Open Links In New Tab
Mobile Archives Advertise Site News Contact Editors
Techmeme
August 13, 2025, 11:30 AM
Mediagazer memeorandum WeSmirch
Home River Leaderboards About Events Newsletter

Top News

Doug OLaughlin / SemiAnalysis:
GPT-5's router directs queries based on complexity and intent, helping OpenAI allocate compute across low-value informational and high-value commercial requests  —  To many power users (Pro and Plus), GPT5 was a disappointing release.  But with closer inspection, the real release is focused …
Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:
OpenAI adds GPT-5 Auto, Fast, and Thinking settings to ChatGPT's model picker; Auto seems to work like GPT-5's model router that OpenAI initially announced  —  When OpenAI launched GPT-5 last week, the company said the model would simplify the ChatGPT experience.
Reuters:
Sources: the US secretly embedded location trackers in select AI chip shipments, such as in Dell and Super Micro servers, to detect illegal diversions to China  —  U.S. authorities have secretly placed location tracking devices in targeted shipments of advanced chips they see as being at high risk …
M.G. Siegler / Spyglass:
Perplexity's unsolicited $34.5B bid for Chrome with claimed VC backing is clearly a marketing stunt and maybe a signal to the judge in Google's antitrust case  —  Perplexity Makes Longshot $34.5 Billion Offer for Chrome  —  With its unsolicited bid for Google's browser …
Katherine Blunt / Wall Street Journal:
Perplexity offers to acquire Chrome for $34.5B, significantly more than Perplexity's estimated $18B valuation, and says large VC funds agreed to back the deal
New York Times:
Sources: US investigators found evidence that Russia is at least partly responsible for the US federal court's filing system being under attack since early July
Derek Thompson:
Studies suggest AI chatbots' sycophantic responses may increase narcissism among young and vulnerable users, potentially changing personality traits at scale  —  “I can imagine a future where a lot of people really trust ChatGPT's advice for their most important decisions,” Sam Altman said.
Financial Times:
Sources: OpenAI is preparing to back Neuralink rival Merge Labs, co-founded by Sam Altman, that aims to raise $250M at an $850M valuation, including from OpenAI  —  OpenAI in talks to invest in brain implant start-up that would compete with Musk's company  —  OpenAI and its co-founder Sam Altman …
Bloomberg:
Crypto exchange Bullish raised $1.1B in its IPO, selling 30M shares for $37 each, above its $32-to-$33 marketed range, implying a $5.4B valuation  —  Bullish raised $1.1 billion in an initial public offering, pricing its shares above the marketed range.  —  The digital-asset exchange operator …
Bloomberg:
Amazon says it now offers same-day grocery delivery in 1,000+ cities and plans to bring it to 2,300+ more by the end of 2025; Prime subscribers get it free  —  Amazon.com Inc. plans to offer same-day grocery delivery in 2,300 cities by the end of the year, more than doubling the current number …
Mark Gurman / @markgurman:
In response to Elon Musk's claims that the App Store favors ChatGPT, Apple says that it “is designed to be fair and free of bias” and has “objective criteria”  —  Apple on @elonmusk's claims: “The App Store is designed to be fair and free of bias. We feature thousands of apps through charts, algorithmic recommendations, and curated lists selected by experts using objective criteria.” https://www.bloomberg.com/...
Surbhi Misra / Reuters:
Elon Musk says that Apple “makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI” to top its App Store, an “antitrust violation”, and xAI will take legal action
Ben Raab / Wall Street Journal:
A look at social media “clippers”, who are paid $0.50 to $2 per thousand views by streamers, podcasts, and startups to make buzzy moments go viral online  —  Companies are hiring ‘clippers’ to flood TikTok and Instagram with short, promotional videos  —  You know those buzzy viral clips you see on social media?
Wall Street Journal:
US tech startups are reviving US hiring plans as President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill lets companies accelerate R&D tax deductions, starting in 2025  —  Faster deductions make adding staff cheaper when cash flow is critical, executives say  —  Tech startups are dusting off U.S. hiring plans …
More: Observer
Joedy McCreary / MedPage Today:
Study: endoscopists accustomed to using AI during colonoscopies detected fewer precancerous growths after the tech was taken away, raising “deskilling” concerns  —  - The adenoma detection rate (ADR) in more than 1,400 non-AI assisted colonoscopies dropped 6 percentage points …

Sponsor Posts

Subquadratic:
Subquadratic: the LLM built for 12M-token reasoning  —  SubQ can reason across entire codebases and document sets in one pass with no RAG workarounds.  Read how SubQ 1.1 Small holds near-perfect retrieval out to 12M tokens.
Cloudflare:
Cloudflare Connect 2026: The Agentic Conference  —  Stop preparing for agents.  Start running them.  100+ sessions, workshops, and speakers from OpenAI, Arm, and Cloudflare across AI, security, and performance.
Zoho:
Step into smarter meetings: Zoho Cliq Rooms is now available on Neat devices  —  The meeting landscape has completely transformed over the last few years, moving from conference rooms to people joining across locations and time zones.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.
Sponsor Techmeme

Featured Podcasts

Acquired:
 Home Depot
Learn the playbooks that built the world's greatest companies - and how you can apply them as a founder, operator, or investor.
Subscribe to Acquired.
Big Technology Podcast:
 Special Report: Will AI Wipe Out Humanity? (And Who Profits)
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
 The Atlantic's CEO on AI, Billionaire Owners, and Moonlighting as a Creator
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.
Sources:
 Mark Zuckerberg on Muse, Meta's biggest AI bet yet
Candid conversations with the leaders shaping what's next in AI and the broader tech industry. Hosted by Alex Heath, who has covered Silicon Valley for more than a decade.
Subscribe to Sources.
Lenny's Podcast:
 How we built Grok Bot in a month | Roman Ugarte (SpaceXAI)
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.
Invest Like the Best:
 Walter Russell Mead - How America Keeps Winning
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Add your podcast here
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:30 AM ET, August 13, 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

CNN:
Sources: Pete Hegseth pushed for two F-15 crew members rescued from Iran to join a 60 Minutes story; Bari Weiss lobbied Hegseth to give CBS exclusive access

Max Tani / Semafor:
A look at Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's tense relationship with financial media, sources say after Bloomberg's 2025 story on his two “principal residences”

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Board letter: Comcast and Paramount Skydance are launching a “review of strategic options” for their European joint venture streaming service SkyShowtime

More News

Reuters:
Tencent reports Q2 revenue up 15% YoY to ~$25.7B, vs. ~$24.8B est., gaming revenue up 17% YoY to ~$5.6B, global revenue up 35% YoY to ~$2.6B, a $7.7B net profit

Earlier Picks

Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch:
India's RBI grants Paytm “in-principle” approval to operate as a payment services provider for online merchants, after China's Ant Group sold its entire stake
Sharon Goldman / Fortune:
NYC-based Profound, which helps brands optimize visibility in AI search responses, raised a $35M Series B led by Sequoia, bringing its total funding to $58.5M
Bloomberg:
CoreWeave reports Q2 revenue up 207% YoY to $1.21B, vs. $1.08B est., and adjusted net loss up 2,450% YoY to $130.8M, vs. $96.3M est.; CRWV drops 10%+
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Google launches Preferred Sources in the US and India, allowing users to personalize the news in Search's “top stories” section by selecting favorite outlets
Emily Price / Fast Company:
Meta says Threads has 400M+ monthly active users, up from 350M MAUs in April; Similarweb says Threads had 15.3M mobile DAUs in the US in June, below X's 22.9M
Mediagazer memeorandum WeSmirch
Home River Leaderboards About Events Newsletter