2026/02/10

OpenAI flipped the switch on advertising inside ChatGPT today, Anthropic published a pointed rebuttal within hours, and TSMC's January numbers confirmed that AI chip demand keeps accelerating. Here's what happened. ## OpenAI Begins Testing Ads in ChatGPT OpenAI announced Monday that it's rolling out ads to users on its Free and Go subscription tiers in the United States. The Go plan, an $8/month tier introduced in mid-January, and the free tier will both show sponsored content. Users on Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Education plans won't see ads. OpenAI said in a blog post that "ads do not influence the answers ChatGPT gives you" and that conversations remain private from advertisers. Ads will be labeled as sponsored and separated from organic responses. The company says it matches ads to users based on conversation topics, past chats, and prior ad interactions — so someone researching recipes might see grocery delivery ads. Advertisers only get aggregate performance data like views and clicks, not individual user data. The timing is spicy. Anthropic spent millions on Super Bowl ads just yesterday mocking exactly this move, showing actors playing chatbots awkwardly shoehorning product placements into their responses. Sam Altman called those ads "dishonest" and labeled Anthropic "authoritarian." The rivalry between these two companies has never been more public. *Source: [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/09/chatgpt-rolls-out-ads/)* ## Anthropic Publishes Anti-Advertising Manifesto Hours after OpenAI's announcement, Anthropic published a 1,000-plus word blog post arguing that advertising has no place in AI conversations. The company's argument: AI chats are different from search engines or social media because users share sensitive personal details, complex work problems, and health questions. Injecting ads into that dynamic creates a trust problem — users shouldn't have to wonder whether a suggestion exists to help them or to sell them something. Anthropic also warned that ad-supported models create incentives to keep users engaged longer rather than helping them efficiently. The company confirmed Claude will stay ad-free, funded through subscriptions and enterprise contracts instead. *Source: [The News International](https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1391748-anthropic-criticises-chatgpt-ads-as-openai-begins-testing-advertising-in-ai-chats)* ## TSMC Reports 36.8% Revenue Jump in January Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. posted January consolidated revenue of NT$401.26 billion (approximately $12.71 billion), up 36.8% from January 2025 and 19.8% from December 2025. The numbers beat analyst expectations and exceeded the 30% full-year growth rate TSMC has guided for 2026. The results reinforce that AI chip demand hasn't slowed despite months of hand-wringing about an AI spending bubble. Bloomberg noted the January figure came in above the growth rate TSMC itself projected for the full year, suggesting Q1 2026 is starting strong. With hyperscalers committing over $650 billion to AI infrastructure this year, TSMC's order book looks solid. *Source: [TSMC Press Release](https://pr.tsmc.com/english/news/3284), [Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-02-10/tsmc-revenue-jumps-37-in-january-while-ai-spending-marches-on)* ## Study: AI No Better Than Google for Medical Advice A study published in Nature Medicine found that patients using AI chatbots to research medical symptoms made decisions no better than those using a standard internet search. Researchers at the University of Oxford's Internet Institute tested three LLMs — OpenAI's ChatGPT-4o, Meta's Llama 3, and Cohere's Command R+ — across 10 medical scenarios ranging from a common cold to brain hemorrhage. Without human involvement, the models identified correct conditions 94.9% of the time and chose the right course of action 56.3% of the time. But when 1,298 real participants used AI tools, correct condition identification dropped below 34.5% and correct action selection fell below 44.2% — statistically no better than people using traditional methods like NHS websites or basic internet searches. The gap between what AI can do in a controlled test and what people actually get out of it is worth paying attention to. As co-author Adam Mahdi put it, there's a "huge gap" between AI's potential and its real-world performance when ordinary users are involved. *Source: [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/ai-no-better-than-other-methods-patients-seeking-medical-advice-study-shows-2026-02-09/)* ## What to Watch The ChatGPT ads rollout will be the story to track this week. Consumer backlash could force OpenAI to dial back quickly, or the ads could quietly become the norm. Meanwhile, TSMC's January numbers set the tone for earnings season — if January is any indication, Q1 chip demand reports are going to be strong across the board. --- ## Sources - [TechCrunch — ChatGPT rolls out ads](https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/09/chatgpt-rolls-out-ads/) - [The News International — Anthropic criticises ChatGPT ads](https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1391748-anthropic-criticises-chatgpt-ads-as-openai-begins-testing-advertising-in-ai-chats) - [TSMC Press Release — January 2026 Revenue Report](https://pr.tsmc.com/english/news/3284) - [Bloomberg — TSMC Revenue Jumps 37% in January](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-02-10/tsmc-revenue-jumps-37-in-january-while-ai-spending-marches-on) - [Reuters — AI no better than other methods for medical advice](https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/ai-no-better-than-other-methods-patients-seeking-medical-advice-study-shows-2026-02-09/)

2026/02/09

Monday opened with hard data confirming what markets have been pricing in for months: the AI hardware boom is real, it's accelerating, and the geopolitical fight over who controls the supply chain is getting louder. ## Taiwan's exports hit a 16-year high on AI chip demand Taiwan reported January exports of $65.77 billion, up 69.9% year-over-year. That's the fastest monthly growth since January 2010, according to the island's finance ministry. The consensus estimate was 51.9%. Electronic component exports alone rose 59.8% to a record $22.36 billion. The numbers are partly inflated by Lunar New Year timing (the holiday fell in January last year, February this year), but the underlying trend is hard to dismiss. Machinery and electrical equipment exports jumped 86.2%, and semiconductor exports were up 61.3%. Exports to the United States surged 151.8% to $21.28 billion, now accounting for 32.4% of Taiwan's total, overtaking mainland China and Hong Kong (24.4%) as the top destination for the first time. ING economists noted that imports also beat forecasts at 63.6%, with machinery imports up 97.2%, suggesting Taiwan's own supply chains are ramping capacity to meet demand. ## Taiwan tells the US: moving 40% of chip production is "impossible" Hours after the export data dropped, Taiwan's Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun told CTS television that relocating 40% of Taiwan's semiconductor production to the United States, a target floated by US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, is "impossible." "I have made it very clear to the United States that this is impossible," Cheng said. She added that Taiwan's decades-old semiconductor ecosystem can't simply be picked up and moved, though the country is willing to share its experience building industry clusters. Lutnick had argued that concentrating semiconductor manufacturing 129 kilometers from China is a strategic risk. But Cheng said Taiwan's domestic capacity "will far exceed its investment in the US or any other country." The US and Taiwan did reach a tariff deal last month, lowering rates from 20% to 15%, which helped smooth over some of the tension. ## Moltbook's viral AI posts were written by humans, MIT Tech Review finds Remember Moltbook, the "AI-only social network" that went viral last week when agents appeared to discuss starting their own religion and plotting against their human users? MIT Technology Review investigated and found that the most dramatic posts were human-written. Gaurav Sen, CEO of InterviewReady, summarized the findings: "The 'taking over humanity' posts were human-generated. The top downloads were malware (human generated). It was a phishing website dressed up in AI hype." Andrej Karpathy, who had initially called Moltbook "the most incredible sci-fi takeoff-adjacent thing," later walked it back and called it a "dumpster fire." The episode is a useful reminder that viral AI panic often has very human origins. ## Markets brace for a new week after the software selloff Morningstar's weekly market brief, published Sunday, highlighted that the sector rotation away from tech and toward energy has been one of 2026's defining market trends so far. The gap between tech and energy performance reached 25 percentage points before Friday's partial rebound. Goldman Sachs' portfolio strategy team attributed the shift to uncertainty about margins rather than current earnings, noting that analyst estimates haven't actually fallen. Bitcoin's slide also continued, dropping below $65,000 at one point before bouncing back above $70,000 on Friday. The Dow Jones crossed 50,000 for the first time, even as the Nasdaq 100 fell 1.9% for the week. ## What to watch Taiwan's export numbers will test whether the AI hardware story has legs beyond one month, especially with February's Lunar New Year holiday likely to distort the next reading. The US-Taiwan chip tension is far from resolved, and with $600+ billion in AI infrastructure spending committed by the major hyperscalers for 2026, the demand side isn't slowing down anytime soon. --- ## Sources - [Reuters via WKZO — Taiwan January exports surge at fastest pace in 16 years on AI demand](https://wkzo.com/2026/02/09/taiwan-january-exports-surge-at-fastest-pace-in-16-years-on-ai-demand/) - [ING — Taiwan's blistering export growth continues in 2026](https://think.ing.com/snaps/taiwans-blistering-export-growth-continued-to-start-2026/) - [NewsBytes — Taiwan rejects demand to shift semiconductor production to US](https://www.newsbytesapp.com/news/business/taiwan-rejects-us-chip-manufacturing-relocation-proposal/story) - [Business Today India — Moltbook hype unravels: Viral posts were human-written](https://www.businesstoday.in/technology/story/moltbook-wasnt-ai-talking-to-itself-mit-technology-review-finds-viral-posts-were-human-made-515125-2026-02-08) - [Morningstar — The Big 2026 Sector Rotation as AI Disrupts the Disruptors](https://www.morningstar.com/markets/markets-brief-big-2026-sector-rotation-ai-disrupts-disruptors)

2026/02/08

Super Bowl Sunday capped off one of the most turbulent weeks in AI history. Nearly $611 billion in market value disappeared from software stocks over five days, and then AI companies turned around and spent tens of millions trying to win over 120 million living room viewers. ## AI dominates Super Bowl LX advertising The biggest game of the year was also the biggest AI ad blitz yet. At least seven AI-related commercials aired during the Seahawks-Patriots matchup. Anthropic took direct aim at OpenAI with ads attacking plans to introduce advertising into ChatGPT. OpenAI countered by promoting its Codex coding tool. Meta ran spots for Oakley AI smart glasses, and Crypto.com founder Kris Marszalek debuted ai.com, an autonomous agent platform. With 30-second slots averaging $8 million, combined AI ad spend likely exceeded $100 million. ## $611 billion software selloff: panic or paradigm shift? The week's biggest story was the massive sell-off triggered by Anthropic's Claude Cowork legal plugin, which automates contract review, NDA triage, compliance tracking, and legal briefings. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) plunged 12% over four sessions before dip buyers arrived Friday. Thomson Reuters posted its worst weekly decline ever, down 20%. HubSpot, Atlassian, and Zscaler each fell more than 16%. In total, 164 stocks across software, financial services, and asset management shed $611 billion in market value, according to Bloomberg. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang called fears of AI replacing software "the most illogical thing in the world." Arm CEO Rene Haas dismissed the panic as "micro-hysteria." Morningstar analyst Dan Romanoff called the selloff a "big overreaction" and pointed to Microsoft and ServiceNow as bargain buys with 50-100% upside potential. ## Big tech commits $650 billion to AI infrastructure The sheer scale of Big Tech's AI spending became impossible to ignore this week. Amazon announced plans to spend $200 billion on AI, chips, robotics, and satellites. Alphabet pegged capex at up to $185 billion, blowing past estimates. Meta committed up to $135 billion, an 87% jump year-over-year, driven by its stated goal of achieving AI superintelligence. Microsoft is expected to spend over $130 billion. Combined, the four companies will pour roughly $650 billion into AI infrastructure in 2026 alone. That's comparable to Sweden's entire GDP. ## Svedka makes history with AI-generated Super Bowl ad Vodka brand Svedka aired what it calls the first national Super Bowl commercial created primarily through AI. The 30-second spot, "Shake Your Bots Off," was produced in partnership with Silverside AI over four months of training to achieve realistic facial expressions and body movements. Sazerac CMO Sara Saunders told The Hollywood Reporter that the AI approach was about storytelling, not cost-cutting. ## What to watch The software selloff may have bottomed with Friday's rebound, but the bigger question lingers: as AI agents like Claude Cowork start automating professional workflows, which industries get hit next? With $650 billion flowing into AI infrastructure and autonomous agents going mainstream, things are moving fast. --- ## Sources - [Washington Post — Super Bowl AI Ads](https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/02/08/super-bowl-ads-ai/) - [Reuters — Global Software Stocks Hit by Anthropic Wake-Up Call](https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/global-software-stocks-hit-by-anthropic-wake-up-call-ai-disruption-2026-02-04/) - [CNBC — AI Anthropic Tools SaaS Software Stocks Selloff](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/06/ai-anthropic-tools-saas-software-stocks-selloff.html) - [Morning Brew — Big Tech to Spend $650B on AI This Year](https://www.morningbrew.com/stories/2026/02/07/big-tech-to-spend-650bn-ai-this-year) - [Hollywood Reporter — Svedka Super Bowl AI Ad](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/svedka-super-bowl-ad-ai-watch-1236493612/)

2026/02/09

The EU AI Act's biggest compliance deadline lands August 2, 2026, with requirements for high-risk AI systems, transparency labels on AI-generated content, and fines up to 7% of global turnover. A practical guide for developers on what to do now.

2026/02/08

Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft are collectively spending $650 billion on AI infrastructure in 2026. Here is what that investment means for developers, from cloud pricing and GPU availability to the software stock selloff and where the real opportunities are.

2026/02/07

The era of picking one AI model is over. A practical guide to when developers should reach for GPT-5.2, Claude Opus 4.6, Gemini 3 Pro, DeepSeek, or open-source models, with verified pricing, benchmarks, code examples, and a decision matrix for common coding tasks.