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.
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.
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. …
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.
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.
CNBC:
After Trump signed an EO to end the government’s DEI programs, tech firms like Google are rebranding DEI efforts, using terms like “learning” or “hiring” — After Google scrapped its diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, hiring aspirations in February …
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 extension round — Existing backers BRV Capital Management and Capstone Partners participated in the so-called extension round …
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 …
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 …
Counterpoint Research:
Global foldable smartphone shipments increased by just 2.9% YoY in 2024, and shipments are expected to decline by about 4% YoY in 2025 — – 2024 saw the global foldable market growing at a comparatively flat annual rate of 2.9%. — Samsung and OPPO’s unusually weak Q4 negatively impacted broader market dynamics.
