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Fri, Feb 27, 2026, 5:21 PM EST

Tech

AI Summary

  • OpenAI has reportedly secured a massive $110 billion in funding from investors including NVIDIA and SoftBank, signaling continued high-stakes investment in the AI sector.
  • President Trump has ordered federal agencies to cease using Anthropic's AI services following a dispute, highlighting ongoing governmental scrutiny and potential geopolitical implications for AI companies.
  • Apple and Netflix are reportedly joining forces to stream the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix, indicating a growing trend of tech giants collaborating to offer exclusive live sports content.
  • The tech industry is experiencing significant layoffs, with companies like Block and eBay announcing substantial workforce reductions, reflecting a broader economic recalibration.
  • Concerns about AI safety and ethics continue to surface, with OpenAI facing scrutiny over its AI's potential misuse and Google and OpenAI employees voicing support for Anthropic's stance against the Pentagon, demonstrating internal industry debate on AI's responsible development.

TechCrunch


Hacker News


Engadget

  • Paramount agrees to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, pays Netflix $2.8 billion for breakup 39 minutes ago by Ian Carlos Campbell
    Movies, Media, Arts & Entertainment, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Ian Carlos Campbell

    Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery are officially merging. The studio paid Netflix the $2.8 billion termination fee it was owed for breaking its original deal to buy Warner Bros. earlier today, and the historic film studio has now formally accepted Paramount’s offer. Along with the deal, which values Warner Bros. Discovery at $31 per share, Paramount is making several commitments to assuage the fears of regulators and the entertainment community. Those include a guarantee that the new company will produce 30 theatrical films annually, that theatrical releases will have a minimum 45-day window in theaters before they’re brought to video

  • The PS5 Pro is getting upgraded upscaling tech in March 3 hours ago by Ian Carlos Campbell
    Technology & Electronics, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Ian Carlos Campbell

    After suggesting a version of AMD's FSR 4 could be ported to the PS5 Pro last year, it looks like Sony is finally rolling out an update with the upscaling tech in March. Mark Cerny, the lead architect of the PS4, PS5 and PS5 Pro, shared via a blog post that the PS5 Pro will be updated with a new version of the company's PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution) upscaling tech next month, and Resident Evil Requiem is one of the first games to use it. PSSR is "an AI library that analyzes game images pixel by pixel as it upscales

  • Google and OpenAI employees sign open letter in ‘solidarity’ with Anthropic 3 hours ago by Andre Revilla
    Business, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Andre Revilla

    Hundreds of employees at Google and OpenAI have signed an open letter urging their companies to stand with Anthropic in its standoff with the Pentagon over military applications for AI tools like Claude. The letter, titled “We Will Not Be Divided,” calls on the leadership of both companies to “put aside their differences and stand together to continue to refuse the Department of War’s current demands for permission to use our models for domestic mass surveillance and autonomously killing people without human oversight.” These are two lines that Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has said should not be crossed by his or

  • Here’s your first look at Kratos and Atreus in Amazon’s upcoming God of War TV adaptation 5 hours ago by Matt Tate
    Media, Arts & Entertainment, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Matt Tate

    With the likes of The Last of Us and Fallout out of the way for a bit, Amazon has seized its opportunity to put the spotlight on the next big video game adaptation, its currently-in-production God of War show. Today we got our first look at Ryan Hurst and Callum Vinson as Kratos and Atreus. The image released by Amazon shows the eponymous God of War standing next to a tree as he watches his son — who notably looks a bit younger than the video game version of 11-year-old Atreus we first met in 2018’s God of War — take aim with

  • OpenAI secures another $110 billion in funding from Amazon, NVIDIA and SoftBank 5 hours ago by Lawrence Bonk
    Investment & Company Information, Finance, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Lawrence Bonk

    OpenAI just announced a massive funding round of $110 billion, which is one of the biggest investment rounds in Silicon Valley history. The investors feature many of the usual suspects, including Amazon with $50 billion, NVIDIA with $30 billion and SoftBank with $30 billion. This investment brings OpenAI to a $730 billion valuation "We’re super excited about this deal," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told CNBC. "AI is going to happen everywhere." That last statement seems more like a threat than a boast, but I digress. Beyond the funding round, OpenAI has announced strategic partnerships with both NVIDIA and Amazon. This will involve


The Verge

  • Warner Bros. Discovery agrees to $110 billion Paramount merger an hour ago by Emma Roth
    Entertainment, Film, HBO, News, Streaming

    Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Skydance's merger agreement is now official. On Friday, the two companies announced plans to merge into a massive media company that will fold WBD's studio, linear channels, streaming service, and gaming segment into Paramount. Though WBD initially signed onto an $83 billion agreement to merge part of Warner Bros. with Netflix, Paramount persisted with a hostile takeover bid, followed by a series of offers. That persistence paid off, as WBD determined that Paramount's "best and final" offer is "superior" to Netflix's deal. On Thursday, Netflix declined to match Paramount's bid, calling it "no longer fina … Read

  • Trump orders federal agencies to drop Anthropic’s AI an hour ago
    AI, Anthropic, News, Policy, Politics

    On Friday afternoon, Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, accusing Anthropic, the AI company behind Claude, of attempting to "STRONG-ARM" the Pentagon and directing federal agencies to "IMMEDIATELY CEASE" use of its products. At issue is Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's refusal of an updated agreement with the US military agreeing to "any lawful use" of Anthropic's technology, as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth mandated in a January memo, to the frustration of many tech workers across the industry. As we explained earlier this week, that agreement would give the US military access to use the company's services for mass domestic surveillance and

  • The Trump phone sure looks a lot like this HTC handset 3 hours ago by Dominic Preston
    Gadgets, HTC, Mobile, Phones, Policy, Politics, Report, Tech

    The HTC U24 Pro may not be gold, but its design is otherwise awfully similar to the Trump phone’s. | Image: HTC Where's the Trump phone? We're going to keep talking about it every week. We've reached out, as usual, to ask about the Trump phone's whereabouts, and have stopped getting a response. This week, thanks to a reader tip, we think we've found the original phone the T1 is based on. A long time ago, back when the Trump phone was but a single, inaccurate render and a contradictory spec sheet, we tried to figure out what other phone it might

  • CISA is getting a new acting director after less than a year 4 hours ago by Stevie Bonifield
    News, Policy, Politics, Security, Tech

    The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, is getting a new acting director, as reported by ABC, less than a year after Madhu Gottumukkala took charge of the agency as deputy director and acting director in May 2025. CISA's executive assistant director for cybersecurity, Nick Andersen, will become the agency's new acting director while Gottumkkala will now be serving as director of strategic implementation at DHS. The leadership change comes just a month after reports that Gottumkkala uploaded sensitive documents to ChatGPT. Gottumkkala had requested special permiss … Read the full story

  • AI deepfakes are a train wreck and Samsung’s selling tickets 4 hours ago by Sean Hollister
    Analysis, Report, Samsung, Tech

    On Thursday morning, I attended a Q&A panel with four top Samsung smartphone executives. Until 2025, Samsung was the world's largest smartphone manufacturer, and by association, the world's largest maker of cameras. It's still the second largest after Apple. Samsung handed me the microphone first. I asked: > We see a divide in society between people who want AI to do impressive things with their photos and videos, and those who don't want AI to do anything with photos and videos because it's eroding our ability to believe that what we have seen is real, destroying the concept of photographic evidence. > >


Wired

  • These Deals Can Have You Zipping Around on a New E-Scooter This Spring 43 minutes ago by Boutayna Chokrane
    Gear, Gear / Deals, Gear / Products / Outdoor, Deals

    With spring just around the corner, now's the smart time to snag an electric scooter.

  • Trump Moves to Ban Anthropic From the US Government an hour ago by Will Knight
    Business, Business / Artificial Intelligence, Nuclear, Option

    President Donald Trump’s sudden order comes after the Defense Department pressured Anthropic to drop restrictions on how its AI can be used by the military.

  • The Best Roku Is $20 Off 2 hours ago by Brad Bourque
    Gear, Gear / Deals, Gear / Products, Gear / Products / Streaming, Deal, of, the, Day

    The Roku Ultra isn’t just speedier, it also offers some advanced features that some viewers will find really handy.

  • What's an E-Bike? California Wants You to Know 3 hours ago by Aarian Marshall
    Gear, Gear / Gear News and Events, Gear / Products / Outdoor, Back, Pedal

    Cities want to stop kids from getting hurt. A lawmaker thinks warning them away from legal gray-area “e-motos” could help.

  • OpenAI Fires an Employee for Prediction Market Insider Trading 4 hours ago by Kate Knibbs
    Business, Business / Artificial Intelligence, Roll, the, Dice

    Prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi are big business, and some Big Tech employees are testing boundaries by making trades based on insider knowledge.


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