Techmeme
January 18, 2026, 4:40 AM

Top News

Caroline Haskins / Wired:
The AI boom is driving an unprecedented wave of data center construction, but there aren't enough skilled workers in the US, such as electricians, to keep up  —  The AI boom is driving an unprecedented wave of data center construction, but there aren't enough skilled tradespeople in the US to keep up.
More: IEEE Spectrum and Axios
X: @mukund and @davidsacks.  LinkedIn: Moses Acosta.  Bluesky: @brbarrett
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 …
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, Trak.in, Ars Technica, Spyglass, Axios, The Verge, CNBC, The American Bazaar, Digit, Android Police, The Register, Windows Central, Appleosophy, Tech in Asia, Business Standard, New York Times, Moneycontrol, Engadget, The Hans India, Neowin, Livemint, Notebookcheck, The Indian Express, Search Engine Journal, PPC Land, The Hacker News, Communicate Online, 9to5Google, The Guardian, TestingCatalog, The Deep View, Deadline, BleepingComputer, Fortune, Gizmodo, San Francisco Chronicle, Birchtree, The Information, Forbes, Nairametrics, Simon Willison's Weblog, AdTechRadar, SiliconANGLE, PC Gamer, Tom's Guide, Fast Company, Variety, KGW-TV, Forbes Middle East, Vogue, The Independent, Bloomberg, WebProNews, Barron's Online, CBS News, PCMag, Reuters, Capital Brief, The Decoder, MediaPost, Sherwood News, Adweek, The Economic Times, Mobile Dev Memo, Search Engine Land, BBC, Türkiye Today, NewsMax.com, Axios, and Wired
Elissa Welle / The Verge:
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
Iain Martin / Forbes:
Listen Labs, whose AI tools help Microsoft and others run customer research and interviews, raised a $69M Series B led by Ribbit Capital at a $500M+ valuation  —  The San Francisco-based company, which has run more than 1 million customer interviews with its automated AI tools …
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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Command Line:
Copilot to autopilot: Why no single safeguard is enough  —  Microsoft designed a layered model that lets an AI agent resolve network incidents on its own within defined boundaries.
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