion plan to buy Activision Blizzard Inc …
Kevin Breuninger / CNBC:
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign announcement on Twitter Spaces was delayed by ~25 minutes of crashes, feedback glitches, and audio failures  —  - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign announcement plans evening were derailed by massive technical glitches …
More: CNN, New York Times, Associated Press, CoinDesk, TechCrunch, The Verge, Mashable, Wall Street Journal, Insider, The Guardian, Ars Technica, Washington Post, NBC News, The Register, New York Magazine, Wall Street Journal, Vox, USA Today, Bloomberg, Bitcoinist.com, Semafor, Gizmodo, The Hill, The Verge, The Hollywood Reporter, Wired, Fox News, CNN, NBC News, Wall Street Journal, Mediaite, Daily Mail, Washington Examiner, TMZ.com, TIME, Forbes, Rolling Stone, Newsweek, New York Post, Decrypt, The Hill, Reuters, Insider, Engadget, Deadline, TechCrunch, and Variety
Oliver Whang / New York Times:
A study describes how a patient who was paralyzed from the waist down was able to walk naturally again with brain and spine implants using an AI thought decoder  —  In a new study, researchers describe a device that connects the intentions of a paralyzed patient to his physical movements.
Wall Street Journal:
A look at Disney and Comcast's Hulu fight; sources say their Hulu valuations vary by tens of billions, they're in arbitration, and Comcast stopped funding Hulu  —  Parent companies are in final phase of battle marked by legal threats, broken promises and secret arbitration
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Google DeepMind details how its visual language model Flamingo generates descriptions for YouTube Shorts, stored as metadata and helping improve discoverability  —  Google just combined DeepMind and Google Brain into one big AI team, and on Wednesday, the new Google DeepMind shared details …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Starling Bank CEO Anne Boden steps down and COO John Mountain steps up as interim CEO; Starling, which has raised $1B+, reports FY revenue up 110% YoY to £453M  —  Anne Boden nearly lost a grip on Starling Bank years ago when the neobank was in the middle of a coup effort led by its CTO …
WABetaInfo:
A beta version of WhatsApp suggests the company is working on adding usernames, which may allow users to chat without sharing their phone numbers  —  WhatsApp is rolling out a new update through the Google Play Beta Program, bringing the version up to 2.23.11.15.  —  What's new in this update?

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Zoho:
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Featured Podcasts

Hard Fork:
Why Roomba Died + Tech Predictions for 2026 + A Hard Forkin' Xmas Song
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Sam Altman: How OpenAI Wins, AI Buildout Logic, IPO in 2026?
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Access:
Betting on reality with Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
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Lenny's Podcast:
The new AI growth playbook for 2026: How Lovable hit $200M ARR in one year | Elena Verna (Head of Growth)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
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Channels with Peter Kafka:
"Neither Side Is Used to Losing." Lucas Shaw on What's Next for Netflix and Paramount in the Battle for Warner Bros.
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
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Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling
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.
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Earlier Picks

Elizabeth Chamberlain / iFixit News:
The Verge:
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Rohan Goswami / CNBC: