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Tech Companies Face Scrutiny Over AI, Autonomous Vehicles, and Hardware Delays
The tech industry faced a week of scrutiny and significant developments, ranging from congressional hearings on autonomous vehicle safety to debates over AI advertising and advancements in speech-to-text technology. Hardware delays also impacted the gaming sector.
In Washington D.C., senators grilled representatives from Waymo and Tesla on February 4, 2026, regarding the safety, liability, and potential influence of China in the autonomous vehicle sector, according to The Verge. During a two-hour hearing, Waymo and Tesla urged lawmakers to pass legislation to regulate autonomous vehicles, warning that the U.S. risked falling behind China in the rapidly developing technology. However, The Verge reported that senators appeared far from reaching an agreement on the matter.
Meanwhile, the debate over the integration of advertising into AI chatbots intensified. Anthropic, the company behind the AI chatbot Claude, announced on Wednesday that it would keep its AI chatbot free of advertisements. In a blog post, Anthropic stated, "There are many good places for advertising. A conversation with Claude is not one of them." This decision sets Anthropic apart from OpenAI, which began testing ads in a low-cost tier of ChatGPT last month, according to Ars Technica. Anthropic argued that including ads in AI conversations would be "incompatible with what it wants Claude to be: a genuinely helpful assistant for work and for deep thinking." The company even launched a Super Bowl ad campaign mocking AI assistants that interrupt personal conversations with product pitches.
In the realm of speech-to-text technology, Mistral AI, a Paris-based startup, released Voxtral Transcribe 2 on Wednesday. According to VentureBeat, these open-source speech models can transcribe audio faster, more accurately, and more cheaply than existing market options, while running entirely on a smartphone or laptop. Mistral AI positions itself as Europe's answer to OpenAI. The company says its new models are designed to process sensitive audio without transmitting it to remote servers.
In other news, Valve announced a delay in the release of its Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and Steam Controller hardware. According to The Verge, Valve stated that it had to revisit its shipping schedule and pricing plans. The company cited a "RAM crisis" as a contributing factor impacting pricing.
On Wednesday, a US House committee with oversight of NASA unanimously passed a reauthorization act for the space agency, Ars Technica reported. The legislation must still be approved by the full House before being sent to the Senate, which may take up consideration later this month. Congress passes such reauthorization bills every couple of years, providing the space agency with a general sense of the direction legislators want to see NASA go.
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