News

Rest of World: An interview with 10 Kenyan AI annotators shows Chinese companies hire data labelers via opaque middleman networks and WhatsApp groups to avoid accountability  —  An unemployment crisis has created fertile ground for companies to step in with… Read More »An interview with 10 Kenyan AI annotators shows Chinese companies hire data labelers via opaque middleman networks and WhatsApp groups to avoid accountability (Rest of World)

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch: Coinbase reopens app registrations in India after an over-two-year pause, letting users make crypto-to-crypto trades, and plans to open up crypto buying in 2026  —  After a pause of more than two years, crypto exchange Coinbase… Read More »Coinbase reopens app registrations in India after an over-two-year pause, letting users make crypto-to-crypto trades, and plans to open up crypto buying in 2026 (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)

Ellen Gamerman / Wall Street Journal: Inside the creation of AI actress Tilly Norwood, which included 2,000 iterations; Particle6, its creator, says it has ~60 NDAs for projects involving Tilly  —  How the human behind Tilly Norwood brought her to… Read More »Inside the creation of AI actress Tilly Norwood, which included 2,000 iterations; Particle6, its creator, says it has ~60 NDAs for projects involving Tilly (Ellen Gamerman/Wall Street Journal)

Steven Rosenbush / Wall Street Journal: How Pathway, a startup developing an alternative to the transformer, aims to use its Dragon Hatchling architecture to create a new class of adaptive AI systems  —  The architecture underlying large language models revolutionized… Read More »How Pathway, a startup developing an alternative to the transformer, aims to use its Dragon Hatchling architecture to create a new class of adaptive AI systems (Steven Rosenbush/Wall Street Journal)

Aaron Krolik / New York Times: How “cash to crypto” swaps allow users everywhere to convert national currencies to stablecoins and then debit cards, avoiding financial oversight and sanctions  —  Smugglers, money launderers and people facing sanctions once relied on… Read More »How “cash to crypto” swaps allow users everywhere to convert national currencies to stablecoins and then debit cards, avoiding financial oversight and sanctions (Aaron Krolik/New York Times)

Lauren Thomas / Wall Street Journal: Sources: IBM is in advanced talks to buy data streaming software maker Confluent for ~$11B, above its market value of ~$8B as of December 5 close  —  Deal for data-infrastructure company could come as… Read More »Sources: IBM is in advanced talks to buy data streaming software maker Confluent for ~$11B, above its market value of ~$8B as of December 5 close (Lauren Thomas/Wall Street Journal)

Lisa Bonos / Washington Post: A look at an “etiquette camp” for young founders in San Francisco, which teaches them how to dress, act, and talk, amid shifting expectations for tech founders  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Strolling into the Four… Read More »A look at an “etiquette camp” for young founders in San Francisco, which teaches them how to dress, act, and talk, amid shifting expectations for tech founders (Lisa Bonos/Washington Post)

John Thornhill / Financial Times: Impressions from a test ride in London in a car using Wayve’s self-driving tech; Wayve has raised $1.3B since launch and is testing cars with Level 2+ autonomy  —  John Thornhill takes an autonomous spin… Read More »Impressions from a test ride in London in a car using Wayve’s self-driving tech; Wayve has raised $1.3B since launch and is testing cars with Level 2+ autonomy (John Thornhill/Financial Times)

Bloomberg: President Trump says Netflix’s planned acquisition of WBD will have “to go through a process” and he will be personally involved in the decision-making process  —  President Donald Trump raised potential antitrust concerns for Netflix Inc.’s planned acquisition of… Read More »President Trump says Netflix’s planned acquisition of WBD will have “to go through a process” and he will be personally involved in the decision-making process (Bloomberg)

Emma Jacobs / Financial Times: An interview with Headspace CEO Tom Pickett on its AI chatbot Ebb, which he insists isn’t for serious mental health issues, Ebb’s upgrade to voice, and more  —  Tom Pickett says care is needed when… Read More »An interview with Headspace CEO Tom Pickett on its AI chatbot Ebb, which he insists isn’t for serious mental health issues, Ebb’s upgrade to voice, and more (Emma Jacobs/Financial Times)