Start Up No.2661: is OpenAI planning a phone?, Google prepares to meter Gemini, Trump purges US science, Substack v AI, and more

Snow cover in the Himalayas has hit a 23-year low, potentially threatening water supply for up to two billion people. CC-licensed photo by Amit Rawat on Flickr. You can sign up to receive each day’s Start Up post by email. You’ll need to click a confirmation link, so no spam. A selection of 9 links for you. Nor any drop to drink. I’m @charlesarthur on Twitter. On Threads: charles_arthur. On Mastodon: https://newsie.social/@charlesarthur. On Bluesky: @charlesarthur.bsky.social. Observations and links welcome. OpenAI’s revolutionary AI gadget is… a phone? A stinkin’ phone? • Gizmodo Raymond Wong: » If you’ve been sitting at the edge of your seat waiting for OpenAI’s world-changing AI device(s), you may want to scooch back on your chair. According to TF Securities International analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the company behind ChatGPT is developing a smartphone. Yes, a smartphone. But it reportedly won’t be just any old glass slab—it’ll be an “AI agent phone.” An AI AGENT PHONE. What the hell is…