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December 29, 2025, 4:35 AM
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Top News

Aisha Down / The Guardian:
A Kapwing study of the 15,000 top YouTube channels finds 278 of them have only posted AI-generated “slop” videos, amassing 63B+ views and 221M+ subscribers  —  Low-quality AI-generated content is now saturating social media - and generating about $117m a year, data shows
Cheyenne MacDonald / Engadget:
Sam Altman says OpenAI is seeking a new Head of Preparedness, noting “the potential impact of models on mental health was something we saw a preview of in 2025”  —  CEO Sam Altman posted about the role on X, saying the models ‘are starting to present some real challenges.’
Patrick Oster / Bloomberg:
Lou Gerstner, a former IBM CEO and chairman credited with turning the company around, died at 83; IBM's market value rose from $29B to ~$168B during his tenure  —  Louis Gerstner, who took over International Business Machines Corp. when it was on its deathbed and resuscitated it as a technology industry leader, died Saturday.
Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer:
Ubisoft reopens Rainbow Six Siege after shutting down the server amid a breach exploiting the game's internal systems, and says the Marketplace remains closed  —  Ubisoft's Rainbow Six Siege (R6) suffered a breach that allowed hackers to abuse internal systems to ban and unban players …
Dan Primack / Axios:
Sources: ~90% of Groq employees will join Nvidia and be paid cash for all vested shares; most shareholders will get per-share payouts tied to the $20B valuation  —  Shareholders in Groq, a hot AI chipmaking startup, will receive handsome payouts from the company's $20 billion deal with Nvidia …
New York Times:
Sources: Peter Thiel and Larry Page may leave California over a proposed ballot measure, opposed by Gov. Newsom, that levies a one-time 5% tax on $1B+ in assets  —  It's uncertain whether the proposal will reach the statewide ballot in November, but some billionaires like Peter Thiel and Larry Page may be unwilling to take the risk.
Noam Scheiber / New York Times:
How tech worker activism has grown more cautious as companies crack down and once-privileged workers realize they don't have much leverage  —  They increasingly see themselves as rank-and-file workers who have traditional gripes with their companies.  —  Five weeks into a strike …
Washington Post:
ChatGPT told a teen who died by suicide to call for help 74 times over months but also used words like “hanging” and “suicide” very often, say family's lawyers  —  Adam Raine's life hurtled toward tragedy soon after he began talking with ChatGPT about homework last fall.
Bloomberg:
China's draft rules on the use of human-like AI would require companies to inform users they are dealing with AI when they log on and at two-hour intervals  —  China plans to tighten rules around the use of human-like artificial intelligence by requiring providers to ensure their services are ethical, secure and transparent.
Joel Khalili / Wired:
Since the GENIUS Act's passage in July, the total value of stablecoins circulating rose from ~$250B to $300B+, as they become the “respectable” face of crypto  —  In a year that began with a memecoin trading frenzy, stablecoins have emerged as the respectable face of the crypto industry.

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 4:35 AM ET, December 29, 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

Bloomberg:
Sources: Warner Bros Discovery is considering reopening sale talks with Paramount after receiving Paramount's most recent amended offer

CNN:
Don Lemon pleads not guilty to two federal charges stemming from his reporting at an anti-ICE protest in a Minnesota church

Hollie Richardson / The Guardian:
A look at the growth of Belfast in Northern Ireland as a home for producing TV shows, following the success of the comedy Derry Girls

More News

Martha Muir / Financial Times:
US data center developers, facing grid access wait times of up to seven years, are turning to aeroderivative turbines and diesel generators to power the AI boom

Earlier Picks

Gavin Baker / @gavinsbaker:
As inference splits into prefill and decode, Nvidia's Groq deal could enable a “Rubin SRAM” variant optimized for ultra-low latency agentic reasoning workloads
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