Tech Meme

Leo Schwartz / Fortune: Nous, which plans to launch an AI training system on Solana using people’s idle computing power, raised a $50M Series A, a source says at a $1B token valuation  —  Training AI models requires a massive amount of computing power.  —  The crypto industry has been fighting to get a piece … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Eleanor Olcott / Financial Times: Baidu CEO Robin Li says demand for text-based models like DeepSeek’s is “shrinking” and claims its model had a higher propensity for “hallucinations”  —  Search group’s chief makes rare criticism of China’s generative artificial intelligence darling Lees verder op Tech Meme

Bloomberg: Sources: Tencent Music is in advanced talks to buy Chinese podcasting startup Ximalaya in a $2.4B deal  —  An agreement could be reached as soon as the coming weeks, the people said.  —  Talks are ongoing and no final decisions have been made, the people said. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Michael Peel / Financial Times: Toshiba Europe researchers say they used quantum key distribution cryptography to send messages over a 250km German commercial telecommunications network  —  Researchers harness quantum mechanics to create communications system that can avoid being hacked  —  Scientists have sent messages … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Gabriel Daros / Rest of World: Brazil’s AI-based social security app, launched in 2018, has cut bureaucracy in some cases but wrongly rejected hundreds of vulnerable people over minor errors  —  An algorithmic tool meant to reduce bureaucracy is misfiring on complex cases, and vulnerable Brazilians are paying the price. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Andrew Silver / Reuters: Three European scientific funding agencies have put research programs with China on hold since 2021 due to concerns over the country’s Data Security Law  —  Several of Europe’s biggest funders of scientific collaboration with China, in fields such as viruses and air quality … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: OpenAI expands deep research usage for Plus, Pro, and Team users with an o4-mini-powered lightweight version, which also rolls out to Free users today  —  OpenAI is bringing a new “lightweight” version of its ChatGPT deep research tool, which scours the web to compile research reports on a topic … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Bloomberg: Baidu rolls out Ernie 4.5 Turbo and X1 Turbo, new versions of its flagship foundation and reasoning models, as it looks to take on Alibaba’s Qwen and DeepSeek  —  The Chinese search engine leader rolled out Ernie 4.5 Turbo and Ernie X1 Turbo, the latest versions of its flagship foundation … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Charlotte Yang / Bloomberg: JD.com’s costly bid to challenge Meituan in food delivery, while the latter enters the e-commerce space, has led to a loss of ~$70B in combined market value  —  While much of the world is focused on a volatile international trade war, two of China’s largest internet companies are inflicting greater damage on each other at home. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Financial Times: Sources: Apple plans to move assembly of all US-sold iPhones, ~60M/year, to India by the end of 2026, as President Trump’s trade war pushes a pivot from China  —  FT Exclusive: Tech giant plans to shift assembly as soon as next year in response to Donald Trump’s trade war Lees verder op Tech Meme