Podcasts about mgx

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Best podcasts about mgx

Latest podcast episodes about mgx

The Glossy Beauty Podcast
Why creators are building systems — not chasing virality — on TikTok Shop

The Glossy Beauty Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 5, 2026 24:29


With the new year, changes are afoot at TikTok. On January 22, the U.S. version of the app sold for approximately $14 billion to an investor group that includes Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake and investment firm MGX. It's yet to be seen how these changes will impact TikTok Shop, which has become an e-commerce behemoth. In December 2025, Wired reported that the social commerce platform had grown to rival eBay in scale, estimating that it sold $19 billion worth of products globally between July and September of last year. Even before these most recent changes, as TikTok Shop has matured, brands have been rethinking how they work with creators. In this episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, hosted by Pop editor Sara Spruch-Feiner, Glossy reporter Zofia Zwieglinska unpacks her recent story exploring what's currently driving sales on TikTok Shop — from replicable video formats to product bundles to AI — and how those shifts are redefining influencer marketing.

Le Super Daily
TikTok US sous pavillon américain : C'est fait et c'est déjà le chaos

Le Super Daily

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 2, 2026 18:52


Épisode 1426 : Épisode 1426 : Fin janvier 2026, TikTok a officiellement basculé sous contrôle américain pour échapper à l'interdiction qui planait sur la plateforme depuis des années. Cette transition, loin d'être l'épilogue heureux espéré, a déclenché une onde de choc immédiate parmi les 170 millions d'utilisateurs américains, révélant une crise de confiance profonde et des dysfonctionnements techniques majeurs qui remettent en question la viabilité même du modèle.Le grand basculement : une restructuration sous haute tensionLe 22 janvier 2026, ByteDance a finalisé la création de TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, confiant 80,1% de l'entité américaine à des investisseurs majoritairement américains : Oracle (15%), Silver Lake (15%) et MGX (fonds émirati, 15%), tandis que ByteDance conserve 19,9% des parts. Une hémorragie d'utilisateurs et une explosion des désinstallationsDans les 5 jours suivant l'annonce, le taux moyen de désinstallations quotidiennes de l'application a bondi de près de 150%. De nombreux créateurs ont aussi quitté la plateforme, citant une augmentation de la censure et une chute drastique de leur portée.—Dysfonctionnements techniques massifs depuis que Tiktok US est indépendant Les problèmes techniques sont apparus dès le week-end du 25-26 janvier. Les utilisateurs rapportent des difficultés majeures : vidéos impossibles à télécharger, pages « For You » affichant des contenus anciens ou répétitifs, compteurs de vues bloqués à zéro, et la disparition du programme Creator Rewards (le programme de monétisation).L'algorithme en pleine mutation : un feed devenu répétitifL'un des changements les plus sensibles concerne l'algorithme de recommandation. —Effondrement de la monétisation : les créateurs en détresseL'impact financier pour les créateurs a été brutal. Sur Tiktok tu a Sun programme qui rémunère les créetusr sur la base d'un RPM (Revenu poru 10000 vues). Certains créateurs témoignent avoir d'une chute drastique de leurs revenus RPM. De 0,35 dollars à quasiment 0.Sur Reddit ça râle de ouf. Certains créateurs expliquent qu'ils ont même vus leur cagnotte Creator Rewords se vider du jour au lendemain. Leurs sous ont disparu. Merci et aurevoir.Accusations de censure politique pour Tiktok USParallèlement aux problèmes techniques, une vague d'accusations de censure politique a déferlé sur les réseaux sociaux.Des utilisateurs ont affirmé que leurs vidéos critiquant l'administration Trump, l'ICE ou évoquant Jeffrey Epstein étaient délibérément supprimées ou rendues « inéligibles à la recommandation sur la FYP ».Plusieurs journalistes confirment que de nombreux contenus critique envers l'administration TRUMP sont largement freinées par l'algorithme. -Billie Eilish a également dénoncé sur Instagram une censure des contenus liés à l'ICE, interrogeant publiquement : « Hey mes collègues célébrités, vous allez parler ? ». Les annonceurs dans l'expectativeDu côté des marques et des annonceurs, la réaction est teintée à la fois de soulagement et de prudence. Après des années d'incertitude réglementaire, la stabilisation de la situation juridique de TikTok aux États-Unis est perçue comme un signal positif pour les investissements publicitaires à long terme. WARC Media prévoit que les revenus publicitaires de TikTok aux États-Unis atteindront 14,5 milliards de dollars en 2026, représentant 38% des revenus publicitaires mondiaux de la plateforme.…Retrouvez toutes les notes de l'épisode sur www.lesuperdaily.com ! Le Super Daily est le podcast quotidien sur les réseaux sociaux. Il est fabriqué avec une pluie d'amour par les équipes de Supernatifs. Nous sommes une agence social media basée à Lyon : https://supernatifs.com. Ensemble, nous aidons les entreprises à créer des relations durables et rentables avec leurs audiences. Ensemble, nous inventons, produisons et diffusons des contenus qui engagent vos collaborateurs, vos prospects et vos consommateurs. Hébergé par Acast. Visitez acast.com/privacy pour plus d'informations.

Tech Gumbo
TikTok's New Deal And Service Outages, Censorship Allegations, Social Media Addiction Trials

Tech Gumbo

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 2, 2026 22:01


News and Updates: TikTok Finalizes U.S. Deal: A new majority U.S.-owned entity, TikTok USDS, was formed with Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX. ByteDance retains under 20% to resolve security concerns. Massive User Growth: TikTok reported reaching 200 million U.S. users, up from 170 million, despite years of legal threats and a looming federal ban. Launch Weekend Outages: Shortly after the ownership transfer, TikTok suffered major U.S. outages. The company cited data center power failures, though users remained skeptical of the timing. Censorship Controversies: Users accused the new entity of suppressing anti-ICE content. TikTok blamed technical glitches, while experts noted the new leadership's close ties to the administration. Social Media Addiction Trials: Landmark "Big Tobacco-style" lawsuits began in Los Angeles. Meta and YouTube face claims that features like infinite scroll intentionally addicted and harmed minors. Major Legal Settlements: Snap and TikTok settled with a 20-year-old plaintiff just before trial, but Meta and Google continue to fight claims regarding teen mental health. Internal "Smoking Gun" Memos: Unsealed documents revealed Meta employees comparing Instagram to a "drug" and internal admissions that the platform's design negatively correlates with teen well-being.

Choses à Savoir TECH
USA : qui est le nouveau maître de TikTok ?

Choses à Savoir TECH

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 2, 2026 2:13


Après les ultimatums, les menaces de bannissement et les délais arrachés in extremis à la Maison-Blanche, TikTok vient officiellement de céder ses activités américaines. L'annonce a été faite le 22 janvier par son patron, Shou Chew, dans un mémo interne. ByteDance a fini par plier face aux exigences de Washington. Mais derrière la signature, une question demeure : s'agit-il d'une vraie séparation… ou d'un simple tour de passe-passe juridique ?La nouvelle entité s'appelle TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC. Et la répartition du capital ressemble à un savant puzzle. Trois poids lourds raflent chacun 15 % : Oracle, le fonds californien Silver Lake et MGX, un fonds souverain émirati lancé en 2024. À eux trois, 45 %. ByteDance conserve 19,9 %, juste en dessous du seuil des 20 % qui aurait déclenché des restrictions légales. Le reste est partagé entre d'autres investisseurs, dont le family office de Michael Dell. Au total, les capitaux non chinois détiennent 80,1 % de la structure américaine. Oracle devient le gardien du temple. L'entreprise de Larry Ellison hébergera les données des utilisateurs américains sur ses serveurs sécurisés et supervisera le respect des règles de sécurité nationale. Silver Lake apporte son expertise financière, tandis que MGX, déjà présent chez xAI et OpenAI, s'impose comme un nouvel acteur stratégique. Le fonds a aussi participé au gigantesque programme d'infrastructures IA soutenu par Donald Trump, baptisé Stargate.Mais le vrai nerf de la guerre, c'est l'algorithme de recommandation, le cœur battant de TikTok. Officiellement, il sera « réentraîné » uniquement avec des données américaines, sous contrôle d'Oracle. ByteDance, lui, conserve la main sur la publicité et le commerce en ligne, les activités les plus lucratives. Reste une énigme technique et politique : peut-on vraiment détacher un algorithme de son créateur ? ByteDance l'a conçu, le connaît par cœur et garde une part au capital. Sans compter que Pékin doit encore valider l'accord, la Chine contrôlant strictement l'exportation de ses technologies sensibles. Sur le papier, le conseil d'administration comptera sept membres, dont quatre Américains. Adam Presser prend la tête de l'entité. Hébergé par Acast. Visitez acast.com/privacy pour plus d'informations.

PEBMED - Notícias médicas
Radar Médico – IPL e MGX na prevenção do olho seco pós-cirurgia refrativa

PEBMED - Notícias médicas

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 30, 2026 7:25


Novo nome do podcast do Portal Afya: agora somos Radar MédicoNo episódio de hoje, a Dra. Alléxya Affonso discute como a associação entre Luz Pulsada Intensa (IPL) e Expressão das Glândulas de Meibômio (MGX) pode prevenir o olho seco no pós-operatório de cirurgia refrativa, com base em evidências científicas e na prática clínica.Tópicos abordados:• Relação entre olho seco e cirurgia refrativa• Mecanismos de ação da IPL e da MGX• Evidências científicas do uso preventivo dessas terapias• Seleção de pacientes e momento ideal da intervenção• Impacto na recuperação visual e no conforto pós-operatório

Online Plus
Koubský o výpadku TikToku: Cenzura se nedá předem vyloučit

Online Plus

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 30, 2026 24:01


Původně čínská služba TikTok oznámila, že její provoz v USA přebírá nový společný podnik, ve kterém mají přibližně 80procentní podíl americké společnosti. Čínský ByteDance v podniku drží přibližně 20procentní podíl, po 15 procentech mají americký technologický gigant Oracle, investiční firma MGX ze Spojených arabských emirátů a kalifornská investiční společnost Silver Lake. „Trvalo to překvapivě dlouho,“ hodnotí v pořadu Online Plus vědecký redaktor Deníku N Petr Koubský.Všechny díly podcastu Online Plus můžete pohodlně poslouchat v mobilní aplikaci mujRozhlas pro Android a iOS nebo na webu mujRozhlas.cz.

China Daily Podcast
Editorial丨Washington's 'spying' allegations hit home

China Daily Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 29, 2026 6:30


The recent surge in users in the United States abandoning TikTok after the announcement of a so-called "Americanized" joint venture offers an ironic footnote to the long-running political drama around the popular video-sharing app.美国用户近期大规模放弃TikTok的现象,恰恰为围绕这款热门视频分享应用的长期政治风波增添了讽刺性的注脚。此前美国政府宣布将成立所谓“美国化”的合资企业。For years, some US politicians have claimed that TikTok represents a grave "national security threat". Invoking slogans such as "privacy leakage risks" and "China threatens US data security" they created the specter of "Big Brother spying" on users of the app in the US.多年来,美国某些政客声称TikTok构成严重的“国家安全威胁”。他们打着“隐私泄露风险”和“中国威胁美国数据安全”等口号,在美国用户中制造出“老大哥监视”的幽灵。Yet, now that a deal has been forced through for US capital to acquire control of the app in the country under these pretexts, it is not China that users in the US appear to fear. It is the US elites and government.然而,当美国资本以这些借口强行达成协议,取得该应用在中国的控制权后,美国用户似乎并非担忧中国,而是美国精英阶层和政府。According to data from market intelligence company Sensor Tower, the daily average of US users deleting TikTok has jumped nearly 150 percent over the five days from Thursday to Monday compared with the previous three months. The spike followed TikTok's announcement that its US services would be operated by a new joint venture controlled by US capital, with a new leadership and a majority-US board. The message from users has been blunt: the promised "security solution" has only deepened anxiety.据市场情报公司Sensor Tower数据显示,在TikTok宣布其美国业务将由一家由美国资本控股的新合资企业运营之后的周四至周一这五天内,美国用户每日平均删除TikTok应用的数量较此前三个月激增近150%。该企业将组建新管理层并由美国籍成员主导董事会。而用户传递的信息直截了当——所谓的“安全解决方案”反而加剧了不安情绪。Social media skepticism flared after users were prompted to agree to an updated privacy policy. Critics seized on language describing potential data collection involving sensitive personal information. Yet archived versions of the policy show that this language was already present months earlier. What changed was not the policy itself, but who would ultimately sit behind the curtain of control.社交媒体质疑声浪高涨,起因是用户被要求同意更新后的隐私政策。批评者抓住政策中描述可能收集敏感个人信息的相关表述大做文章。然而政策存档版本显示,这些表述早在数月前就已存在。真正改变的并非政策本身,而是最终掌控幕后大权的究竟是谁。For years as it tried to wrest control of the company from its Chinese parent ByteDance, Washington claimed it was acting to protect US-based users from "foreign surveillance". Now, the same users are openly questioning whether the real risk lies in the concentration of data and influence in the hands of domestic political and financial elites. As one commenter in an Associated Press analysis put it, "There is something inherently wrong with allowing the people who control government policy to invest in the outcome. I believe it's called lining their own pockets."多年来,美国政府在试图从中国母公司字节跳动手中夺取控制权时,声称此举是为了保护美国用户免受“外国监视”。如今,这些用户公开质疑真正的风险是否在于数据和影响力集中在国内政治金融精英手中。正如美联社分析报道中一位评论者所言:“允许掌控政府政策的人投资于政策结果本身就存在根本性问题。我认为这叫中饱私囊。”The structure of the deal does little to dispel such doubts. The new TikTok US entity is backed by Oracle, Silver Lake and the Emirati investment company MGX, each holding 15 percent, alongside other US investors linked to powerful technology and media interests. ByteDance retains a 19.9 percent stake and licenses itsalgorithm to the US entity, which will retrain and operate it on US user data. In other words, the core technology remains Chinese intellectual property, while control over the data, moderation and distribution increasingly shifts to US capital.TikTok的交易结构更是难以消除此类疑虑。新成立的TikTok美国实体由甲骨文、银湖资本和阿联酋投资公司MGX共同支持,三者各持股15%,另有其他与美国科技及媒体巨头相关的投资者参与。字节跳动保留19.9%股权,并将算法授权给美方,后者将利用美国用户数据对算法进行重新训练并运营。换言之,核心技术仍属中国知识产权,而数据控制权、内容审核权及分发权正日益向美国资本转移。This arrangement exposes the essential nature of the deal: a forced transaction achieved through political pressure though it is claimed to be the outcome of "market negotiations".这种模式暴露了交易的本质:尽管声称是“市场谈判”的结果,实则是通过政治压力强行达成的交易。Under the threat of a congressionally mandated ban, a prized global digital asset was compelled to open its ownership to select US tycoons. "National security" rhetoric provided the packaging; capital redistribution was the content.在国会强制禁令的威胁下,某项备受追捧的全球数字资产被迫向美国特定富豪开放所有权。“国家安全”的口号是包装,资本再分配才是实质内容。Ironically, the very algorithm once portrayed as a "dangerous foreign weapon" is now expected to be "retrained" to produce a more "distinctly American" feed. As analysts note, this means trends will shift, rankings will change, and what dominates users' screens may increasingly reflect domestic political and commercial priorities. Who controls TikTok in the US has a lot of sway over what US citizens see on the app.讽刺的是,曾经被描绘为“危险的外国武器”的算法,如今却被寄予厚望,要通过“重新训练”来生成更具“鲜明美国特色”的内容推送。正如分析人士所指出的,这意味着内容趋势将发生转变,内容排名将随之调整,而占据用户屏幕主导地位的内容,将日益反映国内政治与商业的优先事项。谁掌控美国境内的TikTok运营权,就将在很大程度上决定美国公民在该应用上所见的内容。Unsurprisingly, creators are uneasy. Nadya Okamoto, a TikTok creator with more than 4 million followers, told the media that the company had failed to explain what the joint venture means for users. "That's why there is so muchparanoia," she said, adding that technical disruptions only intensified fears of censorship. Another viral comment summarized the mood with biting satire: The US didn't "save" TikTok—it redistributed its ownership to White House-aligned billionaires while leaving ByteDance's algorithm at the core.不出所料,这让创作者们感到不安。拥有400多万粉丝的TikTok创作者娜迪娅·冈本(Nadya Okamoto)向媒体表示,该公司未能解释合资企业对用户意味着什么。她说:“这就是为什么有这么多疑虑。”并补充说技术中断只会加剧人们对审查的担忧。另一则疯传的评论以犀利讽刺概括了当前氛围:美国并未“拯救”TikTok;它只是将所有权重新分配给有美国政府撑腰的亿万富豪,同时保留字节跳动的核心算法。Small business owners, whose livelihoods depend on the platform, are watching closely. Although they were relieved the ban threat was lifted, they are still worried the new owners might sideline e-commerce features. These business owners hold a wait-and-see mindset, as they really doubt whether TikTok's role in empowering voices that once lacked access to mass platforms can be retained.小企业主们正密切关注事态发展,因为他们的生计依赖于该平台。尽管禁令威胁解除令他们松了口气,但他们仍担忧新东家可能削弱电商功能。这些企业主们持观望态度,因为他们深切怀疑TikTok能否继续发挥其赋能作用,让那些曾经无法接触大众平台的声音获得发声渠道。The wave of uninstalls has not yet translated into a meaningful drop in active users, reflecting TikTok's massive user base and the reluctance of frequent users to leave. But the symbolic message is unmistakable. As one user wrote, "The new American TikTok will be like Panda Express for Chinese food: familiar on the surface, sanitized for mass appeal, owned by different interests, and stripped of the original's deeper flavor and context."尽管卸载潮尚未导致活跃用户数量出现显著下滑,从这方面也反映出TikTok庞大的用户基数以及高频用户不愿离开的特性。但其中蕴含的象征意义不言而喻。正如一位用户所言:“新美国版TikTok将如同中餐界的熊猫快餐:表面熟悉,为迎合大众而过度净化,被不同利益集团掌控,并丧失了原版的深层风味与文化底蕴。”In reality, the TikTok deal may already represent the maximum compromise possible under current circumstances. It satisfies US regulatory demands while preserving ByteDance's control over core intellectual property. If "privacy" and "data security" were truly the concerns, the deal should have reassured users. But it has not. Instead, it has suggested a deeper unease: In today's Washington, "national security" has become negotiable—provided the right people get a share.实际上,TikTok的这场交易或许已是当前形势下可能达成的最大妥协。它既满足了美国监管机构的要求,又使字节跳动保留了对核心知识产权的控制权。若“隐私”与“数据安全”确为核心关切,该协议本应消除用户疑虑。但事实恰恰相反——它揭示出更深层的不安:在当今华盛顿,特定利益集团能分得一杯羹,“国家安全”已沦为可交易的商品。The users' verdict, expressed through uninstall buttons and sharp-edged comments, may be the most telling commentary of all.用户通过点击卸载按钮和发表尖锐评论所表达的判断,或许是最具说服力的评价。algorithmn./ˈæl.ɡə.rɪ.ðəm/算法paranoian./ˌper.əˈnɔɪ.ə/疑虑

Let's Know Things
TikTok Deal

Let's Know Things

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 27, 2026 13:44


This week we talk about social networks, propaganda, and Oracle.We also discuss foreign adversaries, ByteDance, and X.Recommended Book: Rewiring Democracy by Bruce Schneier and Nathan E. SandersTranscriptIn 2021, TikTok, a short-form video platform that's ostensibly also a social network, though which leans heavily toward consuming content over socializing, was ranked the most popular website by internet services company Cloudflare, beating out all the other big tech players, including search engine juggernaut, Google.It was a neck and neck sort of thing, with Google taking the lead some days that year, but 2021 was definitely TikTok's time to shine, as it was already popular with young people and was starting to become popular with the general public, of all ages and across a huge swathe of the planet. It even beat Facebook as the most popular social media website that year, despite, again, being mostly about consuming content rather than interacting—that was actually a prime motivator for Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, to redirect its own apps in a similar direction, shifting its focus from communication and interaction between users toward the creation of binge-able content, and feeding users more of that content in a feed optimized for time-losing levels of consumption.2021 was also the first full year that TikTok was coming under scrutiny from the US government. In the preceding year, 2020, then first-term president Donald Trump said he was considering banning the app because it was becoming so popular, with young people in particular, and because it was owned by a Chinese company, ByteDance it represented a potential national security threat.So the idea was that because Chinese companies are forced, by their very nature, to do what the Chinese government tells them—that's just how things work over there—and to do so on the down-low if that's what the governments demands, and to lie about having to do what the government tells them to do, if the government tells them to thus lie, it doesn't matter that ByteDance's leadership swore up and down to the world that the company will never use its popularity, and the data it soaks up from all its users as a result of that popularity, to help the Chinese government, the Chinese military, or Chinese intelligence services.It of course will have to do that, and if it doesn't, its leaders could be black-bagged and disappeared in the night—because again, that's just how things work over there. So the Trump administration decided to make TikTok a sort of bogeyman, representing Chinese companies in general, and to some degree the presence of China in the US and throughout the Western world, and said, nope, we're not gonna let this thing continue to operate over here.It's worth remembering, too, that by 2021 the world was enmeshed in the COVID-19 pandemic, which originated in China, and which Trump and his administration were ardently attempting to tie to the Chinese government—calling Covid the Chinese Flu, and even worse things, as part of that effort.So this move against TikTok and its parent company, while based on genuine concerns about the ownership of the company and how and where the data being collected by said company is handled, it should also be seen as a political maneuver, allowing Trump, during the 2020 election run-up, to look like he was taking a big stand against a big foreign threat, China.What I'd like to talk about today is a deal that was proposed way back then by the Trump administration, as a potential way out for TikTok and ByteDance, allowing it to continue operating in the US despite threats to shut it down, now that said deal, or a version of it, seems to have finally come to fruition—and what we know about the shape of the resulting new, US-based version of TikTok.—On January 18, 2025, TikTok stopped worked in the US. It voluntarily suspended all services in the country in the lead-up to the implementation of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which was passed by the US congress and signed into law by then-president Joe Biden in April of 2024. This law gave social networking services controlled by ‘foreign adversaries' 270 days, with the possibility of a 90-day extension, to divest themselves so that they're no longer considered foreign adversary-owned.This law was almost exclusively aimed at TikTok, and the idea was that TikTok, in the US, would no longer be able to legally function following that deadline if it was still owned by China, which for the purposes of this law has been labeled a foreign adversary.ByteDance could keep TikTok in the US going if it sold a majority, controlling stake of its US-based assets to non-adversary owners, but otherwise it would have to shut down.Interestingly, though Trump was the original source of concerns about TikTok and its Chinese ownership during his first administration, when he stepped back into office in January 2025, he signed a new executive order that delayed the enforcement of this Biden-signed law, and then delayed it still-further, three more times after that, saying that he wanted to give American investors the time to negotiate controlling interest of US TikTok, rather than banning it.Those efforts eventually bore fruit in the shape of a new controlling entity called TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, which is made up of a bunch of non-Chinese investment entities, including US software behemoth Oracle, an Emirati investment firm called MGX, a US investment firm called Silver Lake, and a personal investment company owned by Michael Dell, the founder of Dell Technologies. There are other, smaller investors also involved, but the red thread that runs through almost all of them is that they're big Trump supporters and funders, funneling a lot of money into Trump's campaigns, and his family businesses.So six years after the initial legal salvo was fired at TikTok in the US, the local assets are now controlled by non-Chinese investors, though the original Chinese owner, ByteDance, still owns just under 20%, compared to about 15% apiece for Oracle, MGX, and Silver Lake.The new company's board is majority-run by those investors, too, which means it's majority-run by ardent Trump supporters. We don't yet know what effect this will have on content within the app, but under full Chinese ownership, topics related to democracy, Tianamen Square, and the LGBTQ community, among others, were significantly downgraded in the algorithm, ensuring they were seldom shown to anyone, which in turn disincentivized content that those owners didn't like while incentivizing content that was pro-China, and pro-Chinese government priorities.It's considered to be likely, by analysts who watch these sorts of maneuverings, that the same will be true of this new entity, but for and against subject matter that the Trump administration is for and against. Which raises the possibility that the new US TikTok, while superficially the same as the previous US TikTok, will slowly go the way X, formerly Twitter, has gone under Elon Musk, which was dramatically pushed in a new direction under its own owner, focusing on his political and ideological priorities and punishing users who spoke against those priorities.TikTok could become more or less an extension of the Trump-verse, in other words, and could thus become something more akin to Trump's own network, Truth Social, or other right-leaning and far-right social networks, like conservative YouTube-clone, Rumble, rather than something less ideological, or maybe I should say less overtly politically ideological, like Meta's Facebook, Threads, and Instagram.Users have already noticed some changes to US TikTok after the change in ownership, though, including what sorts of data are collected.TikTok's new privacy policy, which all users have to agree to before using the app, now that the platform has changed hands, says that TikTok will be using precise location tracking, keeping tabs on exactly where users are located via their device's GPS. That's compared to the app's previous approximate location-tracking effort, which used SIM card and IP address data to understand general proximity—it still uses that data, too, but now, rather than knowing what neighborhood you're probably in, it may also know what room in your house you're scrolling from.The new US TikTok also tracks users' interactions with AI tools, including their prompts, outputs, and metadata attached to said interactions, which includes details about where users are when they're using such tools, and what time they used them.They also collect gobs of marketing data from outside sources, and based on the users' activity within the app. So things you buy, websites and other apps you visit and use, and conversations you have will all be sucked up and agglomerated into a profile that's then used to show you targeted advertising. This isn't unique to US TikTok, but the company does seem to intend to make use of more such data, and to combine it with that other stuff it's now collecting, to increase the price it can charge for ads, because they'll be a lot more specifically targeted than before.Some users are beginning to comb through the new user agreement with a fine-toothed comb, noticing, in addition to those aforementioned major changes, that the company also reserves the right to collect information about your physical and mental health, to use identifying information in the videos and images you might share, and information gleaned from people and their identifying characteristics in images and videos, and to collect biometric data, which usually means eyes and faces and walking gate and things like that, to differentiate and track people across such content. They can keep tabs on your sex life, sexual orientation and gender, your drug usage, your ethnic and racial origins, your citizenship and immigration status, your financial situation and information—all sorts of stuff is collected, and they say in the privacy policy and user agreement that they intend to do gather and store and cross-reference this kind of information whenever possible.Again, much of this isn't novel, as social platforms are gobbling up all sorts of stuff about their users all the time, mostly to refine their ad placements because that allows them to charge advertisers more for better-targeted placements, over time.That said, because of the nature of the group that now owns US TikTok and which is making executive decisions about it, including, potentially, how this data is shared, including with the US government and its many agencies, there's a chance we might see an exodus of sorts from the still younger-than-average user base of this network, because there is a nonzero chance it could become a tool in the Trump administration's utility belt for tracking down people they don't like and spreading messages that are favorable to them and their ideological aims; so basically what was happening under the previous ownership, but for the current US administration's priorities, rather than those of the Chinese government.Show Noteshttps://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/tiktok-surpasses-google-popular-website-year-new-data-suggests-rcna9648https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/technology/tiktok-deal-oracle-bytedance-china-us.htmlhttps://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-new-privacy-policy/https://archive.is/20260123005655/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-23/tiktok-seals-deal-to-create-us-venture-with-oracle-silver-lakehttps://www.axios.com/2026/01/23/tiktok-deal-trump-app-banhttps://www.theverge.com/tech/866868/tiktok-usds-new-owners-algorithm-explainedhttps://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/22/5-things-to-know-about-the-tiktok-deal-00743316https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/23/business/media/tiktok-us-terms-conditions.htmlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TikTokhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump%E2%80%93TikTok_controversyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efforts_to_ban_TikTok_in_the_United_Stateshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protecting_Americans_from_Foreign_Adversary_Controlled_Applications_Act This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsknowthings.substack.com/subscribe

China Daily Podcast
英语新闻丨TikTok达成合资协议以运营其美国业务

China Daily Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 27, 2026 3:40


In a bid to avert a potential US ban over so-called security concerns, popular social media platform TikTok announced on Friday that it had closed a deal to establish a majority United States-owned joint venture to run its US operations.为避免因所谓“安全担忧”而面临美国潜在禁令,热门社交媒体平台TikTok周五宣布,已达成协议,成立一家由美国持股占多数的合资企业,用于运营其美国业务。Under the agreement, US and global investors — including cloud computing giant Oracle, US private equity firm Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates-based investment company MGX — will collectively hold 80.1 percent stake in the new entity.根据协议,美国及全球投资者——包括云计算巨头甲骨文、美国私募股权公司银湖资本以及总部位于阿联酋阿布扎比的投资公司MGX——将合计持有新实体80.1%的股份。TikTok's parent company ByteDance will retain the remaining 19.9 percent, keeping its ownership below the 20 percent threshold stipulated by US law.TikTok母公司字节跳动将保留剩余的19.9%股份,使其持股比例低于美国法律规定的20%门槛。As part of the arrangement, the JV will assume responsibility for safeguarding both US user data and TikTok's content recommendation algorithm.作为该安排的一部分,这家合资企业将负责保障美国用户数据以及TikTok的内容推荐算法安全。According to the statement, US user data and content recommendation algorithm will both be secured in Oracle's US cloud environment, where the new JV will retrain, test and update the algorithms and run audited, third-party-certified data privacy and cybersecurity programs aligned with US regulations.声明称,美国用户数据与内容推荐算法都将部署并保护在甲骨文的美国云环境中;新合资企业将在该环境内对算法进行再训练、测试与更新,并运行经审计、由第三方认证、符合美国监管要求的数据隐私与网络安全项目。The deal marks a major milestone for the short-video app after years of regulatory and legal battles dating back to August 2020, when Washington first sought to ban TikTok over what it claimed were national security concerns.该协议标志着这款短视频应用在经历多年监管与法律争议后取得重要里程碑。相关争议可追溯至2020年8月,当时华盛顿首次试图以所谓国家安全担忧为由禁止TikTok。Against this backdrop, Chinese authorities have repeatedly emphasized the importance of a balanced and lawful resolution.在此背景下,中方有关部门多次强调应以平衡、合法的方式妥善解决相关问题的重要性。At a news conference in Beijing in late December, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce said the Chinese government hopes that relevant parties can reach a resolution regarding Tik-Tok that complies with Chinese laws and regulations and achieves a balance of interests, urging the US to provide a fair, open, transparent and nondiscriminatory business environment for the continuous and stable operation of Chinese enterprises.在去年12月底北京举行的新闻发布会上,商务部发言人表示,中国政府希望相关各方就TikTok问题达成符合中国法律法规、实现利益平衡的解决方案,并敦促美方为中国企业持续、稳定经营提供公平、开放、透明、非歧视的营商环境。"A viable path has ultimately been found by joint efforts to achieve data and algorithm compliance," said Pan Helin, a member of the Expert Committee for Information and Communication Economy, which is part of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. While TikTok's enhanced compliance framework in the US will allow its operations to continue and help stabilize its business model, the move is also expected to support the building of long-term trust with local users, laying the groundwork for future ecosystem expansion, Pan said.工业和信息化部信息通信经济专家委员会委员盘和林表示:“通过共同努力,最终找到了一条实现数据与算法合规的可行路径。”他指出,TikTok在美国强化合规框架将使其业务得以延续,并有助于稳定其商业模式;同时,这一举措也有望促进与当地用户建立长期信任,为未来生态扩展奠定基础。As a BBC report also noted, "it made sense for Washington to strike a deal rather than ban TikTok", given the app's popularity among some 200 million American users.正如英国广播公司报道所指出的,鉴于该应用在约2亿美国用户中广受欢迎,“对华盛顿而言,与其封禁TikTok,不如达成协议更为合理”。However, Pan cautioned that challenges still remain. "On one hand, stringent compliance oversight could add operational pressure. On the other, regulatory constraints may slow the pace of TikTok's algorithm iteration, forcing innovation to give way to compliance," he added.不过,盘和林也提醒称,挑战依然存在。他补充说:“一方面,严格的合规监管可能增加运营压力;另一方面,监管约束可能放缓TikTok算法迭代速度,迫使创新让位于合规。”According to the statement, the JV will be led by Chief Executive Officer Adam Presser, who previously headed TikTok's US user data-related work, and Chief Security Officer Will Farrell, who oversaw privacy and security initiatives related to the project.声明称,该合资企业将由首席执行官亚当·普雷瑟领导,他此前负责TikTok在美国的用户数据相关工作;首席安全官威尔·法雷尔则负责监督与该项目相关的隐私与安全举措。It will also be overseen by a majority-American board of directors that includes TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, who will continue running ByteDance's global business.该合资企业还将由一个以美国成员占多数的董事会进行监督,董事会成员包括TikTok首席执行官周受资;周受资将继续负责字节跳动的全球业务运营。content recommendation algorithm /ˈkɒntent ˌrekəmenˈdeɪʃn ˈælɡərɪðəm/内容推荐算法cloud environment /klaʊd ɪnˈvaɪrənmənt/云环境nondiscriminatory /ˌnɒndɪˈskrɪmɪnətəri/非歧视性的ecosystem expansion /ˈiːkəʊˌsɪstəm ɪkˈspænʃn/生态扩展stringent oversight /ˈstrɪndʒənt ˈəʊvəsaɪt/严格监管algorithm iteration /ˈælɡərɪðəm ˌɪtəˈreɪʃn/算法迭代

Retail Daily Minute
TikTok Secures U.S. Future, Dollar General Battles Amazon & Francesca's Closes Permanently

Retail Daily Minute

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 26, 2026 4:50


Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by Grocery Dealz and Mirakl.In today's Retail Daily Minute, Omni Talk's Chris Walton discusses:TikTok establishes joint venture with Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX to remain operational in the U.S.Dollar General launches same-day delivery in rural markets.Francesca's permanently closes all 450+ stores after investor funding withdrawal, supplier financing collapse, and lender default create an unrecoverable capital crisis.The Retail Daily Minute has been rocketing up the Feedspot charts, so stay informed with Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, your source for the latest and most important retail insights.Be careful out there!

Radio Russian Emirates
20260126-3 - Компания из ОАЭ стала владельцем TikTok USDS & В Абу-Даби откроется Академия НБА

Radio Russian Emirates

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 26, 2026 2:22


Новости на радио «Русские Эмираты» в Дубае:- Компания MGX, базирующаяся в Абу-Даби, приобрела 15% акций в новом совместном предприятии TikTok, которое создано для защиты данных пользователей в США и предотвращения запрета приложения, которым пользуются более 200 млн американцев. Сделка оформлена владельцем TikTok, китайской компанией ByteDance, и предполагает запуск совместного предприятия с преимущественно американским владением.- Национальная баскетбольная ассоциация продлила долгосрочное партнерство с Департаментом культуры и туризма Абу-Даби, укрепив статус столицы ОАЭ как ключевой площадки лиги баскетбола в регионе. Помимо проведения предсезонных матчей NBA Global Games, в Абу-Даби откроется Глобальная академия НБА.

tiktok bytedance mgx usds nba global games
The Trend with Rtlfaith
Trump's Insurrection Act Threat, Greenland Tariff Chaos & TikTok Deal Explained | Purple Political Breakdown

The Trend with Rtlfaith

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 25, 2026 94:26


Purple Political Breakdown with Radell Lewis delivers another comprehensive deep-dive into the week's biggest political newsno bias, just facts.In this episode, host Radell Lewis breaks down the Insurrection Actwhat it is, its 219-year history, and why Trump's threat to deploy military forces in Minnesota over ICE protests lacks legal precedent. Learn the key sections (251, 252, 253) and how historical uses during the Civil Rights Movement differ from today's situation.Also covered:Greenland acquisition chaos: Trump's tariff threats against NATO allies, European backlash, stock market crash, and eventual walkback at the World Economic Forum in DavosTikTok deal finalized: Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX take majority ownershipbut does ByteDance still have influence?US exits WHO: What the World Health Organization departure means after 78 years of membershipSupreme Court showdown: Trump's attempt to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook and why even conservative justices are pushing backBoard of Peace for Gaza: Jared Kushner's reconstruction plans and international responseTrump sues JPMorgan Chase for $5 billion over alleged "debanking"Plus: Fact-checks on Trump's Davos claims, good news the media isn't covering, and more.Keywords: Insurrection Act explained, Trump Minnesota, ICE protests 2026, Greenland tariffs, NATO allies, TikTok Oracle deal, WHO withdrawal, Federal Reserve independence, Lisa Cook Supreme Court, Davos 2026, Board of Peace Gaza, JPMorgan lawsuit, purple politics, nonpartisan political podcast New episodes every Sunday | Rate 5 stars & follow all socials | Part of the Alive Podcast NetworkStandard Resource Links & RecommendationsThe following organizations and platforms represent valuable resources for balanced political discourse and democratic participation: PODCAST NETWORKALIVE Podcast Network - Check out the ALIVE Network where you can catch a lot of great podcasts like my own, led by amazing Black voices. Link: https://alivepodcastnetwork.com/ CONVERSATION PLATFORMSHeadOn - A platform for contentious yet productive conversations. It's a place for hosted and unguided conversations where you can grow a following and enhance your conversations with AI features. Link: https://app.headon.ai/Living Room Conversations - Building bridges through meaningful dialogue across political divides. Link: https://livingroomconversations.org/ UNITY MOVEMENTSUs United - A movement for unity that challenges Americans to step out of their bubbles and connect across differences. Take the Unity Pledge, join monthly "30 For US" conversation calls, wear purple (the color of unity), and participate in National Unity Day every second Saturday in December. Their programs include the Sheriff Unity Network and Unity Seats at sports events, proving that shared values are stronger than our differences. Link: https://www.us-united.org/ BALANCED NEWS & INFORMATIONOtherWeb - An AI-based platform that filters news without paywalls, clickbait, or junk, helping you access diverse, unbiased content. Link: https://otherweb.com/ VOTING REFORM & DEMOCRACYEqual Vote Coalition & STAR Voting - Advocating for voting methods that ensure every vote counts equally, eliminating wasted votes and strategic voting. Link: https://www.equal.vote/starFuture is Now Coalition (FiNC) - A grassroots movement working to restore democracy through transparency, accountability, and innovative technology while empowering citizens and transforming American political discourse. Link: https://futureis.org/ POLITICAL ENGAGEMENTIndependent Center - Resources for independent political thinking and civic engagement. Link: https://www.independentcenter.org/ GET DAILY NEWSText 844-406-INFO (844-406-4636) with code "purple" to receive quick, unbiased, factual news delivered to your phone every morning via Informed (https://informed.now) ALL LINKShttps://linktr.ee/purplepoliticalbreakdownThe Purple Political Breakdown is committed to fostering productive political dialogue that transcends partisan divides. We believe in the power of conversation, balanced information, and democratic participation to build a stronger society. Our mission: "Political solutions without political bias."Subscribe, rate, and share if you believe in purple politics - where we find common ground in the middle! Also if you want to be apart of the community and the conversation make sure to Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/ptPAsZtHC9

Elon Musk Pod
Trump backed TikTok's New American Owners

Elon Musk Pod

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 24, 2026 5:59


TikTok finalized its U.S. spinoff with Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX taking 45% ownership while ByteDance keeps 19.9%. I break down the $14 billion deal structure, explain why critics say it may not satisfy the original law, and reveal what ByteDance still controls after the sale.

NTD Good Morning
U.S. Braces for Winter Storm; Tri-Lateral Talks on Russia-Ukraine War | NTD Good Morning (Jan. 23)

NTD Good Morning

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 23, 2026 99:00


Forty-six states are under weather advisories, watches, or warnings, as a massive winter storm is expected to bring snow, ice, and extreme cold this weekend. The storm's footprint will stretch from the plains across the south and into the northeast, with North and South Carolina already declaring states of emergency. Weather experts are advising people to stay home and off the roads, and to be prepared for major travel disruptions.The United States, Ukraine, and Russia will meet on Nov. 23 in Abu Dhabi for tri-lateral security talks. President Donald Trump says Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy now appear open to ending the war, following separate high-level meetings. While the Kremlin called talks with U.S. negotiators substantive, Russia insists no lasting peace is possible without resolving territorial claims.TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, says it has finalized a move to avoid a ban in the United States, with a deal to create a majority "US-owned joint venture." U.S. data from TikTok's algorithm will be secured on Oracle's cloud system. American and global investors will own 80.1% of the venture, while ByteDance will retain the rest. Tech giant Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX will serve as managing investors, each holding a 15% stake.

Tech Update | BNR
Amerikaanse TikTok-tak officieel afgesplitst van Chinese moeder ByteDance

Tech Update | BNR

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 23, 2026 5:48


De langverwachte deal rond TikTok in de Verenigde Staten is definitief afgerond. De uiterste deadline was 22 januari en vannacht is de constructie officieel bekrachtigd, nadat in december al duidelijk werd dat zowel TikTok als het Chinese moederbedrijf ByteDance akkoord waren. Daarmee blijft TikTok beschikbaar voor Amerikaanse gebruikers, na maandenlange politieke en juridische onzekerheid over data, nationale veiligheid en mogelijke verboden. De Amerikaanse activiteiten van TikTok worden ondergebracht in een nieuwe joint venture met Amerikaanse investeerders. Grote partijen daarin zijn Oracle, Silver Lake en MGX, die elk 15 procent van de aandelen krijgen. ByteDance behoudt een minderheidsbelang van 19,9 procent. De joint venture krijgt een zevenkoppig bestuur met vertegenwoordigers van de Amerikaanse investeerders en de huidige TikTok-top. Adam Presser, die al vier jaar operationeel directeur was bij TikTok, wordt CEO. De rol van Chief Security Officer gaat naar Will Farrell, die moet toezien op de beveiliging van Amerikaanse gebruikersdata. Hoeveel er precies is betaald voor de deal is niet bekendgemaakt. De Amerikaanse vicepresident Vance schatte de waarde eerder op zo’n 14 miljard dollar, terwijl analisten uitgaan van een fors hogere waardering. ByteDance blijft ondertussen verantwoordelijk voor de koppeling met de wereldwijde TikTok-versie, waardoor Amerikaanse en internationale content gewoon uitwisselbaar blijft. Amazon ontslaat opnieuw duizenden mensen: volgens Reuters verdwijnen volgende week nog eens circa 16.000 banen, bovenop de 14.000 kantoorbanen die in oktober al werden geschrapt, vooral bij AWS, retail, Prime Video en HR, als onderdeel van een brede reorganisatie gericht op efficiëntie en minder bureaucratie. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Black Box
Asia e oro record, BOJ tassi fermi. Riscossa Tech, Intel delude | Morning Finance

Black Box

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 23, 2026 21:44


23/1 Listini asiatici record, Kospi rompe nuovi massimi storici. BOJ: Tassi fermi, rivede al rialzo stime crescita 2025-2026 ma avverte che le stime di inflazione aumentano. Takaichi dissolve il Parlamento, verso il voto 8 febbraio. Dollaro in calo, nuovi record di oro (a un passo da 5mila dollari) argento e platino.Tik Tok made in Usa è pronta: Oracle, SilverLake e MGX avranno 15% ciascuno. A Wall Street riscossa Tech. Intel, tonfo dopo i conti. Meta +5% su promozione Jeffries. Russell sovraperforma S&P500 per il 13esimo giorno consecutivo: quanto può durare? Trump fa causa a Jpm e Dimon per 5 mld$ per de-banking. Spacex verso l'Ipo con Bofa, Jpm, Goldman Sachs, M. Stanley. Musk: robotaxi entro fine anno e Optimus a fine 2026. Trump: armada verso l'Iran. WSJ: la prossima è Cuba.Groenlandia: Usa vogliono carta bianca su presenza militare. EUCO straordinario: Groenlandia è sovrana, ci saranno investimenti. Avanti con Mercosur Provvisorio. Verso indipendenza strategica. Oggi trilaterale Usa- Russia-Ucraina negli Emirati. WSJ: Trump punta a regime change a Cuba entro fine anno. Europa in verde, Mps, tutto rimandato al 28 gennaio. Ivision, il rally grazie a Macron. Perissinotto nuovo Ceo di Anima Holding.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

DUBAI WORKS Business Podcast
New Media Leadership in UAE; MGX, QIA back xAI; Dubai Property Boom

DUBAI WORKS Business Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 8, 2026 25:08


HEADLINES:• Abdulla Al Hamed Appointed Chairman of UAE National Media Authority • MGX, QIA Deepen Backing as xAI Raises $20bn in Oversubscribed Series E • Dubai Residential Property Transactions Hit AED 541bn in 2025, Up 27% Year-on-Year  Newsletter: https://aug.us/4jqModrWhatsApp: https://aug.us/40FdYLUInstagram: https://aug.us/4ihltzQTiktok: https://aug.us/4lnV0D8Smashi Business Show (Mon-Friday): https://aug.us/3BTU2MY

Analytic Dreamz: Notorious Mass Effect
"TIKTOK HAS SIGNED THE DEAL TO SPIN OFF ITS U.S. ENTITY WITH AMERICAN INVESTOR GROUP"

Analytic Dreamz: Notorious Mass Effect

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 30, 2025 15:35


Linktree: ⁠https://linktr.ee/Analytic⁠Join The Normandy For Additional Bonus Audio And Visual Content For All Things Nme+! Join Here: ⁠https://ow.ly/msoH50WCu0K⁠In this segment of Notorious Mass Effect, host Analytic Dreamz delivers a comprehensive breakdown of the landmark TikTok-U.S. investors deal aimed at averting a nationwide ban. Analytic Dreamz examines the binding agreements announced via CEO Shou Zi Chew's internal memo, shifting TikTok's U.S. operations to majority U.S. investor control for its 170+ million American users.Key details include the new joint venture structure: 50% owned by U.S.-aligned investors (Oracle 15%, Silver Lake 15%, MGX 15%), with ByteDance at 19.9% and affiliates at 30.1%—keeping Chinese ownership below 20% to meet U.S. requirements. A 7-member majority-American board will oversee independent operations, including data protection, content moderation, and algorithm security.Analytic Dreamz explores the sensitive algorithm retraining on U.S.-only data to prevent foreign manipulation, potential shifts in user experience, data storage via Oracle, and the $14 billion valuation. The segment covers political context, Trump's deadline extensions to January 23, 2026, targeting closure on January 22, ongoing Chinese approval uncertainties, creator impacts on 7+ million businesses, and bipartisan skepticism.Tune in as Analytic Dreamz analyzes how this reshapes TikTok's future amid U.S.-China tensions. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/analytic-dreamz-notorious-mass-effect/donationsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

SMASHI TV
تحولات كبرى في الأعمال العالمية: تيك توك، كرة القدم، وثروات التشفير في الإمارات

SMASHI TV

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 29, 2025 5:24


في هذه الحلقة من برنامج سماشي بيزنس شو، نناقش كواليس هيكل الملكية الجديد لتيك توك في الولايات المتحدة وتأثيره على MGX والعلاقات الأميركية الإماراتية في مجال الذكاء الاصطناعي، كما نتناول خروج مجموعة سيتي فوتبول من الدوري الهندي، وتصنيف تشانغبينغ تشاو كأغنى مغترب في الإمارات وفق فوربس. قراءة معمقة في المال، النفوذ، والتحولات العالمية.

DH Unplugged
DHUnplugged #783: Santa Is That You?

DH Unplugged

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 24, 2025 59:02


Patriot games are coming. Larry Ellison in the spotlight. Hi Ho Silver and away! PLUS we are now on Spotify and Amazon Music/Podcasts! Click HERE for Show Notes and Links DHUnplugged is now streaming live - with listener chat. Click on link on the right sidebar. Love the Show? Then how about a Donation? Follow John C. Dvorak on Twitter Follow Andrew Horowitz on Twitter Warm-Up - CTP Cup - All systems go! 9 participants! - ELON gets his $$$ - Kids account challenge - Patriot games are coming... Markets - Not much headwinds - EOY approaching - Analysts predicting SP500 for 2026 - 7,500 (12% upside) - More Oracle back and forth - Gold and Silver Elon - Elon Musk's net worth surged to $749 billion late Friday after the Delaware Supreme Court reinstated Tesla stock options worth $139 billion that were voided last year - He also recently received a $1T pay plan approval - Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jensen Huang combined - His fortune exceeds the GDP of nations like the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, and Switzerland. - He is richer than every country in Africa by GDP - He is projected by some reports to become the world's first trillionaire by 2027 When did Larry Ellison and Oracle become newsworthy? - Every day in the news.... - Larry Ellison NOW Personally Guarantees Paramount Bid for Warner Bros. - The announcement of Mr. Ellison's personal guarantee is meant to address concerns that the Warner Bros. Discovery's board had expressed about Paramount's original offer. - Helping out sonny-boy? More Oracle - Oracle stock slid after a report that Blue Owl Capital won't back a $10 billion data center for OpenAI. (Michigan) - Oracle has $248 billion in lease commitments for data centers and cloud capacity commitments over the next 15 to 19 years. - Oracle later responded to the FT report, saying the project was moving forward and that Blue Owl was not part of equity talks. EVEN MORE! - Multiple media outlets, including the Associated Press, reported that ByteDance has reached an agreement with Oracle ORCL, Silver Lake, and Abu-Dhabi-based MGX to set up a joint venture for TikTok's US operations. Oracle will hold a 15.0% stake in the new entity, while ByteDance will retain a 19.9% stake. - The important thing her is that TikTok stays as a major tenant of OCI as ORCL needs this cash flow... - Of all of the items, this may be why ORCL stock has bounced te last few days. Congressional Ban - A vote on legislation banning members from owning or trading stocks could get a vote in the new year, according to House leadership and Republican members. - President Donald Trump has said he supports a congressional ban but has pushed back on versions that include the executive branch. - Basically this bill would prohibit the ownership of individual stocks by congress Over to Japan - Bank of Japan raises benchmark rates to highest in 30 years, lifting 10-year JGB yield past 2% - Yen still VERY weak - trading at 157/USD - (problematic) - The BOJ said that real interest rates are expected to remain “significantly negative,” adding that accommodative financial conditions will continue to firmly support economic activity. - The yen weakened 0.25% against the USD after the decision - therefore still dovish and stimulative Economic Numbers - Estimates, partial numbers and best guesses. OH, 2-month averaging as well - The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the annual headline inflation rate and core CPI rate for last month were 2.7% and 2.6%, respectively, well below expectations. - Due to government shutdown, BLS to make certain methodological assumptions about the prior month's inflation levels. - Those assumptions in the methodology were not clear to economists and were not fully explained in the release. - Here is a big issue: The price changes in October for the OER (owners equivalent rent) appear to have been “set to zero.”  Sports Prediction Markets - Sports is fueling the growth and is forecasted to make up 44% of volume as prediction markets mature. - According to one expert: the fundamental elements of consumer demand and an array of diverse brands looking to meet that demand are clearly in place - Sportsbooks are getting a bit nervous.... First Dell, then... - Billionaire hedge fund manager Ray Dalio of Bridgewater Associates and his wife, Barbara, committed to seed Trump accounts for approximately 300,000 children in Connecticut. - Following the Dells' pledge, the funds will be aimed at kids who live in a Connecticut ZIP code where the median income is less than $150,000. - The Dalio grant will fund $250 per child for approximately 300,000 children in Connecticut. This applies to children who live in a ZIP code where the median income is less than $150,000. About 87% of Connecticut ZIP codes meet that criteria, according to a CNBC analysis of Census Bureau data. - “Ray has joined what we are calling the 50-state challenge,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a press conference on Wednesday. - A growing number of companies have announced they would match contributions to Trump accounts for their employees, including BNY and BlackRock. Patriot Games (Hunger Games?) - Trump announced: The Washington Monument will be illuminated with festive lights, a triumphal arc will be constructed and the “Patriot Games” will commence. The games are an “unprecedented four-day athletic event featuring the greatest high school athletes: one young man and one young woman from each state and territory. - Uhhhhhh "And so it was decreed that, each year, the various districts of Panem would offer up, in tribute, one young man and woman to fight to the death in a pageant of honor, courage and sacrifice. (Hunger Games 2012) - What next - PURGE NIGHT? Fed Pick - Now it seems as if it is a 4 person race... - President Trump says "Nowadays, when there is good news, the market goes down because everybody thinks that interest rates will be immediately lifted"; says "I want my new Fed Chairman to lower interest rates if the market is doing well"; says "Anybody that disagrees with me will never be the Fed Chairman!" San Fran Blackout - Alphabet-owned Waymo resumed its robotaxi service in the San Francisco Bay Area Sunday evening after pausing it amid widespread blackouts that had affected their vehicles' behavior. - Waymo said it worked with city officials throughout the blackout and had “proactively” initiated a temporary suspension of its service. - Interesting point there - what happens when grid disruptions for internet with self-driving Angry Shareholders (For a minute) - Tricolor CEO Daniel Chu directed a deputy to send him $6.25 million in bonuses in August, weeks before the company filed for bankruptcy, U.S. prosecutors alleged. - Subprime autofirm that had alleged fraud - This happens all the time - Big issue to keep alert to is the news about "Subprime" WEED - Trump's executive order shifts cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III, easing research, banking and tax restrictions and marking the biggest federal cannabis policy change in decades. - Shares of cannabis conglomerates were down following the announcement, likely from worries of new competition from international companies. - NOT legalization - NOT for recreational use... - Banking, Institutional capital ..... OpenAi - Beggars cup continues - OpenAI is in initial discussions to raise at least $10 billion from Amazon.com Inc. and use its chips, a potential win for the online retailer's effort to broaden its AI industry presence and compete with Nvidia Corp. - The deal under discussion could value OpenAI north of $500 billion and see it adopt Amazon's Trainium chip, a person with knowledge of the matter said, asking to remain anonymous to describe private negotiations. - Talks, however, are at a preliminary stage and terms could change, the person added. High Ho Silver and Away! - Silver up 135% YTD - Gold up 70% - Best year since strongest annual performance since 1979 for Gold - 1970's was inflation, USD weakening, Energy crisis. - What is similar/different now? (Big difference is buying up (China, Poland, Turkey, India) Light menu - Darden Restaurants will roll out a new lighter portion entrées menu at all Olive Garden locations in January, the company announced during its quarterly earnings call last Thursday. - Citing affordability: "Olive Garden has seen a double-digit increase in affordability perceptions from guests who order from the lighter portions menu and an increase in frequency among these guests, which should help build traffic over time," Cardenas said. - Sooooo 0 due to high costs, Americans are cutting back on food? - If it were for weight loss, no need for Oliver garden to cut back on portions as most inedible anyway... Copper - Copper prices topped $12,000 a ton for the first time, extending the metal's recent bull run as mine outages add to concerns about supply. - The threat of US import tariffs on the metal has also been an important factor pushing up prices this year, with copper piling up in American warehouses. - Industry analysts have said that much of the richest and most easily accessible mining resources are now exhausted, and experts are warning that the market is on the cusp of a major deficit. Jim Beam - Bourbon maker Jim Beam is halting production at one of its distilleries in Kentucky for at least a year as the whiskey industry navigates tariffs from the Trump administration and slumping demand for a product that needs years of aging before it is ready. - Jim Beam said the decision to pause bourbon making at its Clermont location in 2026 will give the company time to invest in improvements at the distillery. The bottling and warehouse at the site will remain open, along with the James B. Beam Distilling Co. visitors center and restaurant. - The percentage of U.S. adults who say they consume alcohol has fallen to 54%, the lowest by one percentage point in Gallup's nearly 90-year trend. Love the Show? Then how about a Donation? THE CLOSEST TO THE PIN 2025 Winners will be getting great stuff like the new "OFFICIAL" DHUnplugged Shirt! CTP CUP 2025 Participants: Jim Beaver Mike Kazmierczak Joe Metzger Ken Degel David Martin Dean Wormell Neil Larion Mary Lou Schwarzer Eric Harvey (2024 Winner) FED AND CRYPTO LIMERICKS See this week's stock picks HERE Follow John C. Dvorak on Twitter Follow Andrew Horowitz on Twitter

This Week in XR Podcast
Digital Wellbeing Is The Path To Reclaim Agency In An AI Post-Capitalist World - Caitlin Krause

This Week in XR Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 23, 2025 55:53


Caitlin Krause, author of Digital Wellbeing, argues that intentional design unlocks genuine connection within virtual spaces. Drawing on her teaching at Stanford and the University of Oregon, she's explored how XR environments can foster asynchronous connection and ambient awareness for people who crave belonging without hyper-social performance. Her framework rejects the "digital detox" model entirely—instead advocating for dignity-first design where users match attention with authentic intention.The hosts debate the deeper question: what happens to human purpose when AI handles all labor? Rony Abovitz frames this as the "asymmetry of design"—it's easy to build addictive tech, hard to build wellbeing tech. Caitlin counters that we may return to the original meaning of "amateur" (from amor, "to love"), where humans find meaning through play, creativity, and what Harvard's lifespan study confirms: quality of relationship and presence. The conversation spirals from platform ethics to post-work society to what first principles we should use when designing XR.5 Key Takeaways from Caitlin:Loneliness is a biological prompt to find another human—not a void to fill with endless content. XR can foster genuine forms of connection without requiring hyper-social performance.Dignity-first design unlocks freedom, invention, and agency. When digital spaces prioritize user agency over engagement metrics, people report feeling like they "got their life back."Science will soon prove what we already know about fractal patterns in nature and digital signals. The key is designing digital experiences that resonate with how humans biologically thrive.The "middle path" between nature and digital is both/and. Gamers building entire lives in virtual worlds can be healthy when those worlds offer creativity, belonging, and meaningful challenge.The post-labor economy needs a reset in literacy and values. When AI outperforms human workers, purpose shifts from survival to what makes you feel alive—maker culture, digital fab labs, hands-on creation, and "amateur" pursuits driven by love.In the News: Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi's MGX close the $50 billion TikTok spin-off deal. Meta cuts Reality Labs by 30%, but CTO Andrew Bosworth says it's moving to AI. The TCL glasses demo 70 grams of lighter, more advanced XR hardware than Ray-Ban Meta—proving that smart spending beats mega-spend.This episode is brought to you by Zappar, creators of Mattercraft—the leading visual development environment for building immersive 3D web experiences for mobile headsets and desktop. Build smarter at mattercraft.io.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Presa internaţională
TikTok scapă să fie interzisă în SUA: intră pe mâna americanilor

Presa internaţională

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 23, 2025 4:12


TikTok de America își schimbă proprietarul. La sfârșitul săptămânii trecute, acționarul chinez al rețelei sociale a semnat un acord pentru cedarea controlului asupra companiei care activează în Statele Unite. Noii proprietari americani vor fi, printre alte companii, gigantul Oracle și fondul Silver Lake, iar tranzacția se va semna efectiv la sfârșitul lunii ianuarie 2026. De fapt, acționarii chinezi ai TikTok au fost puși în America în fața unei situații fără ieșire și fără precedent. Adică, fie vindeau firma, fie rețeaua socială ar fi fost interzisă. Chinezii de la TikTok au preferat prima variantă. Povestea a început în primăvara anului trecut, atunci când Camera Reprezentanților și apoi Senatul au adoptat o lege care cerea exact ce se întâmplă astăzi, adică TikTok ori devine o companie cu acționariat majoritar american, ori i se interzice accesul în toate magazinele de aplicații din SUA. Legea a fost votată și de democrați și de republicani, iar argumentele au fost acelea că Beijingul are posibilitatea, prin intermediul aplicației, atât să colecteze date despre populație, cât și să influențeze opinia publică americană. Temerea oficialilor americani a fost că rețeaua TikTok poate oferi date despre cei 170 milioane de utilizatori din SUA care au cont pe rețeaua socială, chiar dacă firma-mamă chineză, ByteDance, a negat că ar transmite informații despre utilizatori, de fiecare dată când a fost acuzată. Săptămâna trecută s-a semnat acordul care schimbă complet acționariatul companiei care administrează TikTok în SUA, în așa fel încât noii proprietari majoritari să respecte legislația americană referitoare la cedarea activelor străine. Astfel, compania chineză ByteDance păstrează în noua companie doar 19,9%, sub pragul strategic de 20%. Controlul efectiv al companiei, din punctul de vedere al procentajului de acțiuni deținute, se mută către un consorțiu de investitori care va avea un pachet de 45%. Din consorțiu fac parte trei agenți economici, fiecare având câte 15%, respectiv Oracle, fondul de investiții Silver Lake și fondul suveran din Abu Dhabi, Emiratele Arabe Unite, specializat în inteligență artificială, numit MGX. Restul acțiunilor rămâne în posesia investitorilor istorici în compania chineză ByteDance, printre care se află și două fonduri de investiții americane. După cum se poate vedea noua companie va avea o structură a acționariatului destul de diversă, dar Oracle depășește rolul de investitor financiar și va fi un „partener de securitate și încredere”. În această calitate, compania americană va găzdui pe serverele sale datele a 170 milioane de utilizatori americani de TikTok. De asemenea, un obiectiv important al noii companii va fi modificarea algoritmului de lucru. Pentru a risipi suspiciunile de manipulare chineză, motorul de recomandări va fi complet „reantrenat” în cadrul infrastructurii Oracle. Acest proces se va baza exclusiv pe datele colectate în SUA și va garanta izolarea completă de influențele companiei-mamă din China. Firma americană va avea o autonomie totală față de acționarul chinez. Consiliul de administrație al companiei va fi format din șapte membri, în majoritate fiind cetățeni americani, iar ByteDance își va mai păstra doar un singur loc în consiliu, fapt care arată încă o dată că firma chineză va fi marginalizată și va pierde controlul asupra noii companii din SUA. Moderarea conținutului, securitatea soft-ului, protecția datelor vor fi atributele firmei americane care va garanta că deciziile editoriale și tehnice respectă standardele și legislația SUA. Președintele american Donald Trump a oscilat față de TikTok. A fost un critic vehement în anul 2020, dar un susținător în campania din 2024. În cele din urmă, a fost găsită soluția preluării companiei în SUA. Singura consolare a ByteDance este poate aceea că reușește să rămână, chiar și acționar minoritar, pe o piață estimată la 14 miliarde de dolari.

Choses à Savoir TECH
TikTok se scinde en deux pour rester aux États-Unis ?

Choses à Savoir TECH

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 22, 2025 2:34


Il aura fallu plus de cinq ans de tensions politiques et de négociations feutrées pour que TikTok parvienne à se débarrasser de son handicap originel aux États-Unis : ses racines chinoises. Sous la menace persistante d'une interdiction pure et simple, sa maison mère, ByteDance, a finalement signé, le 18 décembre 2025, un accord décisif avec l'administration américaine. Objectif : rester sur le sol américain en se pliant aux exigences de sécurité nationale portées par Donald Trump.La solution trouvée passe par la création d'une nouvelle entité indépendante : TikTok USDS Joint Venture. Cette coentreprise américaine pilotera désormais les données, l'algorithme et la modération de la plateforme aux États-Unis. Plusieurs acteurs entrent au capital à hauteur de 15 % chacun, dont Oracle, le fonds américain Silver Lake et l'investisseur émirati MGX. ByteDance, de son côté, voit sa participation réduite à 19,9 %, tandis que 30,1 % restent entre les mains d'investisseurs historiques, parmi lesquels Fidelity et General Atlantic.Un nouveau conseil d'administration, composé de sept membres à majorité américaine, doit être mis en place. Selon une note interne consultée par l'Associated Press, sa mission est claire : « protéger les données des Américains et la sécurité nationale des États-Unis ». TikTok conservera néanmoins le contrôle de l'essentiel de ses activités commerciales sur le territoire. La transaction doit être finalisée le 22 janvier 2026, soit la veille de la date à laquelle l'interdiction de TikTok aurait dû entrer en vigueur. Sur le fond, Washington reprochait à TikTok deux points majeurs : l'hébergement potentiel des données d'utilisateurs américains hors du pays et la puissance de son algorithme, soupçonné de pouvoir servir d'outil d'influence à Pékin. Désormais, les données seront stockées localement via Oracle. TikTok reconnaît que des employés basés en Chine y ont eu accès par le passé, tout en affirmant qu'aucune information n'a jamais été transmise aux autorités chinoises.Cet accord met fin à un feuilleton entamé dès 2020, lorsque Donald Trump avait tenté, sans succès, de bannir l'application lors de son premier mandat. En 2024, le Congrès, dans un rare consensus bipartisan, avait adopté une loi signée par Joe Biden, imposant la vente ou la suspension des applications contrôlées par des adversaires étrangers. Une échéance repoussée à quatre reprises depuis janvier 2025, le temps de négocier. Hébergé par Acast. Visitez acast.com/privacy pour plus d'informations.

Squawk Pod
TikTok Makes a Deal: Fmr. TikTok CEO & Signals from Beijing 12/19/25

Squawk Pod

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 19, 2025 29:34


After years of debate and scrutiny, TikTok has signed an agreement for a new U.S. joint venture. By January 22, TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC will be managed by three investors: Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX. Former TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer joins CNBC's Beijing Bureau Chief Eunice Yoon to discuss the implications of this deal for geopolitics and data safety. Executive wine editor of Food & Wine Ray Isle brings his holiday sips to set, including recommendations at varying price points and varying ABVs. Amid tariffs and a growing nonalcoholic beverage trend, Isle says the wine industry has always been cyclical. Plus, Barack Obama's 2025 list of favorite books includes a familiar title, and the Trump administration continues its Fed Chair interviews.  Steve Liesman - 05:51Kevin Mayer & Eunice Yoon - 15:40Ray Isle - 24:22 In this episode:Steve Liesman, @steveliesmanEunice Yoon, @onlyyoontvBecky Quick, @BeckyQuickAndrew Ross Sorkin, @andrewrsorkinKatie Kramer, @Kramer_Katie Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Business Pants
BP's new CEO (and failed ex-chair), nepo tantrum at WBD, tech bros say life's not worth it

Business Pants

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 19, 2025 69:21


Story of the Week (DR):Embattled BP replaces CEO, naming Woodside Energy chief as first-ever woman leader of a Big Oil giant MMBP names new CEO — its fourth in 6 yearsO'Neill will replace Murray Auchincloss, after less than two years in the role.BP's C-suite milestone: Women in both the CEO and CFO seatsMelody Meyer: Chair of the safety and sustainability committeeDame Amanda Blanc: Senior independent director Interim CEO Carol HowleCFO Kate ThomsonEmma Delaney: EVP, customers & productsKerry Dryburgh - EVP, people, culture & communications and chief human resources and communications officer *Emeka Emembolu: EVP, technology*William Lin - EVP, gas & low carbon energy2 of 8 white dude leadershipEven after Pamela Daley stepped down in July, still 43% female board influenceMeg O'Neill: ‘hard-nosed' outsider who will head BP's pivot away from green energyFirst female appointment to a major oil company has faced fierce resistance from climate activists as boss of Woodside43% female board influence at WoodsideCarol Howle, current executive vice president, supply, trading & shipping of bp, will serve as interim CEO until Meg joins as CEO.BP 'woke' agenda axed as it hires first female chief exec and doubles down on fossil fuelsWarner Bros Discovery board rejects rival bid from ParamountWBD's board of directors (chaired by Samuel Di Piazza Jr.) has unanimously rejected the Paramount tender as inferior and risky, urging shareholders to reject it and uphold the Netflix transaction instead.David Ellison pulled the dad card early onRight after WBD rejected one of multiple secret bids in September, David Ellison called Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav to request that Zaslav meet with his father, Larry Ellison. The conventional wisdom was that the Oracle cofounder's billions would prevail. In the end, that didn't happen. WBD expressed concern that the bid relied on a revocable trust, whose assets or liabilities were subject to change.A zealous Paramount pulled out all the stops to woo ZaslavWe already knew Zaslav stood to make over $500 million from a Paramount deal, based mainly on his shares that would vest immediately after it closed ($567,712,631, to be exact, according to the filing). Zaslav told the WBD board that the Ellisons had "indicated to him that" if a deal went through, he would "receive a compensation package worth several hundred million dollars," per the filing. Zaslav responded that it "would be inappropriate to discuss any such arrangements at that time," he told the board.Paramount also offered Zaslav the position of co-CEO and co-chairman of the combined company, a role Netflix didn't offer, the filing said.That runs contrary to the narrative put forth in a letter Paramount's attorneys at Quinn Emanuel sent to WBD, stating they suspected the process was biased in favor of Netflix due to WBD leadership's expectations that there could be roles for them at the new company. Paramount's legal and financial advisors didn't know about the "December 3 Quinn Emanuel" letter and, in their view, the letter should not have been sent, was "not helpful," and was a "mistake," the filing says.TikTok signs agreement to create new U.S. joint ventureTikTok has signed binding agreements with investors including Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX for the sale of its US arm, creating a joint venture as part of a deal orchestrated by President Donald Trump.The U.S. joint venture will be 50% held by a consortium of new investors, including Larry Ellison's Oracle, Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi's MGX, with 15% each. Just over 30% will be held by affiliates of certain existing investors of ByteDance, and almost 20% will be retained by ByteDanceHouse Democrats release more Epstein photos, including Bill Gates and a dinner full of wealthy philanthropists Donald TrumpBill Clinton Bill Gates – Microsoft co-founderSergey Brin – Google co-founderRichard Branson – Virgin Group founderLarry Summers – Economist, Harvard President, OpenAI directorSalar Kamangar – Former YouTube CEO Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem — Emirati businessman; Chair/CEO of DP WorldLes Wexner — Founder of L BrandsLeon Black — co-founder and former CEO of Apollo Global ManagementTom Pritzker — Executive Chair Hyatt HotelsGlenn Dubin — Hedge fund manager Dubin & Co.; co-founder of Highbridge Capital Management Ron Baron — Founder & chairman of Baron Capital ManagementJosh Harris — co-founder of Apollo Global Management and managing partner of Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Devils, and Washington CommandersAriane de Rothschild — Wealthy banking heir; CEO of Edmond de Rothschild GroupGoodliest of the Week (MM/DR):DR: Canada to Launch Sustainable Investment Taxonomy in 2026According to the government, the new taxonomy will provide a set of criteria for the identification of investments that are eligible for a “green” or “transition” investment label, enabling companies to issue green or transition bonds, and investors to evaluate the credibility of sustainable investment products.MM: Tesla's having a good time at the DMVCalifornia won the right to ban sales of Tesla vehicles in the state due to false advertising about “self driving cars”MM: Walmart's women truckers surge thanks to $115,000 starting pay and other perks bringing in nontraditional candidatesAssholiest of the Week (MM):Helge LundEmbattled BP replaces CEO, naming Woodside Energy chief as first-ever woman leader of a Big Oil giant:O'Neill is “taking over the British energy behemoth at a time when it has fallen behind the other global oil and gas supermajors and was even a potential takeover target earlier this year by rival Shell.”Is there anything glass cliff-ier than this stat:Helge Lund has now overseen BP's failed Murray Auchincloss tenure, Bernard Looney's tenure, and Bob Dudley's leaving (6 year tenure) and Novo Nordisk's incredible succession failure, the failure of Nokia in 2013… I hate having to celebrate a female first - like becoming a CEO when eminently overqualifiedSam Altman againSam Altman says he has '0%' excitement about being CEO of a public company ahead of a potential OpenAI IPOHe changed it from a non profit to a for profit in order to go public and make all the money.Also: “billionaire says”Sam Altman Sounds Alarm As ChatGPT Explodes Globally: 'Rate Of Change' Sparks AI Anxiety, Job FearsSam Altman Uses His New Image Generator to Show Himself As a Jacked Fireman With Washboard Abs… With an Absolutely Hilarious ErrorSam Altman says OpenAI has gone 'code red' multiple times; and they'll do it againThe “sound the alarm” gaslightPeter C. Earle, Ph.D, Director of Economics and Economic Freedom and Senior Research Fellow at American Institute for Economic Research DRStop Fixating on CEO Pay Ratios and Start Fixing Labor Markets“The average employee is hired under conditions of broad substitutability — many people can competently perform the role with modest training. The CEO labor market is the opposite: extremely small, specialized, global, and contingent on track records that can shift a firm's valuation by billions of dollars. The demand curve for top executive talent is steep; the supply curve is extraordinarily thin.”“Skilled executives can influence strategy, capital allocation, risk management, and organizational culture in ways that affect firm performance far more than incremental labor inputs elsewhere in the organization, even if the latter are voluminous. If a CEO's decisions add even a few percentage points to long-term returns, the economic value created dwarfs the compensation.”Translation: CEOs are worth it, regular workers are not. “Such a ratio also ignores value creation. [...] The relevant question is not “Is the ratio of worker to executive pay too large?” but rather “Does the CEO create more value than their talent costs?”Does not propose how to prove value creation of the CEO other than “stock go up”Earle had this to say about leadership in 2019: “teams (also companies, organizations, groups, and so on) which experience outstanding success inevitably cite leadership as a factor — often the decisive one, and frequently emanating from a particular individual.”“But it should come as no surprise that many successful sports teams, firms, and organizations readily identify leadership as the decisive factor in their triumphs. It's a better story than merely having incredible resources and facilities, superior performance, or as is often the case: simple, garden-variety luck.”Headliniest of the WeekDR: Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary plans to step down by 2035 & Chipotle chases the protein craze with new menu items — including meat in a cupMM: LinkedIn CEO says it's ‘outdated' to have a five-year career plan: It's a ‘little bit foolish' considering the pace AI is changing the workplaceWho Won the Week?DR: Powerful women at BPMM: 4 year career plansPredictionsDR: David Ellison cancels his Netflix subscription then hires Erika Kirk to run programming at Nickelodeon and MTVMM: Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary steps down in 2035 and become executive chair, pledging to step down as executive chair in 2057.

NTD Good Morning
Brown Univ. Shooting Suspect Dead; TikTok Signs Deal With US Investors | NTD Good Morning (Dec. 19)

NTD Good Morning

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 19, 2025 51:35


Rhode Island's attorney general said law enforcement late Thursday tracked Portuguese national Claudio Neves Valente, the man suspected of killing two students at Brown University, to Salem, New Hampshire. They found him inside a storage unit after he took his own life with a gun. Investigators are also accusing him of killing MIT professor Nuno Loureiro two days after his rampage at Brown.Social media giant TikTok is selling just over 80 percent of its U.S. assets to avoid a looming ban in the country. TikTok's parent company, ByteDance said Thursday it had signed agreements with three major investors: Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX. The deal would create a new U.S. company called TikTok USDS Joint Venture. ByteDance will retain a stake of just under 20 percent.Seven people have died, including former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, after a business jet went down on Thursday at Statesville Regional Airport, just north of Charlotte, North Carolina. Flight tracking data show the aircraft attempted to return shortly after takeoff amid severe weather. Federal investigators are now working to determine what caused the deadly crash.

Bloomberg Daybreak: Asia Edition
TikTok Signs Agreement for New US Joint Venture, Asia Reacts to US CPI

Bloomberg Daybreak: Asia Edition

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 19, 2025 18:45 Transcription Available


TikTok's long-delayed plan to separate from Chinese parent ByteDance Ltd. was put in motion Thursday when the video sharing sensation said it's being bought by a group of buyers led by Oracle Corp. TikTok Chief Executive Officer Shou Chew told employees that the company and ByteDance signed binding agreements to create a US joint venture majority-owned by American investors, according to an internal memo reviewed by Bloomberg. Chew wrote that he was "pleased to share some great news" and said agreements with Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX have been signed. The deal is expected to close on Jan. 22, 2026, though Chew added that "there's more work to be done" before then. Asian equities rose after cooling US inflation data backed the case for Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts and calming tech jitters supported American stocks. We heard from Amy Xie Patrick, Head of Income Strategies at Pendal Group. She spoke to Bloomberg's Annabelle Droulers and Paul Allen. Plus - A solid outlook from giant Micron Technology Inc. underscored the voracious appetite for all things related to artificial intelligence. The S&P 500 rose nearly 1%, halting a four-day slide. We spoke to Keith Buchanan, Senior Portfolio Manager at Globalt.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tech Update | BNR
TikTok akkoord met Amerikaanse verkoop om verbod te voorkomen

Tech Update | BNR

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 19, 2025 8:26


De overname van het Amerikaanse deel van TikTok is vrijwel rond. Niet via het Witte Huis, maar via een interne memo van TikTok-ceo Shou Zi Chew werd duidelijk dat moederbedrijf ByteDance akkoord is met een Amerikaanse eigendomsconstructie. De deal moet uiterlijk 22 januari worden afgerond, vlak voordat het decreet van president Trump afloopt waarmee een verbod op TikTok al meerdere keren werd uitgesteld. Techredacteur Stijn Goossens vertelt in de Tech Update wat dit voor gebruikers betekent. De nieuwe eigenaar wordt een Amerikaanse joint venture: TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC. Daarin nemen onder meer techbedrijf Oracle, investeerder Silver Lake en het Abu Dhabi-fonds MGX elk een belang van 15 procent. Samen komen zij uit op 45 procent, aangevuld tot 50 procent met andere Amerikaanse investeerders. Bestaande ByteDance-investeerders behouden iets meer dan 30 procent, terwijl het Chinese ByteDance zelf net geen 20 procent houdt. Met deze constructie voldoet TikTok aan de Amerikaanse wet die een verkoop van het platform afdwong. Voor gebruikers moet er volgens TikTok weinig veranderen. ByteDance blijft betrokken bij de interoperabiliteit met de rest van het platform en advertentie-inkomsten, terwijl een onafhankelijke organisatie binnen de joint venture verantwoordelijk wordt voor contentmoderatie en databeveiliging volgens Amerikaanse regels. Wel wordt het Amerikaanse algoritme voortaan uitsluitend getraind met data van Amerikaanse gebruikers. Opvallend is dat Trump nog niet publiekelijk heeft gereageerd. De deal is formeel nog niet afgerond, maar het akkoord van ByteDance geldt als een belangrijke doorbraak in een dossier dat al bijna een jaar boven de markt hangt. Verder in deze Tech Update: OpenAI en Anthropic voorspellen leeftijd gebruikersOpenAI en Anthropic gaan met AI de leeftijd van gebruikers inschatten, zodat chatbots hun toon en inhoud beter kunnen aanpassen aan gesprekken met tieners. De stap volgt op toenemende maatschappelijke en juridische druk op AI-bedrijven om rekening te houden met mentale gezondheid, waarbij OpenAI nu expliciet vastlegt dat de veiligheid van jongeren zwaarder weegt dan andere doelen van de chatbot. AI-snoepautomaat van Anthropic gehacktAnthropic liep flinke financiele schade op bij een experiment met een door AI aangestuurde snoepautomaat, die als stresstest op de redactie van The Wall Street Journal stond. Journalisten wisten het systeem te manipuleren, maakten alle producten gratis en lieten de AI zelfs meebetalen aan luxe aankopen, waardoor het project met duizend euro verlies eindigde. Zometeen De Schaal van Hebben met de OnePlus 15 en OnePlus 15RSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

レアジョブ英会話 Daily News Article Podcast
OpenAI now worth $500 billion, possibly making it the world’s most valuable startup

レアジョブ英会話 Daily News Article Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 2, 2025 2:25


OpenAI could now be the world's most valuable startup, ahead of Elon Musk's SpaceX and TikTok's parent company ByteDance, after a secondary stock sale designed to retain employees at the ChatGPT maker. Current and former OpenAI employees sold $6.6 billion in shares to a group of investors, pushing the privately held artificial intelligence company's valuation to $500 billion, according to a source with knowledge of the deal who was not authorized to discuss it publicly. The investors buying the shares included Thrive Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group and T. Rowe Price, along with Japanese tech giant SoftBank and the United Arab Emirates's MGX, the source said. The valuation reflects high expectations for the future of AI technology and continues OpenAI's remarkable trajectory from its start as a nonprofit research lab in 2015. But with the San Francisco-based company not yet turning a profit, it could also amplify concerns about an AI bubble if the generative AI products made by OpenAI and its competitors don't meet the expectations of investors pouring billions of dollars into research and development. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has sought to dismiss those concerns when he toured a massive data center complex being built to run the company's AI systems in Abilene, Texas. "Between the ten years we've already been operating and the many decades ahead of us, there will be booms and busts," Altman said after being asked about a bubble. "People will overinvest and lose money, and underinvest and lose a lot of revenue." He added that "we'll make some dumb capital allocations" and there will be short-term ups and downs, but that "over the arc that we have to plan over, we are confident that this technology will drive a new wave of unprecedented economic growth," along with scientific breakthroughs, improvements to quality of life and "new ways to express creativity." A few weeks ago, the company launched two different business ventures, one a partnership with Etsy and Shopify for online shopping through ChatGPT and another a social media app, Sora, for generating and sharing AI videos. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Forbes Newsroom
What Is MGX? What We Know About Abu Dhabi Fund That's A Key Player In Two Major Trump-Era Deals

Forbes Newsroom

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 21, 2025 13:50


MGX, a state-backed Abu Dhabi fund, has surfaced in two of the most scrutinized deals in Donald Trump's second term—it's reportedly set to take a stake in TikTok's U.S. business and used a Trump-linked stablecoin for a $2 billion transaction that may have benefited the president's family financially. Staff writer Zach Everson joined "Forbes Newsroom" to discuss. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

DUBAI WORKS Business Podcast
North Star 2025 & GITEX; MGX+BlackRock $40B Deal; ALEC IPO Records

DUBAI WORKS Business Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 16, 2025 33:04


HEADLINES:♦ I2025 Expand North Star Concludes and GITEX Global Continues Strong in Dubai♦ MGX and BlackRock Strike Record $40 Billion Texas Data Center Deal♦ ALEC Holdings Makes Historic Debut on DFM with UAE's Largest Construction IPO Newsletter: https://aug.us/4jqModrWhatsApp: https://aug.us/40FdYLUInstagram: https://aug.us/4ihltzQTiktok: https://aug.us/4lnV0D8Smashi Business Show (Mon-Friday): https://aug.us/3BTU2MY

Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth
2701: Lifting Heavy vs. Lifting Light, Which Is better?

Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 8, 2025 105:07


In this episode of Quah (Q & A), Sal, Adam & Justin coach four Pump Heads via Zoom. Mind Pump Fit Tip: What are the big differences between lifting heavy vs lighter? (2:35) Training your CNS for change. (21:46) The unliftable man. (28:24) Leverage. (29:47) Kids say the darndest things. (32:42) Coaching your son. (33:52) Learning how to lose. (35:45) The science behind Brain.fm. (37:34) Subliminal messaging. (42:58) Social media platforms as weapons. (45:07) The locus of control. (47:40) Correlation of eating grass-fed meat and inflammation. (49:56) #ListenerLive question #1 – How do I maintain a healthy relationship with food and fitness while dealing with SIBO? (55:13) #ListenerLive question #2 – Do you think the root issue here is overtraining, compromising recovery, or more likely a neurological/sensory driver of these asymmetries? (1:05:11) #ListenerLive question #3 – Should I increase calories even though I've been doing this for a year now and continue to bulk, or should I concentrate on cutting still to lose fat? (1:21:16) #ListenerLive question #4 – How much of an impact could HRT (specifically estrogen and testosterone) have on my life, especially body composition and training/lifting goals? (1:30:54) Related Links/Products Mentioned Ask a question to Mind Pump, live! Email: live@mindpumpmedia.com Visit Brain.fm for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners. ** Get 30 days of free access to science-backed music. ** Visit Butcher Box for this month's exclusive Mind Pump offer!  ** Available for a limited time, a curated box pre-filled with Mind Pump's favorite cuts — no guesswork! Butcher Box members who sign up through Mind Pump will receive: $20 OFF their first box, Free chicken breast, ground beef, OR salmon in every box for a whole year! ** October Special: MAPS GLP-1 50% off! ** Code GLP50 at checkout. ** Bret Contreras Tempo Hypertrophy IG Video Sal Di Stefano's Journey in Faith & Fitness – Mind Pump TV Johnny Coulon - Wikipedia Attentional modulation of neural entrainment to sound streams in children with and without ADHD The brain in flow: A systematic review on the neural basis of the flow state Resting state fMRI-based brain information flow mapping Mind Pump #912: How to Change Your Mental State with Music Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX will be main investors in TikTok U.S., sources say Visit Seed for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! **Promo code 25MINDPUMP at checkout for 25% off your first month's supply of Seed's DS-01® Daily Synbiotic** MP Holistic Health Mind Pump #2690: The NEW DIET Everyone Is Using For Fat Loss Visit Transcend for this month's exclusive Mind Pump offer! ** Telehealth Provider • Physician Directed GET YOUR PERSONALIZED TREATMENT PLAN!  Hormone Replacement Therapy, Cognitive Function, Sleep & Fatigue, Athletic Performance and MORE! ** Muscle Mommy Movement Mind Pump Podcast – YouTube Mind Pump Free Resources   People Mentioned Bret Contreras PhD (@bretcontreras1) Instagram Denis Roberts (@denis_kokushi) Instagram Jordan Shallow D.C (@the_muscle_doc) Instagram Justin Brink DC (@dr.justinbrink) Instagram LAUREN FITZ, M.D. (@drlaurenfitz) Instagram

The Daily Crunch – Spoken Edition
Hackers are sending extortion emails to executives after claiming Oracle apps' data breach; also, OpenAI is the world's most valuable private company

The Daily Crunch – Spoken Edition

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 3, 2025 5:38


Google says hackers associated with a prolific ransomware group are sending extortion emails to executives at “numerous” large organizations after claiming to have stolen their sensitive information from a suite of business software products developed by Oracle. Also, OpenAI has sold 6.6 billion dollars in shares held by current and former employees, according to a new report from Bloomberg. The sale pushed OpenAI's total valuation to 500 billion dollars, the highest ever achieved by a privately held company. Purchasers included SoftBank, Dragoneer Investment Group, Thrive Capital, MGX, and T. Rowe Price, the report said. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bloomberg Daybreak: US Edition
Trump Plans Shutdown Job Cuts, OpenAI Valuation Soars to $500 Billion

Bloomberg Daybreak: US Edition

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 2, 2025 15:51 Transcription Available


On today's podcast:1) White House Budget Director Russell Vought is planning to swiftly dismiss federal workers, a sign that Republicans will lean into hardball tactics to pressure Democrats to cave to end a government shutdown. Vought told House lawmakers Wednesday that some federal agencies will move to terminate workers within one to two days, according to people familiar with the remarks, who requested anonymity to discuss a private meeting. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that layoffs would happen within “two days, imminent, very soon” but declined to give any details about what agencies or positions would be targeted. Meantime, the Trump administration is planning to cancel billions of dollars earmarked for hydrogen projects in California and the Pacific Northwest, as well as $18 billion in infrastructure funding for the New York metro region.2) Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee said a lack of official data while the US government is shut down will make it harder for central bankers to interpret the economy. Goolsbee reiterated concerns about a recent pickup in services inflation, which he said could mean price pressures are persistent in parts of the economy least impacted by tariffs.3) OpenAI has completed a deal to help employees sell shares in the company at a $500 billion valuation, propelling the ChatGPT owner past Elon Musk’s SpaceX to become the world’s largest startup. Current and former OpenAI employees sold about $6.6 billion of stock to investors including Thrive Capital, SoftBank Group Corp., Dragoneer Investment Group, Abu Dhabi’s MGX and T. Rowe Price, a person familiar with the transaction said. That boosted the US company’s price tag well past its previous $300 billion level during a SoftBank-led financing round earlier this year.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wall Street mit Markus Koch
Übernahme von Electronic Arts – der Schwiegersohn von Donald Trump mit an Bord

Wall Street mit Markus Koch

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 29, 2025 25:08


Die Wall Street startet mit Schwung in die Handelswoche, angefacht durch eine Welle an Deals und Übernahmen. Der Computerspiel-Entwickler Electronic Arts wird für 55 Milliarden US-Dollar von Silver Lake, Affinity Partners und dem saudischen Staatsfonds übernommen. Die Aktionäre werden mit 210 US-Dollar pro Aktie abgefunden. CEO von Affinity ist Jared Kushner, der Schwiegersohn von Donald Trump. Auch bei der neuen Aufstellung von TikTok US ist die Trump-Familie mit im Boot. Neben Silver Lake und Oracle, wird auch MGX neuer Teilhaber. Das in Abu Dhabi sitzende Unternehmen hat unlängst 2 Milliarden US-Dollar in die Kryptoplattform Binance investiert. Die Zahlung wurde über den World Liberty Financial Stablecoin USD1 abgewickelt. Ein Krypto-Venture, mit direkten Verbindungen zur Trump-Familie. Ein Podcast - featured by Handelsblatt. +++ Individuell, aktiv und ausgezeichnet: Die Vermögensverwaltung von DJE – mehr unter https://www.dje.de/vv +++ +++ Alle Rabattcodes und Infos zu unseren Werbepartnern findet ihr hier: https://linktr.ee/wallstreet_podcast +++ Der Podcast wird vermarktet durch die Ad Alliance. Die allgemeinen Datenschutzrichtlinien der Ad Alliance finden Sie unter https://datenschutz.ad-alliance.de/podcast.html Die Ad Alliance verarbeitet im Zusammenhang mit dem Angebot die Podcasts-Daten. Wenn Sie der automatischen Übermittlung der Daten widersprechen wollen, klicken Sie hier: https://datenschutz.ad-alliance.de/podcast.html Impressum: https://www.360wallstreet.de/impressum

NY to ZH Täglich: Börse & Wirtschaft aktuell
Electronic Arts wird übernommen | New York to Zürich Täglich

NY to ZH Täglich: Börse & Wirtschaft aktuell

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 29, 2025 12:55


Die Wall Street startet mit Schwung in die Handelswoche, angefacht durch eine Welle an Deals und Übernahmen. Eletronic Arts wird für $55 Mrd. von Silver Lake, Affinity Partners und dem saudischen Staatsfonds übernommen. Die Aktionäre werden mit $210 pro Aktie abgefunden. CEO von Affinity ist Jared Kushner, der Schwiegersohn von Donald Trump. Auch bei der neuen Aufstellung von TikTok US, ist die Trump-Familie mit im Boot. Neben Silver Lake und Oracle, wird auch MGX neuer Teilhaber. Dass in Abu Dhabi sitzende Unternehmen hat unlängst $2 Mrd. in die Kryptoplattform Binance investiert. Die Zahlung wurde über den World Liberty Financial Stablecoin USD1 abgewickelt. Ein Krypto-Venture, mit direkten Verbindungen zur Trump-Familie. Abonniere den Podcast, um keine Folge zu verpassen! ____ Folge uns, um auf dem Laufenden zu bleiben: • X: http://fal.cn/SQtwitter • LinkedIn: http://fal.cn/SQlinkedin • Instagram: http://fal.cn/SQInstagram

FT News Briefing
Ukraine's new war chest: frozen Russian funds?

FT News Briefing

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 26, 2025 11:55


Oracle, private equity group Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi's MGX will control roughly 45 per cent of TikTok USA, Germany's chancellor has called for Europe to use frozen Russian assets to create new loan to finance Ukraine's war effort, and a landmark trial finds former French president Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of criminal conspiracy. Plus, can a US bailout save Argentina's president from deepening political problems?Mentioned in this podcast:TikTok US to be valued at $14bn after Trump's deal, White House saysEuropean officials fear Trump is preparing to blame them for Ukraine failureGermany's Merz backs using frozen Russian assets for UkraineNicolas Sarkozy sentenced to 5 years in prison in Libya corruption trialCan a US bailout save Argentina's Javier Milei?Until 29th October, you can save 40% on a standard annual digital subscription at ft.com/briefingsaleToday's FT News Briefing was produced by Persis Love, Victoria Craig, Katya Kumkova, Sonja Hutson, and Marc Filippino. Additional help from Blake Maples, Michael Lello and David da Silva. The FT's acting co-head of audio is Topher Forhecz. The show's theme music is by Metaphor Music. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tech Update | BNR
Trump akkoord met overname TikTok US voor waardering van 14 miljard dollar

Tech Update | BNR

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 26, 2025 5:22


Donald Trump heeft een executive order ondertekend waarmee de Amerikaanse tak van TikTok wordt losgemaakt van het Chinese moederbedrijf ByteDance. Met deze deal, die de Amerikaanse tak van het platform op een waarde van 14 miljard dollar zet, lijkt een einde te komen aan jarenlange onzekerheid rond de populaire app. Techredacteur Stijn Goossens vertelt erover in deze Tech Update. TikTok US wordt volgens senator JD Vance gewaardeerd op 14 miljard dollar. Dat bedrag ligt aanzienlijk lager dan de 30 tot 40 miljard dollar die analisten eerder inschatten, nog zonder het algoritme mee te rekenen. ByteDance zelf heeft een geschatte waarde van ruim 330 miljard dollar, maar daar vallen ook andere activiteiten onder. De nieuwe structuur wordt opgezet als een joint venture waarin Amerikaanse investeerders een meerderheid krijgen. President Trump noemde Oracle als een van de hoofdspelers. Uit andere bronnen blijkt dat ook private-equitybedrijf Silver Lake en de AI-investeerder MGX uit de Verenigde Arabische Emiraten deelnemen. Gezamenlijk zouden zij circa 50 procent van de aandelen in handen krijgen. ByteDance behoudt een belang van 20 procent, terwijl de resterende 30 procent wordt verdeeld onder bestaande aandeelhouders van ByteDance. Belangrijk onderdeel van de overeenkomst is dat de Amerikaanse joint venture toezicht krijgt op zowel de data als het algoritme van TikTok in de VS. Die verantwoordelijkheid lag al deels bij Oracle, maar wordt met deze deal verder uitgebreid om Chinese invloed te beperken. Toch blijven er onzekerheden. Het is bijvoorbeeld nog onduidelijk hoe de rechten rond het algoritme precies verdeeld zijn en wat dit betekent voor de dagelijkse ervaring van gebruikers. Verder in deze Tech Update: Google mogelijk ook beboet onder de DMA: De Europese Commissie onderzoekt of Google zijn eigen diensten voortrekt in zoekresultaten. Een boete kan oplopen tot 10 procent van de jaaromzet – ruim 300 miljard euro. Zometeen in De Schaal van Hebben: iPhone Air en iPhone 17 ProSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Let's Know Things
GENIUS Act

Let's Know Things

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 16, 2025 13:42


This week we talk about stablecoins, crypto assets, and conflicts of interest.We also discuss the crypto industry, political contributions, and regulatory guardrails.Recommended Book: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. MaasTranscriptA cryptocoin is a unit of cryptocurrency. A cryptocurrency is a type of digital currency that uses some kind of non-central means of managing its ledger—keeping track of who has how much of it, basically.There have been other types of digital currency over the years, but cryptocurrencies often rely on the blockchain or a similarly distributed means of keeping tabs on who has what. A blockchain is a database, often public, of users and a list of those users' assets that's distributed between users, and it makes use of some kind of consensus mechanism to determine who actually owns what.Some cryptocurrencies ebb and flow in value, and are thus traded more like a stock or other type of non-fixed, finite asset. Bitcoin, for instance, is often treated like gold or high-growth stocks. NFTs, similarly, create a sort of artificial scarcity, producing unique digital goods by putting their ownership on a blockchain or other proof-of-ownership system.Stablecoins are also cryptocurrencies, but instead of floating, their value growing and dropping based on the interest of would-be buyers, they are meant to maintain a steady value—to be stable, like a national currency.In order to achieve this, the folks who maintain stablecoins often use reserve assets to prop up their value. So if you produce a new stablecoin and want to issue a million of them, each worth one US dollar, you might accumulate a million actual US dollars, put those in a bank account, show everybody the number of dollars in that bank account, and then it's pretty easy to argue that those stablecoins are each worth a dollar—each coin is a stand-in for one of the dollars in the bank.In a lot of cases, the people issuing these coins aim for this approach, but instead of doing a direct one-for-one, dollar for coin system, they'll issue a million coins that are meant to be worth a dollar apiece, and they'll put one-hundred-thousand dollars in a bank account, and the other 900,000 will be made up of bitcoin and stocks and other sorts of things that they can argue are worth at least that much.As of mid-2025, about $255 billion worth of stablecoins have been issued, and about 99% of them have been pegged to the US dollar; Tether's USDT, Binance's BUSD, and Circle's USDC are all tethered to the USD, for instance, though other currencies are also used as peg values, including offerings by Tether and Circle that are pegged to the Euro.Stablecoins that are completely or mostly fiat-backed, which means they have a dollar for each coin issued in the bank somewhere, or close to that, tend to be on average more stable than commodity or crypto-backed stablecoins, which rely mostly or entirely on things like bitcoin or gold tucked away somewhere to justify their value. Which makes sense, as while you can argue, hey look, I have a million dollars worth of gold, and I'm issuing a million coins, each worth a dollar, that asset's value can change day-to-day, and that can make the value of those coins precarious, at least compared to fiat-backed alternatives.Because stablecoins are not meant to change in value, they're not useful as sub-ins for stocks or other sorts of interest-generating bets, like bitcoin. Instead, they're primarily used by folks who want to trade cryptoassets for other sorts of cryptoassets, for those who want to avoid paying taxes, or want to otherwise hide their wealth, and for those who want to transfer money in such a way that they can avoid government sanctions and/or tariffs on those sorts of transfers.What I'd like to talk about today is a new US federal law, the GENIUS Act, which was heavily pushed by the crypto industry, and which looks likely to make stablecoins a lot more popular, for better and for worse.—The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act, or GENIUS Act, was introduced in the Senate by a Republican senator from Tennessee in May of 2025, was passed in June with a bipartisan vote of 68-30—the majority of Republicans and about half of Democratic senators voting in favor of it—and after the House passed it a month later, President Trump signed it into law on July 18.Again, this legislation was heavily pushed by the crypto industry, which generously funded a lot of politicians, mostly Republican, but on both sides of the aisle, in recent years, as it serves folks who want a broader reach for existing stablecoins, and who want to see more stablecoins emerge and flourish, as part of a larger and richer overall crypto industries.Folks who are against this Act, and other laws like it that have been proposed in recent years, contend that while it's a good idea to have some kind of regulation in place for the crypto industry, this approach isn't the right one, as it basically gives the tech world free rein to run their own pseudo-banks, without being subject to the same regulations as actual banks.Which isn't great, according to this argument, as actual banks have to live up to all sorts of standards, most of them oriented around protecting people from the folks running the banks who might otherwise take advantage of them. Those regulations are especially cumbersome in the wake of the 2008 Great Recession, because that severe global economic downturn was in large part caused by exactly these sorts of abuses: bankers going wild with lending mis-labeled assets, those in charge of these banks pocketing a whole lot of money, lots of people losing everything, and lots of institutions going under, leaving those people and the government with the bill, while the folks who did bad things mostly got off scott free.The goal of these bank regulations is to keep that kind of thing from happening again, while also keeping banks from overtly taking advantage of their customers, who often don't know much about the banking options and assets they're being sold on.Allowing tech companies to do very similar things, but without those regulations, seems imprudent, then, because, first, tech companies have shown themselves to be not just willing, but often thrilled to grab whatever they can and get slapped on the wrist for it, later, moving fast and breaking things, basically, and then paying the fines after they've made a fortune, and if they're allowed to step into this space without the same regulations as banks, that gives them a huge competitive advantage over actual financial institutions.It's a bit like if there were a food company that was allowed to dodge food industry regulations, as was thus able to cut their flour with sawdust and sell it to people at the same price as the real thing. People would suffer, their competition, which sells actual flour would suffer, because they wouldn't be able to compete with a company that doesn't play by the same rules, and the companies that sell the inferior products without anyone being able to stop them would probably get away with it for a while, before then closing up shop, pocketing all that money, and starting over again with a different name.This is how things work in a lot of countries with weak regulatory systems, and it creates so much distrust in the economic sphere that things cost more, the quality of everything is very low, and it's nearly impossible to ever punish those who cause and perpetuate harm.That's at the root of many arguments against the GENIUS Act: concerns that a lack of consumer protections will lead to a situation in which we have growing systemic risk, caused by tech entities taking bigger and bigger risks with other people's money, like in the buildup to the 2008 recession, while simultaneously more legit institutions are elbowed out, unable to compete because they have to spend more and work harder to adhere to the regulations that the new players can ignore.It's worth mentioning here, too, that the Trump family has issued their own cryptocoins, and reportedly already profited to the tune of several billion dollars as a result of that issuance, that the Trumps have their own stablecoin, which they're promoting as an upgrade to the US dollar, that the early backers of these coins include foreign governments and their interconnected companies, like the Emirati-backed MGX, that the Trump children have their own crypto-asset companies, including one that's listed on the Nasdaq, and which is profiting from the increasing popularity and legalization of the industry in the US, and that Trump's media company, which owns Truth Social, also has a multi-billion-dollar bitcoin portfolio, alongside a whole lot of other crypto-coins, which the president has been pushing, and his family has been promoting overseas, using his name and office.All of which points at another conflict of interest issue here, that the president and his family seem to be self-enriching at an incredibly rapid pace and at a very high level, in part by pushing this and similar legislation.People in the crypto industry lavishly spent on his campaign, and they are entwined with his family's business interests, which makes it difficult to separate what might be good for the country, in an objective way, from what's good for Trump and his family, in the sense of using the office to grow wealthier and wealthier—and that's true both in the sense that crypto-assets allegedly allow his family to take bribes in a fairly anonymous and deniable way, but also in the sense that people who buy his memecoins and buy into his stablecoin ventures and buy more bitcoin and similar assets that he already holds, also increase the value of his existing assets, and using the office of the presidency to enrich oneself in that way is the sort of thing they never really made illegal because they didn't think anyone would be brazen or shameless enough to do it.There's a lot going on here, then, and while there are some arguments that this sort of legislation is a good starting point to get some eventual, actual guardrails on the crypto industry in the US, the concerns related to those tech world incentives, and the possibility and reality of the president and his family profiting from this legislation, would seem to make this effort a lot more questionable than prudent, and loaded with a lot more downsides than upsides, even if, again, the majority of lawmakers voted for it, and a lot of people are excited about it for all sorts of reasons.Show Noteshttps://www.wired.com/story/genius-act-loophole-stablecoins-banks/https://www.weforum.org/stories/2025/07/stablecoin-regulation-genius-act/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GENIUS_Acthttps://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-stablecoins-congress-cryptocurrency-94fa3c85e32ec6fd5a55576cf46e58eahttps://advocacy.consumerreports.org/press_release/senate-oks-genius-act-without-safeguards-needed-to-protect-consumers-and-the-financial-system-from-stablecoin-risks/https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/03/politics/crypto-trump-bitcoin-wlfi-stablecoin-analysishttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptocurrencyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stablecoin This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsknowthings.substack.com/subscribe

The Cloud Pod
314: Vector? I Hardly Know Her! S3’s New AI Storage Play

The Cloud Pod

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 30, 2025 90:13


Welcome to episode 314 of The Cloud Pod, where your hosts, Matt and Ryan, are holding down the fort in Justin's absence and bringing what's left of our audience (those of you still here after the last time they were left in charge) the latest and greatest in cloud and tech news. We've got undersea cables, vector storage, and even some hobos – but not the kind on trains. Plus, AWS S3 gets its Vector Victor. Let's get started!  Titles we almost went with this week: S3 Gets Direction: AWS Points to Vector Storage Vector? I Hardly Know Her! S3’s New AI Storage Play S3 Finds Its Magnitude and Direction Claude Goes to Wall Street Anthropic’s Bull Run Into Financial Services AI Assistant Gets Its Series 7 License Nova Scotia: AWS Brings Regional Flavor to AI Models The Fine-Tuning of the Shrew: Teaching Nova Models New Tricks Nova-caine: Numbing the Pain of Model Customization AgentCore Blimey: AWS Gives AI Agents Their License to Scale The Agent Infrastructure: Mission Deployable From Zero to Agent Hero: AWS Tackles the Production Problem SageMaker Gets Its Data Act Together From Catalog to QuickSight: A Data Love Story The Great Data Unification of 2024 AWS Free Tier Gets a $200 Makeover EKS-treme Makeover: Cluster Edition #⃣100K Nodes Walk Into a Cluster… S3 Gets Direction: Amazon Points to Vector Storage Amazon S3: Now with 90% Less Vector Bills and 100% More Dimensions Follow Up 01:03 SoftBank and OpenAI's $500 Billion AI Project Struggles to Get Off Ground The $500 billion AI effort unveiled at the White House has struggled to get off the ground and has scaled back its near-term plans.  It’s been six months since the announcement, where they said they would spend $100B almost immediately, but now they have a more modest goal of building a small data center by the end of the year in Ohio. Softbank committed to $30 billion earlier this year, and it is one of the largest ever startup investments by them, which led them to take on new debt and sell assets.   This investment was made alongside Stargate, giving them a role in the physical infrastructure needed for AI.  Altman, though, has been eager to secure computing power as quickly as possible and has proceeded without Softbank.  Publicly, they say it’s a great partnership, and they look forward to advancing projects in multiple states Oracle was part of Stargate, but the recent 30B deal just signed with includes a commitment of 4.5 gigawatts of capacity, and would consume the equivalent power of more than two Hoover Dams, or about 4 million homes.  Oracle was also named part of the deal with UAE firm MGX as a partner, but Oracle CEO Safra Catz said that Stargate hadn't been formed yet, as of last month.  02:31 Matthew – “…everyone’s like, how hard can it be to build a data center? But it’s c

TechCrunch Startups – Spoken Edition
Rivian spinoff Also raises another $200M to build e-bikes and more

TechCrunch Startups – Spoken Edition

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 11, 2025 2:45


The micromobility startup that spun out of Rivian this year, was raised $200 million from Greenoaks Capital. Also, French AI startup Mistral is in talks to raise up to $1 billion in equity from investors including Abu Dhabi's MGX fund, reports Bloomberg Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Private Equity Podcast: Karma School of Business
Elements of Value in Private Equity (Part 4): How PE Leaders Evaluate Businesses

Private Equity Podcast: Karma School of Business

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 18, 2025 26:16


In this episode of Karma School of Business, Sean Mooney continues the Elements of Value series, exploring what private equity professionals focus on when evaluating businesses that have the potential to thrive. You'll hear from: 0:49 - Vinay Kashyap of MainSail Partners on identifying bootstrap B2B software companies with strong growth potential, durable customer value propositions, and resourceful entrepreneurs. 6:19 - Kristin Johnson of Altamont Capital Partners on how her firm assesses market opportunities, team capabilities, alignment with founders, and introduces the concept of a "red team" to bring rigor to investment processes. 12:19 - Trent Hickman of VSS on partnering with founder-led businesses, the importance of management integrity, shared vision, and identifying "multiple ways to win." 20:50 - Misha Logvinov of MGX on the critical role of leadership quality, adaptability during change, and building a robust technology infrastructure that supports scalability and innovation. To listen to Vinay, Kristin, Trent or Misha's full podcast episode, go to https://www.bluwave.net/podcasts. To get connected to a world-class, perfect-fit service provider from our curated network, go to https://www.bluwave.net/start-a-project.

DUBAI WORKS Business Podcast
Huda Buyback, Mubadala, Hariri's AI, Kuwait xAI Deal

DUBAI WORKS Business Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 4, 2025 28:02


HEADLINES:♦ Huda Kattan Has Officially Reclaimed Full Ownership of Huda Beauty♦ Mubadala Emerges as World's Most Active Sovereign Fund in May♦ Ex-Lebanese PM Saad Hariri Launches Abu Dhabi-Based AI Investment Firm♦ Kuwait Joins $30B Global AI Push Backed by Microsoft, MGX, and xAI

Private Equity Podcast: Karma School of Business
Data, AI, and Leadership: Essential Lessons for Private Equity from Misha Logvinov

Private Equity Podcast: Karma School of Business

Play Episode Listen Later May 7, 2025 39:28


In this episode of Karma School of Business, Sean Mooney sits down with Misha Logvinov, Managing Director and New York Office Lead at MGX, to discuss the essential lessons he's learned throughout his entrepreneurial journey and private equity career. Together, they explore actionable insights on leadership, adaptability, and leveraging technology for value creation in private equity and beyond. Episode Highlights: 1:19 - Misha's Early Journey: Growing up in post-Soviet Russia, launching entrepreneurial ventures as a teen, and transitioning to Silicon Valley during the dotcom boom. 7:22 - Entry into Private Equity: Misha describes his unplanned move into private equity after years as a tech operator and entrepreneur. 13:43 - Hallmarks of Great Companies: Key factors Misha looks for in businesses poised for success, including strong leadership, adaptability, and robust tech infrastructure. [00:18:31] Value Creation at MGX: How MGX helps portfolio companies grow by integrating cutting-edge AI and data strategies. [00:23:16] Actionable Advice: Misha highlights the importance of prioritizing data readiness, embracing AI for operational improvement, and rethinking leadership approaches for the future. [00:33:44] Advice to Younger Self: Misha reflects on the importance of balancing drive with kindness while pursuing high performance. For more information on MGX, go to https://www.mgx.ae/en For more information on Misha Logvinov, go to https://www.linkedin.com/in/mlogvinov For more information on BluWave and this podcast, go to https://www.bluwave.net/podcasts

Edge of NFT Podcast
Edge of Hot Topics: Hot Topics: White House Crypto Summit, $2B Binance Investment, Global IP Meme Universe and Digital Asset Summit 2025 NYC

Edge of NFT Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 14, 2025 25:18


Join January Jones and Richard Carthon on this episode of 'Hot Topics on the Edge of Show' as they dive into the latest Web3 news. Special guest Ian Utile, founder of ÂTTN.LIVE and producer of Web3AI, shares insights on the inaugural White House Crypto Summit and its impact on the industry. The episode also covers a record-breaking $2 billion investment in Binance by MGX, the formation of a Global IP Meme Universe, and a preview of the upcoming Digital Assets Summit 2025 in NYC. Stay curious, stay innovative, and get ready to explore the hottest topics in the Web3 world!Support us through our Sponsors! ☕

Empire
Why Is This Cycle Different? | Weekly Roundup

Empire

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 14, 2025 55:08


Gm! This week we're back with another weekly roundup. We discuss why are markets so bearish as both TradFi & crypto continue grinding lower. We deep dive into why this cycle is so different, MGX's $2 billion investment in Binance, how to value protocols, the state of VC in crypto & more. Enjoy! -- Start your day with crypto news, analysis and data from Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire?utm_source=podcasts Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Santiago: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Join the Empire Telegram: https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ -- SKALE is the next evolution in Layer 1 blockchains with a gas-free invisible user experience, instant finality, high speed, and robust security. SKALE is built different as it allows for limitless scalability and has already saved its 50 Million users over $11 Billion in gas fees. SKALE is high-performance and cost-effective, making it ideal for compute-intensive applications like AI, gaming, and consumer-facing dApps. Learn more at skale.space and stay up to date with the gas-free invisible blockchain on X at @skalenetwork -- ZKsync is the pioneering zero-knowledge technology powering the next generation of builders with limitless scale. Secured by math and designed for native interoperability, ZKsync enables an elastic, ever-expanding network of customizable chains. Deeply rooted in its mission to advance personal freedom for all, the ZKsync technology makes digital self-ownership universally available. To learn more about ZKsync, visit http://www.zksync.io -- Ledger, the world leader in digital asset security, proudly sponsors Empire podcast. Celebrating 10 years of protecting over 20% of the world's crypto, Ledger ensures the security of your assets. For the best self-custody solution in the space, buy a LEDGER™ device and secure your crypto today. Buy now at www.Ledger.com -- Mantle is evolving into the premier on-chain financial hub, supercharging the ecosystem that bridges blockchain with banking. The 2025 roadmap introduces three transformative products: - Enhanced Index Fund (launching Q1) offering optimized crypto exposure to BTC, ETH, SOL and USD with built-in yield optimization - targeting $1B AUM - Mantle Banking for seamless financial services - MantleX for AI-powered innovation Backed by a $4.5B treasury, Mantle is building the future of on-chain finance – accessible for everyone. Learn more: https://x.com/Mantle_Official/status/1882017058680086805 -- AO Mainnet is LIVE! Experience the future of decentralized computing: infinite parallel processing, secure TEE-powered computations, and LLMs in smart contracts. Built on Arweave, AO's modular design shatters scalability limits. 100% of tokens are distributed to Arweave holders and bridge depositors, with a fixed supply and halving. Explore AO today: https://ao.arweave.dev -- Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction  (00:44) Why Are Markets So Bearish? (11:55) Ads (Skale & ZKSync) (13:41) Sandwich Attacks (20:06) MGX Invests $2 Billion Into Binance (26:17) Ads (Skale & ZKSync) (28:03) Crypto's 2024/25 Cycle (37:02) Ads (Ledger, Mantle, Arweave) (39:28) How To Value Protocols? (50:41) The State Of VC In 2025 -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Daily Crypto Report
"Abu Dhabi's MGX invests in Binance" Mar 13, 2025

Daily Crypto Report

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 13, 2025 7:24


Today's blockchain and cryptocurrency news  Bitcoin is up slightly at $82,924 Eth is up slightly at $1,897 XRP, is up slightly at $2.28 Abu Dhabi's MGX invests in Binance SEC delays decisions for several crypto ETFs Indian authorities arrest Garantex-linked individual MEV bot extracts value from Uniswap V3 trade Bankrbot devs disable Grok interactions Ripple gets approval in Dubai Rumble discloses $17M in bitcoin holdings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Late Confirmation by CoinDesk
COINDESK DAILY: Global Arrest Warrant Sought for LIBRA's Hayden Davis

Late Confirmation by CoinDesk

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 13, 2025 2:46


Host Christine Lee breaks down the latest news in the crypto industry as an Argentine lawyer seeks an interpol red notice for Libra memecoin co-founder Hayden Davis.An Argentine lawyer seeks an interpol red notice for Libra memecoin co-founder Hayden Davis. Plus, Hyperliquid loses $4M after a whale's $200M ether trade unwinds, and Binance receives $2 billion investment from Abu Dhabi-based MGX. CoinDesk's Christine Lee hosts "CoinDesk Daily."-Friends, DeFi is having a moment — Uniswap Labs' web app and wallet connect you to the excitement. Swapping and bridging are simple, low cost, and lightning fast across 13 chains, including Base, Arbitrum and Unichain, the new Layer 2 network designed for DeFi.Thanks to deep liquidity on Uniswap Protocols, you get minimal price impact on every trade, now with even greater efficiency through Uniswap v4.Swap, send, on-ramp, off-ramp, and bridge into a bright future — get started at uniswap.org.-This episode was hosted by Christine Lee. “CoinDesk Daily” is produced by Christine Lee and edited by Victor Chen.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

World Business Report
Should Germany rethink its debt strategy?

World Business Report

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 13, 2025 26:28


Sam Fenwick takes a closer look at Germany's changing economic landscape. In an exclusive interview with the BBC, the President of the central bank of Germany outlines how Germany and the EU plan to navigate today's extraordinary challenges. Plus, Donald Trump has escalated a growing trade dispute, threatening a 200% tariff on EU alcohol imports. And in a record-breaking deal, Abu Dhabi's state-owned MGX has invested $2 billion in Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. What does this mean for the future of crypto and the region's role in the digital economy?

Let's Know Things
DeepSeek AI

Let's Know Things

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 28, 2025 21:52


This week we talk about OpenAI, the Stargate Project, and Meta.We also discuss o1, AGI, and efficiency.Recommended Book: The Shortest History of Economics by Andrew LeighTranscriptOne of the bigger news items these past few weeks, in terms of the numbers involved, at least, was an announcement by US tech company OpenAI that it will be starting a new company called the Stargate Project, which will boast a total $500 billion-worth of investment, the first $100 billion of which will be deployed immediately.All that money will be plowed into artificial intelligence infrastructure, especially large-scale computing clusters of the kind required to operate AI systems like ChatGPT, and the funds are coming from OpenAI itself, alongside SoftBank, Oracle, and MGX, with Arm, Microsoft, and NVIDIA also involved as technology partners.It's a big, beefy enterprise, in other words, and the fact that this has been in the works since 2022, it's official announcement seemingly held back so that newly returned US President Trump could announce it as part of his administration's focus on American infrastructure and AI dominance, didn't dim the glow of the now-formal announcement of what looks to be a truly audacious bet on this collection of technologies, doubts about the players involved having the money they've promised ready, notwithstanding.That said, this is far from the only big, billions and tens of billions-scale wager in this space right now.Last year, Microsoft announced a $30 billion infrastructure fund, in collaboration with BlackRock, and earlier in January of 2025, Google's CEO said that his company would spend about $80 billion on the same, separate from their commitment to Stargate.Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently divulged that the company would spend somewhere between $60-65 billion on capital expenditures, mostly on AI, in 2025—that's up about 70% from 2024 spending.And last December, xAI CEO Elon Musk announced that his company had just raised a fresh $6 billion to build-out more compute infrastructure; and his role at the head of that company is assumed to be part of why he trash-talked the aforementioned Stargate effort, though there's also a long-simmering animus between him and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and the fact that everyone seems to be trying to get in good with Trump—which is probably part of why many of these announcements are happening right now: Trump is in the position to king-make or cripple their respective efforts, so whomever can get in good with him, or best with him, might have an advantage in what's become a very expensive knife-fight in this most rapidly burgeoning of tech investment loci.There's a reason there's so much money flowing to this space, announcements aside, right now, too: the chatbots that've emerged from the GPT, LLM era of AI systems are impressive and useful for many things, and AI powered bots could even replace other sorts of user interfaces, like search engines and apps, with time.But there are also some more out-there efforts that are beginning to bear fruit.AI is helping Google's DeepMind team discover new materials at an astonishing rate—including both the discovery and the testing of their properties, stage.AI systems are also being used to accelerate drug discovery and trial design, and a company (backed by OpenAI's Altman) is trying to extend human life by a decade using exactly this process.Meta has a new tool that enables real-time speech and text translation between up to (depending on the type of translation being done) 101 different languages, and we're even seeing AI systems meant to detect and track small, otherwise overlooked infrastructure issues, like potholes, at a local level.And to be clear, this is far from a US government and US-based tech company effort: government agencies, globally, are scrambling to figure out how to regulate AI in such a way that harms are limited but research, investment, and innovation isn't hampered, and entities all over the place are plowing vast wealth into these projects and their related infrastructure; India's Reliance Group recently announced it will build what could become the world's biggest data center, planned to go into operation within two years—a project with an estimated price tag of somewhere between $20-30 billion. And that, all by itself, would more than triple the country's data center footprint.So this scramble is big but also global, and it's partly motivated by the gold rush-like desire to be first to something like artificial general intelligence, or AGI, which would theoretically be capable of doing basically anything a human can do, and possibly better.That could, depending on the cost of developing and running such a system, put a lot of humans out of work, scrambling the world and its economy it all sorts of ways, and causing untold disruptions and maybe even havoc. That chaos could be very good for business, however, for whomever is able to sell this new commodity of labor to everyone else, replacing most or all of their employees with digital versions of the same—each one cheaper than a comparable human would be to perform the same work.What I'd like to talk about today, though, is a challenge to the currently dominant theory of operation in this industry, and why a new family of AI models is sending many of the tech world's biggest players into a panic.—A lot of the news coming out of the AI world, at the moment, is focused on what are called agents, or agentic AI.An AI agent is a system that can operate with agency: it can do things on its own. So you could have one of these systems, something you might engage with like a chatbot, but one capable of taking complex instructions, and you could tell it to find the best e-bike for your use case, and it would then take your info, your context, your needs into consideration, do a bunch of research, and maybe even buy and set up the delivery of the bike for you, with limited check-ins required on your part.A truly agentic AI would operate as sort of a personal assistant, capable of doing anything a human personal assistant would be able to do—sans the physical body, of course—though that could come later.This is generally seen as a step on the path toward AGI, and perhaps even AI superintelligence, which would be AGI that's massively smarter and better at everything than any human, all of which also moves these things from the realm of “tool to be wielded by humans”, toward something more like a robot that can do all the things it's supposed to do, without a human present; a different category of product and service.This type of AI, with this level of capability, is generally considered to be really expensive to make—to train, in the industry parlance—and to use, because of how much computing power is required to run the code required to leverage these sorts of smarts.In 2020, ChatGPT-3 cost somewhere between $2-4 million to train. Its successor, ChatGPT-4, which was deployed in 2023 cost more like $75-100 million.That's a lot more money. The model is a lot more powerful, granted, but the scaling laws that have seemed to be at play in this space, the increase in cost between generations of AI, have suggested that getting another capability leap comparable to what we saw between ChatGPT-3 and 4 would cost something like a billion dollars, and even that might give us a jump, but not the same staggering growth in performance that we saw between those generations.The are arguments to be made that the size and type of dataset matter, here, and that the culling of said datasets, and how the models are tuned to use the data and respond to things are also vital, perhaps as much or more so than the initial training.Companies like OpenAI have also figured out all sorts of ways to wring more performance out of less training and compute, including things like allowing the AI to reference other sources—basically doing a web search or checking wikipedia and similar references, in addition to knowledge that already exists in its training dataset—or allowing them to “think” longer, giving them more time to work through a problem or task, which tends to lead to better results, even with weaker—in terms of training and compute power—systems.Ultimately, though, most of these companies seem to be assuming that more money churned into more infrastructure and compute capability will be necessary, to make these things better at doing science and solving global problems, at maybe running military campaigns-scale issues, but also at replacing humans as employees—creating more agentic, ultimately, they hope, AGI-level systems.So that's a big part of why there's so much money sloshing around in the AI world right now: all these companies want to build the biggest, baddest model, they would love to develop AGI and put everyone out of work, and they assume that more money will equal more potency, so if they don't start building now, they risk being left behind in a couple of years when all their competitor's snazzy new assets are available and powering their AI systems—which could allow their competitors to get there first, and there's a general assumption that it's important to be first or close to first on this, as truly AGI-level, or beyond AI could theoretically allow them to refine their own systems faster, which could secure them a permanent lead over their opposition, moving forward.Though the US is generally considered to be in the prime position in that particular race, so far, China has been investing a lot in this space, as well, and many of their investments have been similar to those of their Western competitors; dropping lots of money on the issue, building big infrastructure, and so on.They've been hindered quite a lot by Western, especially US, sanctions, though, and that's made it more difficult, not impossible, but more time-consuming and expensive for them, to get the highest-end chips optimized for AI systems, like those made by NVIDIA.This has forced them to take some different approaches to their international peers, and while many of those approaches still involve huge price tags and build-outs, some of them have instead focused on a less-celebrated aspect of the industry: that of smaller models that are a lot more efficient, achieving gains that are out of proportion to their training and operating costs.Case in point are the new DeepSeek R1 models, which are a collection of AI models that were cheap to make, released free for public use and editing, and which seem to beat OpenAI's o1 reasoning models—which are very much not free, and which were a lot more expensive to develop—on some of the most widely used performance benchmarks.These models apparently cost something like 3-5% what OpenAI spent on its o1 model, a mere $5.6 million, and again, they're free to use, but also open source, so anyone who wants to build their own business or new AI atop them can do so; and their API costs are more than 90% lower than o1's, so it's also a lot cheaper to use these models for development purposes than OpenAI's options.This isn't the first time a Chinese company has taken a look at what folks are doing in the west and then massively undercut their efforts by amplifying the efficiency many fold. Also, again, there's a constraint on Chinese companies' ability to get the latest and greatest AI hardware, which incentivizes this path of development, and they also have a super competitive tech industry in China, which tends to force a lot of their sub-industries, like batteries and solar panels, to iterate rapidly and push costs as low as functionally possible.This family of models was made as kind of a side project by someone who's been competing within that somewhat brutal evolutionary context, and the rest of the world, by comparison, just hasn't had the same forcing functions influencing its development path—so this level of efficiency with this level of performance has been, up to this point, unheard of. And as a result, these DeepSeek models have sent the US and other western tech industries into a tizzy.And it makes sense that these people would be panicking: they have spent, and are intending to continuing spending heavily on next-gen AI infrastructure, and this type of model, trained for basically nothing, demonstrating this level of performance? It calls all those investments into question, even to the point that some commentators—without evidence, so there's no reason to believe this is the case—have wondered out loud if this might be some kind of psyop by China to kill the US's AI industry, basically making it look like a bad investment, if these kinds of results can be achieved so inexpensively elsewhere.Again, that's almost certainly not what's happening here, but these models have reportedly landed like a live hand grenade in the offices of the US AI industry, with folks in big tech companies frantically trying to figure out how DeepSeek does what it does, and then surreptitiously copying whatever they can to try to get ahead of this, build their own version of the same and maybe work those findings into their planned investments.Meta in particular has apparently been on edge about this, as they've tried to own the free, open AI model space with their Llama family of AI models; which have been generally well received, but apparently DeepSeek's earlier model, v3, was already messing with their heads, surpassing what they were able to do with llama, and this new family, the R1 family, has them worried they won't be able to hold onto that position, and might not even be able to compete, despite their tens of billions of dollars worth of investment.What's more, something this effective and efficient can be run by a lot of companies that would otherwise have had to rely on entities like OpenAI and Meta, which have the computing infrastructure—all those big buildings they're constructing at a frantic rate and high cost—to handle the larger models.Non-AI companies that want to use these systems, though, could theoretically just buy their own, smaller setup and run their own AI, in-house, which would alleviate some security concerns related having all that stuff processed off-site, but it would also almost certainly be cheaper over the long-term, compared to just paying someone like Google or OpenAI for their services, forever.All of this has resulted in a fair bit of volatility in the US stock market, which has been heavily reliant on AI-oriented tech stocks for growth over the past year, with NVIDIA in particular taking a hit, due to the possibility that heavyweight chips might not be vital to creating high-end AI systems.There are downsides to DeepSeek, of course, perhaps most obviously that this model, having come from China, is laden with censorship about exactly the sorts of things you would expect: Tianammen Square, China's government and it's many well-documented abuses, and so on. There could be more issues, too, that the folks who look into such things will discover after spending more time with this family of AI, though thus far, the response has generally been very positive, even with those caveats.Either way, this challenges the assumption that the US or any other country can stifle another nation's, or group's, AI ambitions with hardware sanctions.It also suggests that, if this general approach could be replicated, we may see a lot more models that are cheap and easy to run, but which are also effective enough for a lot of those next-step, higher-end utilities. And that would allow AI to spread a lot more quickly, more people being able to wield more powerful tools, while also potentially doing away with many of the moats—the defendable, unique value propositions—these larger tech companies assumed they would have by building and controlling the pricy infrastructure they assumed would be necessary to spin-up AI systems of that calibre.Show Noteshttps://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/story/ai-meets-materials-discovery/https://semianalysis.com/2025/01/23/openai-stargate-joint-venture-demystified/https://openai.com/index/announcing-the-stargate-project/https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/24/stargate-will-use-solar-and-batteries-to-power-100b-ai-venture/https://www.ft.com/content/4541c07b-f5d8-40bd-b83c-12c0fd662bd9https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/23/trump-staff-musk-conflict-00200311https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/24/technology/elon-musk-xai-funding.htmlhttps://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/22/trump-had-phone-call-with-openais-sam-altman-last-week.htmlhttps://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/removing-barriers-to-american-leadership-in-artificial-intelligence/https://apnews.com/article/trump-ai-artificial-intelligence-executive-order-eef1e5b9bec861eaf9b36217d547929chttps://restofworld.org/2025/global-ai-regulation-big-tech/https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/meta-spending-ai-facebook-data-centers-9452a88fhttps://www.reuters.com/technology/meta-invest-up-65-bln-capital-expenditure-this-year-2025-01-24/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-01-23/billionaire-mukesh-ambani-plans-world-s-biggest-data-center-in-india-s-gujarat?embedded-checkout=truehttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-01-24/apple-enlists-company-veteran-kim-vorrath-to-help-fix-ai-and-siri?embedded-checkout=truehttps://www.ft.com/content/25a473ea-9f87-474a-8729-bc5287df853ahttps://spectrum.ieee.org/machine-translationhttps://techcrunch.com/2025/01/24/elevenlabs-has-raised-a-new-round-at-3b-valuation-led-by-iconiq-growth-sources-say/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-01-24/vc-lightspeed-bets-big-on-ai-megadeals-backing-anthropic-xai-mistralhttps://www.ft.com/content/7dcd4095-717e-49f8-8d12-6c8673eb73d7https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/23/technology/ai-test-humanitys-last-exam.htmlhttps://every.to/chain-of-thought/we-tried-openai-s-new-agent-here-s-what-we-foundhttps://www.platformer.news/openai-operator-ai-agent-hands-on/https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/23/openai-launches-operator-an-ai-agent-that-performs-tasks-autonomously/https://www.axios.com/2025/01/19/ai-superagent-openai-metahttps://blog.google/technology/google-deepmind/google-gemini-ai-update-december-2024/https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/01/china-is-catching-up-with-americas-best-reasoning-ai-models/https://www.macrumors.com/2025/01/27/deepseek-ai-app-top-app-store-ios/https://www.statista.com/chart/33114/estimated-cost-of-training-selected-ai-models/https://sherwood.news/tech/a-free-powerful-chinese-ai-model-just-dropped-but-dont-ask-it-about/https://www.axios.com/2025/01/17/deepseek-china-ai-modelhttps://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/23/technology/deepseek-china-ai-chips.htmlhttps://archive.ph/WMUbbhttps://x.com/pmarca/status/1882719769851474108https://venturebeat.com/ai/tech-leaders-respond-to-the-rapid-rise-of-deepseek/https://archive.ph/vDsQ4https://archive.ph/CrbGOhttps://x.com/nealkhosla/status/1882859736737194183https://x.com/samfbiddle/status/1882882950368473161https://x.com/samfbiddle/status/1882884223008493887 This is a public episode. 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