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January 29, 2025, 4:55 AM
Mediagazer memeorandum WeSmirch
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Top News

Financial Times:
OpenAI says it had seen some evidence that DeepSeek used “distillation” to train its open-source competitor by using outputs from OpenAI's proprietary models  —  White House AI tsar David Sacks raises possibility of alleged intellectual property theft
Jackie Davalos / Bloomberg:
David Sacks says there's “substantial evidence” that DeepSeek “distilled knowledge out of OpenAI models and I don't think OpenAI is very happy about this”  —  White House artificial intelligence czar David Sacks said there's “substantial evidence” …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Microsoft and OpenAI are investigating whether data output from OpenAI's API was obtained in an unauthorized manner by a group linked to DeepSeek  —  Microsoft's security researchers in the fall observed individuals they believe may be linked to DeepSeek exfiltrating a large amount …
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple has been working with SpaceX and T-Mobile to add Starlink support in iOS 18.3; T-Mobile is testing with some users, only for texting initially  —  - T-Mobile begins pushing offering in limited beta test to users  —  Apple Inc. has been secretly working with SpaceX …
Vittoria Elliott / Wired:
Sources: the US Office of Personnel Management's highest ranks now include former employees of Elon Musk's companies, including xAI and the Boring Company  —  Sources tell WIRED that the OPM's top layers of management now include individuals linked to xAI, Neuralink, the Boring Company, and Palantir.
Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Researchers detail two Apple silicon side-channel attacks that could leak secrets: SLAP, affecting M2, A15, and newer chips, and FLOP, affecting M3, M4, and A17  —  Apple-designed chips powering Macs, iPhones, and iPads contain two newly discovered vulnerabilities that leak credit card information …
Jennifer Elias / CNBC:
Google's maps unit reclassified the US as a “sensitive country”, reserved for states with strict governments or border disputes, after Trump's map changes  —  Google's maps division on Monday reclassified the U.S. as a “sensitive country,” a designation it reserves for states …
Hayden Field / CNBC:
The US Navy instructs its members to avoid using DeepSeek “in any capacity” due to “potential security and ethical concerns”  —  The U.S. Navy has instructed its members to avoid using artificial intelligence technology from China's DeepSeek, CNBC has learned.
Cynthia Littleton / Variety:
Sony names CFO Hiroki Totoki as CEO, succeeding Kenichiro Yoshida, and PlayStation co-CEO Hideaki Nishino as CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, from April 1  —  The corporate shuffle, effective April 1, was approved late Tuesday by the electronics and entertainment giant's board of directors in Tokyo.
Radhika Rajkumar / ZDNET:
Block introduces an on-device, open-source AI agent called Goose, which allows developers to choose their preferred LLM to automate engineering tasks  —  Whether for developer needs or mundane tasks, the artificial intelligence (AI) tide appears to be turning in favor of open-source solutions.
Hugh Son / CNBC:
X announces X Money Account, a digital wallet and peer-to-peer payments service with Visa as its launch partner, debuting “later this year”  —  Elon Musk's social media platform X on Tuesday announced the launch of a digital wallet and peer-to-peer payments services provided by Visa.
Dan Milmo / The Guardian:
An ex-OpenAI safety researcher says he's “terrified” by AI development's pace and that labs racing to AGI can cut corners on alignment, pushing all to speed up  —  Steven Adler expresses concern industry taking ‘very risky gamble’ and raises doubts about future of humanity
Bloomberg:
A look at Huawei's HarmonyOS Next, a China-only OS decoupled from Android that is still missing many third-party apps, despite supporting some key ones in China  —  New HarmonyOS software is of existential importance to China's tech champion.  —  Huawei Technologies Co.'s ambition …
Nami Matsuura / Nikkei Asia:
Samsung and LG unveil new OLED tech, including stretchable and transparent screens, to counter Chinese rivals, which held a 33% market share in 2024, per DSCC  —  SEOUL — South Korea's Samsung and LG are putting out new OLED technologies like stretchable and transparent screens as they try to stave off rising Chinese competition.
More: How-To Geek
bellingcat:
A look at MrDeepFakes, a site with obscure ownership that hosts non-consensual deepfake porn, has close to 650K members, and gets millions of visits per month  —  This article is the result of a collaboration with German YouTube channel STRG_F.  You can watch their documentary here.
Ryan Knappenberger / Courthouse News Service:
A US federal judge denied a motion by Apple to intervene as a defendant in the remedy trial of the DOJ vs. Google case, saying Apple's motion was untimely  —  U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Apple had waited too long to file their motion and granting the company's request …
More: MediaPost and MLex
Bluesky: @quinnypig.com.  X: @balancecrafting, @jason_kint, and @vidushi_law.  Forums: r/apple

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From Mediagazer

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Sources: WaPo is working on an initiative to publish opinion articles from other US papers, writers on Substack, and eventually nonprofessional writers

John Koblin / New York Times:
Sony says new episodes of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune will be available on Hulu and Peacock the day after they broadcast on TV, starting in September

Madison McVan / Minnesota Reformer:
The Minnesota Star Tribune is offering employees buyouts, targeting experienced employees, as it seeks a refresh; 16% of its staff was hired in the past year

More News

Victoria Song / The Verge:
Garmin smartwatch users report their devices are bricking after starting any activity that uses GPS; Garmin says it is looking into the issue

Earlier Picks

Hayden Field / CNBC:
OpenAI launches ChatGPT Gov, built for US government use, and says 90K+ government employees have generated 18M+ prompts within ChatGPT since the start of 2024
Financial Times:
SemiAnalysis: DeepSeek spent “well over $500M on GPUs”; TechInsights says DeepSeek isn't “a big hit to Nvidia” but “a bigger problem for companies like OpenAI”
Bloomberg:
When asked if Microsoft is in discussions to acquire TikTok US from ByteDance, Donald Trump told reporters “I would say yes”; Microsoft declined to comment
Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Apple releases iOS 18.3, iPadOS 18.3, and macOS 15.3, enabling Apple Intelligence by default on supported devices but disabling AI summaries for news apps
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