Evening Scan

The OpenAI story expanded through the day. A TechCrunch item on new safeguards became a fuller picture by afternoon: a two-week RL training pause, evidence Astra brushed a critical cyber threshold, and a full Preparedness Framework rewrite. Separately, chipmakers are repricing the AI boom in their own favor.

OpenAI changed safety practices and paused RL training for two weeks after the Hugging Face breach

The morning framed this as "new safeguards"; by evening it's a full framework rewrite plus a training pause. (Axios)

SK Hynix plans a ~$29B share buyback to calm AI spending durability worries (paywall)

A chipmaker spending $29B to convince investors the AI boom isn't a bubble signals bubble conditions. (Bloomberg)

Samsung raises 4nm/5nm chipmaking prices by up to 15% on tight TSMC capacity

Everyone building AI chips is learning that foundries hold all the leverage right now. (Reuters)

Against all odds, SpaceX finally tugs Starship into port after 24 days at sea

Today's palate cleanser: a spacecraft that "landed" a month ago is only now getting home, and someone at SpaceX apparently called it Christmas.

"Various degrees of misalignment" — Sam Altman's stated reason for slowing OpenAI's own development pace. *(Time)