New York Times: An analysis finds 170+ violent vigilante attacks since 2023 by US “pedophile hunters”, whose online content has been amplified by websites like Kick and Locals  —  With the rise of loosely moderated social media platforms, a fringe vigilante movement is experiencing a dangerous evolution. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Wall Street Journal: A look at the race between China and the US to build truly useful humanoid robots, as China lists “embodied” AI as a priority for a $138B state investment fund  —  U.S. and China are racing to build a truly useful humanoid worker.  Whoever wins could gain a huge edge in countless industries. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Bloomberg: Chinese startup Manus, whose AI agent service is still in the beta testing phase, announces a $39/month Manus Starter plan and an upgraded $199/month Pro tier  —  The Beijing-based startup behind Manus has set up a $39-per-month tier and a $199 upgraded option, the latter in line with OpenAI’s ChatGPT Pro. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Yoolim Lee / Bloomberg: South Korea-based Wrtn, a free-to-use AI platform with 5M+ users aggregating LLMs like GPT-4, Stable Diffusion 3, and Claude 3, raised a $56M Series B extension  —  Existing backers BRV Capital Management and Capstone Partners participated in the so-called extension round … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Isaac Schultz / Gizmodo: Report: 79% of 475 AI experts believe current public perceptions of AI do not match R&D realities, while 76% said scaling current approaches will not yield AGI  —  An extensive report on the future of AI research indicated that there’s skepticism about current approaches to AGI. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Bloomberg: Japan earmarks up to ~$5.4B in additional aid for chipmaker Rapidus, which aims to begin mass production of 2nm chips in 2027, a highly ambitious target  —  Japan is preparing as much as ¥802.5 billion ($5.4 billion) in additional aid for chip startup Rapidus Corp. … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Wall Street Journal: Sources detail tensions between Apple and Elon Musk’s SpaceX over efforts to expand satellite cellphone services  —  The iPhone maker and SpaceX are competing in the race to eliminate cellphone dead spots, a rift that is set to intensify  —  Apple is clashing with Elon Musk in its push … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Dia Rekhi / The Economic Times: Sources: Foxconn plans to assemble 25M to 30M iPhones in India in 2025, up from ~12M in 2024, and is conducting production trials at its new Bengaluru plant  —  Foxconn has also been conducting limited trials at its Bengaluru campus in the last three-four months, signalling swift progress … Lees verder op Tech Meme