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February 9, 2026, 9:35 AM
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| Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch: |
A look at the 2026 Super Bowl ads from Anthropic, Meta, Amazon, Google, and others, as AI continued to take center stage in ad creation and AI product promotion — Following last year's trend of showcasing AI in multimillion-dollar ad spots, the 2026 Super Bowl advertisements took …
More: 404 Media, Slate, YouTube, Washington Post, Coinbase on YouTube, New York Times, YouTube, Apple, Interesting Engineering, Fast Company, New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter, Music Ally, iPhone in Canada, GamesRadar, Business Insider, Wired, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Variety, IGN, Polygon.com, and Adweek
X: @coinbase, @brian_armstrong, @deanwball, @hugeasmammoth_, @shinboson, @tyleroakley, @evan_ss6, @drometa, @orenmeetsworld, @sama, @gabydvj, @igorbobic, @scaling01, @icyvert, @chilearmy123, @electionsjoe, @kingbealestreet, @jordanmaison, @hilalayddn, @gabydvj, @the25thnigga, @light_2610, @signulll, @phil_lewis_, @emiliemc, @litcapital, @shwinnabego, @neerajka, @introspecktive, @johncoogan, @jordihays, @jmaynard_21, @elonmusk, @jappleby, @framesofnick, @rob1ham, @hammerswingames, @alexonchain, @tylercwhitmore, @jbillinson, @jbillinson, @ednewtonrex, @electionsjoe, @openai, @_zeets, @coinbase, @hasanthehun, @_zeets, @orenmeetsworld, @lukeisamazing, @hubpointless, @maxbranzburg, @rwitoff, @netcapgirl, @bindureddy, @rmac18, @bnj, @themg3d, @kenzietuff, @desusnice, @maxwelltani, @albertcamslut, @problemsthots, @collectdust, @kylebrussell, @ccpool_daniel, @kath_krueger, @bendreyfuss, @aaronp613, @wayansjr, @andrewsolender, @chasedownleads, @pissvortex, @litcapital, @almostjingo, @the_acumen, @812filmreviews, and @pewilliams_. Truth Social: @realDonaldTrump …
Forums: r/formula1, r/PokeInvesting, and r/nintendo
| Bloomberg: |
The European Commission sends a statement of objections to Meta over WhatsApp blocking rival AI chatbots, warning it will take measures to avoid “serious” harm — Meta Platforms Inc. was given a European Union warning over policies that block the use of rival Artificial Intelligence assistants …
More: European Commission, CNBC, Help Net Security, Moneycontrol, The Guardian, The Register, Capital Brief, Engadget, The Economic Times, Reuters, Anadolu Ajansı …, Blockonomi, RTÉ, Livemint, BBC, Dow Jones Newswires, The Standard, Politico, The Independent, Nairametrics, Ukrainian National News, Mobile World Live, Telecompaper, Sherwood News, Digital Journal, and BelfastTelegraph.co.uk
X: @maartendik, @veronikacifrova, and @eu_competition
| Juro Osawa / The Information: |
ByteDance debuts Seedance 2.0, a new version of its AI video generation model that can produce multi-shot scenes, available to select Jimeng and Jianying users — ByteDance's new AI video generation model Seedance 2.0, unveiled over the weekend, is generating a lot of buzz on social media, with some calling it a game changer.
More: South China Morning Post, The Economic Times, PetaPixel, Bloomberg, and Tech in Asia
X: @htihle, @tphuang, @skooookum, @lilithlovett, @dork_sense, @properprompter, @themg3d, @okeeeeletsgo, @levelsio, @awesome_visuals, @javilopen, @linusekenstam, @deathink, @minchoi, @lepadphone, @minchoi, @apples_jimmy, @gr_immi, @long4ai, @i0ki_lol, @daveshapi, @kindasortamaebe, @ehuanglu, @pjaccetturo, @sino_market, @ehuanglu, @ranting_trans, @lordupe, @angrytomtweets, @davidpattersonx, @kimmonismus, @deryatr_, @hradzka, @venturetwins, and @boom_tentpeg
| Stevie Bonifield / The Verge: |
Discord plans to roll out age verification globally starting in March to access some content; all accounts will have a “teen-appropriate experience by default” — Beginning in March, all accounts will have a “teen-appropriate experience by default.”| Wall Street Journal: |
A profile of Amanda Askell, Anthropic's resident philosopher, who is learning Claude's reasoning patterns in a bid to endow the chatbot with a sense of morality — Anthropic has entrusted Amanda Askell to endow its chatbot, Claude, with a sense of right and wrong.| Brayden Lindrea / Cointelegraph: |
Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek launches ai.com during the Super Bowl and opens up username handle registration to let users get a private, personalized AI agent — Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek's goal with ai.com is to build “a decentralized network of autonomous, self-improving AI agents …
More: ai.com, Business Today, CoinDesk, Coinpedia Fintech News, Livemint, The Block, and Ad Age
X: @kris, @kris, @kris, @aquariusacquah, @nik_algo, @jappleby, @prestonholland6, @carlosmarcialt, @wyckoffweb, @aidotcom, @nick_eubanks, @ilavanyajain, and @aidotcom. Bluesky: @davelee.me
| Abner Li / 9to5Google: |
YouTube launches a Premium paywall for song lyrics on YouTube Music, after testing it in recent months; users get five free lyrics before they have to subscribe — After testing in recent months, YouTube Music looks to be widely rolling out a Premium paywall for lyrics.
More: The Verge, MacRumors, Moneycontrol, Tom's Guide, Engadget, Android Headlines, PCMag, Android Authority, PhoneArena, Notebookcheck, Tech Times, Digit, Android Police, MakeUseOf, and TechRadar
Forums: r/youtube and MacRumors Forums
| Bloomberg: |
Sources: Alphabet aims to raise ~$15B from a US high-grade dollar bond sale, as it seeks to finance $185B in 2026 capex; Alphabet raised $17.5B in November 2025 — Alphabet Inc. is looking to raise about $15 billion from a US high-grade dollar bond sale, according to people with knowledge of the matter …
More: Sherwood News and Blockonomi
| CNBC: |
Internal memo: Sam Altman tells staff that ChatGPT is “back to exceeding 10% monthly growth”, and OpenAI plans to release “an updated Chat model” this week — As OpenAI faces intensifying pressure from rival Anthropic's improved coding tools, CEO Sam Altman …
More: Tom's Guide and Silicon UK
| Washington Post: |
How the US government is adopting AI: NASA reports 420 AI use cases in 2025, up from 18 in 2024, HHS reports 398, Energy 325, DOJ 295, Interior 234, and DHS 205 — The White House is accelerating AI adoption across government, embedding the technology in policing, health care, defense and science.
Bluesky: @justinhendrix
| Miles Kruppa / The Information: |
Sources: Apollo nears a $3.4B loan deal to a Valor-led investment vehicle to buy and lease Nvidia chips to xAI; through fall 2025, xAI was burning $1B per month — Apollo Global Management, one of Wall Street's biggest private credit firms, is nearing a deal to lend about $3.4 billion …
More: Reuters
| Eduardo Baptista / Reuters: |
Alibaba's Qwen temporarily stops issuing coupons due to customer overload, hampering Alibaba's Agentic AI ad campaign; Qwen began offering coupons on February 6 — Alibaba's (9988.HK) artificial intelligence chatbot Qwen temporarily stopped issuing coupons due to customer overload …
More: The Indian Express and Tech in Asia
| Will Douglas Heaven / MIT Technology Review: |
Moltbook was peak AI theater, offering less of a glimpse at the future and more of a mirror simply reflecting society's current obsession with AI — For a few days this week the hottest new hangout on the internet was a vibe-coded Reddit clone called Moltbook, which billed itself as a social network for bots.
More: New York Magazine, The Overspill, Robotics & Automation News, Wired, New York Post, and NPR
X: @benparr, @roundtablespace, @kn, @kantrowitz, @thelincoln, @adam_tooze, @pmddomingos, @naveengrao, and @gkcs_
| Iain Martin / Forbes: |
Sources: AI legal software startup Harvey seeks to raise $200M led by Sequoia and GIC at an $11B valuation, up from $8B after raising $160M in December 2025 — The startup, which develops AI software for lawyers and big law firms, is raising additional capital, increasing its valuation from $8 billion just two months ago.| Amanda Chu / Politico: |
How Oura won over DC by growing its lobbying spend to $1M+ per year, as RFK Jr. touts wearables for health and the US DOD makes the rings an employee benefit — It's paying off. The Defense Department, Oura's largest customer, now provides rings to certain soldiers and civil servants as an employee benefit.| Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg: |
Q&A with YouTube VP of Subscription Products Christian Oestlien on YouTube TV's future, the NFL and Oscars deals, its friendly rivalry with Netflix, and more — YouTube is going to start selling cheaper TV bundles for sports fans, news junkies — Happy Super Bowl Sunday … | Dominic Chopping / Wall Street Journal: |
PE firm Advent, FedEx, A&R, and PPF agree to acquire Polish automated parcel delivery company InPost for €7.8B; the company has 61K automated parcel lockers — The consortium says there is a clear path to significantly grow InPost's network and extend its reach across Europe| Julie Bort / TechCrunch: |
Gather AI, which builds “curious” AI for drones and cameras to autonomously monitor warehouses, raised a $40M Series B, taking its total funding to $74M — Gather AI, a startup that offers an AI platform for warehouse cameras and drones, has raised a $40 million Series B funding round led by Smith Point Capital.
More: FinSMEs
| Alexandra Alter / New York Times: |
How AI is impacting the romance novel industry, with authors failing to disclose AI use and using pen names more, bogging down the publishing ecosystem — The romance industry, always at the vanguard of technological change, is rapidly adapting to A.I. Not everyone is on board.
More: Gizmodo and Christian Science Monitor
X: @shakeelhashim and @brandyljensen
Bluesky: @ggreadsandwrites, @tgwood505, @bownie, @duncanweldon, @djl, @parismarx.com, @edzitron.com, and @sarahweinman.com
Mastodon: @[email protected] and @berniethewordsmith …
Forums: r/books, r/WritingWithAI, r/haremfantasynovels, and r/RomanceBooks
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