AI Updates for the Week of 3/1/26

Updates

Below are some of the highlights in AI, robotics, and machine learning for this past week.

Anthropic’s Claude hits No. 1 on Apple’s top free apps list after Pentagon rejection
OpenAI’s Sam Altman announces Pentagon deal with ‘technical safeguards’

Anthropic says it will challenge Pentagon’s supply chain risk designation in court
Google and OpenAI employees urge their companies to follow Anthropic’s lead
Trump directs federal agencies to stop using Anthropic’s AI
Defense Secretary Hegseth declares Anthropic supply chain risk, cutting it off from military contractors
Survey: 77% of users don’t trust AI with ads
Amazon and OpenAI reach $50 billion investment agreement
Callers to Washington state hotline press 2 for Spanish and get accented AI English instead
Cyborg cockroach swarms for reconnaissance tested in U.S. and European trials

Leak: Pentagon takes first step toward blacklisting Anthropic
Canada’s AI minister blames OpenAI for ‘failure’ after mass shooting
Anthropic ditches its core safety promise in the middle of an AI red line fight with the Pentagon
A Chinese official’s use of ChatGPT accidentally revealed a global intimidation operation
AI-Powered hacker steals 150gb from Mexican government using Anthropic’s Claude
OpenAI hires Meta AI researcher who previously led Apple’s Models team
Leak: Amazon’s $50B investment in OpenAI could hinge on IPO, AGI
Anthropic ditches its core safety promise in the middle of an AI red line fight with the Pentagon
U.S. tells diplomats to lobby against foreign data sovereignty laws
About 12% of U.S. teens turn to AI for emotional support or advice
Donald Trump told model providers to cover cost of data centers
U.S. Air Force drone swaps AI software mid-flight in successful mission autonomy test
Alphabet-owned robotics software company Intrinsic joins Google
Gemini can now automate some multi-step tasks on Android

Leak: Pentagon gives Anthropic Friday deadline to agree to terms or terminate contract
xAI trade theft suit against OpenAI dismissed
Google claims it’s building data centers that barely use any water
Meta strikes 6 gigawatt compute deal with AMD
Waymo opens robotaxi service to ‘select riders’ in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Orlando
Google adds a way to create automated workflows to Opal
Intuit partners with Anthropic on agents
Anthropic launches new push for enterprise agents with plug-ins for finance, engineering, and design
New Relic launches new AI agent platform and OpenTelemetry tools
Oura launches a proprietary AI model focused on women’s health

Canada summons OpenAI safety representatives following school shooting
Leak: Defense Secretary summons Anthropic’s Amodei over military use of Claude
IBM shares drop 13% after Anthropic said Claude Code could modernize COBOL
xAI and Pentagon reach deal to use Grok in classified systems
Google boots a bunch of OpenClaw users from its Antigravity vibe-coding platform
Anthropic says Chinese firms used Claude data to improve models
Anthropic launches persona selection model for AI behavior
Ocean robots reveal hidden phytoplankton bloom after Hurricane Idalia
New data centers risk doubling Great Britain’s electricity use, regulator says
Meta director of AI safety allows AI agent to accidentally delete her inbox
Gemini app adds video templates to expedite generation
OpenAI is beefing up partnerships with four major consulting giants
U.S. launches Peace Corps-backed ‘Tech Corps’ to help export AI
Particle’s AI news app stores interesting clips from podcasts for users
Guide Labs open sources Steerling-8B with token-level traceability.

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