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Intelligence for the New World Economy

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Intelligence for the New World Economy
Semafor World Economy

Semafor Technology

Kimi K3 threatens AI business models

There’s now an established pattern: American frontier labs come out with state-of-the-art AI models. Chinese firms then allegedly “distill” those models and use them to train new open-source models.
People walk past the Moonshot booth promoting its Kimi K3 AI model
Go Nakamura/Reuters

AI agents are hitting the pageant stage

Samantha Smitte, 37, who worked at IBM for a decade, spent about $150 on AI agents to train for the Miss New York USA pageant next week, she told Semafor.
Samantha Smitte.
Samantha Smitte.

US-Iran conflict is becoming a testbed for the future of warfare

The US this week said it had carried out its first offensive combat mission using unmanned surface vessels.
Saronic’s Corsair unmanned surface vessels. Courtesy of Saronic Technologies.

AI companies move to protect teens

“The principle here is to avoid the mistakes that were made before us,” Lauren Jonas, OpenAI’s head of youth well-being, told Semafor.
Teenagers pose for a picture while looking at a phone, in Bonn, Germany, February 20, 2026.
Jana Rodenbusch/Reuters

AI teaches a bitter biology lesson

Human knowledge is getting in the way of scientific progress.
A person works in a science lab
Annegret Hilse/Reuters

Robot-data startup raises largest seed round ever in Germany

Munich-based Microagi raised $55 million in a seed funding round, with the goal of scaling humanoid robot deployments.
Microagi

Markets sink on global selloff in chip stocks

Record earnings from TSMC, the world’s largest chipmaker, failed to quell doubts about the sustainability of AI spending.

Hyundai workers in South Korea strike over humanoids

Hyundai workers in South Korea began a partial strike this week after the company unveiled plans to introduce humanoid robots on the factory floor.

US grapples with rise of Chinese open-source AI

Palantir’s chief technology officer said the Chinese technology poses an economic threat to the US.

Washington confronts China’s open-source models

American AI labs view Chinese open-source models as essentially stolen goods, built with the help of American frontier models to generate synthetic training data — a process known as distillation.

DeepSeek weighs IPO as Zhipu embraces AGI

The startup is also said to be considering raising new funds from private investors weeks after completing its first financing round that valued the company at $52 billion.

DeepMind’s Hassabis emerges as unifying voice for the AI industry

On Tuesday, Google’s DeepMind co-founder and CEO Demis Hassabis stepped forth as a generally unassailable messenger with an article calling for a self-regulatory body of AI experts.

Dating apps add friction back into romance

Tech’s ambition is to work so well that it fades into the background of our day-to-day, but removing friction in some of the most personal aspects of life may not actually improve an experience.

Stripe and Advent bid $53B for PayPal

PayPal was valued at $360 billion in 2021, but that has now fallen to just $36 billion due to competition from Apple Pay and other rivals.

NY enacts data center moratorium

The move signals growing mainstream political pushback to unchecked AI growth in the US.

DeepMind’s Hassabis calls for AI oversight

The Nobel Prize laureate warned that a race-to-the-top dynamic was exacerbating the technology’s risks.

Zoetis to acquire medical imaging company in latest push to build AI

VitalRADS’ database of more than 30 million images will help Zoetis create radiology AI models.

Saudi AI champion HUMAIN to supply compute to Canada startup Cohere

The deal follows a thawing of bilateral relations after a years-long diplomatic rift over Saudi Arabia’s human rights record.