Techmeme
October 7, 2025, 9:20 PM

Top News

Bloomberg:
Michel Devoret, a Google Quantum AI chief scientist, John Martinis, who left Google in 2020, and John Clarke win the Nobel in Physics for quantum computing work  —  Two physicists integral to efforts by Alphabet Inc.'s Google to build working quantum computers have been awarded the Nobel Prize …
Bloomberg:
Sources: xAI nears a deal to raise $20B in equity and debt, tied to the Nvidia GPUs that xAI plans to use in Colossus 2; Nvidia is investing as much as $2B  —  Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI is raising more financing than initially planned, tapping backers including Nvidia Corp …
The Keyword:
Google releases the Gemini 2.5 Computer Use model, built on Gemini 2.5 Pro's capabilities to power agents that can interact with UIs, in preview via the API  —  Available in preview via the API, our Computer Use model is a specialized model built on Gemini 2.5 Pro's capabilities to power agents that can interact with user interfaces.
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Qualcomm agrees to acquire the Italian open-source electronics platform Arduino for an undisclosed sum and says the Arduino brand will remain independent  —  Arduino is also launching a Qualcomm-equipped Uno Q that functions as a single-board computer and microcontroller.
Anthropic:
Anthropic releases Petri, an open-source tool using AI agents for safety testing, and says it observed multiple cases of models attempting to blow the whistle  —  Petri (Parallel Exploration Tool for Risky Interactions) is our new open-source tool that enables researchers to explore hypotheses about model behavior with ease.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
AltStore, one of the first alternative app stores in the EU, raised a $6M Series A led by Pace Capital, aims to launch in Australia, Brazil, and Japan in 2025  —  The third-party app store known as AltStore, one of the first companies to offer an alternative app marketplace in the European Union …
Theo Wayt / The Information:
Sources: Tesla abandoned Elon Musk's goal to make thousands of Optimus robots in 2025 due to significant technical challenges, especially with the robots' hands  —  When Elon Musk takes the stage at Tesla's annual meeting next month, one of the centerpieces of his plan to impress shareholders …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Mastodon plans to add Bluesky-like starter packs to suggest accounts to follow for new users, but will allow accounts to opt out of being included in Packs  —  Mastodon, the decentralized, open social network with over 8 million accounts and nearly 700,000 monthly active users …
Wall Street Journal:
NYSE owner ICE says it will invest up to $2B in Polymarket in a cash deal valuing the company at ~$8B pre-investment and that it will distribute Polymarket data  —  Investment from Intercontinental Exchange could help the popular prediction market re-enter the U.S.
Belle Lin / Wall Street Journal:
Anthropic and IBM partner to make Anthropic's Claude models available in IBM's latest IDE for large businesses, and IBM aims to add Claude to more products soon  —  The AI startup and enterprise tech giant team up to make Anthropic's Claude models available to developers on IBM's software
Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
OpenAI's recent deals with Oracle, Nvidia, Samsung, AMD, SK Hynix, and others, plus its DevDay announcements, show it is making a play to be the Windows of AI  —  OpenAI's flood of announcements are getting hard to keep up with.  A selection — not exhaustive! — from just the last month:
Matt Levine / Bloomberg:
Financial Times:
Caleb Mutua / Bloomberg:
JPMorgan Chase: debt tied to AI-related companies hits $1.2T, making it the largest segment in the investment-grade market at 14%, surpassing US banks at 11.7%  —  The amount of debt tied to artificial intelligence has ballooned to $1.2 trillion, making it the largest segment in the investment-grade market …
Tyler Katzenberger / Politico:
California Governor Gavin Newsom signs a law banning excessively loud ads on streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, a US first, modeled on a 2010 federal law  —  “We heard Californians loud and clear, and what's clear is that they don't want commercials at a volume any louder than the level …

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The Information:

Earlier Picks

Wired:
Sima Kotecha / BBC:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Jonathan Greig / The Record: