Author: Editor-In-Chief
As communities across the country block data center construction, the Pentagon is playing chicken with Anthropic over who controls how the military uses AI. As the AI debate devolves into “bust generation vs. boom generation,” one state lawmaker is trying to take a middle path. In this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity Podcast, Rebecca Beran speaks with New York State Representative and U.S. Congress candidate Alex Boas. Boas sponsored New York’s first AI safety law, the RAISE Act, and quickly became a target of a Silicon Valley lobbying group that spent $125 million on attack ads. Listen to the full episode…
The Paramount logo hangs above the entrance to Paramount Studios on February 23, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty Imagesthe next day paramount skydance emerged as the winner to take over the same media giant. warner bros discoverythere are growing questions about the future direction of corporate regulation.The WBD board said Thursday that Paramount’s revised $31 per share offer is superior to Paramount’s existing offer. Netflixprompting the streamer to announce that it was pulling out of the deal altogether and paving the way for Paramount. Paramount’s offer (up from $30 per share) is the latest in a…
The standoff between the Pentagon and Anthropic over the integration of artificial intelligence into military operations and setting limits on its use reached a peak this week, with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth giving the AI company until 5:01 p.m. ET on Friday to make concessions to the government’s demands. Humanity is not slowing down, at least for now, but the battle between the military and industry over AI is just beginning. The Pentagon is at odds with private companies managing AI in ways untested since World War II. Anthropic on Thursday rejected Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s request to relax…
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) gestures at the United Center during day one of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, August 19, 2024.Mike Seeger | ReutersHouse Democrats this week laid out plans to counter President Donald Trump’s calls to “nationalize” this year’s elections ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Lawmakers gather for annual policy gatherings where they set the year’s agenda and hone their campaign messages. The two men met in Northern Virginia this week in response to President Trump’s demands for stronger voter ID requirements at polling places and his desire to require documentation to register to vote, both changes…
The Rugby Football Union (RFU) has announced a major overhaul of English rugby’s top tier, with the Gallagher Prem set to be expanded but fundamentally changed. This major reshuffle at the top of English club rugby will see promotion and relegation abolished. A landmark deal to reform the structure of professional rugby in England was approved “overwhelmingly” in a vote by the Rugby Football Union Council on Friday. The proposal would make the Gallagher Prem a franchise model, with 12 teams joining the district starting in the 2029-30 season and 20 teams expected to join by 2040.From the 2026-27 season,…
OpenAI announced Friday that ChatGPT has reached 900 million weekly active users, bringing its AI chatbot within reach of 1 billion people. OpenAI also shared that it currently has 50 million paying subscribers. “Subscriber momentum has accelerated significantly since the start of the year, and January and February are expected to be the largest months for new subscribers in our history,” the company said in a blog post. “People use ChatGPT to learn, create, plan, and build. As usage grows, the product improves in ways that people instantly feel: faster response, higher reliability, stronger security, and more consistent performance.” The…
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang speaks at a dinner event with the company’s Taiwanese suppliers in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, January 31, 2026.Yifei Lin | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesNvidia reported explosive profits on Wednesday and issued better-than-expected forecasts indicating accelerated growth. CEO Jensen Huang declared that “computing demand is rapidly increasing.” Investors’ concerns seem to lie elsewhere.Stocks fell for the second day in a row on Friday, down about 7% for the week, their biggest decline since November. The exit puts Nvidia’s stock price down for the year, joining the ranks of other tech giants.One of the broader concerns in the market…
Dell Shares soared 22% on Friday after the company beat fourth-quarter earnings estimates and issued strong guidance as historic memory shortages weighed on prices in the sector.Dell reported adjusted earnings of $3.89 per share, beating the $3.53 per share expected by analysts surveyed by LSEG. The company had revenue of $33.38 billion in the quarter, beating expectations of $31.73 billion.The company forecast fiscal 2027 sales of $138 billion to $142 billion, blowing away the $124.7 billion that FactSet had expected.Dell expects artificial intelligence server revenue to reach $50 billion in 2027, more than doubling from the previous year. Memory chip…
President Donald Trump announced Friday that he will order all U.S. government agencies to “immediately cease” their use of technology from artificial intelligence company Anthropic.President Trump’s sudden and unexpected order comes as the AI startup faces pressure from the Department of Defense to comply with Anthropic’s request to be able to use its technology without restrictions. The company signed a $200 million contract with the Pentagon in July, but the company wants guarantees that the Pentagon won’t use its AI models for fully autonomous weapons or for mass surveillance of American citizens at home.The Pentagon had given Anthropic a deadline…
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to visit Israel next week as President Donald Trump expresses dissatisfaction with ongoing negotiations with Iran.On Friday, the U.S. State Department said Rubio’s trip will run from March 2-3 and will focus on relations with Iran and Lebanon, as well as implementation of President Trump’s 20-point plan for war-torn Gaza.Recommended stories list of 3 itemsend of listThis is Rubio’s fifth visit to Israel, a close ally of the United States, as secretary of state. I first visited in February 2025, and then twice in September and October last year.No other details about…