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January 15, 2026, 2:20 PM
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Maxwell Zeff / Wired:
A source close to Thinking Machines Lab alleges ex-CTO Barret Zoph, who is returning to OpenAI, had shared confidential company information with competitors  —  The departures are a blow for Thinking Machines Lab.  Two narratives are already emerging about why they happened.
Kylie Robison / @kyliebytes:
Thinking Machines Lab parts ways with CTO Barret Zoph, with Soumith Chintala taking over the role; sources say the termination is due to “unethical conduct”  —  BREAKING: Thinking Machines has terminated its CTO, Barret Zoph, due to unethical conduct according to two sources familiar with the matter. CEO Mira Murati announced the news at an all-hands with employees today. Soumith Chintala will be taking over as CTO.
Fidji Simo / @fidjissimo:
Fidji Simo says Barret Zoph, Luke Metz, and Sam Schoenholz have returned to OpenAI from Thinking Machines Lab and “this has been in the works for several weeks”
Emma Roth / The Verge:
The Wikimedia Foundation says Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, Perplexity, and Mistral joined Wikimedia Enterprise to get “tuned” API access; Google is already a member  —  The companies have joined Google as the latest members of the Wikimedia Enterprise program.
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Wikimedia celebrates Wikipedia's 25th anniversary, marking its growth from 100 pages to 65M+ articles with nearly 15B monthly views, and releases a docuseries  —  The online encyclopedia is releasing a mini docuseries that puts faces to the editors behind an array of Wikipedia articles.
Tim Culpan / Culpium:
Sources: Apple now needs to fight for TSMC production capacity amid the AI boom; Nvidia was likely TSMC's top customer in at least one or two quarters in 2025  —  [Exclusive] A 15-year relationship helped TSMC grow and Apple leap ahead of rivals.  But now the iPhone maker is struggling …
Reuters:
TSMC reports Q4 net profit up 35% YoY to a record ~$16B, above $15.17B est., as it benefited from surging demand for AI chips and hit $100B in 2025 revenue  —  TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, posted a 35% jump in fourth-quarter net profit on Thursday, beating market forecasts …
Bloomberg:
TSMC projects $52B to $56B in 2026 capital spending, up 25%+ from 2025, and forecasts close to 30% YoY revenue growth in 2026, both above analyst estimates
Molly Schuetz / Bloomberg:
Spotify plans to raise its Premium subscription by $1 to $12.99/month in the US, its first US price hike since July 2024, and increase it in Estonia and Latvia  —  Spotify Technology SA is raising the price of its premium subscription service by 8% in an effort to achieve sustained profitability.
Financial Times:
Source: Apple's Gemini deal is a cloud contract where it pays Google several billion dollars; a source says OpenAI declined to be Apple's custom model provider  —  Multibillion-dollar deal to secure Gemini models reflects cautious approach to infrastructure spending
Adamya Sharma / Android Authority:
OpenAI quietly rolls out ChatGPT Translate, a standalone website that supports plain text translations across 50+ languages and features prompt customization  —  OpenAI's new standalone translation tool supports over 50 languages and features AI-powered prompt customization.  —  •  —  TL;DR
Karissa Bell / Engadget:
X updates Grok to prevent the “editing of images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis” and geoblocks it for all users “where it's illegal”  —  The company is also blocking image generation entirely from non-subscribers.
Cade Metz / New York Times:
Scientists say that AI has become a powerful and rapidly improving research tool, and that whether it is generating ideas on its own is, for now, a moot point  —  For decades, elite mathematicians have struggled to solve a collection of thorny problems posed by a 20th-century academic named Paul Erdos.
André Beganski / Decrypt:
X revises its developer API policies to “no longer allow apps that reward users for posting on X (aka “infofi")", amid a backlash about increasing AI slop on X  —  X is making major changes to its API to prevent access by “InfoFi” crypto projects that seek to incentivize “reply spam,” an exec said.
Ionut Arghire / SecurityWeek:
WitnessAI, whose service helps organizations govern and protect their AI operations, raised $58M led by Sound Ventures, taking its total funding to $85M+
Ryan Dezember / Wall Street Journal:
AWS signs a two-year supply deal with Rio Tinto to access its Arizona copper mine, the US' first new source in 10+ years, as AI data centers create huge demand  —  The copper, which is being produced in Arizona by Rio Tinto with bacteria and acid, will be used for data-center construction
The Keyword:
Google releases TranslateGemma, a suite of Gemma 3-based open translation models available in 4B-, 12B-, and 27B-parameter sizes, with support for 55 languages  —  Today, we're introducing TranslateGemma, a new collection of open translation models built on Gemma 3, helping people communicate …
Ben Sherry / Inc:
Symbolic.ai, founded by ex-eBay CEO Devin Wenig and Ars Technica cofounder Jon Stokes, partners with News Corp to offer AI tools to WSJ, Barron's, and others  —  Exclusive: An AI-based journalism platform aims to do it all.  Can it deliver the accuracy and productivity it promises?
Francisco Rodrigues / CoinDesk:
Bitmine, the largest corporate holder of ether, invests $200M in MrBeast's Beast Industries, set to close on January 19; Bitmine holds 4M+ ETH valued at ~$13.6B  —  The investment gives Bitmine a stake in a brand with strong Gen Z and millennial appeal, reaching over 450 million subscribers across its YouTube channels.
Wired:
Researchers detail WhisperPair, vulnerabilities in Google's Fast Pair protocol affecting 17 audio device models from 10 brands; Google rolled out updates  —  Flaws in how 17 models of headphones and speakers use Google's one-tap Fast Pair Bluetooth protocol have left devices open to eavesdroppers and stalkers.

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 2:20 PM ET, January 15, 2026.

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

New York Times:
Sources: WBD staff are bracing for widespread layoffs as David Ellison wants $6B in “synergies”; the internal mood is grim as staff preferred Netflix's proposal

CNN:
CNN employees and viewers have serious concerns about whether Ellison will uphold CNN's editorial independence amid severe political pressure

Henry Dyer / The Guardian:
UK minister Josh Simons resigns over allegations that a think tank he led has probed some journalists and falsely linked them to a “pro-Kremlin” network

More News

Arjun Kharpal / CNBC:
AWS launches European Sovereign Cloud, creating a new parent company for its sovereign cloud that will be locally controlled in the EU and run by EU citizens

Earlier Picks

Nitin Dahad / EE Times:
GlobalFoundries agrees to acquire Synopsys' ARC processor IP business, which includes ARC-V (RISC-V) and ARC CPU IP, and integrate it into its MIPS business
Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk:
Coinbase pulls support from the US Senate's crypto market structure bill ahead of a key vote; CEO Brian Armstrong says there are “too many issues” with the bill
Stevie Bonifield / The Verge:
YouTube now lets parents set time limits on their kids' YouTube Shorts feed, ranging from 15 minutes to two hours; an option for zero minutes is coming soon
Jacob Krol / TechRadar:
Verizon fixes “an issue impacting wireless voice and data services” that caused 100K+ users to lose reception for 10+ hours on January 14 and gives a $20 credit
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