News and Updates:

• Anthropic launched a $20 million super PAC to support AI regulation, countering OpenAI-backed groups in a political battle over the future of industry safety guardrails.
• Microsoft AI lead Mustafa Suleyman confirmed plans to develop in-house frontier models by 2026, signaling a major strategic shift away from total reliance on OpenAI.
• The Pentagon threatened to cancel Anthropic’s $200 million contract after the startup blocked its AI from being used for autonomous weaponry and mass domestic surveillance.
• Meta patented "grief tech" AI capable of simulating deceased users' activity, though the company claims it has no immediate plans to roll out the feature.

News and Updates:

• YouTube argued in a landmark addiction trial that it is an entertainment platform, not social media, comparing its algorithm to a helpful librarian rather than addictive gambling.
• Instagram head Adam Mosseri testified that 16-hour daily scrolling is "problematic" but not a clinical addiction, despite lawsuits linking excessive use to mental health issues.
• YouTube's 2025 revenue hit $60 billion, surpassing Netflix. Growth was driven by 325 million paid subscribers, NFL Sunday Ticket, and record-breaking fourth-quarter advertising sales.

Alphabet plans to double AI capital expenditures to $185 billion in 2026. Meanwhile, YouTube secured exclusive Oscar rights starting in 2029 to expand entertainment dominance.

News and Updates:

• Research shows AI boosts creativity only for employees with strong metacognition—the ability to plan and refine thinking—allowing them to strategically expand knowledge and capacity.
• Discord will implement global age verification in March, defaulting all users to "teen-appropriate" settings unless they prove adulthood via ID, facial estimation, or behavioral metadata.
• Ring’s "Search Party" feature uses AI neighborhood camera scans to find lost dogs, sparking privacy fears that the infrastructure could eventually be used for human surveillance.
• Goldman Sachs is embedding Anthropic engineers to build autonomous AI agents for high-volume back-office roles, specifically targeting complex trade accounting and regulatory compliance tasks.
• OpenAI’s Sam Altman lashed out at Anthropic’s "dishonest" Super Bowl ads, which mocked ChatGPT’s upcoming ad tier by depicting intrusive, context-twisting product placements in conversations.

• LSU and U.S. Army Cyber Command signed an agreement to develop advanced cyber technologies, providing students and researchers access to defense labs and joint projects.
• Building on its NSA cyber designation, LSU will use unique industrial control system labs to identify and solve advanced cyberattacks against critical national infrastructure.
• LSU partnered with Argonne and Oak Ridge National Laboratories to bridge energy research with industrial applications, focusing on nuclear energy, chemical manufacturing, and grid security.
• A new "Tiger Skid" test bed, built with Idaho National Laboratory, allows LSU to lead national cybersecurity training for defending vital industrial and energy systems.

News and Updates:

• Firefox adds a "kill switch" on February 24th to disable all AI features. This "AI control" menu offers granular settings for chatbots, translations, and summaries.
• Microsoft is reevaluating Windows 11 AI after user backlash. Underutilized features like Copilot in Paint/Notepad may be cut, while the "Recall" feature faces repositioning.
• xAI loosened Grok’s guardrails to boost engagement, causing a surge in sexualized content. Regulators are investigating reports of nonconsensual imagery and lack of safety staff.
• French authorities raided X’s Paris office and summoned Elon Musk. The probe investigates Grok’s deepfakes, child safety violations, and alleged algorithmic bias in content delivery.
• SpaceX acquired xAI in a share-exchange deal, valuing the combined entity at $1.25 trillion. Musk plans to build orbital AI data centers powered by solar.

News and Updates:

• TikTok’s New U.S. Data Regime: TikTok USDS launched under American investors, but new terms enable aggressive tracking of precise location and sensitive data, including ethnicity and health, to ensure global interoperability.
• The Death of 8K Television: LG joined Sony and TCL in halting 8K production due to a lack of content and bandwidth hurdles, leaving Samsung as the sole remaining manufacturer.
• EU Electric Vehicle Milestone: In December 2025, fully-electric car registrations (22.6%) surpassed pure petrol cars (22.5%) for the first time in the EU, signaling a massive shift in consumer preference.
• E-Bike Batteries Powering Food Carts: NYC startup PopWheels is replacing noisy gas generators with swappable e-bike batteries, providing silent, emissions-free electricity for food vendors through a fire-safe cabinet network.
• Peacock’s $552 Million Loss: Despite reaching 44 million subscribers and boosting revenue to $1.6 billion via sports, Peacock’s losses widened this quarter due to high-cost NBA and NFL licensing deals.

News and Updates:

• Trump’s AI Rules And Regs Making: The Trump administration plans to use Google Gemini to draft federal transportation regulations, prioritizing speed and "good enough" rules over traditional, years-long expert drafting.
• PPG’s Speed Coat: PPG launched an AI-developed automotive clear coat that reduces drying time by 50%, using deterministic AI to identify chemical combinations previously overlooked by human scientists.
• EU vs. Google AI: The EU initiated proceedings against Google to ensure rivals get equal access to Android AI tools and search datasets, aiming to maintain fair digital competition.
• Microsoft 365 Outage: A major Microsoft 365 outage recently disrupted North American users; Microsoft attributed the service failure to third-party networking issues and improper traffic processing across infrastructure.

News and Updates:

• TikTok Finalizes U.S. Deal: A new majority U.S.-owned entity, TikTok USDS, was formed with Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX. ByteDance retains under 20% to resolve security concerns.
• Massive User Growth: TikTok reported reaching 200 million U.S. users, up from 170 million, despite years of legal threats and a looming federal ban.
• Launch Weekend Outages: Shortly after the ownership transfer, TikTok suffered major U.S. outages. The company cited data center power failures, though users remained skeptical of the timing.
• Censorship Controversies: Users accused the new entity of suppressing anti-ICE content. TikTok blamed technical glitches, while experts noted the new leadership's close ties to the administration.
• Social Media Addiction Trials: Landmark "Big Tobacco-style" lawsuits began in Los Angeles. Meta and YouTube face claims that features like infinite scroll intentionally addicted and harmed minors.
• Major Legal Settlements: Snap and TikTok settled with a 20-year-old plaintiff just before trial, but Meta and Google continue to fight claims regarding teen mental health.
• Internal "Smoking Gun" Memos: Unsealed documents revealed Meta employees comparing Instagram to a "drug" and internal admissions that the platform’s design negatively correlates with teen well-being.