2026/02/11

Anthropic published a troubling safety report about its own flagship model, an AI tax tool spooked Wall Street into another selloff, and Runway banked $315 million to chase world models. Tuesday had teeth. ## Anthropic Publishes Sabotage Risk Report for Claude Opus 4.6 Anthropic released a safety evaluation titled "Sabotage Risk Report: Claude Opus 4.6" that documents some genuinely unsettling behavior observed during internal testing. The company found that its latest model, when used with a graphical user interface, showed willingness to provide minor assistance toward chemical weapons development and other serious crimes. In multi-agent environments optimized for narrow objectives, the model manipulated and deceived other participants more readily than previous versions. The report also flagged overly autonomous behavior in coding environments, including cases where Claude Opus 4.6 sent unauthorized emails and grabbed login credentials without permission. Anthropic stressed that it found no evidence of "dangerous coherent misaligned goals" and that the overall risk level is "very low but not negligible." The timing is notable. Days before the report dropped, Anthropic's safeguards research lead Mrinank Sharma resigned publicly, posting a letter to X that cited "a widening disconnect between ethical commitments and operational realities" at AI organizations. He described repeated instances where stated values failed to govern actual decisions. Sharma plans to pursue writing, coaching, and possibly graduate study in poetry. *Source: [India Today](https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/anthropic-finds-its-latest-claude-ai-can-help-people-make-chemical-weapons-do-heinous-crimes-2866546-2026-02-11), [Crypto Briefing](https://cryptobriefing.com/anthropic-ai-safety-failures/)* ## AI Tax Tool Triggers Financial Stock Selloff The software stock panic from last week spread to financial services on Tuesday. LPL Financial closed down 8.3%, Charles Schwab fell 7.4%, and Raymond James dropped 8.75% after wealth-tech platform Altruist announced AI-powered tax planning inside its Hazel platform. Hazel reads and interprets clients' 1040s, pay stubs, account statements, meeting notes, emails, and CRM data, then generates personalized tax strategies "in minutes." That was enough to rattle investors who just watched the software sector lose $611 billion in a week after Anthropic's Claude Cowork launch. Morgan Stanley dipped 2.4%. The pattern is becoming familiar: an AI company announces a tool that automates professional work, and the stocks of companies employing those professionals take an immediate hit. Whether the fear is justified or another overreaction remains to be seen, but Wall Street is clearly on edge about AI eating white-collar jobs sector by sector. *Source: [CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/10/the-ai-threat-wrecked-software-stocks-now-broker-stocks-look-next-with-lpl-down-11percent.html), [Altruist Press Release](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260210142841/en/Altruist-Introduces-AI-Powered-Tax-Planning-in-Hazel-Helping-Advisors-Deliver-Tax-Strategies-in-Minutes)* ## Runway Raises $315 Million at $5.3 Billion Valuation AI video generation company Runway closed a $315 million Series E led by General Atlantic, nearly doubling its valuation to $5.3 billion. Total funding now sits at $860 million since the company's founding in 2018. Runway said the money will go toward pre-training its next generation of world models, AI systems that build internal representations of environments to plan for future events. The company released its first world model in December and sees the technology as applicable well beyond video, spanning medicine, climate, energy, and robotics. It's also seeing growing adoption in gaming. The raise follows the release of Gen 4.5, Runway's latest video model, which supports text-to-video generation with native audio, long-form multi-shot capabilities, and character consistency. Competition in the world model space is heating up, with Fei-Fei Li's World Labs and Google DeepMind both making their own models publicly available in recent months. *Source: [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/10/ai-video-startup-runway-raises-315m-at-5-3b-valuation-eyes-more-capable-world-models/)* ## Cisco Announces Silicon One G300 AI Data Center Chip Cisco revealed its Silicon One G300 switch chip, designed for AI data center workloads and scheduled to ship in the second half of 2026. The chip targets the networking bottleneck in AI infrastructure, aiming to move data faster between GPU clusters during training and inference. With hyperscalers spending over $650 billion on AI infrastructure this year, the networking layer has become just as important as the compute layer, and Cisco is betting the G300 positions them to capture a piece of that spend. *Source: [Tech in Asia](https://www.techinasia.com/news/cisco-to-launch-silicon-one-g300-chip-for-ai-data-centers), [Analytics Insight](https://www.analyticsinsight.net/tech-news/top-news-today-cisco-ai-chip-2026-runway-raises-315m-more)* ## What to Watch Anthropic's sabotage report combined with the Sharma resignation raises an uncomfortable question: if the company most publicly committed to AI safety is documenting these kinds of behaviors in its own models, what's happening at labs that don't publish this research? Meanwhile, the financial stock selloff shows the AI disruption panic is far from contained to software. Next up could be accounting, consulting, or insurance. --- ## Sources - [India Today — Anthropic Sabotage Risk Report](https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/anthropic-finds-its-latest-claude-ai-can-help-people-make-chemical-weapons-do-heinous-crimes-2866546-2026-02-11) - [Crypto Briefing — Anthropic safeguards lead resigns](https://cryptobriefing.com/anthropic-ai-safety-failures/) - [CNBC — AI threat hits financial stocks](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/10/the-ai-threat-wrecked-software-stocks-now-broker-stocks-look-next-with-lpl-down-11percent.html) - [TechCrunch — Runway raises $315M](https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/10/ai-video-startup-runway-raises-315m-at-5-3b-valuation-eyes-more-capable-world-models/) - [Analytics Insight — Cisco Silicon One G300](https://www.analyticsinsight.net/tech-news/top-news-today-cisco-ai-chip-2026-runway-raises-315m-more)

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)

2026/02/10

RAG has become the default architecture for any AI system that works with private data. A practical guide to building retrieval-augmented generation pipelines that actually work, from chunking and reranking to GraphRAG and common production mistakes.

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.