🔍️Perplexity Unveils ‘Deep Research’

☀️Good morning. It's Monday, Feb. 17, and we're covering, Xi Jinping Hosts Summit With Jack Ma And Business Leaders, OpenAI Whistleblower Suchir Balaji’s Death Ruled A Suicide, Trump Seeks Supreme Court To Allow Firing Of Whistleblower Agency Head, and much more. First time reading? Sign up to get this newsletter: Sign up here.

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MARKETS

Cryptocurrency Prices by Market Cap

• The global cryptocurrency market cap today is $3.19 Trillion, a 0.87% decrease in the last 24 hours.

• The total crypto market volume over the last 24 hours is $69.14B, which makes a 18.62% increase.

• The total volume in Defi is currently $5.49B, 7.94% of the total crypto market 24-hours.

• The volume of all stablecoins is now $62.97B, which is 91.08% of the total market 24-hour volume.

• Bitcoin’s dominance is currently 59.73%, a decrease of 0.09% over the day.

Argentine Lawyers File Fraud Charges Against President Milei Over Cryptocurrency Promotion

Lawyers in Argentina have filed fraud charges against President Javier Milei after he promoted a cryptocurrency called $LIBRA on his social media, which later collapsed in value. Milei touted the coin as a way to help small businesses but deleted the post hours later, leading to significant losses for investors. The coin was developed by KIP Protocol, but Milei's office denied his involvement in its creation. (Read Deeper)

BUSINESS & FINANCE

Xi Jinping Hosts Summit With Jack Ma And Business Leaders

Chinese President Xi Jinping held a meeting with key private-sector entrepreneurs, including Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma, Xiaomi’s Lei Jun, and Huawei’s Ren Zhengfei, signaling Beijing’s renewed support for private companies after years of stricter regulation. The summit, which also included Premier Li Qiang, emphasized China’s shift towards encouraging the private sector’s growth amid economic challenges.

Takeaway: Jack Ma, who had been targeted by the government during a crackdown in 2020, had largely stayed out of the public eye. However, with the Chinese economy slowing and the rise of AI technology, there's been a shift toward supporting major private firms like Alibaba. The meeting was seen as a positive sign for China's business environment, as AI and other tech sectors have helped boost the stock market. (Read Deeper)

Broadcom And TSMC Explore Breaking Up Intel, Eyeing Potential Deals

Broadcom and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) are reportedly considering breaking up Intel, with each company eyeing different aspects of Intel's business. Broadcom is interested in Intel’s chip design and marketing operations, while TSMC is exploring the possibility of acquiring Intel’s chip manufacturing facilities. However, the discussions are still in early stages, and there are concerns about national security, particularly related to foreign companies controlling Intel’s U.S. factories.

Takeaway: Intel’s interim executive chairman, Frank Yeary, is focused on maximizing value for shareholders. Intel has faced struggles under its former CEO, Pat Gelsinger, leading to a significant decline in stock value and workforce reductions. Despite challenges, Intel remains a key player in chip design and manufacturing, while TSMC has outpaced it in recent years. (Read Deeper)

TECHNOLOGY & SCIENCE

OpenAI Whistleblower Suchir Balaji’s Death Ruled A Suicide

The death of Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI employee who raised concerns about the company’s data practices, was officially ruled a suicide. The 26-year-old died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his San Francisco apartment on November 26, 2024. The medical examiner's report confirmed that the gun was registered to Balaji, and gunshot residue was found on both of his hands. There were no signs of foul play or forced entry into his apartment. Balaji was named as having important documents in support of these cases.

Takeaway: Balaji had previously accused OpenAI of violating copyright laws by using data without consent to train its AI model, ChatGPT. His allegations led to lawsuits from artists and news organizations, including The New York Times, against OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft. The announcement of his death sparked conspiracy theories, with figures like Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson speculating about foul play, despite the official suicide ruling. Balaji’s parents have questioned the findings and are pursuing legal action to obtain police records related to his death. (Read Deeper)

Perplexity Launches New ‘Deep Research’ Tool For In-Depth Professional Use

Perplexity has launched a new feature called Deep Research, designed to provide in-depth answers and citations for more professional use cases like finance, marketing, and product research. The feature is similar to those introduced by Google and OpenAI, all of which share the same name. Perplexity’s version offers expert-level performance, iterating through documents and refining its research process as it learns more about the topic, much like a human researcher would.

Takeaway: Users can generate detailed reports that can be exported as PDFs or shared as Perplexity Pages. The tool has performed well on the Humanity’s Last Exam benchmark, scoring 21.1%, beating models like Gemini Thinking and OpenAI’s GPT-4o. While OpenAI charges $200 per month for its Deep Research feature, Perplexity’s version is free, with limited queries for non-subscribers and unlimited queries for paying users. (Read Deeper)

AROUND DE WORLD & POLITICS

Trump Seeks Supreme Court To Allow Firing Of Whistleblower Agency Head

President Donald Trump has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow him to fire Hampton Dellinger, head of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, marking the administration’s first high-court intervention in its campaign to remove federal officials not aligned with Trump’s agenda. The Justice Department’s Sunday filing seeks to overturn a temporary restraining order issued by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, which blocks Dellinger’s removal for 14 days.

Takeaway: Jackson ruled that Dellinger’s dismissal without cause violated federal law, which protects the Special Counsel from arbitrary termination. A federal appeals court rejected the administration’s request to intervene prematurely, prompting the urgent Supreme Court appeal. Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris argued that courts should not restrict presidential authority over agency heads. Dellinger, appointed by former President Joe Biden and confirmed in 2024 for a five-year term, contends that Trump’s actions exceed his legal powers. (Read Deeper)

UK PM Keir Starmer Ready To Deploy Troops To Ukraine For Peacekeeping Mission

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has announced the UK is "ready and willing" to deploy troops to Ukraine as part of a European peacekeeping force once a ceasefire is established, emphasizing that securing peace is vital to deterring future aggression from Russian President Vladimir Putin. President Trump, who has engaged in talks with Putin, has indicated that peace negotiations would begin immediately but has provided limited details.

Takeaway: The UK’s potential role would involve stationing troops along the Ukraine-Russia front lines, joining soldiers from other European nations. However, concerns have been raised about the UK military’s capacity to lead such a mission, with former Army chief Lord Dannatt noting the current forces are too "run down" to support the necessary troop levels. His remarks come amid growing European unease over the Trump administration’s direct negotiations with Russia, excluding key European stakeholders and Kyiv. (Read Deeper)

ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS

Manchester United Manager Ruben Amorim Cites Challenges After Defeat to Tottenham

Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim acknowledged the immense pressure of his role after his side fell to a 1-0 defeat by Tottenham, leaving the club languishing in 15th place in the Premier League. The defeat, which marked United's eighth loss in 12 league games, saw James Maddison score in the 13th minute to give Tottenham the lead—a goal that proved decisive as United were unable to mount a comeback despite dominating large portions of the game. (Read Deeper)

Ashley St. Clair Accuses Elon Musk Of Ignoring His Parental Responsibilities

Ashley St. Clair, a conservative influencer, announced on Valentine's Day that she welcomed a baby five months ago, claiming Elon Musk is the father. However, according to her representative, Musk has yet to publicly acknowledge his parental role. St. Clair and Musk had been working privately on an agreement regarding raising their child, but aggressive tabloid coverage forced her to disclose the news. Despite her attempts to contact Musk on X, he has not responded, as he is currently offline to focus on his xAI chatbot release. Musk, 53, already has 12 children with other partners. (Read Deeper)

PODCAST(WHAT WE ARE LISTENING TO)

• Improving an investing operating system with Vitaliy Katsenelson, a well-known investor and author, would likely involve incorporating his insights and methodologies into various aspects of investment analysis and decision-making. ( Listen )

EXTRA BREVITI

• OpenAI's board rejected a $97.4 billion acquisition offer from a consortium led by Elon Musk, stating that the company is not for sale. (Read Deeper)

• European leaders are convening in Paris for a high-stakes security summit, aiming to coordinate their stance on Ukraine. (Read More)

• OpenAI has updated its guidelines to embrace "intellectual freedom" and encourage a broader range of perspectives on controversial topics. (Read More)

• Uber has filed a lawsuit against DoorDash, accusing the food delivery giant of anti-competitive practices that inflate costs for both restaurants and customers. (Read More)