Nvidia nears $30 billion investment in OpenAI
Nvidia is close to finalizing a $30 billion stake in OpenAI as part of a funding round valuing the AI startup at $730 billion. This is separate from the $100 billion infrastructure deal announced last September, which has reportedly been "on ice." One of the largest single AI investments ever.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/19/nvidia-is-in-talks-to-invest-up-to-30-billion-in-openai-source-says.html
Nvidia is close to finalizing a $30 billion stake in OpenAI as part of a funding round valuing the AI startup at $730 billion. This is separate from the $100 billion infrastructure deal announced last September, which has reportedly been "on ice." One of the largest single AI investments ever.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/19/nvidia-is-in-talks-to-invest-up-to-30-billion-in-openai-source-says.html
CNBC
Nvidia is in talks to invest up to $30 billion in OpenAI, source says
The investment is separate from the $100 billion infrastructure agreement that OpenAI and Nvidia announced in September.
NASA's Perseverance completes first AI-planned drive on Mars
The rover navigated Mars using routes planned entirely by generative AI instead of human operators. Powered by Anthropic's Claude models, the system analyzed orbital images, identified hazards, and charted safe paths. Perseverance drove 456 meters across two test runs in December.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/01/260131084555.htm
The rover navigated Mars using routes planned entirely by generative AI instead of human operators. Powered by Anthropic's Claude models, the system analyzed orbital images, identified hazards, and charted safe paths. Perseverance drove 456 meters across two test runs in December.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/01/260131084555.htm
ScienceDaily
NASA’s Perseverance rover completes the first AI-planned drive on Mars
NASA’s Perseverance rover has just made history by driving across Mars using routes planned by artificial intelligence instead of human operators. A vision-capable AI analyzed the same images and terrain data normally used by rover planners, identified hazards…
17 US AI startups have raised $100M+ each in less than two months
Anthropic ($30B), ElevenLabs ($500M), Runway ($315M), Temporal ($300M), Baseten ($300M), Fundamental ($255M), and more. U.S. AI startups raised $76B in mega-rounds in 2025. The 2026 pace is already on track to match it.
https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/17/here-are-the-17-us-based-ai-companies-that-have-raised-100m-or-more-in-2026/
Anthropic ($30B), ElevenLabs ($500M), Runway ($315M), Temporal ($300M), Baseten ($300M), Fundamental ($255M), and more. U.S. AI startups raised $76B in mega-rounds in 2025. The 2026 pace is already on track to match it.
https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/17/here-are-the-17-us-based-ai-companies-that-have-raised-100m-or-more-in-2026/
TechCrunch
Here are the 17 US-based AI companies that have raised $100M or more in 2026 | TechCrunch
Three U.S.-based AI companies raised rounds larger than $1 billion so far in 2026, with 14 others raising rounds of $100 million or more.
DeepSeek trained its latest model on banned Nvidia Blackwell chips
Reuters exclusive: A senior Trump admin official confirms DeepSeek used Nvidia's most advanced Blackwell GPUs, likely clustered in Inner Mongolia, to train its next model releasing next week. U.S. export controls ban Blackwell shipments to China. DeepSeek is expected to strip technical indicators revealing American chip use.
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-deepseek-trained-ai-model-nvidias-best-chip-despite-us-ban-official-says-2026-02-24/
Reuters exclusive: A senior Trump admin official confirms DeepSeek used Nvidia's most advanced Blackwell GPUs, likely clustered in Inner Mongolia, to train its next model releasing next week. U.S. export controls ban Blackwell shipments to China. DeepSeek is expected to strip technical indicators revealing American chip use.
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-deepseek-trained-ai-model-nvidias-best-chip-despite-us-ban-official-says-2026-02-24/
One Substack post just crashed the stock market
A 33-year-old researcher at Citrini published a speculative AI doomsday scenario on Substack. By Monday, the S&P dropped over 1%. Uber, Amex, Mastercard, and DoorDash lost 4-6%. The scenario: AI agents gut SaaS, eliminate middlemen, crash employment to 10% by 2028. "A feedback loop with no brake."
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/24/feedback-loop-no-brake-how-ai-doomsday-report-rattled-markets
A 33-year-old researcher at Citrini published a speculative AI doomsday scenario on Substack. By Monday, the S&P dropped over 1%. Uber, Amex, Mastercard, and DoorDash lost 4-6%. The scenario: AI agents gut SaaS, eliminate middlemen, crash employment to 10% by 2028. "A feedback loop with no brake."
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/24/feedback-loop-no-brake-how-ai-doomsday-report-rattled-markets
the Guardian
‘A feedback loop with no brake’: how an AI doomsday report shook US markets
Shares in Uber, Mastercard and American Express fall on back of apocalypse scenario posted on Substack
The trap Anthropic built for itself
Trump admin blacklisted Anthropic from the Pentagon after Dario Amodei refused to allow Claude for mass surveillance and autonomous kill-chain drones. Anthropic stands to lose $200M+. Trump ordered all federal agencies to stop using their tech. Meanwhile, OpenAI signed a Pentagon deal accepting terms Anthropic refused. Anthropic is challenging it in court.
https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/28/the-trap-anthropic-built-for-itself/
Trump admin blacklisted Anthropic from the Pentagon after Dario Amodei refused to allow Claude for mass surveillance and autonomous kill-chain drones. Anthropic stands to lose $200M+. Trump ordered all federal agencies to stop using their tech. Meanwhile, OpenAI signed a Pentagon deal accepting terms Anthropic refused. Anthropic is challenging it in court.
https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/28/the-trap-anthropic-built-for-itself/
TechCrunch
The trap Anthropic built for itself | TechCrunch
Anthropic, OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and others have long promised to govern themselves responsibly. Now, in the absence of rules, there's not a lot to protect them.
OpenAI Admits Pentagon Deal Was "Definitely Rushed"
Sam Altman acknowledged the defense partnership was hastily put together after Anthropic's negotiations with the Pentagon fell through. OpenAI published safeguards banning use in autonomous weapons, mass surveillance, and social credit systems. Critics argue the agreement's reference to Executive Order 12333 still leaves a domestic surveillance backdoor open.
Meanwhile, the backlash pushed Anthropic's Claude past ChatGPT in App Store rankings.
🔗 https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/01/openai-shares-more-details-about-its-agreement-with-the-pentagon/
Sam Altman acknowledged the defense partnership was hastily put together after Anthropic's negotiations with the Pentagon fell through. OpenAI published safeguards banning use in autonomous weapons, mass surveillance, and social credit systems. Critics argue the agreement's reference to Executive Order 12333 still leaves a domestic surveillance backdoor open.
Meanwhile, the backlash pushed Anthropic's Claude past ChatGPT in App Store rankings.
🔗 https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/01/openai-shares-more-details-about-its-agreement-with-the-pentagon/
TechCrunch
OpenAI reveals more details about its agreement with the Pentagon | TechCrunch
By CEO Sam Altman’s own admission, OpenAI’s deal with the Department of Defense was “definitely rushed,” and “the optics don’t look good.”
Nvidia Pours $4 Billion Into Photonics as AI Hits a Data Transfer Wall
Nvidia is investing $2B each in Lumentum and Coherent to develop silicon photonics for next-gen AI data centers. The move signals that the bottleneck in AI scaling is shifting from raw compute to how fast data moves between chips. Both deals include multi-billion dollar purchase commitments for advanced laser and optical networking tech.
🔗 https://www.reuters.com/technology/nvidia-invest-2-billion-photonic-product-maker-lumentum-2026-03-02/
Nvidia is investing $2B each in Lumentum and Coherent to develop silicon photonics for next-gen AI data centers. The move signals that the bottleneck in AI scaling is shifting from raw compute to how fast data moves between chips. Both deals include multi-billion dollar purchase commitments for advanced laser and optical networking tech.
🔗 https://www.reuters.com/technology/nvidia-invest-2-billion-photonic-product-maker-lumentum-2026-03-02/
GPT-5.3 Instant Aims to Make ChatGPT Less Preachy and More Useful
OpenAI updated ChatGPT's most-used model to cut unnecessary refusals, reduce the "cringe" tone, and deliver more direct answers. Hallucination rates dropped 26.8% with web search and 19.7% without. Web results are better contextualized instead of dumping link lists. The "Stop. Take a breath." era is over.
Available now for all users and via API as gpt-5.3-chat-latest.
🔗 https://openai.com/index/gpt-5-3-instant/
OpenAI updated ChatGPT's most-used model to cut unnecessary refusals, reduce the "cringe" tone, and deliver more direct answers. Hallucination rates dropped 26.8% with web search and 19.7% without. Web results are better contextualized instead of dumping link lists. The "Stop. Take a breath." era is over.
Available now for all users and via API as gpt-5.3-chat-latest.
🔗 https://openai.com/index/gpt-5-3-instant/
OpenAI
GPT-5.3 Instant: Smoother, more useful everyday conversations
Jensen Huang Says Nvidia Is Done Investing in OpenAI and Anthropic
Huang said the recent stakes in both companies are likely Nvidia's last, citing their upcoming IPOs. But the backdrop tells a bigger story: the original $100B OpenAI pledge shrank to $30B, Anthropic's CEO compared chip sales to "selling nuclear weapons," and the two AI labs are now on opposite sides of the Pentagon debate.
Nvidia holds stakes in two companies pulling in very different directions.
🔗 https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/04/jensen-huang-says-nvidia-is-pulling-back-from-openai-and-anthropic-but-his-explanation-raises-more-questions-than-it-answers/
Huang said the recent stakes in both companies are likely Nvidia's last, citing their upcoming IPOs. But the backdrop tells a bigger story: the original $100B OpenAI pledge shrank to $30B, Anthropic's CEO compared chip sales to "selling nuclear weapons," and the two AI labs are now on opposite sides of the Pentagon debate.
Nvidia holds stakes in two companies pulling in very different directions.
🔗 https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/04/jensen-huang-says-nvidia-is-pulling-back-from-openai-and-anthropic-but-his-explanation-raises-more-questions-than-it-answers/
TechCrunch
Jensen Huang says Nvidia is pulling back from OpenAI and Anthropic, but his explanation raises more questions than it answers |…
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said Wednesday that his company's investments in OpenAI and Anthropic will likely be its last — but his explanation may not tell the whole story.
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Google Hands Sundar Pichai a $692 Million Pay Package Tied to Waymo and Wing
Alphabet gave its CEO a three-year deal worth up to $692M, most of it performance-based with stock incentives linked to Waymo and Wing. Meanwhile, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are buying up Miami mansions to dodge California's proposed Billionaire Tax. Pichai stays in Los Altos.
🔗 https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/07/google-just-gave-sundar-pichai-a-692m-pay-package/
Alphabet gave its CEO a three-year deal worth up to $692M, most of it performance-based with stock incentives linked to Waymo and Wing. Meanwhile, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are buying up Miami mansions to dodge California's proposed Billionaire Tax. Pichai stays in Los Altos.
🔗 https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/07/google-just-gave-sundar-pichai-a-692m-pay-package/
TechCrunch
Google just gave Sundar Pichai a $692M pay package | TechCrunch
Most of it is tied to performance, including new stock incentives linked to Waymo and Wing, its drone delivery venture.
Netflix Acquires Ben Affleck's AI Filmmaking Startup InterPositive
Netflix bought InterPositive, a 16-person AI startup Affleck founded in 2022. It's not another text-to-video tool. The system builds AI models from a production's own footage and lets filmmakers use them for color grading, relighting, and VFX in post. Netflix will offer it to creative partners but won't sell it commercially.
Hollywood is moving from "should we use AI?" to acquiring the tooling outright.
🔗 https://variety.com/2026/film/news/netflix-acquires-ben-affleck-ai-filmmaking-startup-interpositive-1236679498/
Netflix bought InterPositive, a 16-person AI startup Affleck founded in 2022. It's not another text-to-video tool. The system builds AI models from a production's own footage and lets filmmakers use them for color grading, relighting, and VFX in post. Netflix will offer it to creative partners but won't sell it commercially.
Hollywood is moving from "should we use AI?" to acquiring the tooling outright.
🔗 https://variety.com/2026/film/news/netflix-acquires-ben-affleck-ai-filmmaking-startup-interpositive-1236679498/
Variety
Netflix Acquires AI Filmmaking Start-Up Founded by Ben Affleck, Who Will Serve as Adviser to Streamer
In a rare acquisition, Netflix has bought InterPositive, a start-up founded by Ben Affleck that makes AI-powered tools for filmmakers.
Yann LeCun Leaves Meta, Raises $1 Billion for World Models Startup AMI Labs
Turing Prize winner Yann LeCun cofounded AMI Labs after leaving Meta, and the startup just closed a $1.03 billion round at a $3.5 billion valuation. The company is betting that AI needs to understand reality, not just language. They plan to open-source much of their code and publish research as they go.
https://www.aiandtech.news/article/yann-lecun-ami-labs-1b-world-models-2026
Turing Prize winner Yann LeCun cofounded AMI Labs after leaving Meta, and the startup just closed a $1.03 billion round at a $3.5 billion valuation. The company is betting that AI needs to understand reality, not just language. They plan to open-source much of their code and publish research as they go.
https://www.aiandtech.news/article/yann-lecun-ami-labs-1b-world-models-2026
Atlassian Cuts 1,600 Jobs as It Restructures Around AI
Atlassian is laying off roughly 10% of its workforce and replacing its CTO with "next generation AI talent." Co-founder Cannon-Brookes says AI changes the mix of skills they need. The company has lost over half its market value in 2026 as investors fear AI will commoditize Jira, Confluence, and Trello. Follows similar cuts at Block (40% of workforce) and WiseTech.
https://www.aiandtech.news/article/atlassian-layoffs-1600-ai-restructure-2026
Atlassian is laying off roughly 10% of its workforce and replacing its CTO with "next generation AI talent." Co-founder Cannon-Brookes says AI changes the mix of skills they need. The company has lost over half its market value in 2026 as investors fear AI will commoditize Jira, Confluence, and Trello. Follows similar cuts at Block (40% of workforce) and WiseTech.
https://www.aiandtech.news/article/atlassian-layoffs-1600-ai-restructure-2026
Meta Planning Sweeping Layoffs That Could Hit 20% of Its Workforce
Meta is reportedly considering major layoffs affecting up to 20% of its nearly 79,000 employees to offset massive AI infrastructure spending. The company spent up to $72B on AI infra in 2025 alone. Critics, including Sam Altman, suggest many tech layoffs are "AI-washing" for pandemic-era over-hiring.
https://www.aiandtech.news/article/meta-layoffs-20-percent-ai-costs-2026
Meta is reportedly considering major layoffs affecting up to 20% of its nearly 79,000 employees to offset massive AI infrastructure spending. The company spent up to $72B on AI infra in 2025 alone. Critics, including Sam Altman, suggest many tech layoffs are "AI-washing" for pandemic-era over-hiring.
https://www.aiandtech.news/article/meta-layoffs-20-percent-ai-costs-2026
ChatGPT Can Now Order Food, Book Rides, and Create Playlists Inside Third-Party Apps
OpenAI's ChatGPT now connects directly to Spotify, DoorDash, Uber, Figma, Booking.com, Canva, and more. You can execute real actions inside these apps from a chat prompt. Create playlists, add groceries to your cart, design slide decks, book hotels. This is agentic AI actually shipping to consumers.
https://www.aiandtech.news/article/chatgpt-app-integrations-spotify-doordash-uber-figma-2026
OpenAI's ChatGPT now connects directly to Spotify, DoorDash, Uber, Figma, Booking.com, Canva, and more. You can execute real actions inside these apps from a chat prompt. Create playlists, add groceries to your cart, design slide decks, book hotels. This is agentic AI actually shipping to consumers.
https://www.aiandtech.news/article/chatgpt-app-integrations-spotify-doordash-uber-figma-2026
Booking.com
The largest selection of hotels, homes, and vacation rentals
Whether you’re looking for hotels, homes, or vacation rentals, you’ll always find the guaranteed best price. Browse our accommodations in over 85,000 destinations.
Apple Launches the $599 MacBook Neo, Its Cheapest Laptop Ever
Apple unveiled the MacBook Neo, a $599 laptop powered by the A18 Pro chip (same silicon as iPhone 16 Pro). It runs full macOS, lasts 16 hours on a charge, and handles on-device AI workloads up to 3x faster than Intel PCs. Fanless, silent, four colors. $499 for education.
https://www.aiandtech.news/article/apple-macbook-neo-599-a18-pro-2026
Apple unveiled the MacBook Neo, a $599 laptop powered by the A18 Pro chip (same silicon as iPhone 16 Pro). It runs full macOS, lasts 16 hours on a charge, and handles on-device AI workloads up to 3x faster than Intel PCs. Fanless, silent, four colors. $499 for education.
https://www.aiandtech.news/article/apple-macbook-neo-599-a18-pro-2026
Nvidia GTC 2026: Jensen Huang Projects $1 Trillion in Orders, Unveils Vera Rubin and Teases Feynman
At GTC 2026, Jensen Huang said Nvidia expects $1 trillion in purchase orders through 2027. He unveiled Vera Rubin (10x performance per watt vs Blackwell), the Groq 3 LPU from the $20B acquisition (35x tokens per watt boost), and teased the Feynman architecture for 2028. Computing demand has increased "1 million times" in recent years.
https://www.aiandtech.news/article/nvidia-gtc-2026-vera-rubin-1-trillion-feynman
At GTC 2026, Jensen Huang said Nvidia expects $1 trillion in purchase orders through 2027. He unveiled Vera Rubin (10x performance per watt vs Blackwell), the Groq 3 LPU from the $20B acquisition (35x tokens per watt boost), and teased the Feynman architecture for 2028. Computing demand has increased "1 million times" in recent years.
https://www.aiandtech.news/article/nvidia-gtc-2026-vera-rubin-1-trillion-feynman
Meta's AI Agent Went Rogue and Leaked Sensitive Data to Employees
An AI agent on Meta's internal forum gave an engineer advice that, when implemented, exposed sensitive user and company data to employees for two hours. The agent solved the immediate problem without understanding downstream consequences. Amazon had similar AI-related outages last month. The pattern is clear: companies are deploying agentic AI internally at scale, and the failure modes are just starting to show.
https://www.aiandtech.news/article/meta-ai-agent-data-leak-rogue-2026
An AI agent on Meta's internal forum gave an engineer advice that, when implemented, exposed sensitive user and company data to employees for two hours. The agent solved the immediate problem without understanding downstream consequences. Amazon had similar AI-related outages last month. The pattern is clear: companies are deploying agentic AI internally at scale, and the failure modes are just starting to show.
https://www.aiandtech.news/article/meta-ai-agent-data-leak-rogue-2026
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Apple Unveils MacBook Air with M5: More Power, Double the Storage
Apple's new MacBook Air gets the M5 chip with a Neural Accelerator in every GPU core, doubling base storage to 512GB, and adding Wi-Fi 7 via the new N1 wireless chip. Up to 6.9x faster AI performance vs the M1, 6.5x faster 3D rendering in Blender, and 18 hours of battery life. Available in 13" and 15" starting March 11.
https://www.aiandtech.news/article/apple-unveils-macbook-air-m5-more-power-double-storage
Apple's new MacBook Air gets the M5 chip with a Neural Accelerator in every GPU core, doubling base storage to 512GB, and adding Wi-Fi 7 via the new N1 wireless chip. Up to 6.9x faster AI performance vs the M1, 6.5x faster 3D rendering in Blender, and 18 hours of battery life. Available in 13" and 15" starting March 11.
https://www.aiandtech.news/article/apple-unveils-macbook-air-m5-more-power-double-storage
www.aiandtech.news
TechNews - AI & Tech News, Daily
AI & Tech News, Daily.
Cursor Confirms Composer 2 Is Built on Moonshot AI's Kimi
Cursor's $29B coding tool launched Composer 2 as "frontier-level" but forgot to mention one thing: it's built on Kimi 2.5, an open-source model from Chinese AI lab Moonshot AI. An X user spotted Kimi references in the code, and Cursor's VP admitted only ~25% of the compute came from the Kimi base. Co-founder Aman Sanger called it "a miss" not to credit the foundation. Interesting timing given the US-China AI rivalry.
https://www.aiandtech.news/article/cursor-composer-2-built-on-moonshot-kimi
Cursor's $29B coding tool launched Composer 2 as "frontier-level" but forgot to mention one thing: it's built on Kimi 2.5, an open-source model from Chinese AI lab Moonshot AI. An X user spotted Kimi references in the code, and Cursor's VP admitted only ~25% of the compute came from the Kimi base. Co-founder Aman Sanger called it "a miss" not to credit the foundation. Interesting timing given the US-China AI rivalry.
https://www.aiandtech.news/article/cursor-composer-2-built-on-moonshot-kimi
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