Techmeme
May 17, 2025, 2:15 AM

Top News

Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:
OpenAI rolls out Codex, an AI coding agent powered by codex-1, a version of o3 optimized for software engineering, for ChatGPT Pro, Enterprise, and Team users  —  OpenAI announced on Friday it's launching a research preview of Codex, the company's most capable AI coding agent yet.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Apple denies removing Fortnite from alternative marketplaces in the EU and says it asked Epic Sweden to resubmit the app update excluding the US App Store  —  The game developer earlier said that Apple “blocked” its latest Fortnite app submission so that it can't be released in the US or on the third-party Epic Games Store in the EU.
Marcus Mendes / 9to5Mac:
Epic's new motion asks a US district judge to order Apple to approve Fortnite on the US App Store, calling Apple's continued refusal contempt of court  —  As reported by Mark Gurman, Epic's petition reads: … In the document, Epic also makes a point to mention Tim Cook's testimony at trial, in which he said:
Dominic Preston / The Verge:
Washington Post:
Big Tech companies are firing staff who organize protests and rejecting petitions, even as a poor job market discourages worker activism, once ubiquitous in SV  —  A tighter labor market and lower corporate tolerance have stifled once boisterous employee input on controversies over company policy, AI safety and the Israel-Gaza war.
Brian Merchant / Blood in the Machine:
A look at AI companies' lobbying push, as well as the GOP's pitch, for the amendment to ban state-level AI regulation, added to the budget reconciliation bill  —  Inside the effort to de-democratize AI  —  Today, we dive deep into the GOP's radical campaign to ban US states from passing any laws that govern AI.
MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC:
Galaxy Digital, which has traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange since 2020, started trading on the Nasdaq on Friday under the ticker GLXY; the stock closed up 4%  —  WATCH NOW  —  Mike Novogratz' crypto firm Galaxy Digital started trading on the Nasdaq Friday under the ticker GLXY.
Bloomberg:
Sources: OpenAI is expected to be a primary anchor tenant for a 5-gigawatt UAE data center, which could become one of the world's largest at 10 square miles  —  OpenAI plans to help develop a massive new data center in the United Arab Emirates that may eventually be one of the largest in the world …
Justin Lahart / Wall Street Journal:
MIT says it no longer stands behind a widely circulated research paper by its student that claimed an AI tool boosted discoveries in a materials science lab  —  The university says it has no confidence in a widely circulated paper by an economics graduate student
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Dan Primack / Axios:
Carta: VC deals are stalling at seed, with the Series A deal count falling by 79% between Q1 2022 and Q1 2025; 46% of seed deals were bridge rounds in Q1 2025  —  Top of the Morning  —  Venture capital's series progression is stalling at seed, according to new data released this morning by Carta.
More: Carta and Carta
Kelcee Griffis / Bloomberg:
The FCC approves Verizon's $9.6B acquisition of Frontier Communications after Verizon agreed to pare back what Brendan Carr called “invidious” DEI practices  —  The deal “will unleash billions of dollars in new infrastructure builds in communities across the country …
Allie Garfinkle / Fortune:
Stord, a logistics startup serving over 500 mid-market e-commerce brands, raised an $80M Series E led by Strike Capital at a $1.5B valuation and $120M in debt  —  Sean Henry of Stord.  —  Stord  —  In third grade, Sean Henry had enough of the baseball bat dilemma.

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Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
Inside The AI Bubble: Debt, Depreciation, and Losses — With Gil Luria
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Hard Fork:
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Lenny's Podcast:
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Great Chat:
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More News

Todd Bishop / GeekWire:

Earlier Picks

Reuters:
Lauren Goode / Wired:
More: Newsweek and Forbes
Bluesky: @laurengoodeX: @scobleizerLinkedIn: Christof JaritzForums: r/TrueReddit and r/politics
Jason Schreier / Bloomberg:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Niket Nishant / Reuters: