Sixty Dollars
OpenAI launched ads in ChatGPT on Super Bowl Sunday at $60 per thousand views — the same rate as live NFL broadcasts, three times Meta's CPM — with no conversion tracking. The org chart predicted it: the person who ran Facebook's ad business was hired a year earlier. Anthropic ran a Super Bowl ad the same day promising it never would.
Discord says it will roll out age verification globally from 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.”
OpenAI says it has started testing ads in ChatGPT in the US for logged-in adult users on the Free and Go tiers and that the ads do not change ChatGPT answers
Ads that support free access and don't change ChatGPT answers. — Today, we're beginning to test ads in ChatGPT in the U.S …
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 …
Alphabet raised $20B in its biggest ever US dollar bond sale, more than the $15B initially expected, as it seeks to finance $185B in 2026 capex
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 …
Slack message: 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 …
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 it a step further …
Sources: the iPhone 17e with MagSafe is coming soon; iOS 26.4 beta with updated Siri is set for the week of February 23 and M5 MacBook Pros as early as March 2
Apple is going to begin a 2026 product blitz with the iPhone 17e, updated iPads and fresh Macs.
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.
Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek launches ai.com in beta during the Super Bowl and opens username 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 …
Sources: Alphabet plans to sell a rare 100-year sterling bond, as Big Tech companies borrow more to fund their capex growth; IBM sold a 100-year bond in 1996
Deal comes as Google parent steps up AI borrowing rush with $15bn sale of dollar bonds — Alphabet has lined up banks to sell …
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.
Databricks raised $5B in equity financing and $2B in debt at a $134B valuation and says its annualized revenue crossed $5.4B for the January quarter, up 65% YoY
Databricks said Monday it has raised $5 billion in funding and $2 billion in new debt capacity at a $134 billion valuation.
Uber agrees to acquire Getir's delivery operations from Mubadala for $335M in cash and says it will take a 15% stake in the remaining portfolio for $100M
An eight-month study at a US tech company finds AI tools didn't reduce work but intensified it, as employees worked faster and took on a broader range of tasks
Right now, many companies are worried about how to get more employees to use AI. After all, the promise of AI reducing the burden of some work …
Workday announces CEO Carl Eschenbach is stepping down and will be replaced by the company's co-founder, Aneel Bhusri, effective immediately; WDAY drops 6%+
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 …
Beast Industries, the entertainment conglomerate founded by MrBeast and last valued at $5.2B, acquires Step Mobile, a teen-focused banking app
Beast Industries, the entertainment conglomerate founded by Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson, has agreed to buy Step Mobile, a teen-focused banking app, the companies plan to announce Monday.
How AI is impacting the romance novel industry, with authors not disclosing their use of AI 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.
Lyft launches teen accounts in the US more than two years after Uber, with safety features such as PIN verification, real-time tracking, and audio recordings
Lyft on Monday officially launched teen accounts nationwide in a bid to match competitor Uber. — CEO David Risher addressed …
How Anthropic's bet on enterprise users is paying off; sources say Anthropic's investor guidance claims annualized revenue will exceed $30B by the end of 2026
Start-up's bet on enterprise users is paying off as coding tools fuel revenue and investor frenzy
Moltbook was peak AI theater; as the hype dies down, Moltbook looks less like a window onto the future and more like a mirror held up to society's AI obsessions
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.
A software engineer explains “AI fatigue”, compounded by a FOMO treadmill of using AI labs' latest tools and “thinking atrophy”, alongside boosted productivity
You're using AI to be more productive. So why are you more exhausted than ever? The paradox every engineer needs to confront.
Advent, FedEx, A&R, and PPF agree to acquire Polish automated parcel delivery company InPost for €7.8B; InPost has 61K+ automated parcel lockers across Europe
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. — Amanda Askell knew from the age of 14 that she wanted to teach philosophy.
EU officials and tech executives inaugurate a €2.5B chips research hub in Belgium; ASML and Imec emphasized that the US is dependent on European chip tech
ASML CEO says chip printers are the machines “the entire world would like to get.” — LEUVEN, Belgium — The rest …
Analysis: the Trump family's World Liberty Financial has earned them $1.2B+ in cash since its October 2024 launch, while the Witkoff family has earned $200M+
As Section 230 turns 30, a look at how upcoming court cases involving Meta, Alphabet, and others in the US could reshape the bounds of Section 230's protections
Thirty years ago today, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a bill credited with creating the groundwork for the modern internet …
Monday.com's stock plunges 20%+ after the project management software company issued weak Q1 guidance, as it battles rising pressure from agentic AI tools
OpenClaw partners with Google-owned VirusTotal and says that all skills on its ClawHub marketplace will now be scanned using VirusTotal's threat intelligence
Artificial Intelligence / Vulnerability — OpenClaw (formerly Moltbot and Clawdbot) has announced that it's partnering with Google-owned VirusTotal …
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
Onsemi reports Q4 revenue down 11% YoY to $1.53B, vs. $1.54B est., as its two biggest business units continue to post sales declines; ON drops 4%+ after hours
The semiconductor company posted a profit of $181.8 million — On Semiconductor's revenue fell in the fourth quarter …
Sources: Stripe is in talks to launch a tender offer that could value the company at $140B+, up from $107B last fall, when it bought back shares from investors
Stripe is in talks to launch a tender offer that could value the payments company at more than $140 billion, Axios Pro has learned from multiple sources.
Autodesk sues Google for allegedly infringing its Flow trademark as the name of Google's AI filmmaking tool
Google (GOOGL.O) has been sued by Autodesk (ADSK.O) for allegedly infringing its “Flow” trademark to market competing AI-enabled software used to make movies, TV shows and video games.
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
Anthropic rolls out a fast mode for Claude Opus 4.6 in research preview, saying it offers the same model quality at 2.5x faster but costs 6x more
excited that we're making it available outside Anthropic too.Dean W. Ball /@deanwball:I would like to know more about the experimental Claude scaffold that caused Opus 4.6 to more than double its perf...
Analysts say a design refresh for the iPhone 17 lineup has reinforced Apple's status-symbol appeal in China, with the “cosmic orange” Pro model going viral
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.
Q&A with mathematicians behind the “First Proof” experiment, which tests AI's mathematical competency on questions drawn from the authors' unpublished research
Large language models struggle to solve research-level math questions. It takes a human to measure just how poorly they perform.
Franco-Italian chipmaker STMicro agrees to supply AWS with chips, including for high-bandwidth connectivity and energy-efficient power management; STM jumps 8%+
Sources: Block is notifying hundreds of staff their jobs may be eliminated during annual performance reviews; up to 10% of its workforce is at risk of being cut
Jack Dorsey's Block Inc. has been notifying hundreds of employees that their jobs may be eliminated during annual performance reviews …
This year's projected capex ramp-up will all but wipe out free cash flow for Amazon, Google, and Meta, potentially forcing stock buyback cuts or more borrowing
A look at Tether's global expansion, after it recently hit ~300 staff; sources describe Tether's internal focus on corporate structures and “profit and loss”
One of crypto's biggest players has grand plans to deploy its large profits — Tether has expanded …
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
Source: Apollo nears a ~$3.4B loan deal to a Valor-led investment vehicle to buy Nvidia chips for leasing to xAI; through fall 2025, xAI was burning $1B+/month
Apollo Global Management, one of Wall Street's biggest private credit firms, is nearing a deal to lend about $3.4 billion …
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.
Blackstone and Coatue loan $10B to Australian AI infrastructure startup Firmus for data center expansion, in one of the country's largest private credit deals
Australian AI startup Firmus Technologies Pty. secured a $10 billion loan from a group including Blackstone Inc.-led funds …
European countries are moving toward social media bans for children, even as doubts persist over implementation and the risk of a new battle with US tech groups
Sources: crypto exchange Backpack, built by ex-FTX and Alameda leaders, is in talks to raise $50M at a $1B pre-money valuation, reports $100M+ in annual revenue
Backpack Exchange, a centralized crypto trading firm built by former FTX and Alameda leaders, is negotiating terms for new financing …
Chinese chip designer Montage raised $902M in its Hong Kong IPO, jumping 64% in its market debut, the biggest rise since Kuaishou's $6.2B Hong Kong IPO in 2021
Shares of Montage Technology Co. jumped 64% in their Hong Kong debut on Monday after a share sale that raised $902 million …
Chinese regulators reiterate the mainland crypto ban and expand enforcement to cover real-world asset tokenization and offshore yuan-pegged stablecoin issuance
X unveils a new pay-per-use pricing model for its API, replacing the earlier pricing model that required developers to pay fixed monthly fees of $200 or $5,000
Oxide Computer, which lets companies build their own cloud, raised $200M led by USIT, taking its total funding to nearly $390M since its 2019 founding
Oxide Computer Company, which lets companies build their own cloud, has raised a fresh $200 million round led by USIT …
China says its trade surplus from digital services rose 100%+ to a record $33B in 2025, boosted by overseas revenue from AI, livestreaming, and e-commerce
Chinese revenue from digital services sold abroad is soaring as tech champions from ByteDance Ltd. to Tencent Holdings Ltd. ramp …
How Runna, an AI-powered virtual coaching app that Strava acquired in 2025, added ways to tone down its aggressive training plans, after some reported injuries
More people are using the app to train for marathons. Its makers are adding ways to tone down plans some users found too aggressive.
Neara, which builds digital twins of critical infrastructure to help prepare for disasters, raised a AU$90M Series D, a source says at a AU$1.1B valuation
Australian startup's customers include Southern California Edison and CenterPoint Energy — Neara, an Australian startup …
How local Chinese governments boost humanoid robot companies, offering land, favorable bank loan terms, and sometimes subsidizing the robots' prices by ~10%
Beijing is showering companies with support, but some fear a bubble — SUZHOU, China—Elon Musk has been telling investors …
T-glass, a type of ultrathin glass sheet used in advanced chips, is in short supply and mainly comes from Nittobo, which won't add much capacity until late 2026
India's updated startup framework doubles deep-tech startup eligibility to 20 years and triples the revenue cap for tax, grant, and regulatory benefits to ~$33M
Sources: Alphabet has attracted more than $100B of orders for a bond sale that's expected to be about $15B
Brian W Smith /Bloomberg:
An interview with Jeannette zu Fürstenberg, who General Catalyst promoted to president in January, on investing in European tech and defense startups, and more
Jeannette zu Fürstenberg invests in the continent's most geopolitically important startups—and throws legendary soirees in her family's castle.
OpenAI says ads in ChatGPT are not eligible to appear near “sensitive or regulated topics like health, mental health or politics”
Madison Mills /Axios:See also Mediagazer
Sources: Alphabet plans to sell a rare 100-year sterling bond, as it steps up borrowing to fund its capex growth; IBM sold a 100-year bond back in 1996
Financial Times: