Kari Paul / The Guardian: Q&A with Jacob Bakkila, who ran the popular @Horse_ebooks Twitter account for two years, on the inspiration for the language bot, AI chatbots, and more  —  By reusing and repurposing existing writing into viral fragments on Twitter, the account functioned like today’s chatbots. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Sarah McBride / Bloomberg: PitchBook: VC investment in the US fell 30% YoY to $170.6B in 2023, lowest since 2019, and declined 35% YoY to $345.7B globally, lowest since 2017  —  New data paint a bleak picture for Silicon Valley last year.  —  The value of venture capital deals in the US last year fell to levels not seen since 2019 … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Jeanny Yu / Bloomberg: Tencent bought back a record $1.3B of shares in December as China’s gaming rules triggered a selloff; daily buybacks more than doubled since December 22, 2023  —  – Tencent share price yet to recover after Dec. 22 plunge  — Daily repurchases more than doubled since new proposal Lees verder op Tech Meme

Sarah Martin / The Guardian: The CEO of collapsed crypto fund HyperVerse, introduced to investors in 2021, doesn’t appear to exist; Chainalysis: HyperVerse’s 2022 consumer losses were $1.3B  —  Exclusive: Steven Reece Lewis was introduced to investors with an impressive list of qualifications and achievements, but no organisation cited can find any record of him Lees verder op Tech Meme