Techmeme
January 25, 2025, 2:20 PM

Top News

Financial Times:
Industry insiders say DeepSeek's focus on research makes it a dangerous competitor as it's willing to share breakthroughs rather than protect them for profits  —  Hedge fund billionaire Liang Wenfeng builds model on tight budget despite US attempt to halt China's high-tech ambitions
More: Wired, Constellation Research, Bloomberg, ChinaTalk, Moneycontrol, Hindustan Times, and CNBC
Caiwei Chen / MIT Technology Review:
Rather than weakening China's AI capabilities, US sanctions appear to be driving startups like DeepSeek to innovate by prioritizing efficiency and collaboration  —  The AI community is abuzz over DeepSeek R1, a new open-source reasoning model.  —  The model was developed by the Chinese AI startup DeepSeek …
Carl Franzen / VentureBeat:
Yann LeCun says DeepSeek “profited from open research and open source” like Meta's Llama and is proof that open source models are surpassing proprietary ones  —  If you hadn't heard, there's a new AI star in town: DeepSeek, the subsidiary of Hong Kong-based quantitative analysis …
New York Times:
Elon Musk's first moves suggest DOGE will be closer to an IT project than the sweeping operation to slash $2T+ from the federal budget that he once predicted  —  The rebranding of a former White House digital office into the new Department of Government Efficiency signals its potential limits, budget experts said.
Drew Harwell / Washington Post:
Sources outline negotiations between the Biden administration and TikTok ahead of the ban, as company insiders refute claims that a blackout helped their case  —  When TikTok pleaded with outgoing Biden officials and threatened to go offline, the White House pushed back, declaring it all a “stunt.”
Bloomberg:
Sources: people affiliated with DOGE have met with representatives of various public blockchains as they explore using a blockchain to track federal spending  —  - Conversations said to be held with multiple public blockchains  — The technology may be used to track government spending
The Guardian:
An investigation reveals how the Israeli military's reliance on Microsoft's cloud and AI systems surged during the most intensive phase of the Israel-Hamas war  —  Leaked documents shed light on how Israel integrated the US tech giant into its war effort to meet growing demand for cloud and AI tools
Victoria Song / The Verge:
Hands-on with the live translation feature of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses: adept at translating a basic conversation, but struggles with slang and faster speech  —  I was in middle school the last time I took a Spanish class.  I remember enough for toddler talk — phrases like …
More: UploadVRBluesky: @nvondarza, @tylerh.social, and @papapishuMastodon: @vicmsong@mastodon.socialThreads: @vicmsong
New York Times:
Some crypto executives worry Trump's memecoin undercut the industry's credibility at the very moment crypto is seeking a prominent place in mainstream finance  —  The president's promotion of a speculative digital coin left some crypto investors feeling blindsided, while others saw it as a gimmick …
Simon Willison / Simon Willison's Weblog:
OpenAI updates ChatGPT's Canvas feature with o1 model support and HTML and React code rendering, making it a direct competitor to Claude's Artifacts  —  OpenAI Canvas gets a huge upgrade.  Canvas is the ChatGPT feature where ChatGPT can open up a shared editing environment and collaborate …
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
UnitedHealth says the ransomware attack on its Change Healthcare unit in February 2024 affected ~190M people, nearly double its previous estimate of 100M  —  UnitedHealth has confirmed the ransomware attack on its Change Healthcare unit last February affected around 190 million people in America — nearly double previous estimates.

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Earlier Picks

Catherine McGrath / Fortune:
Wall Street Journal:
More: The Verge, Futurism, PCMag, WinBuzzer, New York Times, The Economic Times, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, Yahoo Finance, Benzinga, The Wrap, and Reuters
Bluesky: @jessehawken, @gotaklew, @djr755, @majgray, @half-kelly, @joshsteinberg, @barrettnicole, @wpmacmason, @aidanwilliams44, @lanstein, @actword.com, @asmeh, @gtconway, @sulgrave, @thecoratee, @lethadavis, @roastbeefjohnny, @kegman83, @johngage1, @mmasnick, @gwektro, @buddsd, @legacyusername, @petergratton, @gonzarro, @m3talgearz, @thetwinewinder, @neiltypewriter, @leftsedfred …, @ccxkingxcc, @deardara, @celicilorena, @joelhs, @docnickie, @johnxuandou, @sportzagato, @cannibalpinata, @pithypacky, @southsidetrekkie, @behrbones, @bankuei, @mtelm, @juditpetho, @skeetownhobbit, @thetypist, @chrismsf, @kevinwglass, @ironsquirrel, @ilikesportsmostly, @bigbeandotgov, @nypinta, @imnotahrhitter, @esghound.com, @maxkennerly, @mattrigg, @reckless, @benloggedon, @pabably, @seanokane, @bft.wtf, @lukethomas, @barrybergman, @rss.coffee, @gwollman, @thurstoncounty, @revjulieh, @koleross, @tyleraking.com, @matthiasplappert.com, @dougdirt24, @garyrockrose, @margarita, @rufus-hickok, @whizzo, @bdplayer81, @popolvuzh, @harrisj, @alwayserked, @ecostarr, @ammy, @thereallari, @grantmooney, @noahseligman, @robairone, @dcharlie, @1stamericanhoodlum, @1stamericanhoodlum, @hereforfun, @prietschka, @tttomblue, @anthropicscholar, @mrshiddeddoodoo, @borisbadenov, @turnerjoy, @schoenen, @raisinguptown, @wattasecond, @cavskermit, @wukko.me, @pecunium, @asherlangton, @razastwart, @mercygrimm, @phoul, @keithdonovan, @thegrimrecapper, @ironbound, @bartsmith, @brendelbored, @litigaytor, @ailurouge, @chrisdoll, @valkyrie.hacker.gf, @ratelimitexceeder, @grudgie, @pelops, @usspcrichardandson, @saileshpatel, @ketameanie, @davidjwbailey, @cachiporra, @sspence3, @salfranzaya, @gregred, @labuzamovies.com, @crunk1977, @nowhere, @nystateofmind, @ldldn, @sarcasticdad, @studuncan, @brianhough.com, @robchilver, @mstefan, @maxkennerly, and @peark.es
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Jaspreet Singh / Reuters: