Techmeme
February 27, 2026, 2:25 PM

Top News

CNBC:
OpenAI raised $110B at a $730B pre-money valuation, up from $500B in a secondary financing in Oct.; Amazon invested $50B, Nvidia and SoftBank invested $30B each  —  OpenAI announced a $110 billion funding round on Friday, a financing that's more than double the size of its last raise a year ago …
OpenAI:
OpenAI says ChatGPT has 900M+ weekly active users, 50M+ consumer subscribers, and weekly Codex users have more than tripled since the start of the year to 1.6M  —  AI demand is surging across consumers, developers, and businesses.  Meeting that demand and providing everyone access …
About Amazon:
Amazon will invest $15B in OpenAI initially, followed by $35B if certain conditions are met; OpenAI commits to consuming ~2 GW of Trainium capacity through AWS  —  Amazon Web Services (AWS) and OpenAI will co-create a Stateful Runtime Environment powered by OpenAI models …
Anthropic:
Dario Amodei says Anthropic cannot “in good conscience” accede to DOD's request to remove safeguards and will work to ensure a smooth transition if offboarded  —  I believe deeply in the existential importance of using AI to defend the United States and other democracies, and to defeat our autocratic adversaries.
More: TechCrunch, No Tech For Apartheid Campaign, Video - David Imel, Axios, Breitbart, eWeek, The Information, Tom's Hardware, CNBC, Fortune, The Hill, Reason, Fox News, Gizmodo, UPI, CNN, Washington Post, Council on Foreign Relations, Washington Times, Yahoo Finance, CBS News, Understanding AI, Inc.com, Defense One, NOTUS, NPR, The Atlantic, Quartz, UNILAD, TechRadar, Associated Press, RedState, New York Times, France 24, Tech Times, Kotaku, Engadget, The Guardian, diginomica, Straight Arrow News, The Power Law, and Bloomberg
Washington Post:
Sources detail how the standoff between the Pentagon and Anthropic escalated after discussions about using Claude during hypothetical nuclear missile attacks  —  Start-up Anthropic and the U.S. military are careening toward a clash over government use of artificial intelligence — and whether it should be allowed to kill.
Tripp Mickle / New York Times:
Letter: 100+ Google DeepMind and other AI employees urge Jeff Dean to block US military deals that use Gemini for mass surveillance or autonomous weapons  —  More than 100 Google A.I. employees sent a letter to Jeff Dean, a chief scientist, opposing Gemini's use for U.S. surveillance and some autonomous weapons.
More: The Verge, The Hill, Axios, and Forbes
X: @sammcallisterBluesky: @bdowney and @theophiteMastodon: @carnage4life@mas.toForums: Hacker News
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: multiple federal agencies raised concerns about Grok's safety and reliability in recent months, before DOD approved Grok for use in classified settings  —  Warnings about xAI's safety and reliability preceded Pentagon decision to approve Grok for use in classified settings.
Axios:
Jennifer Jacobs / CBS News:
Axios:
Sam Altman says OpenAI shares Anthropic's red lines with respect to AI use by the military, which are “an issue for the whole industry”  —  OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote in a memo to staff that he will draw the same red lines that sparked a high-stakes fight between rival Anthropic …
Keach Hagey / Wall Street Journal:
Note to staff: Sam Altman says OpenAI seeks a DOD deal, except for use cases like domestic surveillance, and wants to “help de-escalate” DOD-Anthropic fight  —  Anthropic has spent weeks at odds with the Pentagon over the scope of how its Claude AI tools can be used
Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Security researchers detail AirSnitch, a series of attacks that bypass Wi-Fi client isolation, enabling machine-in-the-middle attacks in modern Wi-Fi networks  —  That guest network you set up for your neighbors may not be as secure as you think.  —  It's hard to overstate the role that Wi-Fi plays in virtually every facet of life.
Reuters:
Block reports Q4 revenue up 4% YoY to $6.25B, gross profit up 24% to $2.87B, driven by a 33% surge in Cash App, and forecasts Q1 gross profit up 22% to $2.8B  —  Block (XYZ.N) on Thursday said it will cut over 4,000 jobs, nearly half its workforce, as part of an overhaul …
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch:
India-based Ultrahuman launches the $479 Ring Pro, available for pre-order globally, excluding the US, after the ITC ruled in favor of Oura in a patent dispute  —  Ultrahuman on Friday unveiled a new smart ring with longer battery life and a redesigned form factor, as the Bengaluru-based wearable maker seeks …
CNBC:
Netflix walks away from a deal to buy WBD's studio and streaming assets after WBD deemed Paramount's $31/share bid to be superior; NFLX jumps 8%+  —  Netflix is walking away from a deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery's studio and streaming assets after the WBD board on Thursday deemed a revised bid by Paramount Skydance to be superior.
More: New York Times, Spyglass, About Netflix, The Hollywood Reporter, Investor's Business Daily, Silicon Valley Business …, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBC News, Deadline, Associated Press, TechRadar, CNN, New Republic, BANG Showbiz, TechCrunch, Benzinga, Defector, Quartz, Dallas Express, Barchart.com, Media Matters for America, Paramount, Reuters, UPI, Livemint, Marketing Week, TODAY.com, PCMag, primetimer.com, Nairametrics, Fast Company, The Streamable, The Mac Observer, Times of India, and The Wrap
Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:
French e-commerce marketplace ManoMano notifies its customers of a data breach affecting 38M; the company said the incident involved a third party subcontractor  —  DIY store chain ManoMano is notifying customers of a data breach that was caused by hackers compromising a third-party service provider.
More: TechRadar
Kate Knibbs / Wired:
OpenAI fired an employee for insider trading on prediction markets like Polymarket; Unusual Whales has flagged 77 suspected insider trades around OpenAI events  —  Prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi are big business, and some Big Tech employees are testing boundaries by making trades based on insider knowledge.

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More News

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Earlier Picks

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Reuters:
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