Tootfinder

Sources: Thinking Machines lacks a clear product or business strategy and has been struggling over the last couple of months to raise a new round of financing (Alex Heath/Sources)
https://sources.news/p/thinking-machines-is-nothing-without

Thinking Machines is nothing without its people
More Thinking Machines employees are in talks to join OpenAI. Also: Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe on ACCESS and the Sources Live @ Davos lineup.

New Books Network:
"Information Literacy and Critical Thinking: Using Perspective Transformation to Break Information Bubbles"
https://newbooksnetwork.com/information-literacy-and-critical-thinking

Chipherstellung: USA verlangen 40 Prozent der taiwanischen Produktion in den USA
Taiwan und die US-Regierung einigen sich auf einen groben Plan für mehr Investitionen in den USA. Ohne diese drohen erneut höhere Zölle.

Court sets Tymoshenko $760,000 bail amid bribery investigation: https://benborges.xyz/2026/01/16/court-sets-tymoshenko-bail-amid.html

Source: Tencent tells staff that Yao Shunyu, an ex-OpenAI researcher who joined in September, is now its chief AI scientist, reporting to President Martin Lau (Juro Osawa/The Information)
https://www.theinformation.com/briefings/tencent-name…

Tencent Names Former OpenAI Researcher Chief AI Scientist
Tencent Holdings internally announced that Yao Shunyu, a researcher who joined from OpenAI in September, is now serving as a chief AI scientist overseeing the Chinese tech giant’s large language model department as well as its newly established AI infrastructure department, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Yao’s major role, part of Tencent’s office of the CEO and president,

Forward thinking, stalled results: Raiders still searching for direction https://raiderramble.com/2025/12/16/forward-thinking-stalled-results-raiders-still-searching-for-direction/

Republican tensions boil over as ObamaCare deadline approaches (The Hill)
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5651966-republican-tensions-obamacare/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251216/p132#a251216p132

Sources: leaders at Thinking Machines Lab confronted Barret Zoph over an alleged relationship with another employee, who is no longer at the lab, in summer 2025 (Maxwell Zeff/Wired)
https://www.wired.com/story/thinking-machines-lab-cofounder-off…

Thinking Machines Cofounder’s Office Relationship Preceded His Termination
Leaders at Mira Murati’s startup believe Barret Zoph engaged in an incident of “serious misconduct.” The details are now coming to light.

Source: at least two more TML employees are expected to join OpenAI soon; some AI researchers say they are exhausted by the constant drama in their industry (Wired)
https://www.wired.com/story/inside-openai-raid-on-thinking-machines-lab/

Inside OpenAI’s Raid on Thinking Machines Lab
OpenAI is planning to bring over more researchers from Thinking Machines Lab after nabbing two cofounders, a source familiar with the situation says. Plus, the latest efforts to automate jobs with AI.

A source close to Thinking Machines alleged that ex-CTO Barret Zoph, who is returning to OpenAI, had shared confidential company information with competitors (Maxwell Zeff/Wired)
https://www.wired.com/story/thinking-machines-lab-cofounders-leave-for-openai/

Two Thinking Machines Lab Cofounders Are Leaving to Rejoin OpenAI
The news is a blow for Thinking Machines Lab. Two narratives are already emerging about what happened.