The UK CMA is testing an AI tool to help catch companies that collude when bidding for public contracts, amid a "significant risk of bid-rigging" by contractors (Suzi Ring/Financial Times)

Suzi Ring / Financial Times:
The UK CMA is testing an AI tool to help catch companies that collude when bidding for public contracts, amid a “significant risk of bid-rigging” by contractors  —  Agency is trialling an AI-backed programme that scrapes data to identify bid-rigging

A look at India's draft DPDP rules, which require platforms to verify the age and identity of a parent when obtaining consent to process data of users under 18 (Kamya Pandey/MEDIANAMA)

Kamya Pandey / MEDIANAMA:
A look at India's draft DPDP rules, which require platforms to verify the age and identity of a parent when obtaining consent to process data of users under 18  —  The newly released draft Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Rules, 2025 say that online platforms must check the age …

Industry insiders hope the success of Black Myth: Wukong, which has earned an estimated $1.1B from ~25M copies sold, will boost Chinese gaming sector investment (Financial Times)

Financial Times:
Industry insiders hope the success of Black Myth: Wukong, which has earned an estimated $1.1B from ~25M copies sold, will boost Chinese gaming sector investment  —  As Beijing eases regulations, developers are tooling up to produce big-budget titles with international appeal

Inside the fall and last-minute revival of accounting startup Bench, which struggled with implementing automation tools and faced tumult in its executive suite (Charles Rollet/TechCrunch)

Charles Rollet / TechCrunch:
Inside the fall and last-minute revival of accounting startup Bench, which struggled with implementing automation tools and faced tumult in its executive suite  —  Friday, December 27, was supposed to be the start of a relaxing holiday weekend.  —  But it was chaos for thousands …

Religious leaders are experimenting with AI, spurring an industry of faith-based tech companies that offer AI tools to do theological research and write sermons (Eli Tan/New York Times)

Eli Tan / New York Times:
Religious leaders are experimenting with AI, spurring an industry of faith-based tech companies that offer AI tools to do theological research and write sermons  —  Rabbi Josh Fixler at Congregation Emanu El in Houston worked with a data scientist to create his experimental “Rabbi Bot.”

Apple and Strava partner to feature Strava athletes in Fitness+ programming, add more detailed Fitness+ workout summaries in the Strava app, and more (Victoria Song/The Verge)

Victoria Song / The Verge:
Apple and Strava partner to feature Strava athletes in Fitness+ programming, add more detailed Fitness+ workout summaries in the Strava app, and more  —  Apple Fitness Plus is getting a fresh makeover in the Strava app.  The two companies just announced they're collaborating to revamp …

Foreign smartphone shipments, including iPhones, to China fell 47.4% YoY in November, following a 44.25% YoY drop in October, marking four months of decline (Reuters)

Reuters:
Foreign smartphone shipments, including iPhones, to China fell 47.4% YoY in November, following a 44.25% YoY drop in October, marking four months of decline  —  Shipments to China of foreign-branded smartphones, including Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) iPhone, fell by 47.4% in November from a year earlier …

A look at the Texas Responsible AI Governance Act, which was formally introduced in Texas legislature and has very broad negligence liability for developers (Dean W. Ball/Hyperdimensional)

Dean W. Ball / Hyperdimensional:
A look at the Texas Responsible AI Governance Act, which was formally introduced in Texas legislature and has very broad negligence liability for developers  —  Texas' onerous AI regulation is formally introduced  —  Happy new year, everyone.  —  Introduction

Asus, Samsung, and MSI separately unveil the world's first 27-inch QD-OLED gaming monitors, offering 4K OLED at 240Hz, without giving release dates or pricing (Tom Warren/The Verge)

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Asus, Samsung, and MSI separately unveil the world's first 27-inch QD-OLED gaming monitors, offering 4K OLED at 240Hz, without giving release dates or pricing  —  27-inch 4K OLED 240Hz monitors seem to be like buses: you wait ages for one and then three turn up at once.

Rembrand, which offers AI tools to add product placements in social media videos, raised a $23M Series A and plans to expand to CTV content and add a free tier (Kerry Flynn/Axios)

Kerry Flynn / Axios:
Rembrand, which offers AI tools to add product placements in social media videos, raised a $23M Series A and plans to expand to CTV content and add a free tier  —  Exit Content Preview … The startup began with YouTube and expanded to LinkedIn, TikTok and Instagram.

In 2024, warning calls about catastrophic AI risks were drowned out by the tech industry's promotion of a practical and prosperous vision of generative AI (Maxwell Zeff/TechCrunch)

Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:
In 2024, warning calls about catastrophic AI risks were drowned out by the tech industry's promotion of a practical and prosperous vision of generative AI  —  For several years now, technologists have rung alarm bells about the potential for advanced AI systems to cause catastrophic damage to the human race.

OpenAI missed its goal to launch Media Manager, an opt-out tool for creators, by 2025; sources: the tool was rarely viewed as an important launch internally (Kyle Wiggers/TechCrunch)

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
OpenAI missed its goal to launch Media Manager, an opt-out tool for creators, by 2025; sources: the tool was rarely viewed as an important launch internally  —  Back in May, OpenAI said it was developing a tool to let creators specify how they want their works to be included in — or excluded from — its AI training data.

PitchBook: the number of VCs investing in US startups fell from a peak of 8,315 in 2021 to 6,175 in 2024; 9 firms raised 50%+ of the $71B raised by VCs in 2024 (George Hammond/Financial Times)

George Hammond / Financial Times:
PitchBook: the number of VCs investing in US startups fell from a peak of 8,315 in 2021 to 6,175 in 2024; 9 firms raised 50%+ of the $71B raised by VCs in 2024  —  Risk-averse financial institutions concentrate money on biggest Silicon Valley VCs in trend that threatens smaller groups

Alibaba sells Sun Art Retail stake to PE firm DCP for ~$1.6B, after paying ~$3.6B in 2020 to double the stake to 70%+, as it focuses on its core online business (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
Alibaba sells Sun Art Retail stake to PE firm DCP for ~$1.6B, after paying ~$3.6B in 2020 to double the stake to 70%+, as it focuses on its core online business  —  - Sun Art had attracted interest from other private equity firms … China's e-commerce pioneer said it could receive gross proceeds …

Link-Busters, an anti-piracy company working for big publishers, passed 2B URL takedown requests sent to Google and is behind 50%+ of Google takedown requests (Ernesto Van der Sar/TorrentFreak)

Ernesto Van der Sar / TorrentFreak:
Link-Busters, an anti-piracy company working for big publishers, passed 2B URL takedown requests sent to Google and is behind 50%+ of Google takedown requests  —  Link-Busters is the unofficial DMCA takedown champion of 2024.  The anti-piracy outfit works for many of the world's largest publishing companies …