Techmeme
January 25, 2026, 1:05 AM

Top News

Aisha Down / The Guardian:
Tests show GPT-5.2 on ChatGPT citing Grokipedia as a source on a wide range of queries, including on Iranian conglomerates and Holocaust deniers  —  Guardian found OpenAI's platform cited Grokipedia on topics including Iran and Holocaust deniers  —  The latest model of ChatGPT has begun …
Thomas Brewster / Forbes:
Microsoft confirms it does provide BitLocker recovery keys for encrypted data if it receives a valid legal order and the user has stored the keys on its servers  —  The tech giant said it receives around 20 requests for BitLocker keys a year and will provide them to governments in response to valid court orders.
Dan Whateley / Business Insider:
Memo: TikTok CEO Shou Chew hailed the establishment of the TikTok USDS JV as “great news”, and said the app is used by 200M US users and 7.5M US businesses  —  - TikTok has finalized a deal to keep its business operating in the US.  — The deal, a US joint venture …
Reece Rogers / Wired:
TikTok users in the US were presented with a new privacy policy; the changes were part of the app's ownership transition and now allow precise location tracking  —  According to its new privacy policy, TikTok now collects more data on its users, including their precise location …
Federico Viticci / MacStories:
A look at Clawdbot, an open-source personal AI agent that runs locally on the user's computer and integrates with multiple LLMs and messaging services  —  For the past week or so, I've been working with a digital assistant that knows my name, my preferences for my morning routine …
Manish Singh / India Dispatch:
HSBC: JioHotstar had 300M paying subscribers in India in 2025, compared with 65M for Amazon Prime Video and 20M for Netflix; ~24% of OTT users pay for content  —  And more than $900 million in annual revenue in India.  —  Amazon Prime Video has more than three times the subscribers as Netflix in India, according to HSBC.
More: Times Now.  Forums: r/IndiaEntertainment
Ross Andersen / The Atlantic:
Analysis: scientists who appeared to use LLMs posted 33% more papers on arXiv than those who didn't, as concerns grow over AI slop in scientific publishing  —  Peer review has met its match.  —  On a frigid Norwegian afternoon earlier this month, Dan Quintana, a psychology professor …
Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch:
Counterpoint: India smartphone shipments were flat YoY at ~153M; Apple shipped 14M iPhones, raising its share of shipments to a record 9%, up from 7% in 2024  —  Apple's iPhone is gaining ground fast in India, shipping about 14 million units in 2025, based on market data shared exclusively with TechCrunch.

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Earlier Picks

New York Times:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
The Information:
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch: