🔍 OpenAI vs. DeepSeek, iPhones Get Starlink, AI-Powered Cyberattacks

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, January 29. Today we are covering:

• OpenAI says it has evidence China's DeepSeek used its model to train competitor

• Apple and SpaceX Link Up to Support Starlink Satellite Network on iPhones

• Chinese and Iranian Hackers Are Using U.S. AI Products to Bolster Cyberattacks

• Google reclassifies U.S. as 'sensitive country' alongside China, Russia after Trump's 'Gulf of America' comments

• Apple chips can be hacked to leak secrets from Gmail, iCloud, and more

Let’s dive in

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OpenAI says it has evidence China's DeepSeek used its model to train competitor

By Eleanor Olcott via Financial Times

• OpenAI has found evidence that Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek used its proprietary models to train an open-source competitor, potentially violating intellectual property rights through a process called "distillation."

• Microsoft and OpenAI blocked accounts suspected to belong to DeepSeek after investigations last year, while industry insiders highlight that distillation is a common practice, making enforcement challenging.

• DeepSeek's rapid success with its R1 reasoning model—trained at a fraction of the cost of comparable US models—has rattled Silicon Valley, contributing to a 17% drop in Nvidia’s stock amid fears that expensive AI hardware investments may be unnecessary.

𝕏: I'm so sorry I can't stop laughing. OpenAI, the company built on stealing literally the entire internet, is crying because DeepSeek may have trained on the outputs from ChatGPT. They're crying their eyes out. What a bunch of hypocritical little babies. - Ed Zitron (@edzitron)

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Apple and SpaceX Link Up to Support Starlink Satellite Network on iPhones

By Mark Gurman via Bloomberg

• Apple has been secretly working with SpaceX and T-Mobile to integrate Starlink satellite connectivity into the latest iPhone software update, expanding its communication capabilities.

• The collaboration allows iPhones to connect to Starlink’s satellite network, providing an alternative to Apple's in-house emergency satellite service.

• T-Mobile has begun a limited beta test of the feature, with SpaceX and Apple conducting ongoing internal testing ahead of a broader rollout.

𝕏: NEW: Apple, SpaceX and T-Mobile have secretly been working together to launch Starlink satellite support for iPhone customers. It’s a secret addition in iOS 18.3 and Starlink will slowly roll out in beta for T-Mobile users who apply. - Mark Gurman (@markgurman)

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Chinese and Iranian Hackers Are Using U.S. AI Products to Bolster Cyberattacks

By Dustin Volz via Wall Street Journal

• Hackers linked to China, Iran, and other foreign governments are leveraging U.S. AI products to enhance cyberattacks against American and global targets, according to U.S. officials and security research.

• Dozens of hacking groups across 20+ countries have used Google’s Gemini AI for tasks such as writing malicious code, identifying cyber vulnerabilities, and researching potential targets over the past year.

• Google’s cybersecurity experts have identified the growing misuse of AI in cyber warfare, raising concerns about AI-assisted threats and national security risks.

𝕏: Hackers linked to China, Iran and other foreign governments are using new AI technology to bolster their cyberattacks against U.S. and global targets, according to U.S. officials and new security research. - Dustin Volz (@dnvolz)

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Google reclassifies U.S. as 'sensitive country' alongside China, Russia after Trump's 'Gulf of America' comments

By Jennifer Eliasvia CNBC

• Google Maps has reclassified the U.S. as a “sensitive country”, grouping it with China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia, following President Trump’s proposed renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America.”

• The classification change—normally reserved for countries with border disputes or restrictive governments—was marked as high priority within Google, prompting urgent updates to its mapping services.

• This move highlights tech companies’ challenges in navigating Trump’s second presidency, as firms like Meta, Amazon, and TikTok adjust policies to align with evolving government directives.

𝕏: > The changes were given a rare “P0” order, meaning it had the highest priority level and employees were immediately notified and instructed to drop what they were doing to work on it. journalists trying to understand our internal jira-clone bug priorities will always be funny - palcu (@AlexPalcuie)

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Apple chips can be hacked to leak secrets from Gmail, iCloud, and more

By Dan Goodin via Ars Technica

• Apple’s A- and M-series chips contain two newly discovered vulnerabilities, FLOP and SLAP, which allow attackers to steal sensitive data such as credit card information, location history, and emails from Safari and Chrome when visiting sites like Gmail, iCloud, and Google Maps.

• These side-channel attacks exploit speculative execution flaws in Apple’s load value predictor (LVP) and load address predictor (LAP), enabling attackers to bypass browser protections and extract secrets when a victim has both a malicious and a legitimate website open simultaneously.

• Affected devices include all MacBooks from 2022, Mac desktops from 2023, and all iPhones and iPads since 2021, with researchers publishing mitigation strategies while Apple has yet to confirm a fix but downplays immediate risks.

𝕏: Not these again… ends up being fixed by making CPU’s for everyone slower. This time Apple’s M series starting with M2. - Peter Steinberger (@steipete)

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Trending in AI

• The U.S. response to Chinese advances in artificial intelligence

• Mobile AI Apps Are Now a $2 Billion Market Led by ChatGPT

• Alibaba releases AI model it says surpasses DeepSeek

• Block's new open-source AI agent 'goose' lets you change direction mid-air

• AI and the future of national security

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