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April 24, 2025, 4:35 PM
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Top News

Kevin Roose / New York Times:
An interview with Kyle Fish, who Anthropic hired in 2024 as a welfare researcher to study AI consciousness and estimates a ~15% chance that models are conscious  —  As artificial intelligence systems become smarter, one A.I. company is trying to figure out what to do if they become conscious.
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Adobe unveils its Firefly Image Model 4 and Model 4 Ultra, launches a redesigned Firefly web app, is testing a new Adobe Content Authenticity web app, and more  —  Adobe on Thursday launched the latest iteration of its Firefly family of image generation AI models, a model for generating vectors …
European Commission:
The European Commission says that Meta's Facebook Marketplace should no longer be designated under the DMA, citing fewer than 10,000 business users in 2024  —  Today, the European Commission found that Apple breached its anti-steering obligation under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) …
Reuters:
The White House says that the EU's €500M fine on Apple and €200M fine on Meta are a “novel form of economic extortion” that the US will not tolerate
Alex Heath / The Verge:
Meta lays off an unspecified number of employees in Reality Labs, affecting Oculus Studios teams and, sources say, staff involved in Meta's hardware efforts  —  The cuts targeted teams working on Supernatural and other Quest apps. … Meta has laid off an unspecified number …
Hayden Field / CNBC:
Motorola's new Razr phones will include Perplexity's AI search engine, as part of a distribution partnership that lets Perplexity gain users rather than revenue  —  Perplexity AI is getting in on the smartphone game.  —  The startup on Thursday announced a partnership to bring …
Allison Johnson / The Verge:
Motorola unveils three new Razr models, including the $1,300 Razr Ultra flip phone with a 7-inch inner and 4-inch outer screen and wood option, shipping May 15
Bloomberg:
US v. Google: DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg testifies that Chrome is worth “upwards of $50B if it went on the market” based on “back-of-the-envelope” math  —  - DuckDuckGo CEO estimated potential sale price at DOJ hearing  — Justice Department has asked that court order Chrome's sale
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Meta moves Threads from Threads.net to Threads.com and updates its web app, including features to more easily access custom feeds, create new columns, and more  —  Instagram Threads, Meta's newest social network and X competitor, is officially relocating from the website Threads.net to Threads.com.
Adrienne So / Wired:
On the Apple Watch's 10th anniversary, a look at how Apple reshaped the watch industry and ushered in a new age of fitness tracking  —  When the Apple Watch launched, it was unclear if smartwatches would pan out.  Ten years later, Apple has a $100-billion hit that reshaped the watch industry …
Financial Times:
Elon Musk is stepping back from DOGE in May, spending 1-2 days per week on government work, as tariffs, customer anger, and Chinese competition weigh on Tesla  —  Billionaire's foray into government coincided with increased competition from Chinese rivals  —  In the days following Donald …
Dominic Preston / The Verge:
The EU unveils new mandatory labels for smartphones and tablets sold in the bloc that rate energy efficiency, durability, and repairability, starting June 20  —  Tablets are also covered by the scheme, which takes effect in June. … The European Union has announced details of new mandatory labels …
Phoebe Liu / Forbes:
Infinite Reality, a metaverse startup that claims it is valued at $15.5B, faces questions about the legitimacy of its funding, investor identities, and more  —  Florida-based Infinite Reality claims it raised more than $3 billion from a sole unnamed investor.
Victoria Song / The Verge:
Hands-on with Cluely's “cheat on everything” tool: the AI can't intuit what the user needs despite being given prior context and takes long to give a response  —  Tech evangelists have been yammering about “working smarter, not harder” for years.
Larry Dignan / Constellation Research:
Microsoft's 2025 Work Trend Index report, based on a survey of 31,000 people, argues that “Frontier Firms” utilizing agentic AI as digital workers are emerging  —  As enterprises adopt AI agents and digital workers, companies' success may depend on the human-agent ratio and how workflows are managed.
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Revolut reports 2024 revenue up 72% YoY to £3.1B, net profit up 149% YoY to £1.1B, and wealth unit revenue up 298% YoY to £506M; its loan book grew 86% to £979M  —  LONDON — British fintech firm Revolut on Thursday announced it topped $1 billion in annual profit for the first time …
Kirsten Korosec / TechCrunch:
VW and Uber unveil an ambitious plan to launch a commercial robotaxi service using ID. BUZZ vehicles in US cities over the next decade, starting in LA in 2026  —  Volkswagen of America and Uber on Thursday unveiled an ambitious plan to launch a commercial robotaxi service — using autonomous electric VW ID.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
İFÖD: Bluesky restricted access to 72 accounts in Turkey at the government's request; the accounts are available on third-party apps using the AT Protocol  —  Government censorship has found its way to Bluesky, but there's currently a loophole thanks to how the social network is structured.

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 4:35 PM ET, April 24, 2025.

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From Mediagazer

Ben Johansen / Politico:
Sources: all 800 full-time VOA staff are expected to receive reduction-in-force notices this week, after ~600 VOA contractors were dismissed earlier in May

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Memo: David Leavy, who became CNN's COO in 2023, is leaving; sources say the longtime key lieutenant of David Zaslav is returning to Warner Bros. Discovery

Lachlan Cartwright / Breaker:
Email: a senior business reporter at The New York Post says an editor spiked a story about Terry Cole, Trump's pick to lead the DEA, slated to run on March 22

More News

Dan Milmo / The Guardian:
Ofcom outlines 40+ child safety measures for websites and apps to introduce from July 2025 or face large fines under the Online Safety Act, including age checks

Earlier Picks

Naomi Nix / Washington Post:
Meta's Oversight Board rules that two posts disparaging trans women are not hate speech, in the first major test since Meta weakened its rules in January 2025
Umar Shakir / The Verge:
Perplexity's iOS app enables support for the company's conversational AI voice assistant, letting users ask the chatbot to write emails, set reminders, and more
RT Watson / The Block:
Interfax: Russia's Central Bank and Finance Ministry plan to launch a crypto exchange for “highly qualified investors” under an experimental legal regime
Stephanie Lai / Bloomberg:
Trump signs an EO to boost AI education and workforce training, and establishes an AI education task force led by White House OSTP Director Michael Kratsios
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