TLDR

TLDR 2026-01-23

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01GENERAL

Sponsored

EVALS

As AI evolves at an unprecedented pace, measuring intelligence requires more than a few AI research labs alone – it requires the imagination and collective expertise of the global community. That's why Kaggle launched Community Benchmarks, a new way for anyone to build, design, run and share custom benchmarks for evaluating AI models AT NO COST.

youtube.comSponsor

02BIG TECH & STARTUPS

TIKTOK FORMS US JOINT VENTURE, NAMES ADAM PRESSER CEO

TikTok has formed a joint venture to keep its platform operating in the US. Adam Presser, who has worked at TikTok for almost four years and was previously a senior executive at Warner Bros., will be the CEO of TikTok USDS Joint Venture. TikTok CEO Shou Chew will be a director. The joint venture will operate under defined safeguards that protect national security.

cnbc.com4 min read

CAPITAL ONE STRIKES $5.15 BILLION DEAL FOR FINTECH BREX

Capital One Financial has agreed to buy Brex for $5.15 billion in cash and stock. Brex launched in 2017 to cater to startups that ran into difficulties getting corporate cards from traditional players. It is one of the youngest US startups to join the billion-dollar valuation club. Capital One expects to close the deal in the second quarter.

links.tldrnewsletter.com3 min read

03SCIENCE & FUTURISTIC TECHNOLOGY

TESLA LAUNCHES PUBLIC ROBOTAXI RIDES IN AUSTIN WITH NO SAFETY MONITOR

Tesla Robotaxi riders in Austin, Texas, are now able to hail a Model Y Robotaxi without anyone in the vehicle. The company has removed the human Safety Monitors that have been present in its robotaxis since launch last June. The change has not rolled out to the entire fleet yet. Videos of riders experiencing the driverless service are available in the article.

teslarati.com3 min read

TESLA WILL SELL HUMANOID ROBOTS BY END OF 2027

Elon Musk says he expects Tesla to begin selling humanoid robots to the public by the end of 2027. Tesla's Optimus robots are already performing simple tasks in the company's factories. There are still profound technological challenges remaining for humanoid robots, including basic issues like hand function. Musk has warned that initial production for Optimus and the Cybercab will be agonizingly slow, but eventually will end up being insanely fast.

links.tldrnewsletter.com2 min read

04PROGRAMMING, DESIGN & DATA SCIENCE

BUILD AN AGENT INTO ANY APP WITH THE GITHUB COPILOT SDK

GitHub Copilot SDK allows developers to embed the same agentic core that powers GitHub Copilot CLI into any application. It provides programmatic access to the same production-tested execution loop, so developers don't have to manage context across turns, orchestrate tools and commands, route between models, integrate MCP servers, or think through permissions, safety boundaries, and failure modes. The SDK also provides support for multiple AI models, custom tool definitions, GitHub authentication, and real-time streaming. It is now available in technical preview.

github.blog4 min read

EXPOSING SAAS FUNCTIONALITY TO AGENTS IN LIEU OF MCP

There is a lot of power in composing CLIs. With some creativity, it's possible for an individual to maintain CLIs instead of an MCP server. This post discusses how to expose SaaS functionality to agents without MCP. It provides examples of how to do so by giving an agent access to Google Docs and to Google Groups.

walters.app9 min read

05MISCELLANEOUS

AN INTERVIEW WITH NETFLIX CO-CEO GREG PETERS ABOUT ENGAGEMENT AND WARNER BROS.

Netflix is facing increasing skepticism from Wall Street due to its intention to acquire Warner Bros. The decision is a stark departure from Netflix's build-not-buy philosophy. This article contains an interview with Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters where he discusses why engagement is an important metric and how live events play into that, the Warner Bros. acquisition, why Peters is convinced it is a home run, and the company's arguments as to why regulators should allow the acquisition. The interview is available as a podcast.

stratechery.com58 min read

MY TIME AT AMAZON, PART I

Becca Selah joined Amazon in April of 2019, six months after becoming a mother. This post takes a look at her time at the company. It covers Amazon's levels, work/life balance, vacations, vesting, and more. Selah left a year and two days into her tenure with an unceremonious exit.

beccaselah.substack.com18 min read