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Techmeme
January 17, 2026, 1:15 AM
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Top News

Financial Times:
OpenAI plans to test ads below ChatGPT replies for users of free and Go tiers in the US; source: OpenAI expects to make “low billions” from ads in 2026  —  $500bn start-up seeks ways to fund expansion and fend off competition from rivals Google and Anthropic
Elissa Welle / The Verge:
OpenAI expands its ChatGPT Go tier to the US and the rest of the world, after launching it in India and some other countries; it will cost $8/month in the US  —  'ChatGPT Go' is available worldwide for $8 per month. … OpenAI is expanding a low-cost subscription tier called ChatGPT Go to the US and the rest of the world.
Maxwell Zeff / Wired:
OpenAI will match ads to conversation topics using some personalization data, but says it will not sell user data or expose user conversations to advertisers  —  OpenAI says ads will not influence ChatGPT's responses, and that it won't sell user data to advertisers.
Dara Kerr / The Guardian:
The US EPA rules that xAI acted illegally by using dozens of methane gas turbines to power its Colossus 1 and Colossus 2 data centers in the Memphis area  —  Win for Memphis activists who say ‘Colossus’ facilities add extra pollution to already overburdened communities
Ian Carlos Campbell / Engadget:
Anthropic makes Claude Cowork available to $20/month Pro subscribers, after launching it for Max users, and says Pro users may hit their usage limits sooner  —  Pro subscribers can have Claude can handle simple tasks on their computer.  —  Claude Cowork, Anthropic's AI assistant for taking care …
Julianna Bragg / Axios:
California's AG sends a cease-and-desist letter to xAI, demanding the company halt the generation and distribution of non-consensual intimate images and CSAM  —  California's attorney general on Friday sent a cease and desist letter to xAI, demanding the company immediately halt the creation …
Lauren Feiner / The Verge:
Google says it's appealing the US v. Google ruling that found it has an illegal search monopoly and asks a court to pause some of the remedies during the appeal  —  In the meantime, it's asking a court to pause remedies meant to restore competition.
Reuters:
Grid operator PJM plans to require large data centers to either bring their own power generation or curtail electricity use to prevent a large-scale outage  —  Grid operator PJM Interconnection on Friday unveiled a plan to manage surging power demand from data centers that Big Tech needs …
Doug OLaughlin / Fabricated Knowledge:
Claude Code represents a “ChatGPT moment repeated” and an “extinction-level event” for horizontal software companies focused on human-oriented consumption  —  The age of PDF is over.  The time of markdown has begun.  Why Memory Hierarchies are the best analogy for how software must change.

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 1:15 AM ET, January 17, 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: Paramount proposed to pause its merger with WBD because the company thought going to a trial was the fastest way to complete the deal

Dominic-Madori Davis / TechCrunch:
London-based European Technology Network, a TBPN-like show livestreaming 5x a week on YouTube and X, raised a $1.6M seed round from Axel Springer and others

Erik Hayden / The Hollywood Reporter:
In a memo, BuzzFeed announces plans to lay off ~35% of staff, or 180 people, across BuzzFeed, HuffPost, and Tasty

More News

Glenn Coin / Syracuse Post-Standard:
Micron breaks ground in New York for its memory manufacturing complex, announced in 2022, that it says will be the largest semiconductor facility in the US
Bloomberg:
Some top California Democrats join Governor Gavin Newsom in opposing a ballot initiative led by a healthcare union seeking a one-time 5% tax on $1B+ in assets
Bloomberg:
FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson says the agency is examining Big Tech's acqui-hires to make sure “they are not an attempt to get around” its merger review process

Earlier Picks

Alex Heath / Sources:
Unsealed docs from Elon Musk's OpenAI lawsuit, set for a jury trial on April 27: Sutskever's concerns about treating open-source AI as a “side show”, and more
Dina Bass / Bloomberg:
ClickHouse, a Snowflake challenger that offers an OLAP database management system, raised $400M led by Dragoneer at a $15B valuation, up from $6.35B in May 2025
Davis Giangiulio / CNBC:
Cloudflare acquires AI data marketplace Human Native for an undisclosed sum to help it develop a system where AI developers pay creators for training content
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
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
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