Top stories today:

1. OpenAI to amend DoW contract to bar domestic surveillance use
2. Anthropic boycott spreads as State Department shifts to OpenAI
3. Elon’s X, xAI said to repay $17.5B debt in full as SpaceX IPO nears
4. Qwen3.5 small open-weight models launched by Alibaba
5. Reflection AI said to seek $2B+ raise at $20B+ valuation
6. Apple unveils $599+ iPhone 17e with A19 chip, ships Mar. 11

0. Data and calendar

Listen to our AI-generated podcast summarizing today’s newsletter (beware of hallucinations):

1. OpenAI to amend Department of War contract to bar domestic surveillance use, Sam Altman says

• Rushing the Fri. deal “looked opportunistic and sloppy,” but aimed to de-escalate, Altman said.

• The DoW affirmed OpenAI tools won’t be used by agencies like the NSA without further contract changes, Altman said.

• Altman reportedly approached DoW R&E chief Emil Michael to rework terms.

• OpenAI reportedly agreed to follow U.S. surveillance law as DoW held firm on bulk data demands.

2. Anthropic boycott spreads as State Department shifts to OpenAI

Treasury Secy. Scott Bessent announced a boycott of Anthropic products, including Claude:

• Treasury, HHS, and housing agencies extended the boycott of Anthropic’s AI offerings.

• The Trump admin has clashed with Anthropic over safeguards on military and domestic surveillance use.

• Anthropic reportedly submitted a bid for a $100M DoW autonomous drone swarm contest amid negotiations with DoW.

4. Elon’s X, xAI said to repay $17.5B debt in full as SpaceX IPO nears

A series of intercompany deals across Elon Musk’s firms since 2024 has supported xAI’s financing:

• X took on ~$12.5B of debt in Musk’s Twitter buyout.

• Jun. 2025: xAI borrowed $5B via bonds and loans.

• xAI’s $3B of high-yield bonds to be redeemed at 117 cents on the dollar.

• Unlike X and xAI, SpaceX hasn’t tapped debt markets for years.

5. Qwen3.5 small open-weight models launched by Alibaba to challenge OpenAI, Google

Qwen3.5-9B surpassed OpenAI’s gpt-oss-120B on Alibaba-posted benchmarks:

• New models include 0.8B, 2B, 4B, and 9B variants.

• Released under Apache 2.0 licenses.

• The 0.8B and 2B models can run on phones, while the 4B and 9B run on laptops.

• Available via Hugging Face and ModelScope.

• Qwen3.5-122b-a10b remains best model capable of running on MacBook Pro.

6. Reflection AI said to seek $2B+ raise at $20B+ valuation after $8B round in Oct.

• Disruptive and NVIDIA are expected to invest.

• Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and 1789 Capital are also expected to participate.

• Saudi Arabia’s PIF is reportedly in talks to invest.

• The U.S. government has discussed contracting with Reflection as an alternative to Anthropic and OpenAI.

7. Apple unveils $599+ iPhone 17e with A19 chip, ships Mar. 11

• 6.1” Super Retina XDR display with Ceramic Shield 2.

• C1X modem, up to 2x faster than C1 in iPhone 16e.

• 48MP Fusion rear camera.

• 256GB base storage.

• Action Button for quick access to features like flashlight and Visual Intelligence.

Apple also unveiled the iPad Air with M4 chip and N1 networking

• Starts at $599 for 11” and $799 for 13”.

8. Polymarket bets hit record $425M on U.S.-Israel Iran strikes

• Up from $164M the week prior, per user-compiled Dune Analytics data.

• Total site wagering hit a record $2.4B, up from $1.8B a week earlier.

• Geopolitics made up ~18% of wagers, up from ~9% the prior week.

• The surge comes as critics question the legality and ethics of conflict betting.

9. Global TV shipments flat at 61.5M in Q4 as China -25%

10. Interesting videos, posts, and memes

11. Other headlines

AI

• Google explored hosting Gemini for Siri inside Apple data centers: sources.

• Cursor ARR tops $2B in Feb., ~60% from corporate users: report.

Tech

• NVIDIA H200 exports to China may face 75K-chip cap per customer: report.

• Ayar Labs raises $500M Series E at $3.8B to replace chip copper with optics.

• Zuckerberg sets Miami record with $170M mansion purchase.

• MongoDB Q4 revenue +27% YoY to $695.1M, vs. $670.1M est.

Tech & Law

• AI copyright dispute rejected by U.S. Supreme Court.

Biotech

• Juvenescence advances aging drug to Phase 2 trial.

• Lilly’s orforglipron beats oral semaglutide in diabetes trial.

• OrganTech makes hair follicle regeneration breakthrough.

Business

• U.S., China trade chiefs to meet mid-Mar. ahead of Trump-Xi summit: report.

• Blackstone allows record 7.9% withdrawals from flagship private credit fund.

• Toyota sweetens buyout bid in Elliott win as governance concerns linger.

Crypto

• Core Scientific sells $175M in Bitcoin as AI pivot accelerates.

• Bitmine boosts Ether holdings to 4.47M tokens with $98M ETH purchase.

U.S. politics

• Trump DOJ drops appeal defending sanctions on major law firms.

World

• Israel hacked Tehran cameras for years ahead of Khamenei strike.

• Iranians bypass internet blackout to share airstrike images.

• Iran warns it may fire on ships transiting Strait of Hormuz.

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