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January 21, 2026, 7:40 AM
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memeorandum
WeSmirchTop News
| Alex Heath / Sources: |
Demis Hassabis says there aren't “any plans” to put ads in Gemini and, in response to OpenAI testing ads, says “maybe they feel they need to make more revenue” — During our convo in Davos, Demis Hassabis and I chatted about ads in AI, Google's new deal with Apple, humanoids, and Gemini 4.
More: Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, TechCrunch, Axios, eWeek, BleepingComputer, Semafor, The Economic Times, Digit, WebProNews, The Register, and PYMNTS.com
X: @xlr8harder, @kevinroose, @buccocapital, @jessicalessin, @sharongoldman, @charlesdardaman, @ariandersen, @trace_cohen, @thedataroom, @andrewmayne, @alexeheath, @tylercosgrove, @aakashgupta, @parkerortolani, @laurengoode, @j_mcgraph, @signulll, @dr_gingerballs, @gavinpurcell, and @rihardjarc. Mastodon: @carnage4life@mas.to. Forums: r/technology
| The Information: |
Sources: OpenAI begins offering its chatbot ads to dozens of advertisers, initially charging per ad view, not per ad click, and asks them for <$1M commitments — OpenAI has started offering its new chatbot ads to dozens of advertisers, according to two people familiar with the matter.
More: WebProNews, Reuters, Proactive, PCWorld, and Digiday
| Juby Babu / Reuters: |
OpenAI rolls out age prediction on ChatGPT globally to identify under-18 users and to apply automatic content protections, as it prepares to add adult content — OpenAI on Tuesday said it is rolling out age prediction on ChatGPT globally, to determine whether an account is likely owned by a minor …
More: OpenAI, TechCrunch, The Verge, Silicon Republic, OpenAI, Tom's Guide, Digital Trends, Moneycontrol, MediaNama, CNBC, The Register, WebProNews, Digit, Business Today, Livemint, The Indian Express, Analytics India Magazine, Decrypt, Tech in Asia, BleepingComputer, Engadget, Mashable, Android Authority, Dexerto, PCMag, Telecompaper, The Decoder, and Sherwood News
X: @openai, @jack_raines, @rohanpaul_ai, @mark_k, @neptunemoon, @scaling01, @daniellefong, @agiguardian, @scottbelsky, @petergostev, @_simonsmith, @russellbrandom, and @therealadamg. LinkedIn: Lauren Haber Jonas
| Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg: |
Netflix reports Q4 revenue up 18% YoY to $12B, vs. $11.97B est., 325M paid subscribers, 2025 revenue up 16% to $45.2B, plans to up content spend by 10% in 2026 — Netflix Inc. delivered fourth-quarter results that largely beat Wall Street estimates but issued a cautious forecast for the months ahead …
More: Netflix, MediaNama, Blockonomi, The Streamable, The Wrap, CNBC, primetimer.com, Variety, PYMNTS.com, Reuters, The Hollywood Reporter, Watcher Guru, Associated Press, Yahoo Finance, TV Tech, Wall Street Journal, Quartz, Axios, The Hill, Advanced Television, Proactive, Cord Cutters News, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, TheDesk.net, and Media Play News
| Caitlin Huston / The Hollywood Reporter: |
More: TechCrunch, Engadget, Tech Times, The Indian Express, Forbes, The Verge, WebProNews, and TVBEurope. Forums: r/technology
| Dade Hayes / Deadline: |
| Theo Wayt / The Information: |
Elon Musk and Sam Altman clashed on X after Musk shared a post about a man who committed a murder-suicide following delusional conversations with ChatGPT — Elon Musk and Sam Altman traded barbs on X this week over media reports of deaths linked to OpenAI's ChatGPT and other AI-related safety issues.
| Lucas Ropek / TechCrunch: |
X says it has open sourced its “core recommendation system” on GitHub and that the system “ranks everything using a Grok-based transformer model” — In 2023, the website then known as Twitter partially open sourced its algorithm for the first time.
More: GitHub, Gizmodo, Social Media Today, VentureBeat, Business Insider, The Deep View, WebProNews, Decrypt, and The Hans India
X: @xeng, @elonmusk, @marionawfal, @stevestreza, @zuhaitz_dev, @matthewbennett, @nearcyan, @dandillondev, @hannahdcox, @jeremarketer, @scottwu46, @janrezab, @shem_infinite, @godsburnt, @atmk44, @bytebot, @scobleizer, @furkangozukara, @babybeginner, @quasimondo, and @barkmeta. Bluesky: @joshtaylor. Forums: Hacker News
| Cecilia Kang / New York Times: |
Snap reaches an agreement to settle a social media addiction lawsuit in California, a week before the start of a trial, the first of several such lawsuits — The settlement means Snap will avoid a trial where plaintiffs had planned to argue that social media platforms are inherently defective and subject to personal injury liability.| Wall Street Journal: |
Barret Zoph says Thinking Machines Lab fired him only after learning he was leaving, and at no time did the company cite his performance or unethical conduct — After a relationship with a colleague, a Thinking Machines co-founder had his role changed. Months later, he was fired after a contentious meeting.| Financial Times: |
How Ukraine and Russia both rely on the same Chinese drone suppliers, whose tech is vital to the war; China officially bans sensitive drone tech exports to both — As both sides scramble to source vital parts, some experts are convinced Russian buyers are being favoured by Beijing| Simon P. Couch: |
A programmer estimates his typical day of coding with Claude Code is equivalent to running the dishwasher an extra time, much more energy than a “median query” — Most of the discourse about the environmental impact of LLM use focuses on a ‘median query.’ What about a Claude Code session?
More: Simon Willison's Weblog. Bluesky: @simonpcouch.com, @niccrane, and @simonwillison.net. Forums: Hacker News
| April Rubin / Axios: |
The US DOJ says at least two DOGE employees accessed Social Security data that was off-limits under a court ruling and shared agency data on third-party servers — - At least two DOGE employees, the filing reveals, were in touch with a political advocacy group that asked them to analyze data … | Alex Ritman / Variety: |
The BBC confirms a “strategic partnership” with YouTube to produce exclusive content, including news and kids shows, a landmark deal for the UK broadcaster — The BBC has confirmed what it is billing as a “strategic partnership” with YouTube that will see the British broadcaster … | Nikou Asgari / Financial Times: |
Galaxy Digital plans to launch a hedge fund in Q1 2026 investing up to 30% in crypto tokens and the rest in financial stocks; sources say it has raised $100M — Billionaire's firm plans portfolio to profit from rising and falling prices, following sharp sell-off in digital assets sector| Bloomberg: |
Analysis: the Trump family has generated ~$1.4B from crypto projects since President Trump's inauguration in January 2025, making up ~20% of their fortune — Digital assets added $1.4 billion to the first family's wealth over the past year, making up about one-fifth of their fortune for the first time
More: Gizmodo, Bitcoin Insider, The Block, DutchNews.nl, Cryptonews, Inc.com, and France 24
| Shona Ghosh / Bloomberg: |
Signal's Meredith Whittaker says deeper integration of AI agents into devices is “perilous” for encryption, since agents need access to lots of data across apps — Artificial intelligence agents that autonomously carry out tasks pose a threat to secure apps such as Signal …
Forums: Slashdot
| Jody Godoy / Reuters: |
The US FTC files a notice to appeal a November 2025 ruling that found Meta did not hold an illegal monopoly by acquiring Instagram and WhatsApp — The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is seeking to revive its case accusing Facebook parent company Meta Platforms (META.O) of bolstering …
More: Federal Trade Commission, Ars Technica, Engadget, Channel NewsAsia, Silicon UK, MediaNama, Social Media Today, Associated Press, The Information, RTL Today, The Verge, Axios, The Hill, Bloomberg, Thurrott, and Telecompaper
X: @matthewstoller and @jason_kint. LinkedIn: John Newman. Bluesky: @andymstone. Forums: r/InstagramDisabledBans
| Yi-Ling Liu / Wired: |
China's Cyberspace Administration requires firms to file their AI tools in a public algorithm registry, creating a detailed map of the country's AI ecosystem — How the Cyberspace Administration of China inadvertently made a guide to the country's homegrown AI revolution.
More: WebProNews
| Isaiah Poritz / Bloomberg Law: |
Apple wins dismissal of parts of a class action alleging it violated CA privacy law by collecting user data from its apps despite users believing they opted out — Apple Inc. defeated claims that it violated California privacy law when it allegedly collected user data from its in-house apps …
More: 9to5Mac, Courthouse News Service, and The US Sun
| Anna Heim / TechCrunch: |
Ukrainian-founded language learning marketplace Preply raised a $150M Series D led by WestCap at a $1.2B valuation; the startup has a 150-person office in Kyiv — Language learning marketplace Preply is now valued at $1.2 billion after raising a $150 million Series D round that marks …
More: Bloomberg, SiliconANGLE, Axios, and Tech Funding News
| Iain Martin / Forbes: |
Lightning AI merges with data center operator Voltage Park to create an “AI cloud” with a $2.5B valuation, managing 35,000+ Nvidia GPUs across six data centers — The startup behind open source tool PyTorch Lightning has merged with compute provider Voltage Park to create a …
More: VentureBeat, Lightning AI, and Business Wire
| Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: |
Sensor Tower: consumers spent $85B on apps globally in 2025, up 21% YoY, and, in a first, more money went on non-game mobile apps than on games, driven by GenAI — In 2025, consumers spent more money on non-game mobile apps than they did on games for the first time, according to the findings …
More: Sportico, TechCrunch, PR Newswire, PocketGamer.biz, and Social Media Today
| Coco Liu / Bloomberg: |
Berlin-based Cloover, which makes software to help install solar, home batteries, and heat pumps, raised $22M from Lowercarbon and others and $1.2B in debt — The new funding round comes as residential installations are declining across the bloc. — Berlin-based climate technology company Cloover …
More: Tech.eu, The Next Web, Analytics India Magazine, Forbes, Axios, EU-Startups, and Tech Funding News
| Globes: |
Israeli startup DataRails, which offers financial planning and analytics tools, raised a $70M Series C led by One Peak at an estimated $600M to $700M valuation — Datarails has developed a software for Excel users, which it claims, transforms the CFO's office.
More: SiliconANGLE and Datarails
| Wen-Yee Lee / Reuters: |
GlobalWafers Chair Doris Hsu says the Taiwanese silicon wafer maker is preparing for phase two of its Texas plant, after unveiling plans to invest an extra $4B — Taiwanese silicon wafer manufacturer GlobalWafers (6488.TWO) is preparing for the phase two expansion of its plant in the U.S. state of Texas … | Cheng Ting-Fang / Nikkei Asia: |
As Taiwanese chipmakers push localization to secure supply chains, suppliers to the steel, plastics, and display industries are moving into Taiwan's chip sector — TAINAN, Taiwan — A surprising cast of companies, including suppliers to the steel, plastics and display industries and even a maker …
More: KED Global
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