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February 12, 2025, 2:35 PM
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Top News

Sam Altman / @sama:
Sam Altman says GPT-4.5 will be OpenAI's last non-chain-of-thought model, GPT-5 will include o3, which will no longer be offered as a standalone model, and more  —  OPENAI ROADMAP UPDATE FOR GPT-4.5 and GPT-5: We want to do a better job of sharing our intended roadmap, and a much better job simplifying our product offerings. We want AI to “just work” for you; we realize how complicated our model and product offerings have gotten. We hate
Foreign Policy:
DOGE accessing Treasury systems and classified data breaks a fundamental security principle and could help US adversaries steal data and install backdoors  —  The U.S. government has experienced what may be the most consequential security breach in its history.
Makena Kelly / Wired:
Over the past few weeks, the Trump administration replaced the CIOs of the OMB, OPM, and Department of Energy with Elon Musk- and Peter Thiel-aligned executives  —  The chief information officers of at least three major government agencies have been replaced by Silicon Valley executives, including from Palantir and Elon Musk's SpaceX.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple will unveil an Android app for Apple TV+ as early as Wednesday as it looks to boost subscriptions and compete with Netflix and Disney+  —  Apple Inc. is set to announce that it's expanding the TV+ streaming video service to Android phones for the first time, according to people familiar with the move.
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Adobe launches Generate Video in public beta via its redesigned Firefly web app, alongside new image generation, translation, and AI credit subscription tiers  —  Generate Video is now in public beta, allowing anyone to generate five-second video clips at 1080p.
Caroline Igo / CNET:
Apple partners with Brigham and Women's Hospital to launch a voluntary, virtual five-year Apple Health Study in its Research app, open to iPhone users in the US  —  I got the inside scoop on Apple Health's new five-year research study.  All Apple users can participate starting today.
Bloomberg:
White House document: President Trump plans to nominate Brian Quintenz, a16z Crypto's head of policy and a former GOP commissioner at the CFTC, to lead the CFTC  —  - Trump to tap Jonathan Gould as Comptroller of the Currency  — Trump also set to nominate Jonathan McKernan as CFPB director
Wired:
A letter to Sen. Ron Wyden claimed Datastream, which sold US military location data, got the data from Lithuanian ad tech company Eskimi, but Eskimi denies this  —  In a letter to a US senator, a Florida-based data broker says it obtained sensitive data on US military members in Germany …
Euractiv:
After the AI Action Summit, the EU Commission says it will withdraw the AI Liability Directive, a strategic move to show goodwill to the Trump administration  —  The Commission justified its removal by saying it could see “no foreseeable agreement” on the directive.  —  This article is exceptionally available for free!
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple now lets users migrate apps, music, books, shows, and movies between Apple accounts, but the feature isn't available to users in the EU, the UK, or India  —  If you have two Apple Accounts with multiple digital purchases between them, Apple now has a way for you to consolidate the accounts …
Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Researcher Johann Rehberger shows a hack to override Gemini's prompt injection defenses, letting an attacker plant long-term memories for all future sessions  —  In the nascent field of AI hacking, indirect prompt injection has become a basic building block for inducing chatbots …
Andy Greenberg / Wired:
Microsoft details BadPilot, an “initial access” team within the Russian hacking group Sandworm that targeted the US, the UK, Canada, and Australia in 2024  —  A team Microsoft calls BadPilot is acting as Sandworm's “initial access operation,” the company says.
Katarina Hoije / Bloomberg:
Central African Republic, the first African country to adopt BTC as legal tender, launches CAR MEME on Solana, trading at $0.03 on February 11, down nearly 90%  —  - CAR Meme is second cryptocurrency launched by the country  — Nation first in Africa to adopt Bitcoin as tender in 2022
New York Times:
Sources: the Trump administration is releasing cybercriminal Alexander Vinnik to Russia in exchange for the US retrieving the American schoolteacher Marc Fogel  —  The release is part of a swap with the Kremlin that freed an American schoolteacher being held in a Russian prison.
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Google rolls out AI image remixing tool Whisk to 100+ countries, letting users upload three images for subject, scene, and style to remix, powered by Imagen 3  —  Google keeps releasing experimental products built with its AI models to give users a taste of its capabilities.
More: Neowin
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google schedules I/O 2025 for May 20 to 21 in Mountain View, with the main keynote on May 20 at 10am PT; Gemini, Android 16, and more announcements are expected  —  Following the “Prism Shift” puzzle this morning, Google has announced that I/O 2025 is taking place Tuesday, May 20
Jeran Wittenstein / Bloomberg:
In Q4, Meta tweaked its depreciation accounting for AI infrastructure, extending it from 4-5 to 5.5 years, cutting expenses by $2.9B in 2025 and boosting profit  —  - Facebook owner recently extended useful life on computing gear  — Change will significantly reduce depreciation expense in 2025
Kate Knibbs / Wired:
Thomson Reuters wins the first major US AI copyright ruling against fair use, in a case filed in May 2020 against legal research AI startup Ross Intelligence  —  The Thomson Reuters decision has big implications for the battle between generative AI companies and rights holders.
Dylan Butts / CNBC:
SoftBank posts a surprise Q3 net loss of ~$2.4B on ~$12.04B revenue, vs. $12.1B est., as the Vision Fund, after two profitable quarters, reports a ~$2.04B loss  —  SoftBank Group posted a surprise quarterly loss Wednesday as investments under its Vision Funds fell into red.
The Logic:
Internal message: Shopify's general counsel said the company closed Ye's store since the swastika shirt listed for sale “brought with it the real risk of fraud”  —  TORONTO — Shopify's general counsel said the company took down musician Kanye West's online store because of the potential …

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From Mediagazer

Harshita Mary Varghese / Reuters:
Warner Bros. Discovery says John Malone is not seeking re-election to the board of directors and will instead take on the role of chairman emeritus

Julian Clover / Broadband TV News:
A group of current and former BBC World Service journalists warn that cuts to the international service risk fracturing “the core identity of the World Service”

Elsa Keslassy / Variety:
Netflix files an appeal to France's Council of State over the windowing rules that force the streamer to wait 15 months to access newly released films

More News

Stephen Nellis / Reuters:
Groq says Saudi Arabia has committed $1.5B over the course of 2025, to expand the delivery of the US startup's AI inference chips for LLMs to the country

Earlier Picks

Emma Goldberg / New York Times:
A look at ACTS 17 Collective, a nonprofit devoted to introducing Christianity to technologists by asking Peter Thiel and other executives to discuss their faith
The Information:
Source: Apple and Alibaba submitted their co-developed AI features for approval by China's cyberspace regulator; Apple considered but rejected DeepSeek's models
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