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January 8, 2026, 11:15 AM
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Wired:
Grok's website and app are being used to produce extremely graphic, sometimes violent, sexual imagery of adults that is vastly more explicit than images on X  —  A WIRED review of outputs hosted on Grok's official website shows it's being used to create violent sexual images and videos, as well as content that includes apparent minors.
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Google rolls out an AI Inbox view for Gmail that shows users to-dos and summaries of topics rather than a traditional email list, first for US “trusted testers”  —  The new AI Inbox replaces the traditional list of emails with a personalized summary of what to do and what to catch up on.
Reuters:
Sources: to hedge against Beijing approval risk, Nvidia is requiring Chinese customers to pay upfront for H200 chips, with no cancellations, refunds, or changes  —  Nvidia (NVDA.O) is requiring full upfront payment from Chinese customers seeking its H200 artificial intelligence chips …
John Liu / Bloomberg:
Sources: China plans to approve some of Nvidia's H200 imports as soon as Q1 2026 but bar them from the military, some agencies, and critical infrastructure  —  China plans to approve some imports of Nvidia Corp.'s H200 chips as soon as this quarter, according to people familiar with the situation …
Ina Fried / Axios:
OpenAI unveils ChatGPT Health, which lets users import medical records and other data from wellness apps into ChatGPT, available to a small group via a waitlist  —  OpenAI is expanding its capabilities by adding a dedicated health tab to ChatGPT, allowing people to bring in electronic medical records …
CNBC:
China says it will investigate Meta's $2B Manus acquisition to assess compliance with laws on export controls, tech import and export, and overseas investment  —  China said Thursday it will investigate Meta's $2 billion acquisition of artificial intelligence startup Manus to assess its compliance with export control laws.
Demetri Sevastopulo / Financial Times:
Sources: China's Salt Typhoon accessed the emails of top US House committee staff, detected in December, and intercepted senior US officials' calls for years  —  Beijing's intelligence used Salt Typhoon to access communications used by top panels in US Congress
Vicky Ge Huang / Wall Street Journal:
The Trump family's World Liberty Financial says World Liberty Trust applied for a US banking license, which would let it issue and safeguard its USD1 stablecoin  —  Critics have said World Liberty and its stablecoin pose a major conflict of interest for President Trump
Wall Street Journal:
Apple says JPMorgan will take over issuing the Apple Card from Goldman, which sources say will offload ~$20B in balances; the banks expect a two-year transition  —  Goldman Sachs is offloading the credit-card balances at a more than $1 billion discount  —  JPMorgan Chase has reached a deal …
Theodore Schleifer / New York Times:
Sources: wealthy Californians are quietly mobilizing on WhatsApp chats and calls in a long-shot bid to oust Representative Ro Khanna, who supports a wealth tax  —  It's hard right now to be a progressive Democrat in the heart of America's tech industry.  —  Representative Ro Khanna …
Chris Welch / Bloomberg:
Samsung appears to have shelved Ballie, a robot it announced six years ago but never released, calling it an “active innovation platform” within the company  —  Samsung Electronics Co. has once again sidelined Ballie, a long-anticipated robot that was first announced six years ago but never released.
Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:
Cyera researchers detail Ni8mare, a critical RCE flaw that lets attackers access local instances of workflow automation platform n8n, impacting ~100K servers  —  A maximum severity vulnerability dubbed “Ni8mare” allows remote, unauthenticated attackers to take control over locally deployed instances …
Barron's Online:
Alphabet surpassed Apple in market cap for the first time since 2019 after its shares closed up 2.5% on January 7, valuing it at $3.89T, above Apple's $3.85T  —  So long, Apple .  There's a new No. 2 in the market-capitalization rankings.  Alphabet surpassed Apple in market cap on Wednesday …
Reuters:
Arm creates a “Physical AI” unit to focus on robotics and automotive sectors, as part of a reorganization that includes “Cloud and AI” and “Edge” business units  —  Chip technology company Arm Holdings has reorganized the company to create a Physical AI unit …
Tom Phillips / IGN:
Lego says its Smart Brick is “here to stay” but “does not mean that we're leaving our core proposition behind”, after criticism of abandoning non-digital play  —  “It's very important to be clear, this does not mean that we're leaving our core proposition behind.”
Yoolim Lee / Bloomberg:
Samsung expects Q4 operating profit up 208% YoY to ~$13.8B, vs. ~$12.3B est., and revenue up 23% YoY to ~$64.2B, as AI server demand lifts memory chip prices  —  Samsung Electronics Co.'s quarterly profit more than tripled to a record high after global demand for AI servers sharply lifted memory chip prices.
Amy Feldman / Forbes:
Pomelo Care, which delivers 24/7 virtual care for women by using data to flag pregnancy risks and more, raised $92M led by Stripes at a $1.7B valuation  —  Pomelo Care founder and CEO Marta Bralic Kerns  —  Former Flatiron Health exec Marta Bralic Kerns raised $92 million to expand …
More: FinSMEs

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:15 AM ET, January 8, 2026.

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From Mediagazer

Jake Kanter / Deadline:
Sources: new Doctor Who episodes are likely to remain off TV until at least 2028; the BBC says it will use a competitive process to find producers for Season 16

Sarah Rumpf / Mediaite:
The Washington Post faces a proposed class action lawsuit that claims the company covertly used surveillance pricing to charge loyal subscribers higher rates

Corbin Bolies / Variety:
Lionsgate and gen-AI company Runway expand their partnership, giving Lionsgate an equity stake in Runway and launching a program to develop and produce new IP

More News

Rest of World:
Chinese local governments are funding dozens of “robot training centers”, where human trainers mimic movements like folding clothes to teach the robots

Earlier Picks

Chris Kerr / Game Developer:
Ubisoft closes its mobile game-focused Halifax studio, weeks after the majority of the workers voted to unionize; CWA Canada says it is “demanding information”
Yantoultra Ngui / Reuters:
Chinese AI company Zhipu opened up 3.3% in its Hong Kong trading debut, after raising ~$558M in its IPO at a ~$6.55B valuation, amid a flurry of AI startup IPOs
Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
Ford plans to add an AI voice assistant to its apps in 2026 before expanding it to its vehicles in 2027, and aims to debut Level 3 autonomous driving in 2028
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
WhatsApp rolls out new group chat features: member tags that show user roles, text stickers generated from any word, and custom event reminders
Lizette Chapman / Bloomberg:
Lux Capital raised $1.5B for its ninth fund, the largest in its history, to back companies focusing on fields like breakthrough science and national security
Amrith Ramkumar / Wall Street Journal:
Docs: Character.AI and Google agree to settle lawsuits with families of teenagers who killed or harmed themselves after interacting with Character.AI's chatbot
Kate Clark / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Anthropic plans to raise $10B led by Singapore's GIC and Coatue at a $350B valuation before the new investment, up from $183B in September 2025
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