🧶 AI, Lawsuits, Powerplays

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🔦 Spotlight

🧵 Meta accused of seeding porn torrents. Strike 3 Holdings claims Meta pirated over 2,300 adult films for AI training, using BitTorrent tricks like seeding top-tier porn to download massive datasets faster. The lawsuit alleges corporate IPs, stealth cloud networks, and even employee homes were used, possibly exposing minors and creating AI rivals. Meta denies wrongdoing but Strike 3 says this "ethical porn" theft gave Meta a big head start in AI, at their expense. (More)

🧵 New HIV drug offers total protection. Meet Yeztugo, the first HIV prevention drug with near-perfect protection and just two injections a year. Already FDA-approved and globally scaling, it blocks the virus before it even starts copying itself. Gilead is licensing it royalty-free for generics and partnering with the Global Fund to reach 2 million people, no profit attached. It’s not just a medical breakthrough, it’s a moonshot to end a 44-year epidemic. (More)

🧵 Anthropic faces massive piracy lawsuit. Authors allege Anthropic built Claude using millions of pirated books from shadow libraries like LibGen, potentially exposing the AI firm to billions in damages. A judge ruled training on legit books is fair use, but pirated ones? Not so fast. If infringement is deemed willful, damages could hit $1 billion to $1 trillion. The December trial could reshape copyright law, and the future of AI training. (More)

👀 Next Up

🧵 Waymo taps Avis for Dallas robotaxis. Waymo’s next robotaxi stop is Dallas, and it’s teaming up with Avis, not Uber, for fleet ops. Avis will handle car maintenance, readiness, and infrastructure, signaling a pivot from rental cars to mobility services. It’s Waymo’s first direct ops outside its Uber collab, setting up a turf war in Dallas. (More)

🧵 Nice buys Cognigy for $955 million. Israeli firm Nice is going all-in on customer service AI, acquiring Cognigy to fuse its automation muscle with cutting-edge conversational tech. It’s CEO Scott Russell’s first big swing, and a clear signal he’s betting big on agentic AI. Funded in cash, the deal instantly expands Nice’s global reach and AI-first ambitions. (More)

🧵 China embraces AI in the classroom. While Western schools tiptoe around ChatGPT, Chinese universities are diving in headfirst. With government backing and near-universal student adoption, AI tools like DeepSeek are now standard. Professors are teaching prompt literacy, not issuing warnings, and students see AI fluency as vital in a brutal job market. (More)

🧵 Cadence hit with $140M China penalty. Cadence Design just pleaded guilty to selling chip tools to a Chinese military university linked to nuclear research. The $140M payout settles export violation charges, including 56 illegal sales and dealings with alias companies. While shares oddly rose, the case highlights ongoing U.S. clampdowns, even during trade talks. (More)

🧵 EU may scan your chats by 2025. A Danish-led reboot of the EU’s controversial “Chat Control” bill is inching forward. The aim: scan encrypted messages for child abuse content. Previous versions flopped due to privacy backlash. Denmark's version now hinges on convincing Germany, but critics still fear mass surveillance and a blow to encryption. (More)

🎭 Backstage

🧵 Coinbase eyes CoinDCX post-hack. Coinbase may buy CoinDCX under $1B after a $44M breach. It’s a cut-rate India play, despite shaky governance and security flaws. (More)

🧵 Apple slips behind Huawei in China. iPhone sales grew 4% in China last quarter, but Apple still ranks fifth, trailing Huawei, Xiaomi, and others. It hasn’t led since late 2023. (More)

🧵 Robinhood CEO’s AI startup flexes math. Harmonic’s chatbot Aristotle claims “hallucination-free” math answers, even acing the 2025 Math Olympiad. Built to be a math whiz, it double-checks solutions in Lean. (More)

🧵 PayPal launches crypto pay for merchants. U.S. sellers can now accept 100+ cryptocurrencies globally, get paid instantly in dollars, and dodge sky-high fees. PayPal says it slashes costs by 90%. (More)

🧵 Julius AI raises $10M seed round. Julius, the AI data scientist in chatbot form, just banked $10M to turn prompts into predictive models and charts. Already 2M users deep. (More)

🧵 Sony sues Tencent over Horizon clone. Sony claims Tencent’s new game “Light of Motiram” rips off its hit series Horizon, calling it a “slavish clone.” The lawsuit’s now in federal court. (More)

🧵 New 529 rules go beyond college. Thanks to July’s OBBBA law, 529 funds can now cover trades, certificates, tutoring, even creator economy skills. Gen Z just got more ways to skip student debt. (More)