Techmeme: As the world moves toward digital artificiality, Airbnb's redesign and Apple's Liquid Glass UI bring back skeuomorphism and dimensionality to digital interfaces (Austin Carr/Bloomberg)

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June 14, 2025, 2:30 AM

Top News

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) …

More: Inc.com, The Information, International Business Times, Artificial Ignorance, Reuters, Axios, Bloomberg Law, Engadget, Silicon Republic, Los Angeles Times, and Hürriyet Daily News

X: @rwang07 and @mikeisaac. Forums: r/outlier_ai

See also Mediagazer

Kate Clark / Bloomberg:

Source: Accel, which owns 18.5% of Scale AI after investing a total of ~$350M, expects to gain over $2.5B from Meta's $14.3B investment in the startup — Accel is among a handful of VC firms poised to see big returns from early bets on Scale AI. — A handful of venture capital firms …

More: Scale AI, TechCrunch, Accel, Verdict, and MarketWatch

X: @accel, @daniel_levine, @everettrandle, and @garrytan

Jackie Davalos / Bloomberg:

Meta's Scale AI deal dwarfs rivals' “reverse acquihires” in scope and ambition, showing that its fear of lagging in AI outweighs fears of regulatory backlash

More: The Verge, Reuters, Ed Zitron's Where's Your Ed At, Computerworld, Fortune, and WinBuzzer. Threads: @benedictevans

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 …

More: The Keyword, 9to5Google, Engadget, Agence France-Presse, Tech Times, Android Central, PCMag, Ars Technica, Android Authority, Neowin, CNET, Thurrott, TechCrunch, Search Engine Journal, XDA Developers, NERDS.xyz, The Decoder, and Search Engine Roundtable. Forums: Slashdot

Matt O'Brien / Associated Press:

Harvard releases Institutional Books 1.0, a dataset for AI researchers with 242B tokens, from 394M scanned pages and 983K public domain books in 254 languages — Everything ever said on the internet was just the start of teaching artificial intelligence about humanity.

More: arXiv.org, Institutional Books on Hugging Face, Institutional Data Initiative, Institutional Data Initiative, Institutional Books on Hugging Face, Institutional Books on Hugging Face, and Institutional Data Initiative on GitHub

X: @instdin. LinkedIn: Matt O'Brien and Institutional Data Initiative …

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.

More: Futurism, Gizmodo, The Indian Express, Tom's Hardware, Daring Fireball, Raw Story, HotAir, and WinBuzzer

Bluesky: @jessicawildfire, @isaacdovere, @amandalitman, @cmonstah, @mehdirhasan, @harrymccracken.com, @bvd100, @gelliottmorris.com, @carnage4life, @joemenn, @karlbode.com, @aaronrosspowell.com, @davidnir.com, @robinwigglesworth.ft.com, @justinhendrix, and @martinsfp

Threads: @lulugnavarro, @jbillinson, and @tomgara

X: @anukasan1977, @garymarcus, @whstancil, @rob_flaherty, @nedstanley, @tonybiasotti, @kashhill, @mcmansionhell, @esyudkowsky, @virginiahughes, @berlinger, @ericnewcomer, @miles_brundage, @lakitukl, @bartongellman, @esyudkowsky, @alex_panetta, and @kashhill

LinkedIn: James Souttar and Anne Trumbore

Forums: Hacker News, r/ChatGPT, r/ArtificialSentience, r/OpenAI, r/neoliberal, r/Longreads, r/slatestarcodex, and r/skeptic

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

More: CNBC, 23andMe, Inc., Reuters, The Information, Engadget, Los Angeles Times, MarketWatch, The Verge, San Francisco Business Times, and STAT

X: @23andme and @rolfewinkler. LinkedIn: Anne Wojcicki. Forums: Hacker News

Jordan Novet / CNBC:

Oracle stock jumped 24% this week, its best performance since 2001, and is up 29% in 2025, vs. Nasdaq's 1%, after the company reported cloud momentum — Oracle shares enjoyed their best week since 2001 as Wall Street cheered a strong earnings report and bullish comments on the company's prospects in cloud computing.

More: Cryptopolitan, Blockchain.News, MarketWatch, and Investor's Business Daily. Bluesky: @quinnypig.com

Aarian Marshall / Wired:

Waymo temporarily limits service in SF, Austin, and Atlanta, and stops service in LA, as US cities prepare for protests against federal immigration policies — A week after five robot cars were burned in Los Angeles, the Google sister company isn't taking risks.

More: San Francisco Chronicle and Texas Public Radio

Forums: r/sanfrancisco and r/waymo

Rachyl Jones / Semafor:

AIM Intelligent Machines, which retrofits heavy construction equipment to operate autonomously, raised $50M from Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst, and others — THE SCOOP — Tech startup AIM Intelligent Machines, which retrofits heavy construction equipment to operate autonomously …

More: 425 Business

Samantha Stokes / Business Insider:

A look at 10 AI agent startups from YC's first-ever spring Demo Day; the batch included 144 companies, 70 of which focused on agentic AI — - Y Combinator's spring 2025 batch featured 70 startups focused on agentic AI. — The intensive, three-month accelerator program invests $500,000 in each selected startup.

Chris Metinko / Axios:

Horizon3.ai, whose AI-based penetration testing platform NodeZero helps find and exploit attack paths in production systems, raised a $100M Series D led by NEA — Autonomous security startup Horizon3.ai locked up a $100 million Series D led by NEA, co-founder and CEO Snehal Antani tells Axios Pro.

More: Business Wire, VC News Daily, FinSMEs, FinTech Global, The Stack, and SiliconANGLE

LinkedIn: Ilya Kirnos and Horizon3.ai

Austin Carr / Bloomberg:

As the world moves toward digital artificiality, Airbnb's redesign and Apple's Liquid Glass UI bring back skeuomorphism and dimensionality to digital interfaces — From Airbnb's new app icons to Apple's “Liquid Glass” design, skeuomorphism is back and everything in the digital world has dimensionality again.

Threads: @asallen. X: @austincarr, @austincarr, and @asallen

Sean Michael Kerner / Network World:

The Ultra Ethernet Consortium, whose members include AMD, Cisco, HPE, and Intel, publishes the 1.0 specification for enhancing Ethernet standards for AI and HPC — The UEC 1.0 specification includes a modern RDMA approach, new transport protocols, and congestion control mechanisms designed for AI and HPC requirements.

More: SemiAnalysis, Tom's Hardware, Phoronix, Ultra Ethernet Consortium, Ultra Ethernet Consortium, and Ultra Ethernet Consortium. X: @techjournalist

Josh Sisco / Bloomberg:

Sources: the US DOJ is reviewing whether Google's planned $32B acquisition of cybersecurity company Wiz would illegally limit competition in the market — Justice Department antitrust enforcers are reviewing whether Google's planned $32 billion acquisition of cybersecurity company Wiz Inc …

More: Reuters and Cryptopolitan

Dan Primack / Axios:

A White House memo says David Sacks and Craft Ventures are divesting holdings in AI companies and hyperscalers like xAI and Meta — David Sacks, the venture capitalist advising President Trump on crypto and AI policy, is divesting his holdings in foundational AI companies and hyperscalers like xAI and Meta …

More: The White House. Bluesky: @thinkyparts. X: @danprimack, @danprimack, and @danprimack

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From Mediagazer

Washington Post:

Stars and Stripes' publisher Max Lederer, EIC Erik Slavin, and reporter Lara Korte sue the DOD, claiming their firings were retaliatory and broke federal law

Andrew Solender / Axios:

Democrats and Republicans are pressuring TV stations in opposite ways over the rates they charge political parties and super PACs for ads after a court ruling

Michael Savage / The Guardian:

BBC DG Matt Brittin suggests turning an “iPlayer 2.0” into a YouTube-style site hosting appropriate content from creators with a “public service algorithm”

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More News

Dominic-Madori Davis / TechCrunch:

Canary, which offers hotel guest management tools, raised an $80M Series D led by Brighton Park Capital, valuing the company at about $600M

More: The American Bazaar, Canary Technologies, Hotel Dive, FinSMEs, Hospitality Net, PhocusWire, and VC News Daily. X: @dflieb

New York Times:

President Trump's 2024 financial disclosure report shows he earned ~$57M from his stake in World Liberty Financial and $1.2M from an NFT licensing deal

More: USA Today, Reuters, Office of Government Ethics, NBC News, Coinpedia Fintech News, Blockchain.News, KRDO, New York Post, and Pravda Trump

Brian Gormley / Wall Street Journal:

Ellipsis Health, which developed an AI voice agent to check in on patients between doctor visits, raised a $45M Series A led by Salesforce, Khosla, and CVS

More: Fierce Healthcare, Ellipsis Health, MobiHealthNews, and VC News Daily

X: @khoslaventures. LinkedIn: Ash Patel

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

More: The Information. X: @pitdesi and @jasonlk

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

More: a16z crypto, Wired, SiliconANGLE, and NFTgators

X: @pankaj, @emiliemc, @gilad, @sreeramkannan, @gilad, @jasonrosenthal, @pankaj, and @cdixon. LinkedIn: Wenny Yustalim

Axios:

Sources: Palmer Luckey's stablecoin startup Atticus raised ~$250M at a $2.25B valuation, and will merge into Erebor, formed by Luckey to get a banking license

More: New York Post. X: @danprimack

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

More: Dexerto, Futurism, and Consumer Federation of America

Bluesky: @smcgrath.phd, @darlakay, @sesmith.lol, @samleecole, @fabiochiusi, and @jonchristian.net

Mastodon: @remixtures@tldr.nettime.org and @Mikal@sfba.social

X: @iwillleavenow and @consumerfed. LinkedIn: Kevin Klyman

Forums: r/BetterOffline and Slashdot

CNBC:

Amazon reorganizes its healthcare business into six “pillars” to simplify its structure, following executive departures and its struggles in the market

More: PYMNTS.com, Chain Store Age, Reuters, and Becker's Hospital Review. Forums: r/business

Earlier Picks

Bloomberg:

China releases draft guidelines on cross-border transmission of automobile data, which could pave the way for the wider rollout of Tesla's FSD in the country

More: Carscoops, InsideEVs, Sherwood News, and EV

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

More: TechCrunch, Task & Purpose, The Free Press, Blaze Media, The Register, Breitbart, The Information, WinBuzzer, Defense News, Breaking Defense, and DefenseScoop

Bluesky: @davidjroth, @rmac, @newsincontext, and @hypervisible. Mastodon: @jeffjarvis@mastodon.social

Threads: @bilawal.ai, @boztank, and @boztank

X: @ericnewcomer, @johnwilson, @ssankar, @katienotopoulos, @kevinweil, @elianoayounes, @pitdesi, and @chafkin

LinkedIn: Ruth Ann Clark, Jim Perkins, and Kevin Weil

Forums: r/BetterOffline, r/Military, and r/army

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

More: Android Authority, Ars Technica, The Mac Observer, News.ng, Thurrott, The Hans India, Nairametrics, Pocket-lint, Android Headlines, Android Police, and Phone Scoop

Bluesky: @codybrom.com. Mastodon: @tbernard@mastodon.social. LinkedIn: Tobias Kunisch. Forums: r/mAndroidDev

Dong Cao / Bloomberg:

Sources: Tencent is in early talks to acquire Nexon, the South Korean gaming giant behind Dungeon & Fighter Mobile; Tencent pursued a Nexon acquisition in 2019

More: CoinDesk, Gameranx, TechNode, Verdict, crypto.news, THE INVESTOR, Korea Joongang Daily, KED Global, and Cointelegraph

LinkedIn: Richard King and Nathan Naidu

Forums: r/Maplestory and r/gaming

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

More: Bloomberg, Bloomberg, CoinDesk, Decrypt, CryptoPotato, Kiplinger, Axios, Sherwood News, The Independent, RetailWire, The Block, American Banker, PaymentsJournal, MarketWatch, Quartz, Ledger Insights, ZyCrypto, The Crypto Basic, Barron's Online, NFTgators, Yahoo Finance, New York Post, CryptoSlate, The Coin Republic, Cryptopolitan, The Information, Proactive, CoinDesk, The Block, Coinspeaker, Blockchain.News, Coinpedia Fintech News, CoinGape, crypto.news, Morningstar, Inc., The Crypto Times, PYMNTS.com, Bitcoinist.com, Crypto Briefing, Watcher Guru, The Defiant, and Cointelegraph

Bluesky: @edmundlee and @hypervisible

X: @apompliano, @techleadhd, @leehepner, @leehepner, @robblackwellab, @matthewstoller, @intangiblecoins, @thestalwart, @amandalfischer, @nathanielpopper, @ntmoney, @amandalfischer, @brendanpedersen, @amandalfischer, @iamdcinvestor, @hadickm, @jbsdc, and @banamlas. LinkedIn: Ben Parkes

Forums: r/wallstreetbets and r/technology

Emma Roth / The Verge:

Betting platform Kalshi aired a fully AI-generated 30-second ad during the NBA Finals, reportedly made in 2-3 days with 300-400 generations using Google's Veo 3

More: Gizmodo, Business Insider, Mashable, WinBuzzer, Shelly Palmer, The Rundown AI, and PetaPixel

X: @pjaccetturo, @kalshi, @drorpoleg, @pjaccetturo, and @pjaccetturo. LinkedIn: Ben Colman