每日早报 · 2026-02-27 Daily Briefing · 2026-02-27

📰 Daily Briefing · February 26, 2026

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🤖 AI & Tech

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei declared he "cannot in good conscience" accept the Pentagon's demand for unrestricted access to its AI systems. The company is holding firm on two red lines: no mass surveillance of Americans, and no lethal autonomous weapons. With a Friday deadline looming, the standoff is drawing intense scrutiny from both Silicon Valley and Washington.

🔗 https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/26/anthropic-ceo-stands-firm-as-pentagon-deadline-looms/

In a letter to chief scientist Jeff Dean, more than 100 Google AI employees called for limits on Gemini's use in U.S. surveillance and autonomous weapons — echoing Anthropic's own public stance against unrestricted military AI deployment.

🔗 https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/technology/google-deepmind-letter-pentagon.html

Jack Dorsey's Block (Square, Cash App) is laying off over 4,000 employees — nearly half its staff — dropping headcount from 10,000+ to under 6,000. Dorsey framed it not as financial distress but as a deliberate bet on AI: smaller, flatter teams powered by intelligent tools.

🔗 https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/26/jack-dorsey-block-layoffs-4000-halved-employees-your-company-is-next/

Nvidia's quarterly earnings hit $43 billion, with annual profit reaching $120 billion — up from just $4.4 billion three years ago. Data center chip revenue jumped 71% year-over-year to $61.7 billion, cementing Nvidia's dominance in the AI hardware race.

🔗 https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/25/technology/nvidia-earnings.html

Microsoft announced Copilot Tasks, a new AI agent that uses its own cloud-based computer and browser to handle busywork — scheduling, research, study plans — while you do something else. Users describe tasks in plain language; Copilot delivers a report when done.

🔗 https://www.theverge.com/tech/885741/microsoft-copilot-tasks-ai

Google acquired startup Form Energy for $1 billion, securing access to its iron-air battery technology capable of storing energy for 100 hours. The deal is aimed at providing clean, long-duration power for Google's growing network of data centers.

🔗 https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/26/google-paid-startup-form-energy-1b-for-its-massive-100-hour-battery/

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌍 World

Pakistan launched airstrikes on multiple Afghan cities including Kabul and Kandahar. The Afghan Taliban said it struck back. The escalation marks a significant deterioration in relations between the two neighbors.

🔗 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0j5qx9n887o

Indirect talks between Washington and Tehran concluded in Geneva, with the mediator reporting notable headway. Whether a formal nuclear agreement can be reached remains uncertain, but the dialogue represents a rare diplomatic opening.

🔗 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg1vd95nl9o

Danish Prime Minister Frederiksen announced a snap election, with the future of Greenland — coveted by Donald Trump — set to dominate the campaign. The vote could reshape Denmark's foreign policy stance toward the U.S.

🔗 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg3e63jwj8o

WEF president Borge Brende stepped down after an internal review into his communications with Jeffrey Epstein. He acknowledged the contact but said he was "completely unaware" of Epstein's criminal history.

🔗 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr5lq9ll15jo

Both sides completed a large-scale exchange of fallen soldiers' remains, as Ukraine's top negotiator simultaneously met U.S. peace envoys in Geneva — a rare convergence of humanitarian and diplomatic activity.

🔗 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg7ed4rp7x5o

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

💡 Tech Community

Dario Amodei's letter — pointedly addressed to the "Department of War" rather than Defense — sparked 613 comments on Hacker News, making it one of the hottest threads in recent memory.

🔗 https://www.anthropic.com/news/statement-department-of-war

A widely-read essay draws parallels between today's AI-assisted coding wave and the maker movement hype of the 2010s — asking whether "vibe coding" will produce lasting change or fade once the novelty wears off.

🔗 https://read.technically.dev/p/vibe-coding-and-the-maker-movement

IDC forecasts global smartphone shipments will fall 12.9% in 2026 to just 1.12 billion units — the lowest in over a decade — as AI companies' insatiable appetite for memory chips squeezes consumer device supply. Average selling prices are projected to hit a record $523.

🔗 https://www.idc.com/resource-center/press-releases/wwsmartphoneforecast4q25/

The U.S. and allied governments disclosed that a newly identified critical vulnerability in Cisco networking equipment has been actively exploited for years, urging organizations worldwide to patch immediately.

🔗 https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/26/cisco-says-hackers-have-been-exploiting-a-critical-bug-to-break-into-big-customer-networks-since-2023/

Netflix declined to match Paramount Skydance's improved bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, ending a high-profile bidding war. HBO, CNN, and the Warner Bros. studio will now fall under David Ellison's Paramount umbrella.

🔗 https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/26/netflix-warner-bros-discovery-paramount-wbd-bid-studios-hbo-cnn-ellison/

French AI startup Mistral AI announced a partnership with global consulting giant Accenture — which has now inked deals with OpenAI, Anthropic, and Mistral, signaling a race among consultancies to lock in enterprise AI relationships.

🔗 https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/26/mistral-ai-inks-a-deal-with-global-consulting-giant-accenture/