Techmeme
January 25, 2025, 6:55 AM

Top News

Financial Times:
Industry insiders say DeepSeek's focus on research makes it a dangerous competitor as it's willing to share breakthroughs rather than protect them for profits  —  Hedge fund billionaire Liang Wenfeng builds model on tight budget despite US attempt to halt China's high-tech ambitions
Carl Franzen / VentureBeat:
Yann LeCun says DeepSeek “profited from open research and open source” like Meta's Llama and is proof that open source models are surpassing proprietary ones  —  If you hadn't heard, there's a new AI star in town: DeepSeek, the subsidiary of Hong Kong-based quantitative analysis …
Wall Street Journal:
In email to X staff, Musk says “user growth is stagnant, revenue is unimpressive, and we're barely breaking even”; sources: banks plan to sell their debt in X  —  Banks are hoping to sell the X debt at around 90 to 95 cents on the dollar  —  Wall Street banks are getting ready …
More: The Verge, PCMag, Futurism, Bloomberg, TechCrunch, The Economic Times, Benzinga, The Wrap, and Reuters
Bluesky: @mmasnick, @legacyusername, @johngage1, @buddsd, @kegman83, @petergratton, @gonzarro, @m3talgearz, @thetwinewinder, @neiltypewriter, @leftsedfred …, @ccxkingxcc, @deardara, @celicilorena, @joelhs, @docnickie, @johnxuandou, @sportzagato, @cannibalpinata, @pithypacky, @southsidetrekkie, @behrbones, @bankuei, @mtelm, @juditpetho, @skeetownhobbit, @thetypist, @chrismsf, @kevinwglass, @ironsquirrel, @ilikesportsmostly, @bigbeandotgov, @nypinta, @imnotahrhitter, @esghound.com, @maxkennerly, @mattrigg, @reckless, @benloggedon, @pabably, @seanokane, @bft.wtf, @lukethomas, @barrybergman, @rss.coffee, @gwollman, @thurstoncounty, @revjulieh, @koleross, @tyleraking.com, @matthiasplappert.com, @dougdirt24, @garyrockrose, @margarita, @rufus-hickok, @whizzo, @bdplayer81, @popolvuzh, @harrisj, @alwayserked, @ecostarr, @ammy, @thereallari, @grantmooney, @noahseligman, @robairone, @dcharlie, @1stamericanhoodlum, @1stamericanhoodlum, @hereforfun, @prietschka, @tttomblue, @anthropicscholar, @mrshiddeddoodoo, @borisbadenov, @turnerjoy, @schoenen, @raisinguptown, @wattasecond, @cavskermit, @wukko.me, @pecunium, @asherlangton, @razastwart, @mercygrimm, @phoul, @keithdonovan, @thegrimrecapper, @ironbound, @bartsmith, @brendelbored, @litigaytor, @ailurouge, @chrisdoll, @valkyrie.hacker.gf, @ratelimitexceeder, @grudgie, @pelops, @usspcrichardandson, @saileshpatel, @ketameanie, @davidjwbailey, @cachiporra, @sspence3, @salfranzaya, @gregred, @labuzamovies.com, @crunk1977, @nowhere, @nystateofmind, @ldldn, @sarcasticdad, @studuncan, @brianhough.com, @robchilver, @mstefan, @maxkennerly, and @peark.esMastodon: @joy@mastodon.social
Drew Harwell / Washington Post:
The Guardian:
An investigation reveals how the Israeli military's reliance on Microsoft's cloud and AI systems surged during the most intensive phase of the Israel-Hamas war  —  Leaked documents shed light on how Israel integrated the US tech giant into its war effort to meet growing demand for cloud and AI tools
More: Drop Site News and +972 Magazine
Bluesky: @leloveluck and @wnstnsmithMastodon: @ramsey@phpc.socialLinkedIn: Esra'a Al ShafeiForums: r/Palestine
New York Times:
Elon Musk's first moves suggest DOGE will be closer to an IT project than the sweeping operation to slash $2T+ from the federal budget that he once predicted  —  The rebranding of a former White House digital office into the new Department of Government Efficiency signals its potential limits, budget experts said.
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Meta begins a “limited, early test” of ads in Threads in the US and Japan, with the goal of making the ads “as interesting as organic content”  —  Meta's X rival Threads said Friday that it is now testing ads with select brands in the U.S. and Japan.
Meghan Bobrowsky / Wall Street Journal:
Jaspreet Singh / Reuters:
MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC:
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple moved Kim Vorrath, a company veteran known for fixing troubled products, to its AI group to help improve Siri and Apple Intelligence  —  - Kim Vorrath previously worked on Vision Pro, iPhone software  — The company is racing to catch up in artificial intelligence
Catherine McGrath / Fortune:
White House crypto czar David Sacks says NFTs and memecoins are neither securities nor commodities, but collectibles that people buy to “commemorate something”  —  Non-fungible tokens and memecoins are neither securities nor commodities, according to White House crypto czar David Sacks.
Simon Willison / Simon Willison's Weblog:
OpenAI updates ChatGPT's Canvas feature with o1 model support and HTML and React code rendering, making it a direct competitor to Claude's Artifacts  —  OpenAI Canvas gets a huge upgrade.  Canvas is the ChatGPT feature where ChatGPT can open up a shared editing environment and collaborate …
Rolling Stone:
Sources: Trump's team members don't buy Zuckerberg's right-wing conversion as entirely genuine; one senior official says he has a “lot more ass-kissing” to do  —  Trump's aides and allies aren't ready to buy the Facebook chief's right-wing conversion.  “He can't just snap his fingers and make the past not happen”

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Earlier Picks

Pranav Dixit / Business Insider:
Katie Deighton / Wall Street Journal:
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC:
Financial Times:
Jay Peters / The Verge: