Techmeme
January 24, 2025, 8:10 PM

Top News

Jaspreet Singh / Reuters:
Mark Zuckerberg says Meta is planning to invest $60B to $65B in capex in 2025, will end the year with 1.3M+ GPUs, and plans to grow its AI teams “significantly”  —  Meta Platforms (META.O) will invest $60 billion to $65 billion in capital expenditure in 2025, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post on Friday.
Meghan Bobrowsky / Wall Street Journal:
Wall Street Journal:
In email to X staff, Musk says “user growth is stagnant, revenue is unimpressive, and we're barely breaking even”; sources: banks plan to sell their debt in X  —  Banks are hoping to sell the X debt at around 90 to 95 cents on the dollar  —  Wall Street banks are getting ready …
More: The Verge, Futurism, Bloomberg, Reuters, Benzinga, and The Wrap
Bluesky: @petergratton, @gonzarro, @m3talgearz, @thetwinewinder, @neiltypewriter, @leftsedfred …, @ccxkingxcc, @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, @anthropicscholar, @razastwart, @pecunium, @ammy, @cachiporra, @raisinguptown, @ecostarr, @popolvuzh, @wukko.me, @ldldn, @robchilver, @sarcasticdad, @valkyrie.hacker.gf, @hereforfun, @ketameanie, @rufus-hickok, @revjulieh, @thurstoncounty, @thegrimrecapper, @crunk1977, @tttomblue, @whizzo, @peark.es, @cavskermit, @bdplayer81, @ratelimitexceeder, @ironbound, @schoenen, @harrisj, @grantmooney, @sspence3, @rss.coffee, @wattasecond, @asherlangton, @prietschka, @barrybergman, @1stamericanhoodlum, @mercygrimm, @saileshpatel, @maxkennerly, @usspcrichardandson, @margarita, @bartsmith, @brendelbored, @studuncan, @koleross, @borisbadenov, @alwayserked, @labuzamovies.com, @ailurouge, @tyleraking.com, @mrshiddeddoodoo, @mstefan, @1stamericanhoodlum, @gwollman, @dougdirt24, @davidjwbailey, @garyrockrose, @turnerjoy, @pelops, @robairone, @brianhough.com, @grudgie, @nystateofmind, @matthiasplappert.com, @noahseligman, @chrisdoll, @nowhere, @thereallari, @dcharlie, @litigaytor, @keithdonovan, @salfranzaya, @gregred, and @phoulMastodon: @joy@mastodon.socialThreads: @documentingmeta
X: @wholemarsblog and @asharmaForums: r/Twitter
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple moved Kim Vorrath, a company veteran known for fixing troubled products, to its AI group to help improve Siri and Apple Intelligence  —  - Kim Vorrath previously worked on Vision Pro, iPhone software  — The company is racing to catch up in artificial intelligence
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Meta begins a “limited, early test” of ads in Threads in the US and Japan, with the goal of making the ads “as interesting as organic content”  —  Meta's X rival Threads said Friday that it is now testing ads with select brands in the U.S. and Japan.
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 …
Jon Keegan / Sherwood News:
Rolling Stone:
Sources: Trump's team members don't buy Zuckerberg's right-wing conversion as entirely genuine; one senior official says he has a “lot more ass-kissing” to do  —  Trump's aides and allies aren't ready to buy the Facebook chief's right-wing conversion.  “He can't just snap his fingers and make the past not happen”
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
The FBI warns that North Korean IT workers are abusing their access to steal source code and extort US companies that have been tricked into hiring them  —  The FBI warned today that North Korean IT workers are abusing their access to steal source code and extort U.S. companies that have been tricked into hiring them.
MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC:
The US SEC revokes SAB 121, a controversial accounting rule added in 2022 that forced banks to treat BTC and other tokens as a liability on their balance sheets  —  After years of lobbying by the crypto industry, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has rescinded an accounting rule …
Politico:
Catherine McGrath / Fortune:
White House crypto czar David Sacks says NFTs and memecoins are neither securities nor commodities, but collectibles that people buy to “commemorate something”  —  Non-fungible tokens and memecoins are neither securities nor commodities, according to White House crypto czar David Sacks.
New York Times:
The TikTok ban forced a dilemma on US tech companies: risk alienating a mercurial president or risk breaking federal law and face up to billions in penalties  —  The federal law banning TikTok has revealed a major schism among American tech companies: Some are willing to flout the law — and some, including Apple and Google, are not.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Similarweb: RedNote's DAUs in the US fell by 54% on January 20 when the TikTok ban was put on hold, after reaching a high of 32.5M DAUs on the day of the ban  —  In the days leading up to the TikTok ban in the U.S. on Sunday, U.S. users flooded the Chinese app RedNote, which offered …
More: Dexerto
TechCrunch:
Sources: ElevenLabs closed a $250M Series C led by ICONIQ Growth at a valuation of between $3B to $3.3B; it was initially looking for funding at a $4B valuation  —  Companies that want to build AI voice into their products are rushing to work with ElevenLabs, the startup …
Katie Deighton / Wall Street Journal:
ShopMy, which lets brands run influencer marketing efforts, raised a $77.5M Series B led by Bessemer and Bain, sources say at a $410M valuation vs. $80M in 2024  —  Tech firms that speed up and automate brands' partnerships with social-media influencers are becoming hot commodities as advertisers scramble to reach consumers online
Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:
Flip, which lets shoppers share video reviews and earn cash based on engagement, launches a creator fund that grants up to $100M of equity over 5+ years  —  Flip is a social commerce app that lets shoppers become creators.  They can share honest reviews and earn cash based on engagement on the platform.
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Filing: Character AI says 1A protects it from liability in a lawsuit that claims a teen committed suicide after becoming emotionally attached to a chatbot  —  Character AI, a platform that lets users engage in roleplay with AI chatbots, has filed a motion to dismiss a case brought …

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Earlier Picks

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Jay Peters / The Verge:
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