🕶️ DeepSeek’s big OOPS—Leaking API keys like It’s 2010

Six bullets of updates

1. ⚖️ Elon Musk's federal playbook mirrors his Twitter strategy, urging employees to return to office or resign by Feb 6.

2. 🔥 Startups are stepping in with tech solutions as climate change increases wildfire risk by 35%.

3. 🚀📱 DeepSeek's chatbot app hits No.1 on the U.S. Play Store, surpassing 1.2M downloads in days.

4. 🇺🇸 Anthropic's CEO supports U.S. export controls, citing China’s AI model as 7-10 months behind in tech.

5. 📚 Bookshop.org launches an e-book platform, challenging Amazon’s dominance and supporting indie bookstores.

6. 💼 LinkedIn hits $2B in Premium revenues, as Microsoft’s AI-driven growth strengthens.

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U.S. Navy says “stay away” from DeepSeek—And they might have a point

Security researchers discovered that DeepSeek, the rapidly growing Chinese AI platform, left over 1 million records exposed in an open database. The leaked data included system logs, user chat prompts, and API authentication tokens, potentially compromising users and the platform’s integrity. The researchers at Wiz struggled to contact DeepSeek but noticed that within 30 minutes of their outreach attempt, the database was locked down. However, it remains unclear whether unauthorized parties accessed or extracted the data before it was secured. Experts have called the lapse a major security oversight, raising concerns about DeepSeek’s readiness for handling sensitive data.

As DeepSeek gains traction, it is drawing scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators worldwide. Italy’s data protection authority is questioning its data practices, while the U.S. Navy has warned personnel against using its services due to security risks. The platform’s rapid rise has already unsettled U.S.-based AI firms, wiping billions from their stock valuations. Meanwhile, OpenAI is reportedly investigating whether DeepSeek trained its models using ChatGPT outputs.

Despite the hype, this incident underscores how AI platforms remain vulnerable to basic cybersecurity flaws, exposing user data through preventable security lapses.

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Startup Events and Deadlines

1. Today! CTO Talks. | January 30 | NYC

2. Entrepreneur First Bangalore - Core | Deadline: Feb 11 | India

3. Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator | Deadline: Feb 11 | NYC

4. Techstars New York City Accelerator | Deadline: Feb 11 | NYC

5. Y Combinator | Deadline: Feb 11 | Silicon Valley

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These companies just raised money

1. 🚘 UVeye secures $191M in funding to further develop its AI-driven vehicle inspection technology, often described as an ‘MRI for cars.’

2. 💰 8VC, led by Joe Lonsdale, seeks $1B for a new venture fund focused on investing in innovative startups.

3. ☁️ Finout raises $40M in Series C to enhance its cloud cost management platform, helping businesses optimize and control cloud expenses.

4. 🌦️ Meteomatics secures $22M to expand its precise weather forecasts, aiming for global 1-km coverage.

5. 🚀 Formance secures $21M to develop a scalable fintech infrastructure platform, aiming to become the AWS of financial services.

6. 🔐 Clutch lands $20M to advance its security ID technology, focusing on securing non-human entities like devices and automated systems.

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Tesla’s unsupervised FSD launches soon—Regulators might have questions

Elon Musk announced that Tesla will launch a paid self-driving ride-hailing service in Austin this June, using an upcoming “unsupervised” version of its Full Self-Driving (FSD) software. He also hinted at a broader U.S. rollout later this year, calling 2025 a pivotal year for Tesla. However, details remain scarce, and Tesla’s past self-driving promises have yet to fully materialize.

Tesla is reportedly in talks with Austin officials but has only tested unsupervised FSD on its Texas factory grounds. Musk claims safety is a top priority but provided no specifics on how Tesla measures it. The company shares crash data, but critics argue its comparisons to human drivers lack transparency and key context.

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The REAL story of how Elon "stole" Tesla

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