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June 19, 2025, 7:35 AM
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Top News

Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Iran's largest crypto exchange Nobitex says it was hacked, and pro-Israel group Predatory Sparrow claims responsibility; Elliptic: $90M+ was stolen and “burned”  —  Iran's largest crypto exchange, Nobitex, said Wednesday that it was hacked and funds have been drained from its hot wallet.
Matt Kapko / CyberScoop:
A cyberattack claimed by pro-Israel hacktivist group Predatory Sparrow has reportedly disrupted services at Iran's state-owned Bank Sepah, including its website
Andrew R. Chow / Time:
An MIT study of 54 ChatGPT users: using it for SAT essays led to the lowest brain engagement and poorer neural performance than using Google or writing unaided  —  Does ChatGPT harm critical thinking abilities?  A new study from researchers at MIT's Media Lab has returned some concerning results.
Bloomberg:
Sources: Microsoft plans to announce thousands of job cuts, particularly in sales, early next month after its fiscal year ends, after cutting 6,000 jobs in May  —  The cuts are expected to be announced early next month, following the end of Microsoft's fiscal year, according to people familiar with the matter.
Bloomberg:
Texas Instruments plans to spend $60B+ on US semiconductor plants, including two new factories in Texas, and says its long-term spending plan remains unchanged  —  The company said its long-term capital spending plan remains unchanged.  The total includes amounts allotted to plants …
Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:
Korean media: Google's move from Samsung to TSMC for its Tensor G5 chip in the upcoming Pixel 10 series was a “shock” and a wake-up call for Samsung's foundry  —  According to a new report, Google's switch from Samsung's foundry to TSMC for the Tensor G5 chip in the upcoming Pixel 10 series was a …
The Information:
Source: Meta is in advanced talks to hire Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross to work on its AI efforts and possibly buy out part of their venture capital fund NFDG  —  Meta Platforms is in advanced talks to hire the prominent artificial intelligence investors Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross …
Financial Times:
Sources: Microsoft is prepared to walk away from high-stakes talks with OpenAI if they cannot agree on critical issues, such as the size of Microsoft's stake  —  ChatGPT maker's plans to convert into a for-profit leads software giant to make contingency plans
Carl Franzen / VentureBeat:
Midjourney launches V1, its first AI video generation model, letting subscribers animate images via its website; video jobs will cost ~8x more than image jobs  —  Popular AI image generation service Midjourney has launched its first AI video generation model V1, marking a pivotal shift …
MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC:
The DOJ announces the seizure of $225.3M in crypto linked to “pig butchering” scams, marking “the largest cryptocurrency seizure in US Secret Service history”  —  The Justice Department announced Wednesday the largest-ever U.S. seizure of cryptocurrency linked to so-called …
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Meta is adding support for passkeys on Facebook's iOS and Android apps “soon”, and will begin rolling out passkeys to Messenger “in the coming months”  —  Using your device security instead of a password makes it harder to get tricked into giving up your Facebook account.
Scale AI:
Scale AI emphasizes that it “remains an independent company” and says Meta will not have access to its internal systems or customers' confidential information  —  Over the past week, we've received thoughtful questions from our customers, partners, and contributors …
Rachel Metz / Bloomberg:
OpenAI says it's phasing out its work with Scale AI, into which Meta invested $14.3B, and that Scale AI accounted for a small fraction of its overall data needs
Washington Post:
The US State Department restarts student visa interviews and requires all applicants to make their social media accounts public for vetting by US embassies  —  The new requirements could affect hundreds of thousands of visa applications each year, raising concerns about staffing requirements.
Sophie Shulman / CTech:
Wix acquires Base44, which lets users build apps from text prompts, for $80M; Base44 was founded by a solo entrepreneur six months ago and employs six people  —  31-year-old Maor Shlomo built the viral AI app-maker as a side project that began last year during a post-reserve trip.
Federico Viticci / MacStories:
An interview with Craig Federighi on the journey to iPadOS' new windowing system and menu bar, the iPad's essence as a “magical piece of glass”, and more  —  It's a cool, sunny morning at Apple Park as I'm walking my way along the iconic glass ring to meet with Apple's SVP …
Ina Fried / Axios:
OpenAI warns that its upcoming models could pose a higher risk of enabling the creation of biological weapons and says it is stepping up testing of such models  —  OpenAI cautioned Wednesday that upcoming models will head into a higher level of risk when it comes to the creation of biological weapons …
More: OpenAI
Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:
OpenAI details why “emergent misalignment”, where training on wrong answers in one area can lead to misalignment in others, happens and how it can be mitigated
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Google rolls out the ability to have back-and-forth voice conversations with AI Mode, available in the Google app by tapping the Live button  —  Google is rolling out the ability for users to have a back-and-forth voice conversation with AI Mode, its experimental Search feature that lets users ask complex, multi-part questions.
Kimberley Kao / Wall Street Journal:
Source: OpenAI is changing ChatGPT Enterprise's pricing structure to include a credits system, moving from a fixed price, to give companies more leeway  —  The new pricing comes amid increasingly heated competition in the artificial-intelligence space  —  OpenAI is changing how it sells …
Bluesky: @edzitron.com

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 7:35 AM ET, June 19, 2025.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

From Mediagazer

Variety:
Sources: the legal team for Paramount President Jeff Shell has engaged in preliminary talks about a possible exit from the company, where he was hired in 2024

Katie Deighton / Wall Street Journal:
WME is selling sports marketing agency 160over90 to Publicis Groupe for, sources say, $500M+; WME bought the agency in 2018 for about $200M

Erik Wemple / New York Times:
Judges have now cited verbal attacks on the press by Trump and appointees when ruling against the US government in at least three cases involving news outlets

More News

Ellen Barry / New York Times:
Study: US kids who said their social media, phone, or video game use was “addictive” were 2x-3x more likely to have thoughts of suicide or self-harm by age 14

Earlier Picks

Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Klarna launches a $40/month unlimited mobile plan in the US via a partnership with telecom services startup Gigs, following similar offerings by Revolut and N26
Lisa Stiffler / GeekWire:
TerraPower, which develops small modular nuclear reactors, raised $650M from investors including Nvidia's NVentures and TerraPower co-founder Bill Gates
Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
Waymo applied for a NYC permit to test its cars with safety drivers and plans to start collecting mapping data with manually driven cars in Manhattan in July
Kayla Cobb / The Wrap:
Cannes Lions: YouTube CEO Neal Mohan says YouTube Shorts now averages 200B daily views, up 186% from the 70B average daily views YouTube reported in March 2024
Hayden Field / The Verge:
The Midas Project and The Tech Oversight Project release The OpenAI Files, a 50+ page analysis of OpenAI's governance, leadership, and organizational culture
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