SSPAI

Tag: Doubao AI

  • SSPAI Morning Brief: Draft Rules Propose Timed Exit Reminders and Timely Intervention for AI Chat Addiction

    SSPAI Morning Brief: Draft Rules Propose Timed Exit Reminders and Timely Intervention for AI Chat Addiction

    Morning Brief

    1. Draft rules propose requiring AI chat services to issue timed exit reminders and intervene promptly in cases of addiction
    2. Xiaohongshu responds to a public “call-out” from the Lijiang Old Town Culture and Tourism Bureau
    3. Cyberspace Administration issues regulations to standardize the behavior of online influencer accounts
    4. Honor releases the WIN series gaming smartphones
    5. Plaintiff presents forged evidence bearing Doubao AI watermarks, receives a judicial reprimand
    6. Beijing arbitration case clarifies that dismissal due to a role being replaced by AI constitutes unlawful termination
    7. Rumors You Can Just Glance At

    Draft rules propose requiring AI chat services to issue timed exit reminders and intervene promptly in cases of addiction

    On December 27, the Cyberspace Administration of China released the Interim Measures for the Management of Anthropomorphic Interactive AI Services (Draft for Public Comment), soliciting public feedback. The draft defines “anthropomorphic interactive services” as products or services that use AI technologies to simulate human personality traits, thinking patterns, and communication styles, and engage in emotional interaction with humans through text, images, audio, video, and other forms.

    Beyond basic content compliance, the draft proposes that anthropomorphic interactive services must not provide false promises that seriously affect user behavior or services that harm social relationships; must not harm users’ physical or mental health; and must not induce users to make unreasonable decisions through algorithmic manipulation, misleading information, or emotional traps. Service providers are required to have safety capabilities such as mental health protection, emotional boundary guidance, and dependency risk warnings, and must not take replacing social interaction, controlling users’ psychology, or inducing addiction and dependence as design goals.

    The draft also proposes introducing a number of intervention mechanisms. For example, while protecting users’ personal privacy, providers should assess users’ emotional states and their level of dependence on products and services, and take necessary measures to intervene when extreme emotions or addiction are identified. When users explicitly express intentions to commit suicide, self-harm, or other extreme actions, the conversation must be taken over by human operators, and timely measures should be taken to contact users’ guardians or emergency contacts (required to be provided during registration for minors and older adults). In addition, if a user has been using the service continuously for more than two hours, dynamic reminders—such as pop-up notifications—should be displayed to prompt a pause; providers must not obstruct users from actively exiting the service. Providers should also prominently inform users that they are interacting with AI rather than a natural person.

    The draft further brings training data under regulatory oversight. Providers should strengthen the management of training data, ensure that data sources are lawful and traceable, take necessary measures to safeguard data security, and prevent data leakage risks. Unless otherwise stipulated by laws or administrative regulations, or with separate user consent, providers must not use user interaction data or users’ sensitive personal information for model training.

    Since the beginning of this year, international media have repeatedly reported on incidents linked to AI chat services. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is investigating chatbot products from major AI companies, and some states have begun to legislate oversight. For example, in October, the Governor of California signed a series of restrictive bills targeting AI applications, aimed at strengthening protections for minors. These measures require AI products to verify users’ ages, remind users every three hours that they are interacting with AI rather than a human, and promptly intervene in cases involving suicide or self-harm.

    Xiaohongshu responds to a public “call-out” from the Lijiang Old Town Culture and Tourism Bureau

    According to a report by Observer Network, the Culture and Tourism Bureau of Lijiang’s Old Town District in Yunnan recently issued a public letter accusing the Xiaohongshu platform of failing to adequately fulfill its responsibilities in information oversight. The bureau claimed this had led to a large number of consumers using unsubstantiated “avoid-at-all-costs” posts to threaten wedding photography businesses into issuing refunds.

    In response, on December 24 Xiaohongshu customer service stated that the platform provides public reporting channels and will handle confirmed violations in a timely manner. People familiar with the platform said that preliminary reviews have not found evidence of consumers fabricating experiences or engaging in other violations. The Old Town District Culture and Tourism Bureau later deleted the letter. However, the Lijiang Old Town Travel Photography Industry Association said it has refused to continue negotiations with Xiaohongshu and is currently commissioning lawyers to collect evidence and prepare a collective public-interest lawsuit.

    Several local travel photography business owners told the media that some consumers, after signing off on services and receiving their final photos, subsequently post negative reviews on Xiaohongshu to extort full refunds. In some cases, social groups have even emerged that coach members on how to obtain free services through complaints. Merchants said that even when they submit signed satisfaction agreements or certificates showing no complaints filed with regulators, their appeals often fail because the platform’s system deems_toggle “insufficient evidence.” As a result, order volumes at some studios have dropped sharply, and some sales teams have even resigned en masse. According to the industry association, as of December 2025, direct economic losses caused by false “avoid-at-all-costs” posts have exceeded RMB 1 million, with indirect order losses reaching more than RMB 5 million.

    Public opinion online has been divided. Some users believe that certain “avoid-at-all-costs” posts have deteriorated in nature and have expressed concern about Xiaohongshu’s overall content environment. Another perspective shifts the focus to the travel photography businesses and the industry itself, arguing that the key to avoiding such posts lies in improving service quality.

    Industry experts note that social platforms such as Xiaohongshu have effectively become part of the infrastructure for tourism services. Meanwhile, structural issues within the travel photography industry—such as cutthroat low-price competition, hidden fees, and non-standardized services—objectively increase the difficulty for platforms to verify the authenticity of content. Experts suggest that platforms should consider establishing collective appeal and communication mechanisms tailored to regional industries, while industry associations should help optimize the environment for public opinion oversight through standardization efforts.

    Cyberspace Administration issues regulations to standardize the behavior of online influencer accounts

    On December 26, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) released the Notice on Regulating the Management of Online Influencer Account Conduct, establishing a negative list for online influencer account behavior and defining clear boundaries for such conduct.

    According to the notice, the negative list of prohibited behaviors for online influencer accounts includes: (1) spreading vulgar content; (2) promoting unhealthy value orientations; (3) creating “ugliness-as-spectacle” or otherwise harmful personas; (4) disseminating false information; (5) distorting or misinterpreting policies and public events; (6) inciting group antagonism; (7) doxxing or publicly exposing individuals at will; (8) organizing offline fights or online flame wars; (9) soliciting negative leads or accusations; (10) calling on fans to gather or mobilize; (11) engaging in coercive or extortionary practices for personal gain; (12) conducting operations without required qualifications; and (13) covertly engaging in illegal or gray-market activities.

    The notice requires all websites and platforms to conscientiously implement relevant laws, regulations, and policies, strictly fulfill their primary responsibilities in accordance with the negative list, and further improve community rules and user agreements related to the management of online influencer accounts. Platforms are also instructed to strengthen, in accordance with the law and platform rules, the management of content publishing, live-stream interactions, topic creation, and other behaviors by online influencer accounts, guiding operators to use their influence responsibly and to standardize online speech and conduct.

    Honor releases the WIN series gaming smartphones

    On December 26, Honor launched the WIN series smartphones in Chengdu, introducing two models—Honor WIN and Honor WIN RT—with starting prices of RMB 3,999 and RMB 2,699 respectively. The WIN series is a brand upgrade of the previous GT lineup and is positioned squarely in the professional gaming phone market.

    In terms of performance, the entire Honor WIN lineup is powered by Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon platforms. The Honor WIN features the fifth-generation Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, paired with LPDDR5X memory and UFS 4.1 storage. To improve endurance, the WIN series raises battery capacity to 10,000mAh for the first time, supporting 100W wired fast charging and 80W wireless fast charging (standard model only). The new phones also support bypass charging, allowing the charger to power the motherboard directly to reduce heat buildup while gaming and charging simultaneously.

    The Honor WIN series introduces the “Dongfeng Turbo” active cooling system, which uses an ultra-compact fan and a direct-drive high-efficiency cooling air duct. Official figures claim a 30% improvement in cooling efficiency, with fan noise as low as 25 dB. On the display front, the phones are equipped with a 185Hz ultra-high-refresh-rate esports screen, support 5,920Hz high-frequency PWM dimming, and are optimized for ultra-frame-rate modes in multiple mainstream games.

    The Honor WIN series also features dedicated esports antennas to ensure low-latency performance in weak network conditions. Additional features include AI-assisted control enhancements and anti-mis-touch functions. At the launch event, Honor announced a strategic partnership with Delta Force, with the WIN series designated as the official device for its professional league. Honor stated that it will further build out a gaming ecosystem around the WIN series, including future products such as tablets.

    Plaintiff presents forged evidence bearing Doubao AI watermarks, receives a judicial reprimand

    Recently, the Civil Division II of the Dawu County Court in Xiaogan, Hubei Province, identified a plaintiff’s attempt to fabricate evidence using AI technology during the trial of a housing lease contract dispute, and issued a formal reprimand in accordance with the law.

    In May 2024, Li signed a housing lease contract with Xiong, agreeing on the lease term and rent, and specifying that the rent for the latter half of the term must be paid by March 2025. After the lease expired, Li sued Xiong for failing to pay the remaining rent as well as water and electricity fees, appointing his daughter Dong as his litigation agent.

    During the hearing, Li was unable to provide valid proof that Xiong owed water and electricity charges. Dong stated in court that Xiong was the first tenant of the property and that all utility costs were incurred by him, and promised to submit photos of the water and electricity meters from before and after the lease period as supporting evidence after the hearing. However, the photos Dong submitted clearly bore a “Generated by Doubao AI” watermark, which immediately raised the judge’s suspicions. Further examination revealed inconsistencies in Dong’s statements: she initially claimed that the meters were used independently, but later admitted under questioning that two households shared the same meters. Faced with the judge’s inquiries, Dong was unable to justify her claims and ultimately admitted to fabricating the evidence, subsequently submitting the genuine photos to the court.

    The presiding judge gave Dong a serious lesson in the rule of law, pointing out that using AI-generated images as litigation evidence constitutes the fabrication of key evidence and is suspected of disrupting judicial order. Taking into account that Dong voluntarily confessed during the investigation and promptly corrected her mistake, the court followed a principle of combining punishment with education, opting to handle the matter by way of a reprimand and refusing to admit the fabricated evidence.

    Internationally, the use of AI-generated false materials in litigation has also become increasingly common. A database established by French lawyer Damien Charlotin has collected more than 600 cases worldwide. When such errors are discovered, many lawyers attempt to deflect responsibility with various excuses, such as claiming they did not know they were using AI, did not realize AI could hallucinate, alleging that hackers remotely altered the files, or even saying it was too inconvenient to switch windows on a laptop so they used AI. Some lawyers have even tried to shift the blame to interns or clients.

    Beijing arbitration case clarifies that dismissal due to a role being replaced by AI constitutes unlawful termination

    On December 26, the Beijing Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau released its 2025 annual collection of representative labor and personnel dispute arbitration cases. Among them, an arbitration case arising from AI replacing a job position explicitly clarified that “AI replacing a position does not equal lawful dismissal.”

    According to the case details, Liu had worked for many years at a technology company, responsible for traditional manual map data collection. In early 2024, the company decided to fully shift to AI-driven automated data collection, abolishing the department and corresponding positions where Liu worked. At the end of 2024, the company terminated Liu’s labor contract on the grounds that “the objective circumstances on which the labor contract was based have undergone a material change, making the contract impossible to continue performing.” Liu believed the termination was unlawful and therefore applied for arbitration.

    In its analysis, the arbitration committee pointed out that the company’s introduction of AI technology was a proactive technological upgrade undertaken to adapt to market competition. Although such changes may lead to adjustments in job structures, they do not meet the criteria of “objective circumstances,” which require characteristics of irresistibility and unpredictability. Terminating a labor contract on the grounds that a position has been replaced by AI essentially shifts the normal risks of technological iteration onto the employee. The arbitration committee thus determined that the company’s action constituted unlawful termination.

    The arbitration committee further noted that, in the context of rapid technological development, employers should give priority to properly accommodating affected employees through measures such as negotiating changes to labor contracts, providing skills training, and arranging internal job transfers. If termination of a labor contract is indeed necessary, employers must strictly comply with relevant regulations and avoid mechanically applying “material changes in objective circumstances” as a justification for dismissal.

    Rumors You Can Just Glance At

    • According to the November 2025 Domestic Mobile Phone Market Operation Analysis Report released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), domestic brands shipped 23.228 million units in November, down 12.6% year over year, accounting for 77.7% of total shipments. Meanwhile, shipments of foreign-brand phones reached 6.93 million units, up 128.4% year over year. This surge is likely related to adjustments by manufacturers such as Apple in promotions, channel strategies, or new product release cycles.
    • Weibo user “定焦数码” claimed that “a new iteration of the iPhone Air is confirmed to launch and will appear at the fall event. In addition, the iPhone 17e has already entered mass production and will be seen at the spring event.” This differs from earlier reporting by The Information, which stated that due to lukewarm market performance of the first-generation iPhone Air, Apple had informed its supply chain to remove the second-generation product from the 2026 roadmap, possibly delaying it until 2027.
    • X user Kosutami recently shared a set of photos said to be prototypes of the first-generation AirPods, showing two bright color options Apple once experimented with: pink and yellow. The prototypes were described as using an “iPhone 5C color scheme.” Although these colorways never made it into mass production, the level of finish on the prototypes suggests that Apple seriously considered breaking away from its single-white design tradition during the early development stage.
  • SSPAI Morning Brief: Netflix Plans to Acquire Warner Bros.’ Film and Streaming Businesses for USD 72 Billion

    SSPAI Morning Brief: Netflix Plans to Acquire Warner Bros.’ Film and Streaming Businesses for USD 72 Billion

    Morning Brief

    1. Netflix Plans to Acquire Warner Bros.’ Film Studio and HBO Max Streaming Business for USD 72 Billion
    2. “Baidu Name Directory” Found Used in Multiple Official Lists
    3. Meta Plans Major Cuts to Metaverse Budget, Shifts Spending Toward AI Devices
    4. Cloudflare Suffers Another Service Outage
    5. Russia Blocks FaceTime Citing Security Concerns
    6. Doubao AI Mobile Assistant Restricts Functions in Score-Farming, Finance, and Gaming

    Netflix Plans to Acquire Warner Bros.’ Film Studio and HBO Max Streaming Business for USD 72 Billion

    According to The Wall Street Journal, on December 5, streaming giant Netflix announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire Warner Bros.’ film studio and its HBO Max streaming business for USD 72 billion in cash and stock. Under the terms of the deal, parent company Warner Bros. Discovery will carry out a spin-off plan, separating its traditional cable TV networks — including CNN, TNT, and TBS — before selling its entertainment production and streaming division to Netflix. This marks the largest acquisition in Netflix’s history and is expected to close within 12 to 18 months.

    The transaction values Warner Bros. stock at USD 27.75 per share, with the total enterprise value of the assets involved reaching approximately USD 82.7 billion. Previously, competitor Paramount had proposed an all-cash offer of USD 30 per share to acquire the entire Warner operation, including its cable network assets. However, Warner’s board favored Netflix’s proposal because it allows shareholders to retain equity in the spun-off cable TV business while also receiving Netflix shares — resulting in a combined potential value of USD 31 to 32 per share, surpassing Paramount’s full acquisition offer.

    Through this acquisition, Netflix would gain access to one of Hollywood’s largest content libraries, including Harry Potter, Friends, the DC Extended Universe, and HBO’s premium original programming. Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos described the deal as a rare opportunity to secure long-term competitive advantage and pledged to preserve Warner Bros.’ traditional theatrical distribution model post-acquisition, ensuring that select films will continue to premiere in cinemas before arriving on streaming.

    The deal, however, faces significant antitrust scrutiny. Officials from the Trump administration have already voiced concerns that the merger could excessively strengthen Netflix’s global dominance. Paramount, whose bid was rejected, also sent a letter to Warner asserting that regulatory challenges may render the deal impossible to complete. Following the announcement, U.S. markets closed with Netflix shares down nearly 3%, Warner Bros. shares up more than 6%, and Paramount — the failed bidder — plunging nearly 10%.

    “Baidu Name Directory” Found Used in Multiple Official Lists

    According to The Paper, a document titled 10,000 Common Chinese Names on Baidu Wenku has recently been linked to several suspected falsification cases. Fake names listed in the document were directly copied into official rosters across multiple domains, sparking widespread public concern over procedural integrity and review mechanisms. These names were used to “build” expert panels in government procurement announcements, fill out award lists for competitions, and even appear in a public administrative penalty notice. Among them, “Zhang Jiwei, Lin Guorui, Lin Wenshu, Lin Yanan, Jiang Yiyun” appeared so frequently that they became known as “the busiest five people on the entire internet.”

    Examples include—

    • In 2024, the Liaoning Science and Technology Enterprise Knowledge Transfer Platform and the Yingkou Science and Technology Enterprise Knowledge Transfer Platform published lists of individuals who passed the non-public senior professional title review. Several names on the lists matched those in the “Name Directory”;
    • In 2023, a graduation results announcement on the website of Guangzhou General Vocational and Technical School listed 110 students, many of whose names were identical to those in the directory, and the exam scores were fabricated;
    • In 2023, the “Luoxia Cup National Painting and Calligraphy Seal-Carving Competition,” jointly organized by Shuhua Art Network and provincial associations in Shanxi and Jiangsu, featured numerous awardees whose names came directly from the directory;
    • In 2022, in a public notice by the School of Humanities at Hangzhou Normal University for recipients of a welfare lottery public fund project, several names and their exact sequence fully matched the directory. The university released a statement on December 6 admitting staff misconduct, offering a sincere apology, and accepting public criticism;
    • In 2019, the Chengdu Recreational Environment Technology Research Institute published results for a project-funding review. Zhang Jiwei appeared as project lead, teaming up with Lin Guorui, Cai Yiyun, and Chen Zhengqian to submit a project. Following on-site and correspondence reviews by experts, the project was approved. These four individuals, along with many others on the public notice, overlapped with names in the directory.

    New cases of identical names are still continuously being uncovered and exposed.

    Meta Plans Major Cuts to Metaverse Budget, Shifts Spending Toward AI Devices

    According to Bloomberg, sources reveal that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to drastically reduce investment in the company’s Metaverse initiatives. Meta executives are currently discussing a proposal to cut the Metaverse team’s 2026 budget by as much as 30%, with a new round of layoffs potentially beginning as early as January. A Meta spokesperson confirmed the resource reduction, noting that the freed-up funds will be redirected to fast-growing projects such as AI-powered smart glasses and other wearable devices.

    The proposed cuts stem from Meta’s annual budget planning meeting held last month at Zuckerberg’s Hawaii estate. At the meeting, Zuckerberg asked all departments to identify 10% budget reductions, though the Metaverse division was assigned far more aggressive targets. Sources explained that this is largely due to the Metaverse failing to generate the level of industry-wide competition Meta had once anticipated. The reductions are expected to focus on the VR team behind the Quest headsets and the Horizon Worlds virtual social platform — the two largest cost drivers of Meta’s Metaverse spending.

    This shift marks a significant strategic reorientation for Meta. Since the 2021 rebrand from Facebook to Meta, Reality Labs — the division overseeing the Metaverse — has accumulated losses exceeding USD 70 billion. Although Zuckerberg maintains that humanity will ultimately work and live in virtual worlds, he has rarely mentioned the Metaverse in recent public appearances or earnings calls, instead turning attention to large language models that power chatbots and to AI-integrated hardware such as Ray-Ban smart glasses.

    For years, investors have criticized the massive spending on the Metaverse for draining company resources without generating meaningful revenue. Following news of the budget cuts, Meta’s stock rose 3.4% to USD 661.53. Analysts widely believe that reducing investment in the long-unprofitable Metaverse will allow Meta to compete more effectively with its industry rivals in the generative AI space.

    Cloudflare Suffers Another Service Outage

    Internet infrastructure provider Cloudflare has confirmed that it has resolved a global service outage that occurred on Friday, December 5. The incident caused widespread delays and connection errors across the internet, affecting numerous banking and financial institution websites, video conferencing platform Zoom, and professional networking service LinkedIn, among others.

    Cloudflare reported that the outage lasted about 30 minutes. The company’s investigation found that the issue was not caused by a cyberattack but by a misconfiguration introduced during an attempt to patch a security vulnerability (CVE-2025-55182) in its React server components. The configuration change inadvertently triggered a logic error that resulted in a surge of HTTP 500 internal server errors. Cloudflare noted that such logic flaws could have been avoided in strongly typed programming languages, and the new Rust-based architecture it is rolling out has already addressed this risk.

    This marks Cloudflare’s second major outage in less than a month. As a core pillar of global internet infrastructure, Cloudflare’s services are relied on by countless companies for website acceleration and cybersecurity protection. A single point of failure at Cloudflare often produces cascading effects, knocking offline thousands of unrelated websites simultaneously.

    Cloudflare publicly apologized via social media, acknowledging that both incidents exposed weaknesses in its global configuration system, including the lack of staged rollouts and automated health checks. The company stated that it is conducting a comprehensive review to ensure network stability, and will accelerate the deployment of “fail-open” safeguards and stricter release validation procedures.

    Russia Blocks FaceTime Citing Security Concerns

    According to Reuters, on December 4, Russia’s federal communications regulator Roskomnadzor officially blocked Apple’s FaceTime video-calling service within the country. In its statement, Roskomnadzor cited law enforcement claims that FaceTime had been used “to organize and carry out terrorist attacks, recruit perpetrators, and commit fraud against Russian citizens,” though it provided no concrete evidence to support these allegations.

    As a result, users across Moscow reported being unable to use the service on Thursday; calls showed only a “user unavailable” message, and recipients could not answer even if they saw the incoming call. Apple has not yet responded. FaceTime is a core communication tool within the Apple ecosystem, known for its end-to-end encryption; the ban means Russian Apple users have now lost a major encrypted communication channel.

    This move is the latest escalation in Russia’s ongoing crackdown on Western tech platforms. Authorities have already imposed varying levels of restrictions on Google’s YouTube, Meta’s WhatsApp, and Telegram. On December 3, Roskomnadzor also blocked the U.S. gaming platform Roblox, citing the spread of extremist materials and illegal content. In August, the agency accused WhatsApp and Telegram of refusing to share anti-terrorism and anti-fraud information with law enforcement and subsequently restricted voice-call functionality on both platforms.

    Alongside restricting foreign services, Russia is pushing domestically developed alternatives in pursuit of “digital sovereignty.” This year, the government launched MAX, an official communications app intended to fill the void left by departing foreign platforms. Despite external concerns over possible data surveillance, Russian state media maintains that these measures are legitimate actions to safeguard national information security.

    Doubao AI Mobile Assistant Restricts Functions in Score-Farming, Finance, and Gaming

    According to Caixin, on December 5, Doubao announced that it would implement standardized restrictions on certain AI-driven phone operations, including—though not limited to—score-farming, reward-farming, financial app interactions, and gaming-related scenarios.

    Earlier on December 1, ByteDance’s Doubao AI model released the “Doubao Mobile Assistant” technical preview, integrated into the engineering prototype nubia M153 developed with ZTE, which was sold in limited quantities. Following the news, ZTE’s stock hit its daily limit, and the ¥3499 prototype sold out the same day. On the evening of December 3, after encountering risk-control blocks that prevented normal use of WeChat, Doubao disabled the assistant’s ability to operate WeChat.

    Doubao stated in its announcement that although the nubia M153 is merely a small-batch engineering prototype running a preview version, public attention far exceeded expectations. The concept of “AI operating your phone” sparked substantial discussion. The adjustment, Doubao says, “is a necessary step to ensure the technology develops steadily and sustainably.”

    Among the newly restricted scenarios, “score-farming and reward-farming” refers to retention-oriented incentives provided by apps that depend on real user interaction and therefore do not want AI collecting rewards. For banking and fintech applications, Doubao noted that although sensitive operations require explicit user authorization, it would still suspend AI operation of such apps out of caution. For certain gaming scenarios, Doubao said that because they involve competitive ranking, AI assistance will be temporarily disabled to maintain fairness.

    Doubao added that it will continue communicating with stakeholders to promote clearer, more predictable rules and “avoid blanket prohibitions that deny users the reasonable right to use AI.” Doubao reiterated that the AI assistant will not replace users in completing authorizations or sensitive actions; during long-running tasks, clear on-screen prompts will be displayed, and users may interrupt at any time, keeping the process fully controllable.

    Tensions among internet service companies, smartphone makers, and AI model developers are becoming increasingly visible. Recently, WeChat stopped supporting AI bookkeeping features on OPPO phones, and Bilibili no longer allows AI assistants to summarize video content. As early as 2017, when Honor was still under Huawei, its Magic smartphone featured AI functions that recommended restaurants based on WeChat and Alipay behavior — prompting Tencent to file a complaint with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, accusing Huawei of violating user privacy.

    Rumors to Take With a Grain of Salt

    • On December 4, AI search engine company Perplexity announced that global football star Cristiano Ronaldo (CR7) will invest in the company. Perplexity has also signed Ronaldo as a global brand ambassador and launched an interactive fan hub dedicated to him on its platform. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. According to recent Bloomberg estimates, Ronaldo’s net worth is roughly USD 1.4 billion. A few weeks ago, Ronaldo also met with Donald Trump, sparking speculation about potential business collaborations.
    • Bloomberg reports that Johny Srouji — widely regarded as the chief architect of Apple’s in-house chips and currently a senior vice president — has informed CEO Tim Cook that he is considering leaving the company. To retain this key talent, Apple is reportedly weighing a promotion that would make Srouji the company’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO), though such a move could trigger complex internal power-balance issues. Apple has recently been facing a wave of executive departures. According to The Wall Street Journal, LinkedIn data shows that in recent months, dozens of Apple engineers working in audio, watch design, and robotics have left for OpenAI.
    • On December 6, Elon Musk posted on X stating that he hopes to open-source all of X’s code next month — “with no reservations.”
    • According to The Wall Street Journal, sources reveal that SpaceX is preparing a new secondary stock sale, seeking a valuation as high as USD 800 billion. If completed, SpaceX would surpass OpenAI to become the most valuable private tech company in the United States. CFO Bret Johnsen has reportedly informed investors of the sale plan, and executives have indicated that the company is considering an initial public offering (IPO) in 2026. Thanks to its dominance in rocket launches and the rapid growth of its Starlink business, SpaceX continues to be highly favored by investors.