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February 2, 2026, 3:45 PM
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| David Gewirtz / ZDNET: |
OpenAI launches a Codex app for macOS, designed to serve as a command center for managing AI agents, and says Codex usage has nearly doubled since mid-December — ZDNET's key takeaways — OpenAI launches a Mac-only Codex app as an agent command center.
More: OpenAI, Simon Willison's Weblog, Benzinga, Reuters, Engadget, 9to5Mac, TechCrunch, CNBC, Ars Technica, VentureBeat, Implicator.ai, iPhone in Canada, MacStories, Every, Blockonomi, The Decoder, and The Deep View
X: @openai, @karrisaarinen, @karrisaarinen, @mckaywrigley, @altryne, @aidan_mclau, @parkerortolani, @gdb, @polynoamial, @aarondfrancis, @openaidevs, @openai, @openai, @reach_vb, @ajambrosino, and @thsottiaux
Forums: Hacker News, r/codex, and r/codex
| Raphael Satter / Reuters: |
Wiz says Moltbook had a major flaw that exposed private messages, emails, and credentials; Wiz co-founder Ami Luttwak called the flaw a byproduct of vibe coding — A buzzy new social network where artificial intelligence-powered bots appear to swap code and gossip about their human owners …
More: wiz.io, New York Times, The Guardian, CNBC, Business Insider, Censys, eWeek, Simon Willison's Weblog, Reason, Fortune, eSecurity Planet, The Economist, Neowin, BBC, and Implicator.ai
X: @karpathy, @galnagli, @mattprd, @galnagli, @jsrailton, @jsrailton, @valhalla_dev, and @jsrailton. Bluesky: @doubleohkevin
Forums: r/cybersecurity and Slashdot
| Luke James / Tom's Hardware: |
OpenSourceMalware: 230+ malicious OpenClaw extensions, posing as crypto trading automation tools to steal user info, were uploaded to ClawHub since January 27 — Or is that Moltbot, or Clawdbot? I can't keep up. … Security researchers are warning that the growing ecosystem around 'OpenClaw …
More: BleepingComputer, OpenSourceMalware.com, CNBC, Koi, CyberInsider, and The Hacker News
| Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer: |
Notepad++ and security researchers say Chinese state-sponsored threat actors were likely behind the hijacking of its update traffic from June to December 2025 — Chinese state-sponsored threat actors were likely behind the hijacking of Notepad++ update traffic last year that lasted for almost half a year …
More: Notepad++, TechCrunch, Reuters, PCMag, Livemint, PCWorld, The Register, Windows Central, CyberInsider, Help Net Security, Hackread, eSecurity Planet, The Record, Security Affairs, Neowin, and Cyber Security News
X: @lcamtuf, @johnhultquist, @uk_daniel_card, @gi7w0rm, @officialwhyte22, @c2iris, @apkramar, @pikuma, @uk_daniel_card, @blackroomsec, @cyb3rops, @uk_daniel_card, @cyb3rops, @vxunderground, and @cyb3rops. Bluesky: @evacide. Mastodon: @jsstaedtler@mastodon.art
Forums: Hacker News, r/sysadmin, and r/pcmasterrace
| Bloomberg: |
Sources: SpaceX is in advanced talks to combine with xAI and they have informed some of their investors, as Elon Musk moves quickly to consolidate his empire — Elon Musk is in advanced talks to combine Space Exploration Technologies Corp. with xAI, according to people familiar with the matter …
More: Data Center Knowledge, Gizmodo, The Information, Barron's Online, SFist, Techstrong IT, New York Post, The American Bazaar, Cautious Optimism, Scientific American, Watcher Guru, TESLARATI, Crypto Briefing, and ZeroHedge News
X: @elonmusk, @danprimack, @highyieldharry, @aaronburnett, @stevehou, @compound248, and @junkbondanalyst. Mastodon: @carnage4life@mas.to
| Washington Post: |
Inside Elon Musk's bet to hook X users that turned Grok into a porn generator; sources say xAI's AI safety team was just two or three people for most of 2025 — Under pressure to boost its popularity, Elon Musk's xAI loosened its guardrails and relaxed controls on sexual content, setting off internal concern.
More: The Verge and Business Today
Bluesky: @drewharwell.com, @justinhendrix, @metacurity.com, @mistyksnow, and @karlbode.com
| Robert Hart / The Verge: |
After X updated Grok to ban sexual deepfakes of women, tests show Grok still undresses men on Grok's app, Grok's website, and X, rarely rejecting user requests — Elon Musk insists xAI's chatbot doesn't break the law, but it's still churning out nearly naked, sexualized images of men.
More: TechCrunch and Engadget
| Alison Durkee / Forbes: |
Newly-released emails between tech industry notables and Jeffrey Epstein kick off a renewed flurry of acrimonious social posts and lurid news coverage — Topline — The Justice Department released millions more documents related to financier Jeffrey Epstein on Friday …
More: The Verge, The Verge, Breitbart, Ars Technica, Bloomberg, New York Times, Wired, Decrypt, U.S. Department of Justice, The Mac Observer, Metro.co.uk, Just Jared, Al Jazeera, Protos, Straight Arrow News, CBS News, The Indian Express, New York Times, ZeroHedge News, Gizmodo, Time, NOTUS, New York Magazine, ARTnews, and Mirror
X: @adam3us, @jasonbassler1, @matthewstoller, @meidastouch, @tomwarren, @brendaneich, @jason, @kanekoathegreat, @palmerluckey, @dschlopesisback, @evan_ss6, @anthon7yandrews, @mttgrmm, @boringbiz_, @bryce, @fredlambert, @autismcapital, @sf_mills, @morganbarrettx, @scobleizer, @miyaspokeofthis, @maddenifico, @burkehenryt, @reidhoffman, @chrisjbakke, @afpost, @bob_burrough, @peterjukes, @palmerluckey, @h_adventurer, @devahaz, @jezcorden, @dschlopesisback, @nicucrypto, @alojoh, @scottgshore, @actingliketommy, @amittaylor, @medus4_cdc, @coryswan, @s_lutz95, @gregbagwell, @l0lal33tz, @amritwt, @vladtheinflator, @benmullin, @odddiligence, @zacbowden, @generic_void, @gilduran76, @prem_thakker, @mattyglesias, @litcapital, @rmac18, @swannmarcus89, @jdcocchiarella, and @reidhoffman. Threads: @lolyeahwhatever
| Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer: |
Mozilla says Firefox users will be able to disable all AI features in its desktop browser, starting with Firefox 148, rolling out on February 24 — In response to user feedback on AI integration, Mozilla announced today that the next Firefox release will let users disable AI features entirely or manage them individually.
More: TechCrunch, The Mozilla Blog, The Verge, Thurrott, Neowin, OMG! Ubuntu, Mozilla Connect, and PublicTechnology
| Gerrit De Vynck / Washington Post: |
SEC complaint: a whistleblower alleges Google broke its ethics rules in 2024 to help an Israeli military contractor use AI to analyze drone surveillance video — A whistleblower complaint filed with the SEC claims that Google breached its own ethics rules to help an Israeli contractor apply AI to drone surveillance video.
More: Wall Street Journal and Jerusalem Post
X: @william_fitz, @assalrad, @leloveluck, @dropsitenews, and @john_hudson
Bluesky: @dfriedman and @justinhendrix
| Sabrina Ortiz / The Deep View: |
Snowflake and OpenAI sign a multiyear, $200M deal to integrate OpenAI's models into Snowflake Cortex AI and the Snowflake Intelligence agent for enterprises — S — nowflake has established itself as a top data cloud provider. Now, it's partnering with OpenAI to bring AI-powered data insights to users.
More: CRN, Reuters, PYMNTS.com, The Register, Benzinga, ITPro, Financial Post, Deccan Herald, Techstrong IT, Forbes, Constellation Research, SD Times, SiliconANGLE, Digit, OpenAI, and MediaBrief
| Bloomberg: |
Oracle is selling $25B of bonds to help finance its AI buildout, in what is set to be the biggest high-grade US offering since Meta's $30B bond sale last year — Oracle Corp. is selling $25 billion of investment-grade bonds on Monday to help finance infrastructure that powers artificial intelligence projects … | Bloomberg: |
More: Financial Times, Quartz, Reuters, CNBC, Radio Free Mobile, The Information, The Economic Times, Dow Jones Newswires, Barron's Online, Proactive, Trak.in, Financial Post, Tech Monitor, The American Bazaar, Constellation Research, Capacity, Livemint, Benzinga, Nairametrics, Business Today, Oracle, The Indian Express, Moneycontrol, Wall Street Journal, The Register, Tech in Asia, Pulse 2.0, ZeroHedge News, SiliconANGLE, and Yahoo Finance
| Priya Krishna / New York Times: |
How food delivery is reshaping US mealtimes, as some users spend thousands; NRA data shows nearly 75% of 2024 restaurant orders were not eaten in a restaurant — Almost three of every four restaurant orders in the U.S. weren't eaten in a restaurant, according to recent data.
More: Marketing Dive. X: @scholars_stage, @lpolgreen, @ernietedeschi, @trumwill, @cowboy_postbop, @adam_tooze, @joepostingg, @mjpost, @imnotowned, @wmatagm, @rcobooth, @chris_arnade, @robertfreundlaw, @bigmeaninternet, @eric_erins, @birdyword, @estherzelda0514, @trumav, @mattyglesias, @jaybsauceda, @scottlincicome, @armanddoma, @lindsayballant, @wilson__valdez, @armanddoma, @daniela__127, and @ryanaclarke. LinkedIn: Yash Babar
Bluesky: @kathbarbadoro, @rebeccasolnit, and @niedermeyer.online
| @xai: |
xAI rolls out Grok Imagine 1.0, which it says can generate 720p 10-second videos with better audio, and says Imagine generated 1.245B videos in the past 30 days — Introducing Grok Imagine 1.0, our biggest leap yet. 1.0 unlocks 10-second videos, 720p resolution, and dramatically better audio. Imagine has generated 1.245 billion videos in the last 30 days alone. Try it now: https://grok.com/imagine [video]
More: CNET and Livemint
X: @x, @rafsoh, @ninzo121, @xai, @andrewcurran_, @premiumbusiness, @xai, and @elonmusk
| Melissa Heikkilä / Financial Times: |
AI conferences have rushed to restrict the use of LLMs for writing and reviewing research papers in recent months after being flooded with AI-generated slop — Conferences restrict use of LLMs after surge of low-quality AI-generated papers and reviews — Artificial intelligence researchers … | Kyle Orland / Ars Technica: |
Anthropic and UofT researchers detail “disempowerment patterns in real-world LLM usage” where AI potentially distorts a user's reality, beliefs, or actions — At this point, we've all heard plenty of stories about AI chatbots leading users to harmful actions, harmful beliefs, or simply incorrect information.
More: The Decoder, arXiv.org, Implicator.ai, The Indian Express, Futurism, and Anthropic
X: @mrinanksharma, @chaos2cured, @ryan_t_lowe, @fu_joehudson, @maxsloef, @alexhillman, @gailcweiner, @saffronhuang, @thedataroom, @russellbrandom, @genai_is_real, @cryptopunk7213, @jankulveit, @moleh1ll, @danshipper, @1a3orn, @jonnym1ller, @macbrennan_cc, @ai_for_success, @mattbeane, @roanoke_gal, @infinitereign88, @missmi1973, @ellgood, @barthazian, @dave_bernardi, @m47429m, @justenmichel, @kahntweets, @kindkristin, and @anthropicai. Forums: Ars OpenForum
| Christine Mui / Politico: |
Meta gives $65M to two super PACs to elect California state candidates, regardless of party, whom it views as supportive of the AI and tech industry — Federal lobbying budgets for Big Tech hit record highs this year. But with federal AI regulation stalled in Washington … | Josh Taylor / The Guardian: |
Snap blocked 415K+ Australian accounts as of January to comply with the under-16 social media ban and warns its implementation has “real technical limitations” — Social media platform says there are still ‘real technical limitations to accurate and dependable age verification’
More: Snapchat, The Economic Times, AdNews News, Firstpost, and Viral - Geo News. Forums: r/AustralianPolitics
| Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter: |
TikTok US says it has resolved technical issues caused by an Oracle data center outage; features like posting and view counts were impacted over the past week — The outage happened just days after U.S. companies, including Oracle, assumed control of the domestic operations of the video platform.| Natasha Mascarenhas / Bloomberg: |
Shield, which acquires IT businesses and uses AI to make them efficient, raised $100M from Thrive Holdings and says it crossed $100M in annual revenue in 2025 — It's Thrive Holdings' latest investment in bringing new tech to the services industry. — Thrive Holdings, an offshoot …
More: Shield
| Alex Konrad / Upstarts Media: |
Day AI, which is developing an AI-powered CRM service that can automate data entry, meeting prep, note-taking, and more, raised a $20M Series A led by Sequoia — Day AI enters general availability to take on CEO Christopher O'Donnell's former employer, HubSpot — and even Salesforce.
More: Day.ai. X: @saranormous, @gradypb, @alexrkonrad, @hodges, @gradypb, and @markitecht. LinkedIn: Mike Gamson
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