Anthropic, an artificial intelligence company, is reportedly at odds with the Pentagon over the use of its AI models, potentially jeopardizing a $200 million contract, according to a report in TechCrunch. The Pentagon is pushing for the ability to use Anthropic's technology for all lawful purposes, a demand that Anthropic has resisted. This disagreement comes as the enterprise AI landscape heats up, with companies like Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI also vying for dominance in the market.
The dispute between Anthropic and the Defense Department was first reported in January by the Wall Street Journal, which highlighted significant disagreements over the usage of Anthropic's Claude models. The Pentagon is making similar demands to OpenAI, Google, and xAI, with one unnamed Trump administration official stating that one of these companies has agreed, while the other two have shown some flexibility. Anthropic, however, has reportedly been the most resistant to the Pentagon's requests.
Meanwhile, the enterprise AI sector is experiencing rapid growth. Microsoft is integrating its Copilot into Office, and Google is pushing Gemini into Workspace. OpenAI and Anthropic are selling directly to enterprises. Glean, another company, is focusing on becoming the underlying intelligence layer for enterprise systems. Glean's strategy has shifted from building a better enterprise chatbot to becoming the connective tissue between models and enterprise systems, according to TechCrunch.
In other tech news, Rivian's fourth-quarter and full-year earnings revealed that software, particularly its technology joint venture with Volkswagen Group, was a key factor in the company's performance in 2025 and is expected to continue to buoy the company into 2026, according to TechCrunch. Rivian is expected to receive another $2 billion from VW Group.
Additionally, the Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Speedrun startup accelerator program is highly competitive, with an acceptance rate of less than 1%. In a January blog post, the program said that over 19,000 startups pitched and fewer than 0.4 were accepted into the latest cohort. The program, which once focused on gaming startups, has expanded to include entertainment and media and is now a horizontal program, according to Joshua Lu, the program's general manager and a partner at a16z. The program runs for about 12 weeks in San Francisco, with two cohorts a year accepting around 50 to 70 startups.
In a separate development, The Verge published a review of Casio's AI-powered pet, Moflin, with the author stating, "I hate my AI pet with every fiber of my being." The review highlights the challenges and frustrations of interacting with AI-powered gadgets.
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