Top stories today:

1. Anthropic sues Pentagon over supply chain risk designation
2. LeCun’s AMI Labs raises $1.03B seed at $4.53B post-money
3. Copilot Cowork launched by Microsoft with Claude integration
4. Claude Code Review debuts with AI agents to check pull requests
5. Apple said to make ~25% of iPhones in India after China pivot
6. WTI oil -9% to $87 as Trump says Iran war will end soon

0. Data and calendar

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

1. Anthropic sues Pentagon over supply chain risk designation

• The designation is unlawful and violates free speech and due process rights, Anthropic said in the lawsuit.

• Generated $5B+ in revenue since 2023 and could lose billions as clients pause deal talks, Anthropic said.

• 30+ AI researchers from OpenAI and Google filed an amicus brief backing Anthropic, including DeepMind chief scientist Jeff Dean.

• The White House is reportedly preparing an EO to stop federal agencies from using Anthropic’s AI tools.

3. LeCun’s AMI Labs raises $1.03B seed at $4.53B post-money in Europe’s largest seed round

• Nabla Ex-CEO Alexandre LeBrun will lead Advanced Machine Intelligence Labs, with Yann LeCun serving as executive chair.

• Meta’s VP for Europe, Laurent Solly, is joining as the COO.

• Cathay Innovation, Bezos Expeditions, Temasek, SBVA, and NVIDIA are among the early backers.

• The $1.03B seed round is second only to Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab, which raised $2B in Jun.

• The startup will build on LeCun’s work at Meta on AI “world models” that learn from video and spatial data.

4. Copilot Cowork launched by Microsoft with Anthropic’s Claude integration

• Copilot Cowork uses Work IQ to draw signals across Outlook, Teams, Excel, and other Microsoft 365 apps.

• The tool can run in the background and clear checkpoints as users confirm progress, make changes, or pause execution.

• Cowork checks in when it needs clarification.

• Currently in Research Preview with a limited set of customers, with broader availability expected in late Mar.

5. Claude Code Review debuts with AI agents to check pull requests for bugs

• The tool provides deeper automated review coverage before human review is needed.

• Handles fairly complex reviews in ~20 minutes, running multiple coding agents in parallel to analyze code.

• $15-$25 per review, depending on token usage, Anthropic said.

6. Apple said to make ~25% of iPhones in India after China pivot

Apple’s iPhone production in India reportedly hit $22B in 2025, up from $14B in 2024:

• 55M iPhones were assembled in India in 2025, up from 36M a year earlier.

• Apple is deepening local supplier partnerships in India as part of its supply chain shift.

7. WTI oil -8% to $87 as Trump says Iran war will end soon

Trump’s efforts to calm the market prompted crude futures to retreat on Tue.:

• WTI oil surged toward $119/barrel on Mon. morning after major Persian Gulf producers cut output.

• The Iran war will be over “very soon,” Trump said.

• Oil blockade will continue until attacks end, Iran said.

• Pakistan navy began ship escorts due to Gulf tensions.

8. 70% of GOP primary voters prefer ideological fit over electability, vs. 56% of Democrats

• Republicans show a stronger preference for prioritizing values over electability.

• Jun. 2023: Republicans were more focused on electability, per an earlier NBC News poll.

• 30% of registered voters view the Democratic Party positively, vs. 52% negatively.

• 37% view the Republican Party positively, vs. 51% negatively.

• 34% of voters view Marco Rubio positively, and 41% negatively (-7% net), vs. 38% / 49% (-11%) for JD Vance, 27% / 45% (-18%) for Newsom, and 31% / 42% (-11%) for AOC .

9. China exports +22% in early 2026, far above forecasts, imports +20%

• Analysts had estimated +7.2% export growth.

• Imports left a $214B trade surplus, an all-time high for the period.

• The escalating Middle East crisis poses new risks to China’s exports.

Container throughput at Chinese ports hit 6.04M TEUs in the first 10 weeks of 2026

Chinese exports in Dec.-Jan. topped $350B

10. ChatGPT, Gemini, Canva, DeepSeek, Grok, Claude among top GenAI sites by monthly visits, as of Jan.

ChatGPT, CapCut, Gemini, and Canva rank among the top GenAI apps by MAUs, with CapCut second at 736M

As of Jan., Claude didn’t rank in the top 50, but its consumer growth has been exponential since, having reached #1 in the U.S. App Store in early March (now #2):

ChatGPT’s traffic is ~2.7× larger than Gemini on web and ~2.5× larger on mobile

ChatGPT has remained ~8× larger than Claude and ~4× larger than Gemini in paid subscriptions

Gemini web usage is rising, but ChatGPT still leads with ~1.3× more sessions on web and ~2.2× more on mobile

ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity share similar user bases across the U.S., India, Brazil, the UK, and Indonesia

Singapore has led global AI adoption per capita, followed by the UAE, Hong Kong, and South Korea, while the U.S. ranks 20th

11. Interesting videos, posts, and memes

12. Other headlines

AI

• NVIDIA pitches NemoClaw open-source AI agent platform: report.

• OpenAI to acquire AI security startup Promptfoo.

• Harvey launches Agent Builder for autonomous AI workflows.

• TSMC sales +30% on sustained global demand for AI hardware.

Tech

• Apple delays smart home display launch until later 2026 to finish Siri: report.

• Uber expands female driver option nationwide in U.S.

• Spark Capital raising ~$3B in new funds: report.

• EQT eyes potential $6B sale of Linux pioneer SUSE: sources.

Biotech

• Oura launches AI model for women’s health insights.

• Sen. Ron Johnson probes FDA denials of rare disease drugs.

• Transposon’s $22m ARPA-H award to test aging-fighting drug.

• ReVision Implant secures FDA breakthrough nod for visual cortex interface.

• Forever Young explores longevity revolution.

Business

• Volkswagen profit halves to €8.9B amid tariffs, China pressures.

Crypto

• Nasdaq partners with Kraken for tokenized stocks, launching 2027.

• Bhutan sells $42.5M Bitcoin as national holdings drop 58% from peak.

• Bitmine moves $19.5M in ETH to Coinbase Prime.

U.S. politics

• Vance vs. Rubio emerges in Trump’s 2028 succession talk.

• Thune warns Trump against muscling Senate on voting bill.

• NYC protest attack: two men charged in ISIS-inspired terror plot.

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