AI startup Thinking Machines Lab shows Inkling 2 Small, with open weights due next week

Thinking Machines Lab has announced Inkling 2 Small. It is a mixture-of-experts model, which means only some parts of the model run for each word. It has 594 billion parameters in total, and 17 billion are active at a time. It accepts images as well as text. The lab says it will release the weights, the files anyone can download and run, under the open Apache 2.0 licence next week, after outside safety testing. For now it is only available through the lab's Tinker platform. The lab says it scores 31 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, well above its earlier models. Separately, Business Insider reports that the lab is raising $5 billion at a $40 billion valuation.

Amazon lets shoppers text its Alexa assistant to find and buy products

Amazon says some US customers can now chat with its Alexa AI agent by text message to shop. They can search for items, add them to the cart and buy them. They can also manage lists, track prices, compare products, check orders and send a photo to find similar listings. Amazon says Alexa will learn users' preferences over time. Selected customers get a text inviting them to turn it on, others can join a waitlist, and Amazon says it will reach more people in the coming weeks. TechCrunch notes the launch comes after Amazon blocked Meta's Muse agent from searching its site in September.

Airbnb plans an AI travel agent for 2027 that builds a screen around each question

In its third-quarter shareholder letter, Airbnb said it will roll out an AI agent in the first half of 2027 to help guests plan and book trips. Airbnb says the agent will not be a chat window. Instead, it will put together maps, photos, calendars and itineraries in real time from a library of hundreds of travel interface pieces. Guests will be able to make decisions with the people they travel with. A filing also shows Airbnb has the option to invest in, and license technology from, a secretive AI lab controlled by CEO Brian Chesky. The Information reports that Chesky has paid for the lab himself so far.

Asian tech stocks plunge on fears the US will slow down building data centres

Asian stock markets tied to the AI boom fell sharply on Friday morning after a tech sell-off, Nikkei Asia reports. Investors fear that US Democrats may delay data-centre projects. Taiwan's Taiex had its biggest intraday point drop on record, South Korea's Kospi fell 8.7% and Japan's Nikkei fell 6.7%. Separately, Bloomberg cites research firm Cleanview, which says about 40% of planned US data-centre capacity is in states whose newly elected governors pledged to pause or halt construction.

Fox completes its $22 billion purchase of streaming platform Roku, ahead of schedule

Fox Corp. has closed its acquisition of Roku, a deal valued at $22 billion, well ahead of the expected 2027 date, Variety reports. The deal was first announced in June, and TechCrunch notes that Justice Department investigators were looking into it a few months ago. Roku founder Anthony Wood joins Fox's board and will co-chair a new unit that combines Tubi, Fox One and Roku. The Verge says Roku reaches more than 100 million US households and that Fox plans to bring its sports, news and local stations to the platform.

Chipmaker TSMC may start making memory chips at Nvidia's request, report says

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) is considering expanding into making advanced 3D DRAM memory chips, The Information reports, citing sources. The request came from Nvidia, TSMC's biggest customer. Memory chips are in short supply because of demand from the AI boom.

Binance hackers took $2.5B in one transaction using $15 wallet permissions, firm says

Security firm Blockaid says the hackers who stole $6.3 billion from crypto exchange Binance last week took about $2.5 billion, or 40% of the total, in a single Ethereum transaction, Bloomberg reports. They used wallet permissions that cost just $15 in network fees to set up.

Tesla will wind down Cybertruck production in mid-2027 to build more robotaxis

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company will wind down Cybertruck production at its Texas Gigafactory around the middle of next year. He said the space will be used to make more Cybercabs, Tesla's robotaxi. The Financial Times, The Verge and TechCrunch reported the plan.

EU says TikTok broke its online safety law by trapping users in harmful video loops

The European Commission said on Friday, in preliminary findings, that TikTok breached the Digital Services Act, the EU law for online platforms. It says TikTok failed to stop its recommendation system from pulling users into harmful 'rabbit holes' of content, The Record reports. The Verge says regulators point to 'endless and repeated exposure' to videos about sadness, isolation or body image, and want TikTok's For You feed to change.

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