The Eleven-Month Implosion: How Mira Murati's AI Startup Fell Apart
Thinking Machines Lab raised $2B at a $12B valuation in July 2025. By January 2026, CTO Barret Zoph had been in talks with OpenAI for three months while still employed — then quit with two colleagues on the day he was fired. Two researchers resigned via Slack during the all-hands. The gravitational pull of the major labs beat the dream team.
Netflix reports Q4 revenue up 18% YoY to $12.05B, vs. $11.97B est., 325M subscribers, 2025 revenue up 16% to $45.2B, and will spend 10% more on content in 2026
Netflix Inc. delivered fourth-quarter results that largely beat Wall Street estimates but issued a cautious forecast for the months ahead …
Ubisoft cancels six games and delays others amid a restructuring into five genre-specific “creative houses”; it expects net bookings of ~€1.5B for FY 2025-2026
Ubisoft Entertainment SA is canceling game projects, shutting down studios and cutting its guidance …
Demis Hassabis says Google doesn't have “any plans” for ads in Gemini and, regarding OpenAI testing ads, says “maybe they feel they need to make more revenue”
During our convo in Davos, Demis Hassabis and I chatted about ads in AI, Google's new deal with Apple, humanoids, and Gemini 4.
OpenAI rolls out age prediction on ChatGPT consumer plans globally to identify under-18 users and apply content protections, as it prepares to add adult content
OpenAI on Tuesday said it is rolling out age prediction on ChatGPT globally, to determine whether an account is likely owned by a minor …
Sources: Apple plans to revamp Siri this fall in iOS 27 and macOS 27 by turning it into the company's first AI chatbot, replacing the current Siri interface
Apple Inc. plans to revamp Siri later this year by turning the digital assistant into the company's first artificial intelligence chatbot …
Sources: Apple is developing an AirTag-sized AI wearable pin with cameras, a speaker, microphones, and wireless charging that could be released as early as 2027
Apple is developing an AI-powered wearable pin the size of an AirTag that is equipped with multiple cameras, a speaker …
YouTube CEO Neal Mohan publishes his annual letter, saying YouTube aims to reduce “AI slop” and has strengthened parental controls, and teases Shorts updates
The executive published his annual letter to the YouTube community Wednesday, outlining his priorities for the video platform.
Anthropic overhauls Claude's “constitution” to enable the AI model to generalize and apply broad principles rather than mechanically follow specific rules
Anthropic is overhauling a foundational document that shapes how its popular Claude AI model behaves.
The US DOJ says at least two DOGE employees accessed Social Security data that was off-limits under a court ruling and shared agency data on third-party servers
- At least two DOGE employees, the filing reveals, were in touch with a political advocacy group that asked them to analyze data …
Jensen Huang says that AI is already bringing economic benefits and needs more investment, and “the AI bubble comes about because the investments are large”
Jensen Huang called for higher investments to further spread the technology across developed and emerging economies
Sources: OpenAI has begun offering its chatbot ads to dozens of advertisers, initially charging based on ad view, not ad click, asking for <$1M in commitments
The Information:NEW
Elon Musk and Sam Altman clashed on X after Musk shared a post about a man who committed a murder-suicide following delusional conversations with ChatGPT
Elon Musk and Sam Altman traded barbs on X this week over media reports of deaths linked to OpenAI's ChatGPT and other AI-related safety issues.
Neynar, a startup focused on decentralized social media infrastructure, is acquiring Ethereum-based social media project Farcaster from R&D firm Merkle
Partner offers — Quick Take — Decentralized social media infrastructure firm Neynar is acquiring Farcaster …
Sources: Elon Musk is pushing for a SpaceX IPO by July, seems eager to beat OpenAI and Anthropic to market, and views it as a way to help xAI catch its rivals
Putting data centers in space pushed the billionaire toward an IPO, sources say — SpaceX resisted going public for years.
Barret Zoph says Thinking Machines Lab fired him only after learning he was leaving, and at no time did the company cite his performance or unethical conduct
Apple wins the dismissal of parts of a class action alleging it violated CA privacy law by collecting user data from its apps while users thought they opted out
Apple Inc. defeated claims that it violated California privacy law when it allegedly collected user data from its in-house apps …
Sony launches the $230 LinkBuds Clip, open-style earbuds that sit outside the ear canal, with IPX4 water resistance and a 9-hour battery life, available now
Sony Group Corp. introduced its latest pair of consumer earbuds, with a clip-on design that resembles recent efforts from Bose Corp. …
Snap reaches an agreement to settle a social media addiction lawsuit in California, a week before the start of a trial, the first of several such lawsuits
The settlement means Snap will avoid a trial where plaintiffs had planned to argue that social media platforms are inherently defective …
Blue Origin unveils TeraWave, a satellite communications network for enterprise, data center, and government customers, and plans to begin deployment in Q4 2027
Jeff Bezos' space venture Blue Origin announced Wednesday it plans to deploy 5,408 satellites in space for a communications network that will take on SpaceX and Amazon.
Meta plans to expand ads on Threads to all users globally starting next week; Threads began testing ads in the US and Japan a year ago
Meta on Wednesday announced it's expanding ads on Threads to all users globally. The expansion, which starts next week, will be gradual …
X open sources its “core recommendation system”, which powers For You, on GitHub, and says the system “ranks everything using a Grok-based transformer model”
In 2023, the website then known as Twitter partially open sourced its algorithm for the first time.
A programmer estimates his typical day of coding with Claude Code is equivalent to running the dishwasher an extra time, much more energy than a “median query”
Most of the discourse about the environmental impact of LLM use focuses on a ‘median query.’ What about a Claude Code session?
How Ukraine and Russia rely on the same Chinese drone suppliers, whose tech is vital to the war; China has banned sensitive drone tech exports to both countries
As both sides scramble to source vital parts, some experts are convinced Russian buyers are being favoured by Beijing
Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth: Superintelligence Labs delivered its first high-profile AI models internally in January, after just six months, which are “very good”
Meta Platforms' (META.O) new artificial intelligence lab has delivered its first high-profile AI models internally this month …
The US FTC files a notice to appeal a November 2025 ruling that found Meta did not hold an illegal monopoly by acquiring Instagram and WhatsApp
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is seeking to revive its case accusing Facebook parent company Meta Platforms (META.O) of bolstering …
Filings from Elon Musk's OpenAI lawsuit detail Microsoft's decade-long OpenAI relationship, like establishing a new subsidiary for Sam Altman while he was fired
The launch of the AI lab that would redefine Microsoft caught the tech giant by surprise. — “Did we get called to participate?”
Galaxy Digital plans to launch a hedge fund in Q1 2026, investing up to 30% in crypto tokens and the rest in financial stocks; sources say it has raised $100M
Billionaire's firm plans portfolio to profit from rising and falling prices, following sharp sell-off in digital assets sector
Adobe updates Acrobat to add new AI features, including presentation generation, file editing, and creating podcast summaries from docs stored in Adobe Spaces
Adobe has been aggressively adding AI features to all its products in the last few years. The company is now adding more AI tools to Acrobat …
OpenAI says it will pay for the costs of developing energy-related infrastructure used by its Stargate data centers so they don't raise consumers' utility bills
ElevenLabs launches an album of original tracks made by artists like Liza Minnelli and Art Garfunkel in “collaboration” with its Eleven Music AI model
Several well-known music artists have turned to ElevenLabs' AI as a virtual muse — and record producer.
Memo: Barret Zoph, the Thinking Machines Lab cofounder who rejoined OpenAI last week, will lead OpenAI's enterprise push, as part of a broader reorganization
Barret Zoph, the Thinking Machines Lab cofounder who rejoined OpenAI in a swirl of controversy last week, will lead the company's push …
A Canadian federal court overturned a 2024 order that would have shuttered TikTok Canada's business operations over national security concerns
“We welcome the decision to set aside the order to shut down TikTok Canada, and look forward to working with the Minister towards a resolution that's …
Netflix and WBD say Netflix revised its WBD offer to an all-cash deal for $27.75/share, with the same $82.7B value; its original bid had $59B in debt financing
OpenEvidence, which is building “ChatGPT for doctors”, raised $250M led by Thrive and DST at a $12B valuation, up from $6B in October and $1B in February 2025
A startup widely known as “ChatGPT for doctors” raised a new funding round that values the company at $12 billion.
Humans&, founded by ex-Anthropic, xAI, and Google staff to build collaborative AI, raised a $480M seed from Nvidia, Jeff Bezos, and others at a $4.48B valuation
Demis Hassabis says Chinese AI companies are about six months behind leading western labs and the response to DeepSeek's R1 in 2025 was a “massive overreaction”
Google DeepMind Chief Executive Officer Demis Hassabis said Chinese artificial intelligence companies haven't been able …
Unsealed docs: Spotify and labels sued Anna's Archive over plans to release scraped Spotify data; a US court grants a temporary order taking down some domains
Spotify and several major record labels, including UMG, Sony, and Warner, have taken legal action against the unknown operators of Anna's Archive.
Analysis: the Trump family has generated ~$1.4B from crypto projects since President Trump's inauguration in January 2025, making up 20%+ of its wealth, a first
Digital assets added $1.4 billion to the first family's wealth over the past year, making up about one-fifth of their fortune for the first time
World Economic Forum panel: Palantir CEO Alex Karp says AI-driven job displacement will “make it hard to imagine why we should have large-scale immigration”
The BBC confirms a “strategic partnership” with YouTube to produce exclusive content, including news and YouTube channels aimed at children and young adults
The BBC has confirmed what it is billing as a “strategic partnership” with YouTube that will see the British broadcaster …
Apple outages affecting multiple services, including Apple TV, the App Store, and iCloud, are now fixed following a nearly four-hour disruption on January 20
Apple's App Store, iTunes Store, and Apple TV service are experiencing an outage at the current time, according to Apple's System Status page.
US colleges like Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech are using AI to streamline admissions; Virginia Tech says AI that scores essay questions saved ~8,000 hours
Some schools have even used AI to guard against AI. — Thousands of students will get their college decisions faster this year because of artificial intelligence.
Netflix adds a real-time voting feature with the premiere of its Star Search reboot, available on mobile, smart TVs, and streaming devices, but not in a browser
The EC introduces draft revisions to the EU's Cybersecurity Act to phase out equipment from high-risk suppliers in critical sectors, a move criticized by Huawei
The EU plans to phase out components and equipment from high-risk suppliers in critical sectors, according to a draft proposal released …
Sources: Anthropic's revenue run rate hit $9B+ at the end of 2025, up from $4B in July 2025; Iconiq, Lightspeed, and Menlo are set to join its new funding round
Iconiq, Lightspeed and Menlo Ventures are set to join the startup's new funding round at a $350 billion valuation.
Berlin-based Cloover, which makes software to help install solar, home batteries, and heat pumps, raised $22M from Lowercarbon and others and $1.2B in debt
The new funding round comes as residential installations are declining across the bloc. — Berlin-based climate technology company Cloover …
Sources: AI chip startup SambaNova is seeking to raise $300M to $500M after talks to sell the company to Intel for about $1.6B, including debt, stalled
Artificial intelligence startup SambaNova Systems Inc. is considering raising up to $500 million after talks to sell to Intel Corp. stalled …
Upscale AI, which is building AI networking infrastructure to take on Cisco, raised $200M led by Tiger, Premji Invest, and Xora Innovation at a $1B+ valuation
Networking company raises $200 million just four months after previous round — Upscale AI Inc., a networking startup seeking …
A Massachusetts judge grants a preliminary injunction blocking Kalshi from letting state residents bet on sports through its online platform
AheadComputing, which develops a breakthrough RISC-V CPU architecture for AI, raised a $30M Seed2 led by Eclipse, Toyota, and Cambium, for $53M in total funding
AheadComputing Inc., a company pioneering breakthrough central processing unit microarchitecture to deliver next generation performance …
Sources: Sam Altman has been meeting with top investors in the Middle East, looking to raise at least $50B for OpenAI at a valuation of about $750B to $830B
OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman has been meeting with top investors in the Middle East to line up funding for a new investment round …
The Gates Foundation and OpenAI plan to invest $50M to use AI to ease the impact of chronic staff shortages in 1,000 primary health clinics in Africa by 2028
OpenAI and ServiceNow sign a three-year deal to integrate OpenAI's models into ServiceNow's business software, including using OpenAI's AI agents for IT tasks
The AI model maker and business-software provider signed a three-year pact that underscores how AI agents are increasingly being embedded in corporate software
Ukrainian-founded language learning marketplace Preply raised a $150M Series D led by WestCap at a $1.2B valuation; out of 750 employees, ~150 are based in Kyiv
Language learning marketplace Preply is now valued at $1.2 billion after raising a $150 million Series D round that marks …
The Cyberspace Administration of China requires companies to file their AI tools in a public algorithm registry, creating a map of the country's AI ecosystem
How the Cyberspace Administration of China inadvertently made a guide to the country's homegrown AI revolution.
GlobalWafers Chair Doris Hsu says the Taiwanese silicon wafer maker is preparing for phase two of its Texas plant, after saying in May it will invest $4B more
Taiwanese silicon wafer manufacturer GlobalWafers (6488.TWO) is preparing for the phase two expansion of its plant in the U.S. state of Texas …
Chinese AI startup Zhipu says it is limiting GLM Coding Plan access after strong demand, taking only 20% of its current daily new subscriptions from January 23
China's Zhipu is limiting access to its coding assistant after strong demand for a new AI model siphoned off computing resources.
Greg Peters says Netflix plans to include new types of content, like video podcasts, in its vertical video feed, and will roll out a new mobile UI later in 2026
Caitlin Huston /The Hollywood Reporter:
Portugal orders Polymarket to cease operations and blocks it in the country after heavy activity tied to its recent presidential election, with €110M+ in volume
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says selling AI chips to China is like “selling nuclear weapons to North Korea” and has “incredible national security implications”
Christina Kyriasoglou /Bloomberg:
Signal's Meredith Whittaker says deeper integration of AI agents into devices is “perilous” for encryption, since agents need access to lots of data across apps
Artificial intelligence agents that autonomously carry out tasks pose a threat to secure apps such as Signal …Forums:SlashdotForums:Msmash /Slashdot:AI Agents ‘Perilous’ for Secure Apps Such as Signal...
Salt Lake City-based Zanskar, which uses AI to find overlooked geothermal fields to boost US electricity supply, raised $115M, taking its total funding to $180M
The startup uses AI to find overlooked geothermal fields and says its discoveries can help sate the U.S.'s thirst for electricity
European VC funding rose 9% YoY to hit $58B in 2025, vs. North America's 46% YoY jump; AI led with ~$17.5B, followed by biotech's ~$13.4B and hardware's ~$10.8B
Venture funding to Europe-based startups last year gained only slightly, around 9% year over year, reaching $58 billion …
Sources: AI inference startup Baseten raised $300M led by IVP and CapitalG at a $5B valuation, more than doubling its previous valuation; Nvidia invested $150M
Sources: Applied Compute, which lets companies customize models with their own data, is in talks to raise funding at a $1.3B valuation, up from $500M in October
Applied Compute, a startup founded by three former OpenAI researchers that helps companies customize models with their own data …
As Taiwanese chipmakers source more materials and parts locally, suppliers to the steel, plastics, and display industries are moving into Taiwan's chip sector
TAINAN, Taiwan — A surprising cast of companies, including suppliers to the steel, plastics and display industries and even a maker …
Setapp Mobile, one of the first alt iOS app stores launched in 2024 after the EU's DMA, plans to shut down, blaming “still-evolving and complex business terms”
Drone delivery startup Zipline raised $600M+, boosting its valuation to $7.6B, and says it has now completed 2M+ commercial deliveries of 20M different items
Zipline, a drone delivery and logistics startup, has raised more than $600 million in new funding, boosting its valuation to $7.6 billion …
Tel Aviv-based DataRails, which offers financial planning and analytics tools, raised a $70M Series C led by One Peak at an estimated $600M-to-$700M valuation
Datarails has developed a software for Excel users, which it claims, transforms the CFO's office.
Sensor Tower: consumers spent $85B on apps globally in 2025, up 21% YoY, and, in a first, more money went on non-game mobile apps than on games, driven by GenAI
In 2025, consumers spent more money on non-game mobile apps than they did on games for the first time, according to the findings …
Lightning AI merges with data center operator Voltage Park to create an “AI cloud” with a $2.5B+ valuation, managing 35K+ Nvidia GPUs across six data centers
The startup behind open source tool PyTorch Lightning has merged with compute provider Voltage Park to create a …
Bengaluru-based Amagi Media Labs, an ad tools provider for broadcast and streaming TV, fell below its IPO price in its India market debut after raising ~$196M
Amagi Media Labs, a Bengaluru-headquartered company that sells cloud software used to run and monetize TV and streaming channels …
Netflix says ad revenue hit $1.5B in 2025, up by over 2.5x vs. 2024, and viewing hours grew 2% YoY in H2, driven by a 9% rise in viewing of branded originals
Dade Hayes /Deadline:
The World Economic Forum in Davos is now dominated by tech giants, whose interests shunt aside topics like climate change, as Trump and AI take center stage
YouTube CEO Neal Mohan says creators will be able to generate Shorts using their AI likenesses later in 2026, and touts AI tools for making games and music
Jay Peters /The Verge:
xAI co-founder Greg Yang says he is stepping back from the startup into an informal advisory role to focus on his health after being diagnosed with Lyme disease
Ukraine says it plans to share nearly four years of wartime combat data, like millions of hours of drone footage, with allies to help train AI military models
Sensor Tower: Reels accounted for 50%+ of all Instagram ads in 2025, up from 35% in 2024; Reels accounted for 46% of time spent on Instagram in the US in 2025
Payments using facial recognition are growing in South Korea as the tech improves; Viva Republica has scaled its fintech app Toss' Facepay service to 1M+ users
SEOUL — Payments using facial recognition are becoming more widespread in cashless South Korea, as artificial intelligence and 3D photography increase accuracy.