Hey there, PoI readers! 💫

It's your favorite tech-savvy dessert, Mochi, serving up today's hottest digital delights! From Grok-3's AI dominance to DeepSeek's privacy pickle, LIBRA's $4B meltdown, and OpenSea's XP experiment, we've got a feast of fascinating developments to share. Grab your favorite snack (preferably mochi) and let's dive into this smorgasbord of tech drama!

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INTEL BRIEF

🟧 xAI's Grok-3 claims unprecedented performance in blind AI evaluations, surpassing major competitors while stirring controversy and ambitious space exploration plans.

🟧 South Korea suspends DeepSeek downloads amid global privacy concerns, joining other nations in restricting the Chinese AI chatbot's access due to data protection issues.

🟧 The $4 billion LIBRA token collapse sparks outrage and calls for stricter memecoin regulations, leading to leadership shake-ups and investigations.

🟧 OpenSea suspends XP rewards system after community backlash over mechanics that allegedly encouraged wash trading and neglected genuine NFT builders.

Grok AI Smashes All Records While Elon Plans Robot Mission To Mars

xAI's latest brainchild, Grok-3, just pulled a "hold my neural networks" moment in a blind AI evaluation, leaving ChatGPT, Gemini, and DeepSeek in its digital dust. The plot twist? The model was initially sneaking around under the codename "chocolate" (how sweet! 🍫) on LMArena, probably trying to avoid the paparazzi.

Grok-3 is believed to have scored a whopping 10 points higher than its competitors in math, science, and coding.

The model is reportedly dominating across ALL categories - we're talking creative writing, coding, math, and even those pesky multi-turn conversations that usually make AI models cry binary tears.

In true Elon Musk fashion, we're not just talking about chatbots anymore. The tech mogul is apparently planning to send a Grok-powered Tesla Bot to Mars by late 2026. Because why not have AI robots doing the Martian cha-cha? The planned Q4 2026 launch conveniently aligns with the Earth-Mars transit window.

However, it's not all moon rocks and algorithms in the Grok-3 universe. An xAI engineer chose to exit stage left after being given an ultimatum over a post ranking Grok-3 below ChatGPT.

The new model is speculated to be powered by xAI's Colossus supercomputer, sporting over 100,000 Nvidia GPU hours of training time. Because let's face it, nobody likes an AI that makes up stories better.

Grok-3 reportedly achieves record-breaking 1400+ score in blind AI evaluations, leading in all benchmark categories

Plans announced for Grok-powered Tesla Bot to join SpaceX Mars mission in late 2026

Drama alert: xAI engineer leaves after refusing to delete post ranking Grok-3 below ChatGPT

South Korea Blocks Chinese AI App DeepSeek Over Major Privacy Risks

South Korea just hit the pause button on new downloads of DeepSeek, the Chinese AI chatbot that went from zero to hero. The app had been living its best life in South Korea, boasting over a million weekly users and topping app store charts.

South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) wasn't exactly thrilled about how DeepSeek was handling user data. The plot thickened when it was discovered that the app might be storing data on Chinese servers.

The drama isn't just confined to the Korean peninsula, though. It's like watching a global game of AI whack-a-mole, with Taiwan, Australia, and Italy all joining the "Thanks, but no thanks" club. Even the US is getting in on the action, with several states giving DeepSeek the digital cold shoulder on government devices.

What's really raising eyebrows is that DeepSeek's large language model is reportedly doing the same fancy tricks as its American cousins like OpenAI's o1, but at a fraction of the cost.

The good news (if you're already a DeepSeek user in South Korea) is that you can still use the app - it's just new downloads that are getting the red light until DeepSeek plays nice with privacy laws. The company has reportedly agreed to work with PIPC to beef up its privacy game before making a comeback. Let's hope they don't take as long as the last inspection, which had everyone waiting for five months!

South Korea suspends new DeepSeek downloads while investigating privacy concerns and data handling practices

Multiple countries including Taiwan, Australia, and Italy have banned DeepSeek on government devices

DeepSeek has agreed to work with South Korean authorities to improve privacy protections before relaunching

LIBRA Token Vaporizes 4 Billion Dollars After Argentine President Tweets

LIBRA token just pulled the mother of all disappearing acts, vanishing with $4.4 billion in market cap faster than your New Year's resolutions! The plot twist? This spicy memecoin briefly had a cameo from Argentine President Javier Milei himself, who apparently decided to pull a "delete and retreat".

The drama began when some sneaky wallets allegedly siphoned off a casual $107 million in liquidity, causing the whole house of cards to come tumbling down in just six hours.

Pump.fun's founder Alon (who's apparently not a fan of capital letters) is calling for new guardrails. The pseudonymous founder suggests wild ideas like checks notes "educating users" and "making trading safer." Revolutionary stuff, folks!

Meteora's co-founder Ben Chow just handed in his resignation letter. His colleague Meow (yes, that's actually their name - I'm not making this up!) cited Chow's "lack of judgment and care," which in crypto-speak could mean anything from "forgot to water the office plants" to "oopsie with the treasury."

To clear the air, Meteora's bringing in Fenwick and West law firm to investigate - you know, the same folks who are currently being sued over the FTX/Alameda mess.

LIBRA token collapsed by $4.4 billion in six hours after alleged liquidity drain of $107 million

Pump.fun founder calls for stricter memecoin launch regulations to protect users

Meteora co-founder resigns amid controversy, while company hires law firm to investigate

OpenSea Pulls Emergency Brake On XP System After Mass Wash Trading

OpenSea just hit the pause button on their new XP rewards system. The drama started when the platform rolled out its beta version of OS2, complete with a fancy points system that was supposed to make everyone eligible for their upcoming SEA token airdrop.

The community went from "wen token" to "wen fix" real quick after discovering the system was basically turning into "Blur farming on steroids" (their words, not mine!). Picture this: traders were playing hot potato with NFTs, dumping them all to farm those precious XP points without any cool-down period.

Some top farmers dropped a casual $20,000 in fees to OpenSea just to climb the leaderboard. And unlike Blur's system, which at least had some royalties for creators, OpenSea's zero-royalty policy meant traders could farm XP with zero risk.

OpenSea's CEO Devin Finzer actually listened to the community (shocking, I know!) and decided to pivot to rewarding buying and holding instead. They're now focusing on something called "XP shipments," which sounds less like a points system and more like a cargo delivery service.

OpenSea pauses XP rewards for listing and bidding after community criticism

System allegedly enabled wash trading with zero risk due to lack of cool-down periods and zero royalties

Platform shifts focus to rewarding buying and holding NFTs instead of trading activity

And that's today's tech tea spilled, my wonderful PoI fam! 🍵 From AI models flexing their muscles to privacy concerns shaking up app stores, memecoin mayhem, and NFT platforms pivoting, we've covered quite the digital landscape today. Remember to stay curious, stay informed, and most importantly, stay awesome!

Until tomorrow's serving of fresh tech news, this is your favorite ice cream informant, Mochi, signing off!

P.S. Don't forget to share your thoughts, questions, and favorite crypto puns with us. very voice matters in the PoI community! 📣❤️ Share the newsletter

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