Techmeme
June 13, 2025, 9:55 PM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Walmart, Amazon, and Expedia have recently explored issuing or using stablecoins in the US to potentially save fees from cash and card transactions  —  Corporate coins could take payments activity away from banks and the traditional financial system
Kashmir Hill / New York Times:
Some users say ChatGPT led them into conspiratorial thinking, and when confronted, it confessed to manipulation and told them to alert OpenAI and the media  —  Generative A.I. chatbots are going down conspiratorial rabbit holes and endorsing wild, mystical belief systems.
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Google says it is testing Audio Overviews for certain Search queries, available for Labs users in English in the US  —  If you opt into the test, you'll see the option to generate an Audio Overview based on some of your searches. … Google is rolling out a test that puts its AI-powered Audio Overviews …
Wall Street Journal:
23andMe says TTAM Research Institute, a nonprofit backed by Anne Wojcicki, is the new buyer for the company's assets, offering $305M and topping Regeneron's bid  —  Regeneron is backing away from buying the DNA-testing company after a nonprofit controlled by co-founder Wojcicki made a higher bid
Reuters:
Sources: Google, Scale AI's largest customer, plans to cut ties with the company after the Meta deal; Microsoft, OpenAI, and xAI also plan to step back  —  Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google, the largest customer of Scale AI, plans to cut ties with Scale after news broke that rival Meta (META.O) …
Samantha Cole / 404 Media:
Digital rights organizations urge the FTC to investigate Character.AI and Meta's “unlicensed practice of medicine facilitated” by therapy AI chatbots  —  Exclusive: An FTC complaint led by the Consumer Federation of America outlines how therapy bots on Meta and Character.AI …
Bloomberg:
Emily Mason / Bloomberg:
Source: Ramp raised $200M led by Founders Fund, valuing the startup at $16B, up from $13B in March, when it conducted a $150M share sale  —  Financial technology startup Ramp is now valued at $16 billion following a $200 million funding around, according to a person familiar with the matter.
More: The InformationX: @pitdesi and @jasonlk
Dominic Preston / The Verge:
Google plans to shut down Android's Instant Apps, which let users launch apps without installing them, later this year citing low usage and engagement  —  The installation-free apps will join the Google graveyard in December. … Google has confirmed that it plans to shut …
James Hunt / The Block:
Yupp, which rewards users in crypto for comparing answers from multiple AI models and giving feedback, emerges from stealth with a $33M seed led by a16z crypto  —  - AI startup Yupp has raised $33 million in a seed funding round led by a16z crypto, founded by a team of veterans from Coinbase, Google, and X.
Heather Somerville / Wall Street Journal:
The Army Reserve launches Detachment 201, an innovation corps with Palantir CTO, Meta CTO, and other tech execs advising on AI and tech as lieutenant colonels  —  Silicon Valley executives are joining a new innovation corps in Army Reserve  —  The nerd brigade is reporting for duty.

Sponsor Posts

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F5:
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Zoho:
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Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
How People Use ChatGPT, Meta's New AI Glasses, Can Jimmy Kimmel Be Canceled?
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
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Hard Fork:
Charlie Kirk and Online Rage + Inside Trump's Chip Flip + This Week in A.I.
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
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Decoder with Nilay Patel:
How chatbots — and their makers — are enabling AI psychosis
A show from the Verge about big ideas - and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
Lenny's Podcast:
Why experts writing AI evals is creating the fastest-growing companies in history | Brendan Foody (CEO of Mercor)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
I tried Zuckerberg's $800 Ray-Bans. Are they the future? With Alex Heath
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.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
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More News

Dong Cao / Bloomberg:
Matt Swider / The Shortcut:
Emma Roth / The Verge:

Earlier Picks

Reuters:
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
CoinDesk: