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

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

🤖 Chinese AI labs rush releases ahead of DeepSeek’s expected next announcement.
🔐 WhatsApp launches high-security mode for journalists and public figures worldwide.
🛒 Amazon closes Fresh and Go stores and refocuses on Whole Foods delivery.
📉 UPS plans 30,000 job cuts as Amazon shipping volumes keep falling.
⚖️ EU orders Google to open Android systems to rival AI providers.

TECHNOLOGY

• China's AI Labs Sprint Ahead of DeepSeek's Shadow (Implicator) 

  More: Bloomberg

  • Moonshot AI released Kimi K2.5, orchestrating 100 agents in parallel and cutting task runtime by 80%.

  • DeepSeek published OCR 2 with visual causal flow, mimicking human reading patterns and achieving 91% accuracy.

  • Chinese labs are rushing releases ahead of DeepSeek's anticipated announcement, with funding surges reaching $500M per month.

• Meta to test premium subscriptions on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp (TechCrunch)

  • Meta plans to test premium subscriptions offering exclusive features and expanded AI capabilities across all platforms.

  • Manus AI, acquired for $2B, will be integrated into products and sold as standalone business subscriptions.

  • Subscriptions will be separate from Meta Verified, targeting broader audiences beyond creators with freemium AI features.

• Scout: Yahoo's New AI 'Answer Engine' (First Look) (Near Media)

  • Yahoo launched Scout, an AI answer engine powered by Anthropic and the Bing API, available to 250 million users.

  • Scout blends AI with traditional search, prominently displays branded links, and reduces zero-click experiences for publishers.

  • The platform will be integrated across Yahoo verticals, including Finance, Sports, Mail, and News, with context-specific capabilities.

BUSINESS

• Amazon is closing all Amazon Fresh and Go stores to focus on Whole Foods and grocery delivery (AboutAmazon) 
  ^{_{More: CNBC, Yahoo Finance, NBC}}

  • Amazon will close all 72 Go and Fresh stores and convert some to Whole Foods locations.

  • Fresh grocery sales through same-day delivery grew 40x since January 2025, with perishables now dominating orders.

  • The company will open over 100 new Whole Foods stores in the coming years while testing supercenter concepts.

• Crypto payments network Mesh reaches unicorn status after $75M Series C led by Dragonfly (CoinDesk) 
  ^{_{More: PRNewswire, Yahoo Finance}}

  • Mesh raised $75M at a $1B valuation, bringing total funding from investors to over $200M.

  • The company processes nearly $10B in monthly volume, enabling any-to-any crypto payments for merchants and consumers.

  • PayPal uses Mesh's SmartFunding technology to allow customers to pay with crypto balances converted to PYUSD.

• Amazon to pay $309M to U.S. shoppers in settlement over returns (Law360) 
  ^{_{More: Smart Rules}}

  • Amazon agreed to a $309M settlement, plus $570M already paid for incorrectly denied refunds.

  • Settlement provides a total value of over $1B, including individual refunds and $363M in non-monetary relief.

  • A class action accused Amazon of shortchanging customers on refunds for product returns they properly initiated.

• Explore the essential startup reading database*

  • Learning from the best is how you become the best. We've curated a list of top-notch articles, blogs, and readings that are pivotal for startup founders.

  • And here's the kicker: we've organized it all in a user-friendly Notion database for easy access and tracking. Double win!

  • As aspiring leaders and innovators, this list serves as a bridge to absorbing the knowledge that has propelled others to success.

MARKETS

WORLD

• Sam Altman's response to the ICE Minnesota shooting was revealed in a leaked Slack message (Business Insider)

  • OpenAI CEO Sam Altman expressed concern in an internal Slack about federal agents shooting unarmed Minneapolis nurse Alex Pretti.

  • Altman's message acknowledged growing public outrage and called for a transparent investigation into Border Patrol's use of force.

  • Tech executives remained largely silent publicly while internal communications showed alarm over escalating federal enforcement tactics.

• Google Android Told by EU to Open Up to Rival AI Systems (Bloomberg) _{^{More: Engadget, Android Authority, Digital Journal}}

  • The EU gave Google six months to provide rival AI services equal access to Android features used by Gemini.

  • Google must share anonymized search ranking, query, and click data with competing search engines and AI providers.

  • Non-compliance could result in fines up to 10% of global revenue under Digital Markets Act enforcement.

• US to send ICE agents to Winter Olympics, prompting Italian anger (BBC) 

  _{^{More: The Guardian, Reuters}}

  • ICE confirmed it will send agents to the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics despite Italian officials saying they won't operate there.

  • Milan mayor Beppe Sala called ICE "a militia that kills" and said agents are not welcome.

  • Italy's interior minister clarified ICE will not operate on Italian soil after initial confusion and political backlash.

FUTURISM

• Anthropic 'destructively' scanned millions of books to build Claude (Washington Post) 

  ^{_{More: NPR, Chemistry World}}

  • Internal documents reveal "Project Panama" involved buying, scanning, and destroying millions of physical books for AI training.

  • Anthropic settled for $1.5B with the authors after downloading pirated books from LibGen and PiLiMi repositories.

  • The company hired ex-Google Books executive Tom Turvey to lead legal book digitization after initial piracy concerns.

• AI Is Causing Cultural Stagnation, Researchers Find (Futurism)

  • Study shows AI feedback loops naturally drift toward generic, homogenized outputs dubbed "visual elevator music."

  • Cultural convergence emerged without retraining or new data, purely from repeated autonomous AI system use.

  • Researchers warn AI-mediated culture favors familiar and conventional content, threatening creative diversity and surprise.

• UPS to cut an additional 30,000 jobs in Amazon unwind, turnaround plan (CNBC) 

  _{^{More: NBC News, Supply Chain Dive}}

  • UPS will eliminate 30,000 operational positions in 2026 following 48,000 job cuts in 2025.

  • Workforce reduction targets $3B in savings as Amazon volume declines by another million packages per day.

  • Second voluntary driver buyout program launching alongside 24 facility closures as part of network reconfiguration.

CONTENT

• A Mitigated Disaster With Daniel Jalkut (The Talk Show With John Gruber)

  • John Gruber and Daniel Jalkut discuss the recent escalation in the Middle East and why worst-case scenarios were narrowly avoided.

  • The conversation explores geopolitical signaling, military restraint, and the temporary containment of escalation dynamics.

  • The episode highlights the fragility of regional stability and the limits of diplomatic and crisis-management frameworks.

• Gold Hits $5K — What’s the Market Afraid Of? | Prof G Markets

  • Scott Galloway and Ed Elson unpack gold’s surge past $5,000 amid geopolitical stress and monetary uncertainty.

  • The conversation connects inflation expectations, rate policy, and investor flight toward perceived safe-haven assets globally.

  • Episode frames gold’s rally as a signal of deeper anxiety about growth, debt sustainability, and institutional trust.

• Why Tech Billionaires Are Really Investing in AI (The Institute of Art and Ideas)

  • Panel debates motivations behind billionaire AI investments, balancing profit incentives against visions of long-term human transformation.

  • Speakers explore power concentration, ideological commitments, and whether existential risk narratives shape capital allocation decisions.

  • Discussion questions on who benefits from AI acceleration and how investment choices may influence future societal structures.

EXTRAS

• WhatsApp unveils high-security mode, latest tech firm to offer users stronger protection (Reuters) 

  _{^{More: Engadget, The Star}}

  • WhatsApp launched "Strict Account Settings" with one-click activation for journalists and public figures facing cyberattacks.

  • Feature blocks media from unknown senders, disables link previews, and silences unknown calls to prevent surveillance.

  • Third major tech firm to offer high-security mode following Apple's Lockdown Mode and Android's Advanced Protection.

• TikTok Creator Khaby Lame Makes $975M Deal For His Brand (Hollywood Reporter)

  • Khaby Lame sold a stake in his company for $975M, granting 36-month exclusive global rights.

  • Rich Sparkle Holdings will create an AI version of Lame using his face and voice for multilingual content.

  • Company projects Lame's 360 million global fanbase could generate over $4B in annual sales revenue.

• Dozens of nudify apps found on Google and Apple's app stores (The Verge) 

  • The Tech Transparency Project identified dozens of apps creating nonconsensual sexualized deepfakes on major app stores.

  • Apps bypass store policies by using coded language and promise to remove clothing from photos.

  • Discovery extends beyond xAI's Grok controversy, revealing widespread failure of app store content moderation systems.

AND MORE

• India and European Union sign historic free trade agreement lowering tariffs broadly.

• Your brand deserves to be in front of people who actually make decisions. That’s Memo’s audience.*

• EU tells Google to open Android to rival AI systems under competition rules.

• Amazon to close all Amazon Fresh and Go stores, focus on delivery services.

• Sam Altman says ICE actions “have gone too far” in an internal message.

• Meta’s WhatsApp launches high-security mode to protect at-risk users.

• Nike announces layoffs at US distribution centers amid automation push.

• Wiper malware targeted Poland’s energy grid but failed to disrupt power.

• Italy to expand search for missing children with new nationwide alert system.