Techmeme
January 18, 2026, 3:46 AM

Top News

Ben Cohen / Wall Street Journal:
A look at the making of The Thinking Game, a documentary about Google DeepMind and its CEO Demis Hassabis, garnering 285M+ views on YouTube since November 2025  —  A documentary about Google DeepMind has become wildly popular.  Before he turned his attention to AI, the film's director learned everything from the NFL.
Rob Copeland / New York Times:
A look at Michael Saylor's Strategy, known for buying bitcoin via creative financing strategies, as its stock trades way below its peak amid the crypto downturn  —  Had you glanced too quickly at the crowd packed into Michael Saylor's Tuscan-style Miami compound, you might have assumed it was just another rich dude's party.
More: CoinGape.  LinkedIn: Rob Copeland.  Bluesky: @somershade and @jessefelder
Forums: r/Buttcoin and r/MSTR
Axios:
David Sacks and top MAGA influencers are publicly opposing House Foreign Affairs Chair Brian Mast's proposed AI OVERWATCH Act to regulate AI chip sales to China  —  But the accusations are flying fast.  — “The AI Overwatch Act (H.R. 6875) may sound like a good idea, but when you examine it closely …
Maria Sherman / Associated Press:
Luminate 2025 report: the global music industry hit 5.1T streams, up 9.6% YoY and a single-year record; AI artist Xania Monet had 125M on-demand audio streams  —  The global music industry hit 5.1 trillion streams in 2025.  It's a new single-year record, up 9.6% from 2024, which held the previous record.
Financial Times:
OpenAI plans to test ads below ChatGPT replies for users of free and Go tiers in the US; source: OpenAI expects to make “low billions” from ads in 2026  —  $500bn start-up seeks ways to fund expansion and fend off competition from rivals Google and Anthropic
More: OpenAI, Ars Technica, CNBC, The Verge, Axios, Spyglass, The American Bazaar, Digit, The Register, Android Police, Windows Central, New York Times, Engadget, Appleosophy, Tech in Asia, Business Standard, Moneycontrol, The Hans India, Neowin, Search Engine Journal, Livemint, Notebookcheck, The Indian Express, PPC Land, The Guardian, Communicate Online, The Hacker News, 9to5Google, TestingCatalog, The Deep View, Deadline, BleepingComputer, Fortune, Gizmodo, San Francisco Chronicle, The Information, Birchtree, Forbes, Nairametrics, Simon Willison's Weblog, AdTechRadar, Tom's Guide, Fast Company, PC Gamer, Variety, Bloomberg, SiliconANGLE, KGW-TV, Forbes Middle East, Vogue, WebProNews, Barron's Online, CBS News, PCMag, Reuters, The Decoder, MediaPost, Capital Brief, The Independent, Sherwood News, Adweek, The Economic Times, Analytics India Magazine, Mobile Dev Memo, Search Engine Land, BBC, Türkiye Today, NewsMax.com, Axios, and Wired
Elissa Welle / The Verge:
Daniel Kuhn / The Block:
ZachXBT: a crypto user lost $282M+ in BTC and LTC in a hardware wallet social engineering scam; XMR jumped as the attacker began converting the funds to Monero  —  Partner offers  —  Quick Take  — XMR hit an all-time high of $797.73 on Jan. 14, coinciding with a series …

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Robert Burnson / Bloomberg:

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