Deepa Seetharaman
LightNews LightNews
deepa.bsky.social
Deepa Seetharaman
@deepa.bsky.social
4.3K followers 52 following 26 posts
tech reporter covering A.I.

Ping me on Signal: https://signal.me/#eu/SX-5fAfwgTQcgsbLtDC8E47LII_kSHE0PhkJgq-IdcaAZZvn4jxF67TNs80HUW4f
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Deepa Seetharaman
karenattiah.bsky.social
OH MY GOD
September 18, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Reposted by Deepa Seetharaman
fritinancy.bsky.social
"[T]he best productivity hack in the world is simply liking your job. If you enjoy what you do, you will find ways to do it, and in 2025 almost any software remotely suited to the purpose will be more than good enough." - @caseynewton.bsky.social www.platformer.news/productivity...
What I learned about productivity this year
What I gave up, what I kept, and what's new. PLUS: How I'm using AI
www.platformer.news
August 22, 2025 at 1:31 AM
Reposted by Deepa Seetharaman
dell.bsky.social
NEW: Reporters at @calmatters.org and @themarkup.org ‬ found dozens of data brokers hiding opt-out tools from search results. US senator Maggie Hassan is now pressing top offenders to disclose their practices and pledge to improve access to privacy controls.

By me @wired.com
Data Brokers Face New Pressure for Hiding Opt-Out Pages From Google
After reporters found dozens of firms hiding privacy tools from search results, US senator Maggie Hassan insists the companies explain their practices—and pledge to improve access to privacy controls.
www.wired.com
August 13, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Reposted by Deepa Seetharaman
drewharwell.com
Congratulations to greenhouse gas
July 29, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Reposted by Deepa Seetharaman
daveweigel.bsky.social
Still thinking about this illiterate line in the Trump WSJ lawsuit
July 21, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Reposted by Deepa Seetharaman
wired.com
SCOOP: Elon Musk’s associates at DOGE have begun vacating their headquarters at the General Services Administration in Washington, DC, and they’re leaving behind an apocalyptic scene of toddler play sets, mattresses, and pillows.

We got photos. 👇
Photos: Here Are the Piles of Used Bedding and Children’s Play Sets Left Near DOGE’s Old Offices
Elon Musk’s DOGE minions have largely moved out of the General Services Administration. A dystopian scene of bedding and discarded kids’ toys remains.
www.wired.com
July 23, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Reposted by Deepa Seetharaman
caseynewton.bsky.social
A new Pew study offers data to back up what we have suspected for a while now: AI answers are draining all the traffic out of the web www.platformer.news/google-ai-ov...
When users did not see an AI overview, the authors write, they clicked on links 15 percent of the time. When they did see one, that number fell nearly by half, to 8 percent. The study also found that people are likelier to stop browsing after encountering an AI overview, suggesting that the overview has satisfied their curiosity. Researchers saw that outcome 26 percent of the time when AI overviews were displayed, up from 16 percent when they were not.
July 23, 2025 at 12:25 AM
Reposted by Deepa Seetharaman
janerosenzweig.bsky.social
New in The Important Work: Jenny Lederer and Jennifer Trainor share thoughts about blue books, AI in the classroom, and the value of human interaction after attending an OpenAI webinar sponsored by CSU. theimportantwork.substack.com/p/even-opena... Illustration from @betterimagesofai.bsky.social
Even OpenAI suggests bringing back blue books
Where does that leave writing teachers?
theimportantwork.substack.com
July 15, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Reposted by Deepa Seetharaman
kint.bsky.social
This report may have been a good time to note Marc will be testifying live in court this week along with several board members on the largest privacy settlement ever and allegations of insider trading for Zuckerberg and a coverup to protect him. Sandberg, Zuckerberg next week @nitasha.bsky.social
July 12, 2025 at 3:34 PM
deepa.bsky.social
A screenshot of a paragraph from a Washington Post story about the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative pulling its funding from a school for low-income students: The impacts of the shuttering on families and the local school district show the risks for communities that depend on wealthy donors for essential services or support. A billionaire’s change of heart can destabilize vulnerable families or local government finances.
June 30, 2025 at 4:22 AM
Reposted by Deepa Seetharaman
katie-drummond.bsky.social
NEW: In a forceful memo, OpenAI’s chief research officer has responded to Meta poaching the company’s employees:

“Someone has broken into our home.”

By @zoeschiffer.bsky.social

www.wired.com/story/openai...
OpenAI Leadership Responds to Meta Offers: 'Someone Has Broken Into Our Home'
As Mark Zuckerberg lures away top research talent to Meta, OpenAI executives say they're ‘recalibrating comp,’ according to an internal memo.
www.wired.com
June 29, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Reposted by Deepa Seetharaman
theinformation.com
Exclusive: OpenAI Starts Selling ChatGPT at a Discount, Hurting Microsoft

Microsoft Loses Copilot Deals After OpenAI Discounts ChatGPT

Read more Aaron Holmes and Sri Muppidi 👇
www.theinformation.com/articles/ope...
OpenAI Starts Selling ChatGPT at a Discount, Hurting Microsoft
OpenAI has started discounting enterprise subscriptions to its ChatGPT app when customers agree to spend money on additional AI products, according to an OpenAI spokesperson and two executives at larg...
www.theinformation.com
June 18, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Reposted by Deepa Seetharaman
karissabe.bsky.social
Remember how the Twitter bird sign from its old SF office was auctioned for $34,000 earlier this year? I can exclusively report the fate of Larry: his new owners, a marketplace startup, blew him up in the Nevada desert (with Cybertrucks on the scene) in a massive, fiery spectacle
The 560-pound Twitter sign met a fiery end in a Nevada desert
The 560-pound bird logo that used to adorn Twitter's office was blown up in the Nevada desert as part of an elaborate stunt to promote an online marketplace app.
www.engadget.com
June 17, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Reposted by Deepa Seetharaman
peark.es
LOL yeah I hope they're raising equity.

*MUSK’S XAI BURNING THROUGH $1 BILLION A MONTH AS COSTS PILE UP
(Bloomberg) -- Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI is trying to raise $9.3 billion in debt and equity, but even before the money is in the bank the company has plans to spend more than half of it in just the next three months, according to deal terms shared with investors. The rate at which the company is raising funds and tearing through cash offers a stark illustration of the unprecedented financial demands of the artificial intelligence industry, and the relatively meager revenues it is bringing in so far, at least when it comes to xAI. Musk’s startup, which is responsible for the AI-powered chatbot Grok, expects to burn through about $13 billion over the course of 2025, or more than $1 billion each month, as reflected in the company’s levered cash flow, according to the people familiar with the deal terms who asked not to be identified because the information is private.  As a result, its prolific fundraising efforts are just barely keeping pace with expenses, the people added.  A spokesperson for the company declined to comment.
June 17, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Reposted by Deepa Seetharaman
jenvalentino.bsky.social
Fantastic and troubling piece by @kashhill.bsky.social about AI chatbots leading people into delusional behavior. One man whose wife was affected said he doesn’t think the AI companies fully understand what they are doing. “You ruin people’s lives,” he said.

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/t...
They Asked an A.I. Chatbot Questions. The Answers Sent Them Spiraling.
www.nytimes.com
June 13, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Reposted by Deepa Seetharaman
lizphelps.bsky.social
“‘Information warfare is always a symptom of conflict, stoked often by those in power to fuel their own illiberal goals … It confuses audiences, scares people who might otherwise have empathy for the cause and divides us when we need solidarity most.’”
Fake Images and Conspiracy Theories Swirl Around L.A. Protests
www.nytimes.com
June 10, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Reposted by Deepa Seetharaman
techmeme.com
Sources: Meta agrees to take a 49% stake in Scale AI for $14.8B, in a deal that gives cash to Scale's shareholders and makes Alexandr Wang a top Meta executive (Cory Weinberg/The Information)

Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
June 10, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Reposted by Deepa Seetharaman
drewharwell.com
Here's Kate's perspective from the NYT. On the WaPo biz/tech team, we reporters often write multiple potential headlines and then test them among ourselves in a Slack channel. Sometimes overruled by homepage / editors but it's cool being able to focus-group ideas and often they end up way better
kateconger.com kate conger @kateconger.com · Jun 3
okay, headline chat: a bunch of you have asked me who writes them and how they work. I’ll talk about it but the tl;dr is that it’s complicated and can vary a lot depending on the specific writer(s) and editor(s) involved.
June 3, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Reposted by Deepa Seetharaman
passantino.bsky.social
“The paper cited is not a real paper that I or my colleagues were involved with.” Just amazing from @notusreports.bsky.social www.notus.org/health-scien...
The MAHA Report Cites Studies That Don’t Exist
The Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” report misinterprets some studies and cites others that don’t exist, according to the listed authors.
www.notus.org
May 29, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Reposted by Deepa Seetharaman
passantino.bsky.social
It was just last month that Musk and the White House denied a Politico report that Musk was leaving in May, calling the report "garbage" and "fake news."
May 29, 2025 at 12:30 AM
Reposted by Deepa Seetharaman
mims.bsky.social
Producer of potential reality show in which immigrants complete to be U.S. citizens says “This isn’t ‘The Hunger Games’ for immigrants... This is not, ‘Hey, if you lose, we are shipping you out on a boat out of the country.’”

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
DHS Is Considering Reality Show Where Immigrants Compete for Citizenship
“This isn’t ‘The Hunger Games’ for immigrants,” says the producer behind the pitch.
www.wsj.com
May 16, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Reposted by Deepa Seetharaman
drewharwell.com
Sad to see humans taking the jobs of AI fortune.com/2025/05/09/k...
As Klarna flips from AI-first to hiring people again, a new landmark survey reveals most AI projects fail to deliver
Just 1 in 4 AI investments bring in the ROI they promise—but CEOs just can’t resist the technology.
fortune.com
May 13, 2025 at 2:10 AM
deepa.bsky.social
Some news: I'm leaving the Wall Street Journal today, after a decade covering Facebook, then tech + politics, and now AI. I’ve reported from so many corners of Silicon Valley but mostly its white-hot center. It’s been a huge privilege. 🧵
April 30, 2025 at 10:15 PM
deepa.bsky.social
New: the relationship bw MSFT and OpenAI is now very strained w/ the two sides arguing over:
— OpenAI's access to compute / advanced chips,
— MSFT's access to OpenAI's tech and
— how close OpenAI is to AGI and if that’s even a thing

Gift link: www.wsj.com/tech/ai/sam-...
Altman and Nadella, Who Ignited the Modern AI Boom Together, Are Drifting Apart
The OpenAI and Microsoft CEOs helped each other become power players in generative AI but are now preparing for independent futures.
www.wsj.com
April 29, 2025 at 4:38 AM