Welcome back to your daily memorandum talking tech, business, AI, markets, and more. 🗞️

In today’s edition, we are tackling the following:

📑 Britannica & Merriam-Webster sue OpenAI over copyright infringement claims.
🔒 Warren urges Pentagon to address security risks of xAI's Grok access.
💰 Huang projects $1T in Blackwell & Vera Rubin chip orders through 2027.
📉 PhonePe puts IPO plans on hold amid global market volatility.
💣 Israel launches wide-scale strikes on Iran & Lebanon amid escalating conflict.

TECHNOLOGY

• Britannica & Merriam-Webster sue OpenAI over massive copyright infringement claims (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: Reuters, The Verge, Yahoo!}}

  • Britannica & Merriam-Webster allege OpenAI scraped nearly 100k copyrighted articles without permission to train its LLMs.

  • OpenAI is also accused of falsely attributing hallucinated content to Britannica, in violation of trademark law.

  • Britannica joins the New York Times & other publishers in pursuing legal action against OpenAI.

• Apple launches second-gen AirPods Max with improved noise cancellation at $549 (The Verge)
  ^{_{More: Reuters, Bloomberg, USA Today}}

  • Apple unveiled the AirPods Max 2 at $549, its first major headphone refresh since 2020.

  • New features include better noise cancellation, an improved mic, & Live Translation via Apple Intelligence.

  • The H2-powered headphones go on sale March 25 in more than 30 countries.

• Warren urges Pentagon to address security risks of xAI's Grok access (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: AOL, NBC, The Hill}}

  • Sen. Warren wrote to Defense Secretary Hegseth over xAI's access to classified Pentagon networks.

  • Warren flagged Grok's lack of guardrails as a risk to U.S. military cybersecurity.

  • A class action lawsuit against xAI alleges that Grok generated sexual content from minors' images.

BUSINESS

• Huang projects $1T in Blackwell & Vera Rubin chip orders through 2027 (CNBC)
  ^{_{More: TechCrunch, FindArticles, Yahoo!}}

  • NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang projected $1T in Blackwell & Vera Rubin chip orders through 2027.

  • Just months ago, Huang had estimated $500B in demand for the same chips through 2026.

  • Rubin chips, now in production, are 3.5x faster than Blackwell on model-training tasks.

• PhonePe puts IPO plans on hold amid global market volatility (Bloomberg)
  ^{_{More: Reuters, TechCrunch, Investing.com}}

  • PhonePe paused its IPO plans due to geopolitical tensions & a volatile stock market.

  • India's Nifty 50 & BSE Sensex have each fallen about 9% over the past month.

  • Bankers recently suggested lowering PhonePe's IPO valuation from $12B to around $9B.

• Trump claims a former president privately regrets not attacking Iran sooner (AP)
  ^{_{More: MSN, Yahoo!}}

  • Trump said an unnamed predecessor privately admitted regret over not striking Iran as he has.

  • Reps for all four living former presidents denied any recent contact with Trump.

  • Trump declined to name the former president, saying he didn't want to 'embarrass him.'

MARKETS

WORLD

• Israel launches wide-scale strikes on Iran & Lebanon amid escalating conflict (Politico)
  ^{_{More: The Independent, AP, Euronews}}

  • The UAE briefly closed its airspace after explosions sounded over Dubai amid Iranian fire.

  • Israel launched strikes on Tehran & stepped up attacks on Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

  • Brent crude stayed above $100 a barrel as Strait of Hormuz shipping slowed dramatically.

• Bessent says U.S.-China disputes won't delay a planned Trump-Xi summit (Reuters)
  ^{_{More: ABC, Bloomberg, AOL}}

  • Bessent & Greer wrapped up two days of Paris trade talks with Chinese officials on Sunday.

  • Trump sought a month-long delay to the Beijing trip due to the U.S.-Iran war.

  • Bessent said any postponement would be due to Trump's duties as commander-in-chief, not China.

• Afghanistan says Pakistan airstrike on Kabul hospital killed 400 people (AP)
  ^{_{More: Washington Post, Al Jazeera, Reuters}}

  • Afghanistan accused Pakistan of killing at least 400 people in a strike on a Kabul hospital.

  • The attack hit a 2,000-bed drug rehabilitation facility, injuring around 250 more people.

  • Pakistan denied hitting any civilian sites, saying its strikes only targeted non-civilian locations.

FUTURISM

• Memories.ai is building a visual memory infrastructure for AI wearables & robotics (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: Tech Buzz, Yahoo!, FindArticles}}

  • Memories.ai announced a collaboration with NVIDIA to develop visual memory tech for AI devices.

  • The startup uses NVIDIA's Cosmos-Reason 2 & Metropolis tools to power its memory platform.

  • Its founders got the idea while building the AI system behind Meta's Ray-Ban glasses.

• Disney's AI-powered Olaf robot is coming to life at theme parks (The Verge)
  ^{_{More: IGN, CNET, Yahoo!}}

  • Olaf is a free-roaming Disney robot powered by NVIDIA chips & the Newton Physics Engine.

  • Disney animators created training data to teach Olaf his signature snowman shuffle walk.

  • The robot will greet & interact with theme park guests, with capabilities expanding over time.

• Shopify president says AI shopping agents will transform e-commerce entirely (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: Tech Buzz, Yahoo!}}

  • Shopify president Harley Finkelstein says the company is going all-in on agentic shopping technology.

  • Only 18% of U.S. retail purchases are made online, a gap that agents could help close.

  • Finkelstein says AI agents offer merit-based, personalized results that traditional search engines currently lack.

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CONTENT

• Paradromics CEO Matt Angle details progress on his brain-computer interface startup (This Week in Startups)

  • Paradromics is seeking early clinical trial subjects as it moves its BCI tech to market.

  • JetZero is building blended-wing jets with far greater fuel efficiency than conventional aircraft.

  • Nutrisense combines continuous glucose monitoring, data, & dietician coaching to improve health outcomes.

• Gokul Rajaram shares eight key moats every company needs to build (20VC)

  • Rajaram is a board director at Coinbase, Pinterest, & The Trade Desk, among other roles.

  • He previously served on executive teams at DoorDash & Block, & led ads at Facebook.

  • Rajaram is also a prolific angel investor with 700+ investments, including Figma, Groq, & Airtable.

• OpenAI health leaders discuss how AI can transform global healthcare systems (The OpenAI Podcast)

  • OpenAI's Dr. Nate Gross & Karan Singhal discussed AI's role in addressing major healthcare challenges.

  • OpenAI trains its health models in collaboration with physicians to handle sensitive medical questions.

  • The duo covered AI tools for patients, clinicians, & broader healthcare system applications.

EXTRAS

• Federal judge temporarily blocks RFK Jr.'s cuts to child vaccine recommendations (AP)
  ^{_{More: CBS, Washington Post}}

  • A federal judge blocked Kennedy's order to end broad vaccination recommendations for all children.

  • The ruling halted recommendations for flu, hepatitis, meningitis, RSV, & rotavirus vaccines for kids.

  • Federal health officials said they plan to appeal the judge's temporary blocking order.

• Alibaba launches Wukong, an AI agent platform targeting enterprise automation tasks (Reuters)
  ^{_{More: Bloomberg, Yahoo!, Economic Times}}

  • Alibaba's Wukong platform coordinates multiple AI agents to handle complex business tasks through a single interface.

  • Wukong is accessible via desktop or DingTalk, which serves more than 20M corporate users.

  • ByteDance, Tencent, & Zhipu have also launched similar AI agent products amid China's growing craze.

• China restricts overseas-incorporated firms from pursuing Hong Kong IPO listings (Bloomberg)
  ^{_{More: Business Times, Straits Times}}

  • Beijing is discouraging 'red-chip' firms registered overseas from filing for Hong Kong IPOs.

  • Some companies have been told to overhaul their structure before proceeding with Hong Kong listings.

  • Chinese authorities are pushing companies to re-incorporate under a mainland China structure instead.

AND MORE

• Yahoo CEO Jim Lanzone explains how the company returned to profitability.

• Samsung bets this island startup can tame the grid with software and batteries.

• Explore all the tools and more here to outperform the competition.*

• Apple moves the iPhone 5 & 8GB iPhone 4 to the obsolete product list.

• DLSS 5 looks like a real-time generative AI filter for video games.

• A teen boy swims for hours to rescue his stranded mother & siblings.

• Benjamin Netanyahu is struggling to prove he’s not an AI clone.

• The family of the Bondi shooting accused, Naveed Akram, fears for their safety.