Top stories today:

1. Venezuela turmoil puts gold, oil in focus amid muted market reaction
2. Withings unveils new smart scale for hypertension, heart monitoring
3. ChatGPT’s global growth complicates OpenAI’s ad ambitions
4. OpenAI’s Brockman, Blackstone’s Schwarzman back Trump PAC
5. Tesla’s China factory shipments -7% YoY to 851,732 vehicles in 2025
6. Samsung targets Gemini AI to reach 800M mobile devices in 2026

0. Calendar

Listen to our AI-generated podcast summarizing today’s newsletter (beware of hallucinations):

1. Venezuela turmoil puts gold, oil in focus amid muted market reaction

Spot gold rose as much as 2.1%, topping $4,420/oz, while silver gained about 5% on early Mon.:

• The moves reflect rising geopolitical risk after the U.S. captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

• Venezuela’s path to elections is unclear after Maduro’s ouster.

Venezuela is holding the world’s largest proven oil reserves

However, its crude output is ~-70% from the late 1990s, with just 2 active rigs

• Any near-term easing of U.S. sanctions could lift exports, though rebuilding the oil sector would take years and $100B+, analysts say.

• The U.S. needs “total access” to Venezuela to rebuild the country, Trump said.

WTI crude fell to ~$57, with little immediate market reaction

• The U.S. will maintain a military “quarantine” on Venezuela’s oil exports to exert leverage, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

• Venezuela’s acting president Rodríguez urged U.S. cooperation after initially condemning Maduro’s capture.

• Separately, a $30K Polymarket bet placed hours before Maduro’s capture has raised fresh insider-trading questions.

• This week: Schumer said Senate will vote on Venezuela authorization.

Bitcoin climbed to a 3-week high after the U.S. move, rising as much as 2.3% to $93,323 on early Mon.

2. Withings unveils $600 Body Scan 2 smart scale for hypertension, heart monitoring

• Q2: the device is set to go on sale in the U.S., pending FDA clearance.

• Measures 60+ biomarkers and alerts users to elevated blood pressure risk.

• Can detect signs of glycemic dysregulation, a potential precursor to prediabetes.

• Full scans can take up to 90 seconds, depending on setup, Withings said.

• Will also be available in the UK, Australia, and Europe.

4. ChatGPT’s global growth complicates OpenAI’s ad ambitions

OpenAI has projected ChatGPT’s nonpaying user ARPU will reach $15 by 2030, up from $2 in 2026:

• ~90% of ChatGPT users are outside the U.S. and Canada, per Sensor Tower.

• OpenAI has projected $112B in revenue from free ChatGPT users over the next 5 years, though revenue will hinge on where user growth comes from.

• Most ChatGPT’s growth has so far come from lower-ARPU markets like India and Brazil, per third-party estimates.

OpenAI is targeting 2.6B weekly active ChatGPT users by 2030

• The U.S. and Canada accounted for ~50% of Meta’s revenue and ~75% of Pinterest’s revenue in Q4 and Q3, respectively.

5. OpenAI’s Brockman, Blackstone’s Schwarzman back Trump PAC in $102M funding

Trump’s super PAC raised $102M in H2 2025 and held $294M on hand as of Dec. 22, per an FEC filing:

• 3 donors accounted for 50%+ of MAGA fundraising since early Jul. 2025.

• $25M came from OpenAI co-founder and president Greg Brockman.

• Foris DAX, the operator of Crypto.com, donated $20M, while private-equity investor Konstantin Sokolov gave $11M.

• $5M each came from Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, VC Asha Jadeja, and healthcare investor Benjamin Landa.

6. Tesla’s China factory shipments -7% YoY to 851,732 vehicles in 2025

Tesla’s global sales -16% in Q4 and ~-9% for the year, marking a 2nd consecutive annual drop

China’s BYD surpassed Tesla with 650.8K EV sales in Q4

Tesla deployed 14.2 GWh of storage last quarter, up from 11 GWh a year earlier

7. Samsung rolls out Google’s Gemini AI features to 400M mobile devices, targets 800M in 2026

• “We will apply AI to all products, all functions, and all services as quickly as possible,” Samsung co-CEO TM Roh said.

• Memory chip shortages could push product prices higher, Roh warned.

8. Plaud launches $179 NotePin S AI recorder, introduces desktop app

• The physical button enables one-press recording and in-audio highlight markers.

• The new macOS and Windows app records audio from online meetings.

9. Interesting videos, posts, and memes

10. Other headlines

AI

• Yann LeCun says Llama 4 results were “fudged” using different models.

• OpenAI challenges Apple’s App Store with early ChatGPT apps.

Tech

• Tesla’s Optimus pitched by Elon as “biggest product of all time”.

• CES 2026: AI, robots, next-gen tech to take center stage.

• Foxconn Q4 revenue +22% YoY to $82.7B, Dec. revenue +31.8% YoY.

Tech & Law

• EU steps up Big Tech crackdown in 2026.

Biotech

• Fasting mimicking diet shown to trigger cellular renewal in 1st human trial.

• Longevity Revolution documentary spotlights aging science.

• 2026 set to reshape obesity treatment.

• Chinese peptides fuel Silicon Valley’s latest biohacking craze.

Business

• U.S. debt risk looms as deficit hits $1.9T, economists warn.

Crypto

• a16z lays out 2026 crypto “big ideas” from agents to stablecoins.

• Ilya Lichtenstein, Bitfinex hacker, freed early after 2024 sentence.

• MiniMax eyes $538M Hong Kong IPO at top of price range: sources.

U.S. politics

• Wisconsin judge resigns after conviction in immigrant arrest case.

• Texas Southern University finances slammed as “beyond disturbing”.

World

• Taiwan sees Trump’s arrest of Maduro as boost to deterring Xi.

• UK, France bomb IS arms bunker in Syria.

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