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Semafor Technology
🟡 Semafor Tech: Freaky Friday
In this edition, why Anthropic and OpenAI should stick to what they do best, and chatbots become more intimate.
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OpenAI, Anthropic should focus on their own success than chase each other
Instead of focusing on their core audiences, Anthropic and OpenAI seem to be chasing what they can’t have.
Danis Balibouse/Reuters
Waymo foreshadows future jobs by paying delivery drivers to close car doors
The situation provides a crystal ball into what happens when AI collides with real life.
Mario Anzuoni/File Photo/Reuters
The AI bubble will burst. The Middle East isn’t ready.
Countries need to build real infrastructure, attract real talent, and focus on fundamentals to survive.
Stephen Nellis/Reuters
Chatbot lovers foreshadow AI’s new normal
The bots have become more integrated into the every lives of users — with friends and family beginning to accept them.
Luka, Inc./Handout via Reuters
Anthropic donates to super PAC focused on AI safety
Anthropic said it would donate $20 million to a super PAC focused on AI safety and regulation, setting up a fight with rival and top political spender OpenAI.
Denis Balibouse/Shelby Tauber/Reuters
Russia seeks to block WhatsApp amid crackdown
Meta said Moscow was trying to push its 100 million Russian users onto a state-owned app, which is unencrypted and thus more easily monitored.
Ramil Sitdikov/Illustration/File Photo/Reuters
AI Super Bowl ads show tech divides
Critics say the ads sent an “out of touch” message to consumers already skeptical of AI.
Researchers use AI to decode ancient Roman board game
Researchers used AI agents to play thousands of games using 100 different ancient and modern rulesets, and compared results to the levels of wear on the board.
Meta and Google social platforms face trial
The trial, which began in Los Angeles this week, tests claims that the social media platforms are designed to be addictive.
Trust in tech companies dropped globally: report
Trust fell not only in technology, but across nearly every institution since last year, including education, health care, and financial services.
AI’s challenge is not the tech, but the user: OpenAI chief economist
“There’s a difference between what our models can do and how people use them, and that’s the biggest story in AI in 2026 — closing that gap,” Ronnie Chatterji said.
Ex-Google exec launches AI firm for oil refineries
Archimetis joins firms like Cursor and Harvey that have grabbed market share by creating tailored products for specific industries.
Anthropic safety researcher quits, warning ‘world is in peril’
Other AI safety researchers have also left leading firms, citing concerns about potentially catastrophic risks.
How OpenAI got comfortable with the Pentagon using ChatGPT
The tech giant announced the US military will now have access to its chatbot.
Google goes long with 100-year bond
Alphabet’s $11.5 billion bond sale is notable for two things: Its debt is really cheap, and a chunk of it will outlive anyone who bought it.
Chinese firms race to ease global memory-chip shortage
US PC makers are considering sourcing memory chips from China as shortages bite.
Wall Street still doesn’t understand AI
The way the market views AI is completely irrational, driven more by viral “it’s so over” X posts than logic or fundamentals.
Startups builds underwater robots to better track ocean movements
The robots will record movement, temperature, and salinity daily, aiming to reduce the cost of gathering ocean data by a factor of 1,000.