The Dissolution
Half of xAI's founding team has now left. The biggest corporate merger in US history didn't retain the people who built the company—it accelerated their departure.
xAI co-founder Tony Wu says he “resigned”, following co-founder Igor Babuschkin's exit in August 2025; Wu was in charge of reasoning and reported to Elon Musk
Tony Wu, one of xAI's cofounders, said he has resigned from Elon Musk's AI company.
The UK CMA says Apple and Google committed to making app store changes to ensure fairness to developers and consumers, and asks market players for their views
Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google committed to making app stores changes to ensure fairness to developers and consumers …
Alphabet raised $20B in its biggest ever US dollar bond sale, more than the $15B initially expected, after drawing more than $100B of orders
Here's all we knowErin Woo /The Information:Alphabet Reportedly Set for $20 Billion US Bond SaleEstefano Gomez /Crypto Briefing:Alphabet draws $100B+ demand for $15B bond sale to fund record $185B AI ...
Microsoft is automatically replacing Secure Boot certificates for older PCs before they start to expire later in 2026; Secure Boot was first introduced in 2011
Devices that don't receive new Secure Boot certificates may miss out on future security updates.
Sam Bankman-Fried, who is serving 25 years for fraud, files a long-shot request for a new trial, says new witness testimony could refute the prosecution's case
FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried filed a long-shot request for a new trial on the charges for which he's currently serving …
Spotify reports Q4 revenue up 13% YoY to €4.5B, MAUs up 11% to 751M, above estimates, and Premium users up 10% to 290M; SPOT closes up 14.75%
Spotify Technology SA, the Swedish music streaming giant, signed up significantly more users than analysts expected …
Discord says it will roll out age verification globally from March to access some content; all accounts will have a “teen-appropriate experience by default”
Beginning in March, all accounts will have a “teen-appropriate experience by default.”
Ex-SafeMoon CEO Braden John Karony is sentenced to 100 months in prison for defrauding investors and is ordered to forfeit ~$7.5M and two residential properties
Quick Take — Braden John Karony was also ordered to forfeit about $7.5 million and two residential properties …
Singapore blames China-backed hacking group UNC3886 for an 11+ months-long cyber-espionage campaign that targeted its four largest telecommunication companies
Singapore's government has blamed a known Chinese cyber-espionage group for targeting four of its top telecommunication companies as part of a months-long attack.
Discord says that the “vast majority of people can continue using Discord exactly as they do today” without needing to use a face scan or ID to verify their age
Either because they aren't accessing age-restricted experiences, or if its AI predicts they're old enough.
Cisco unveils its Silicon One G300 switch chip, made using TSMC's 3nm tech, to take on Broadcom and Nvidia in AI infrastructure, set to go on sale in H2 2026
Cisco Systems (CSCO.O) on Tuesday launched a new chip and router designed to speed information through massive data centers that will compete …
In opening statements in a social media addiction trial in Los Angeles, YouTube argues it is an entertainment service like Netflix rather than a social network
The app said in opening statements that it was more of an entertainment platform. The lawsuit claims social media companies design products that cause personal injury.
NYC-based AI video startup Runway raised a $315M Series E led by General Atlantic, a source says at a $5.3B valuation, and says it will pre-train world models
The AI industry just got another indicator that the future lies beyond words alone. — On Tuesday, video AI firm Runway announced a $315 million Series E funding round.
OpenAI begins testing ads in ChatGPT in the US for logged-in adult users on its Free and Go tiers, and says that the ads “do not influence” ChatGPT's answers
Ads that support free access and don't change ChatGPT answers. — Today, we're beginning to test ads in ChatGPT in the U.S …
Russian media: Russia's communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, plans to limit access to Telegram from Tuesday, as the government promotes its Max “super app”
Russia's communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor, plans to limit access to Telegram from Tuesday, the RBC news service reported …
Sources: Mark Zuckerberg plans to buy a Miami mansion, likely for up to $200M, joining other tech billionaires in Florida as California proposes a 5% wealth tax
Local real-estate agents say the newly completed mansion on Miami's Indian Creek will likely fetch between $150 million and $200 million
Newo, which offers AI voice and text agents that act as always-on front desks for SMBs, raised a $25M Series A, bringing its total funding to $32M
Artificial intelligence voice infrastructure startup Newo Inc. announced today that it has raised $25 million in new funding …
Facebook rolls out the ability for users to animate their profile picture and to restyle Stories or Memories using preset options or a text-based AI prompt
With preset animations, you can have a still photo wave to your friends or put on a party hat.
Tencent-owned Finnish video game maker Supercell reports 2025 revenue down 4% YoY to €2.65B, EBITDA up 6% YoY to €932M, and 290M monthly active players
Headcount grew 30% reaching 890 employees globally, developer contributed €220 million to Finnish economy
Global installed base of active smartphones grew 2% in 2025; eight OEMs had 200M+ active devices each, and nearly one in four active smartphones is an iPhone
Tarun is a Research Director with Counterpoint Research, based out of Gurgaon (near New Delhi).
Sources: KPMG negotiated a 14% lower fee for its 2025 audit by threatening to find a new accountant if Grant Thornton didn't pass on its cost savings from AI
Big Four accounting firm's move to cut fees for its own audit comes amid debate over pricing model
YouTube rolls out an AI-powered playlist-generation tool that lets Premium and Music Premium subscribers on iOS and Android use text prompts to create playlists
YouTube is rolling out a new AI-powered playlist-generation feature that allows Premium users on iOS and Android to use text prompts to create playlists.
Slack messages: some staffers complained about Marc Benioff making jokes about ICE at a Salesforce event, including about ICE surveilling employee travel
- Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff made jokes about ICE during an employee event, internal messages show. — Some employees took to Slack to express anger and disappointment.
The UK FCA adds Blockchain.com to its registry of licensed crypto companies; Blockchain.com withdrew its application in 2022 and pivoted operations to Lithuania
The London-based company elected to withdraw its application for FCA licensing in March 2022 having not won approval ahead of an impending deadline.
Satellite executives, investors, and researchers say Elon Musk's plan to launch data centers into space by 2029 is highly ambitious, but the idea is plausible
Tech billionaire's desire to put computer infrastructure into orbit is central to $1.25tn plan to merge SpaceX with xAI
Kalshi says it registered over $1B in trades related to the Super Bowl; Piper Sandler analysts say Kalshi and Polymarket saw ~$1.2B in total trading on Sunday
Kalshi Inc. said it registered over $1 billion in trades related to the Super Bowl, a record surge that underscored the threat …
Polymarket partners with Singapore-based Kaito AI to launch “attention markets”, letting users bet on “mindshare” and “sentiment” metrics from social media
The prediction market is partnering with an AI engine that tracks social media data to create markets about cultural relevance.
Sen. Warren plans bipartisan legislation with Sen. Banks that bans the sale of certain AI chips to China after Dario Amodei met with Warren and other lawmakers
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) plans to introduce bipartisan legislation with Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) banning the sale …
Boston Dynamics CEO Robert Playter steps down after more than 30 years with the company and plans to retire; CFO Amanda McMaster will take over as interim CEO
Robert Playter, CEO of Boston Dynamics, has stepped down from the company. Playter took over as CEO in 2019 and led the company through its acquisition by Hyundai in 2020.
Tech Oversight Project: ahead of a landmark social media addiction trial, Meta paid for 3,500+ ads on CNN, Fox, and others to promote Instagram's Teen Accounts
Instagram owner Meta Platforms Inc. has paid for thousands of television commercials to promote its safety work with teens ahead …
Robinhood reports Q4 revenue up 27% YoY to $1.28B, below est., crypto revenue down 38% to $221M, below est., and net income down 34%; HOOD drops 5%+ after hours
The brokerage finished 2025 on a strong note, though its stock is down roughly 24% this year
Lyft reports Q4 revenue up 3% YoY to $1.59B vs. $1.76B est., forecasts Q1 adjusted EBITDA below est., announces a $1B share buyback; LYFT drops 13%+ after hours
Lyft (LYFT.O) forecast first-quarter bookings and adjusted core profit below expectations on Tuesday, hit by severe winter storms …
Gary Shapiro plans to step down as CEO of the Consumer Technology Association, the owner and producer of the annual CES conference in Las Vegas, after 35+ years
President Kinsey Fabrizio to succeed Shapiro as CEO effective May 1 — Gary Shapiro is exiting as CEO of the Consumer Technology Association …
A court filing in the iyO-OpenAI trademark case reveals that OpenAI won't use the name “io” for its AI device, which won't ship before the end of February 2027
A court filing in a trademark lawsuit reveals OpenAI won't use the name “io” for its AI hardware device, which isn't expected to ship until 2027.
The EU grants Google unconditional antitrust approval for Google's $32B acquisition of cybersecurity startup Wiz, saying it does not raise competition concerns
Foo Yun Chee /Reuters:NEW
Alibaba's DAMO Academy releases RynnBrain, an open-source foundation model that helps robots perform real-world tasks like navigating rooms, trained on Qwen3-VL
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. debuted an AI model that can help robots and other devices perform real-world tasks …
Sources: Spain-based Multiverse, which shrinks LLMs to reduce energy and compute costs, is in talks to raise ~€500M at a €1.5B+ valuation and has hit €100M ARR
Multiverse Computing SL, a Spanish artificial intelligence software company, is in discussions to raise about €500 million …
Matia, which helps enterprises consolidate their data management operations, raised a $21M Series A led by Red Dot Capital, bringing its total funding to $31M+
Unified data operations startup Matia Inc. wants to give enterprises a better way to manage their data pipelines at scale …
Reco, which makes AI agents that monitor SaaS environments for threats, raised a $30M Series B led by Zeev Ventures, taking its total funding to ~$85M
The funding aims to expand platform reach amid rising Shadow AI usage and regulatory scrutiny. — Cybersecurity company Reco …
Vega, which uses AI to find security threats in cloud services and data storage, raised a $120M Series B at a $700M valuation, taking its total funding to $185M
Modern enterprises generate enormous amounts of security data, but legacy tools like Splunk still require companies to store …
Gather AI, which builds “curious” AI for drones and cameras to autonomously monitor warehouses, raised a $40M Series B, taking its total funding to $74M
India tightens its rules on social media content, especially for AI-generated and manipulated material, giving platforms three hours to comply with takedowns
India tightened the rules governing social media content and their platforms, especially for artificially generated and manipulated material …
Sources: crypto exchange Kraken has fired its CFO, Stephanie Lemmerman, ahead of its long-awaited IPO; Lemmerman joined Kraken from Dapper Labs in November 2024
Kraken has moved chief financial officer Stephanie Lemmerman to a strategic advisory role, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Source: Apollo nears a ~$3.4B loan deal to a Valor-led investment vehicle to buy Nvidia chips for leasing to xAI; through fall 2025, xAI was burning $1B+/month
Munich-based Constellr, which builds thermal satellite imaging hardware and software, raised a €37M Series A, taking its total funding to €75M
Munich startup says defence and government interest ‘exploded’ its sales pipeline — Thermal imaging is a hot area right now in satellite tech …
Cloud computing provider Nebius agrees to acquire Tavily, which helps AI agents search for up-to-date information for tasks like coding, a source says for $275M
Cloud computing provider Nebius Group NV agreed to acquire Tavily, a maker of software that helps artificial intelligence agents search …
Doc: the EU proposes banning crypto transactions with Russia to prevent the circumvention of sanctions through platforms like A7 and stablecoins like A7A5
Brussels also wants to prohibit some trade with Kyrgyzstan, in first use of new powers against sanctions circumvention
Uber agrees to acquire Getir's delivery operations from Mubadala for $335M in cash and says it will take a 15% stake in the remaining portfolio for $100M
Entire, founded by ex-GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke, raised a $60M seed at a $300M valuation to build open-source developer tools to better manage AI-written code
Former GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke has raised the largest-ever seed round for a dev tool startup, according to its lead backer, Felicis.
Neara, which builds digital twins of critical infrastructure to help prepare for disasters, raised a AU$90M Series D, a source says at a AU$1.1B valuation
Monday.com's stock plunges 20%+ after the project management software company issued weak Q1 guidance, as it battles rising pressure from agentic AI tools
Slack message: Sam Altman tells staff that ChatGPT is “back to exceeding 10% monthly growth”, and OpenAI plans to release “an updated Chat model” this week
How Oura won over DC by growing its lobbying spend to $1M+ per year, as RFK Jr. touts wearables for health and the US DOD makes the rings an employee benefit
Chipmaker Onsemi reports Q4 revenue down 11% YoY to $1.53B, vs. $1.54B est., as its two biggest business units continue to post sales declines; ON drops 4%+
Cadence rolls out ChipStack, an AI agent to help chipmakers like Nvidia speed up some tasks in the chip design process up to 10x by building a “mental model”
Cadence Design Systems on Tuesday rolled out a virtual artificial intelligence “agent” to help firms like Nvidia speed …
Alibaba's Qwen temporarily stops issuing coupons due to customer overload, hampering Alibaba's Agentic AI ad campaign; Qwen began offering coupons on February 6
Sources: AI legal software startup Harvey seeks to raise $200M led by Sequoia and GIC at an $11B valuation, up from $8B after raising $160M in December 2025
A look at a16z's rising influence over Trump-era AI policy, in part due to Marc Andreessen's ties to Trump; an ex-WH official says a16z arguably has veto power
Silicon Valley's richest venture capital firm emerges as a “lobbying juggernaut” for minimal AI regulation.
Bretton AI, formerly Greenlite, which uses GenAI to investigate suspicious transactions and verify internal risk policy compliance, raised a $75M Series B
Early in his career, Will Lawrence worked on the product team at Facebook focused on anti-money laundering.
Autodesk sues Google for allegedly infringing its Flow trademark as the name of Google's AI filmmaking tool
Sources: the Trump administration plans to spare US hyperscalers from upcoming tariffs on chips; exemptions would be based on TSMC's US investment commitments
Health care navigation startup Solace, which matches patients with 2K+ advocates, raised $130M led by IVP at a $1B valuation, taking its total funding to $211M
The demand for help navigating the famously complex US health care system has propelled a startup called Solace Health …
ByteDance debuts Seedance 2.0, a new version of its AI video generation model that can produce multi-shot scenes, available to select Jimeng and Jianying users
Lyft launches teen accounts in the US more than two years after Uber, with safety features such as PIN verification, real-time tracking, and audio recordings
Lyft on Monday officially launched teen accounts nationwide in a bid to match competitor Uber. — CEO David Risher addressed …
Meta, TikTok, and Snap agree to undergo independent assessments to rate how effectively they protect teen users based on ~24 standards developed by experts
A system of two dozen standards was developed by mental health experts to assess how well social media platforms protect young users.
South Korean online travel platform Myrealtrip is aiming to hit a $1B+ valuation in a Seoul IPO as early as H2 2027, per CEO Donggun Lee, amid a rise in tourism
Online travel platform Myrealtrip is seeking a valuation roughly north of $1 billion — SEOUL—K-Pop, K-Beauty and a string …
Workday announces CEO Carl Eschenbach is stepping down and co-founder Aneel Bhusri is returning as CEO, effective immediately; WDAY closes down 5.13%
EU officials and tech executives inaugurate a €2.5B chips research hub in Belgium; ASML and Imec emphasized that the US is dependent on European chip tech
Beast Industries, the entertainment conglomerate founded by MrBeast and last valued at $5.2B, acquires Step Mobile, a teen-focused banking app
SMIC reports Q4 revenue up 13% YoY to $2.49B, above est., net profit up 61% YoY to $172.85M, above $139.5M est., and annual revenue up 16% YoY to $9.33B in 2025
For the first quarter of 2026, the chip maker expects revenue to be flat sequentially — Semiconductor Manufacturing …
Sources: Eight Roads, a VC backed by Fidelity billionaire Johnson family, opts not to sell its stakes in ~40 Chinese tech companies as geopolitical factors ease
Eight Roads, a venture capital firm backed by Fidelity Investments' billionaire Johnson family, has shelved plans to sell its holdings …
PitchBook: European VC investments rose 5% YoY to €66B in 2025, a post-pandemic high; AI-related deals accounted for 35%+, or €23.5B, up from €17.7B in 2024
Soaring valuations as venture capital flows to groups tied to continent's security and economic sovereignty
Sources: Alphabet plans to sell a rare 100-year sterling bond, as Big Tech companies borrow more to fund their capex growth; IBM sold a 100-year bond in 1996
Deal comes as Google parent steps up AI borrowing rush with $15bn sale of dollar bonds — Alphabet has lined up banks to sell …
The US NLRB abandons its 2024 case accusing SpaceX of firing eight engineers for criticizing Elon Musk and signals it will steer clear of cases against SpaceX
Agency drops yearslong case over firing of Musk critics. — The US labor board is abandoning a yearslong legal battle …
Oxide Computer, which lets companies build their own cloud, raised $200M led by USIT, taking its total funding to nearly $390M since its 2019 founding
Oxide Computer Company, which lets companies build their own cloud, has raised a fresh $200 million round led by USIT …
Analysis: despite AI ads outnumbering traditional Super Bowl ad categories like beer, nostalgia-driven ads from Budweiser and Dunkin' dominated social media
Budweiser and Dunkin' got the most attention on social media, but big tech's AI product demos may still have the last laugh, experts say
Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek launches ai.com in beta during the Super Bowl and opens username registration to let users get a private, personalized AI agent
Sources: crypto exchange Backpack, built by ex-FTX and Alameda execs, is in talks to raise $50M at a $1B pre-money valuation and claims $100M+ in annual revenue
Backpack Exchange, a centralized crypto trading firm built by former FTX and Alameda leaders, is negotiating terms for new financing …
Paris-based online corporate event booking marketplace Naboo raised a $70M Series B led by Lightspeed with participation from Notion Capital, ISAI, and Ternel
Naboo plans to expand beyond corporate events into broader procurement use cases, using AI to automate booking, payments …
Databricks raised $5B in equity financing and $2B in debt at a $134B valuation and says its annualized revenue crossed $5.4B for the January quarter, up 65% YoY
Databricks said Monday it has raised $5 billion in funding and $2 billion in new debt capacity at a $134 billion valuation.
Source: Chinese AI startup Zhipu anonymously released its new AI model GLM-5 on OpenRouter under the name Pony Alpha; Zhipu plans to debut GLM-5 later this week
Zhipu, one of China's prominent AI developers, has anonymously released its new large language model under a different name on OpenRouter …
President Macron calls for reduced reliance on the US and China, warning that the US could use tariffs in retaliation for the DSA and proposed social media bans
French president calls on bloc to take the necessary steps to become a true global economic power
London-based Tem, which uses AI to optimize energy transactions for businesses, raised a $75M Series B led by Lightspeed, a source says at a $300M+ valuation
As AI data centers drive up electricity prices, London-based startup Tem thinks AI might be able to help solve it, too.
Sources: Stripe is in talks to launch a tender offer that could value the startup at $140B+, up from $106.7B in fall 2025, when it repurchased its shares
Stripe is in talks to launch a tender offer that could value the payments company at more than $140 billion, Axios Pro has learned from multiple sources.
Chinese robotaxi operator Pony AI and Toyota begin commercial production of an autonomous Toyota bZ4X; Pony AI aims to have 3,000+ robotaxis by the end of 2026
Chinese robotaxi operator Pony AI Inc. has started commercial production of a driverless vehicle in partnership with Toyota Motor Corp., one of its backers.
Sources: the White House is drafting a voluntary pact seeking commitments from tech companies to ensure data centers don't raise electricity prices and more
The initiative, which the administration wants to roll out with a splashy White House event, has yet to be formally announced …
As OpenAI moves to retire GPT-4o on February 13, sources say it is being scrapped partly because OpenAI struggled to contain its potential for harmful outcomes
ChatGPT's 4o model was beloved by many users, but controversial for its sycophancy and real-world harms linked to some conversations
An eight-month 2025 study at a US tech company: AI tools didn't reduce work but intensified it; employees worked faster, longer, and did a bigger scope of tasks
Right now, many companies are worried about how to get more employees to use AI. After all, the promise of AI reducing the burden of some work …
Farcaster co-founders Dan Romero and Varun Srinivasan, along with the team at Merkle, join stablecoin startup Tempo, weeks after Merkle sold Farcaster to Neynar
Quick Take — Romero and Srinivasan's move follows Farcaster's sale to Neynar and the founders' exit from day-to-day leadership of the protocol.
Alibaba and Tencent are releasing new models and spending millions on “red envelope” freebies to woo users ahead of the Lunar New Year
HONG KONG — China's biggest AI companies are releasing new models and handing out “red envelope” …
Opening statements in New Mexico's Meta lawsuit: state prosecutors argue that Meta misrepresented the safety of its platforms, while Meta's attorney pushes back
Meta has failed to disclose what it knows about the harmful effect of its platforms on children in violation …
OpenAI says ChatGPT ads are not eligible to appear near “sensitive or regulated topics like health, mental health, or politics” and won't be shown to under-18s
Madison Mills /Axios:
Five members of xAI's 12-person founding team have now left the company, with four of the departures coming in just the last year
Russell Brandom /TechCrunch:NEW