Monday, January 27, 2025

Welcome to TechCrunch AM! This morning, we've got notes on AI regulation, the hubbub over Chinese AI firm DeepSeek, and more info on the Change Healthcare data breach. We're also following the TikTok saga, a security breach at TalkTalk, Character AI's defense of its technology, and Reid Hoffman's hopeful perspective on aI. Let's go! — Rebecca

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Melinda Podor / Getty Images

1. The dilemma of AI regulation: Let's take a moment to consider that there has never been any meaningful federal AI regulation to deregulate. As the Trump administration eschews AI regulation, it might be up to individual U.S. states to pass laws that safeguard against AI. Read More

2. Wall Street has thoughts on DeepSeek, the Chinese AI firm demonstrating breakthrough AI models that claim to compete with leading U.S. models on a fraction of the computing power. Analysts think DeepSeek's power implications, if true, "puncture some of the capex euphoria" following major commitments from Stargate and Meta last week. Read More

3. About 190 million people have been affected by the Change Healthcare data breach. The company's parent, UnitedHealth, said the majority of affected people have been notified, and that it's not aware of any misuse of information just yet. Read More

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Morning must-reads

Image Credits: Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

💬 More cybersecurity troubles: Telecoms giant TalkTalk is looking into a data breach after a hacker claimed to have stolen the personal information of millions of customers. With so many breaches, I fear we will soon reach peak indifference to having our data stolen. Read More

👀 Who's behind Mistral: What's do AI startup Mistral and health insurance unicorn Alan have in common? Jean-Charles Samuelian-Werve, Alan's co-founder and CEO, also serves as co-founding advisor to Mistral, and he's apparently the force behind much of the AI startup's fundraising efforts, per Bloomberg. Read More

🤝 Perplexity wants TikTok: Perplexity AI has submitted a new bid to merge with TikTok in an arrangement that would give the U.S. government up to 50% ownership of the new entity. What could go wrong? Read More

🦅 And so does Oracle: The Trump administration is also reportedly negotiating a takeover deal of TikTok with Oracle takeover deal in which ByteDance will maintain a minority stake. Some senators who supported the ban-or-sell bill are confused about those plans. FWIW, Trump is now denying that potential deal. Read More

🤨 That's not what the First Amendment is for: Character AI's roleplaying AI chatbots have been linked to teen suicide and self-harm, but the startup is defending itself in a lawsuit by invoking the First Amendment in a strange manner. Read More

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Around the web

🕵️ Anti-immigration arsenal: The New York Times has reviewed the nearly 15,000 contracts that show ICE and Citizen and Immigration Services have spent $7.8 billion on immigration technologies from 263 companies since 2020. Things like ankle monitors to track asylum seekers, surveillance tools to break into locked phones, and more. Read More

🧬 AI for good: LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman has raised $24.6 million for a new AI cancer research startup, Manas AI, in partnership with Siddartha Mukherjee, the author of "The Emperor of All Maladies," reports The Wall Street Journal. Read More

🥊 WWE at WEF: The top minds in AI sparred in Davos last week amid the hype for Stargate, the $500 billion AI infrastructure project by OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle, per The Financial Times. AI pioneers like Google DeepMind chief, Sir Demis Hassabis, reiterated warnings about AI threats "as commercial interests and geopolitical rivalries steamroll concerns about safety." Read More

Before you go

🌈 And finally, some good news: Speaking of Reid Hoffman, his new book is called "Superagency: What Could Possibly Go Right With Our AI Future," and it takes the tone of smart risk taking. So what could go right? Humans could have access to more knowledge, better jobs, and improved lives if we move forward responsibly. Read More