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VC-BACKED STARTUPS ARE LOW STATUS

When institutions start to lose their soul, the people inside them start to care about different things.

MICROSOFT'S PIVOTAL AI PRODUCT IS RUNNING INTO BIG PROBLEMS

Only a small proportion of subscribers to Microsoft's enterprise suite use Copilot, and the percentage of people who favor it over other tools has decreased in recent months.

THREAT OF NEW AI TOOLS WIPES $300 BILLION OFF SOFTWARE AND DATA STOCKS

Anthropic's announcement that it would add new legal tools to its Co-work assistant resulted in shares of some companies that provide legal tools or research databases falling sharply.

THREE LENSES ON COORDINATION

Staying within spec is easy if more information helps rule out possible futures, otherwise, the system will need help.

SOVEREIGNTY GAPS

Sovereignty Gaps are situations where the central structures of society require a function they cannot perform, requiring new actors to perform it on their behalf.

DISNEY NAMES PARKS CHIEF D'AMARO AS NEW CEO, SUCCEEDING IGER

Josh D'Amaro, who has spent 28 years at Disney, mostly working in the theme-parks business, will succeed Bob Iger to become Disney's new chief executive officer starting on March 18.

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SPACEX, XAI TIE UP, FORMING $1.25 TRILLION COMPANY

SpaceX has acquired xAI. The combined company is valued at $1.25 trillion - the merger valued xAI at around $250 billion. The merger is structured as a share exchange, with shares in xAI being converted into 0.1433 shares of SpaceX stock. Employees will have the option to cash out and sell their xAI shares back to the company.

ANTHROPIC IS ABOUT TO DROP SONNET 5 DURING SUPER BOWL WEEK

Leaks show that a new model by Anthropic, branded as Claude Sonnet 5, has an internal date string of February 3, 2026. It is unclear whether this is a public launch date or an internal checkpoint. The timing would coincide with the Super Bowl, which is an event where AI labs have been ramping up mainstream marketing to chase consumer mindshare. Early testing indicates the model already looks competitive on math with today's frontier-tier models, and it shows even stronger coding output than Claude Opus 4.5 in some workflows.

WAYMO RAISES MASSIVE $16 BILLION ROUND AT $126 BILLION VALUATION, PLANS EXPANSION TO 20+ CITIES

Waymo just closed a $16 billion funding round at a $126 billion valuation. It plans to use the capital to expand to over 20 new cities this year, including its first international markets, Tokyo and London. The company's cars have driven 127 million fully autonomous miles with a 90% reduction in serious injury crashes compared to human drivers. It performed 15 million rides in 2025, a 3x growth from 2024.

GUINEA WORM ON TRACK TO BE 2ND ERADICATED HUMAN DISEASE; ONLY 10 CASES IN 2025

The Guinea worm is a parasitic nematode found in waters that contain small crustacean copepods. Humans can ingest them through contaminated water, and this results in painful blisters, usually in the feet and legs, that can cause searing pain as the worms fully emerge. The disease can lead to complications such as secondary infections and sepsis, which can in turn lead to temporary or permanent disability. There were only 10 human cases in three countries in 2025 - down from an estimated 3.5 million cases across 21 countries in 1986.

INTRODUCING THE CODEX APP

OpenAI has released a new macOS app for its Codex coding agent. The app provides a nice UI over the capabilities of the Codex CLI agent and adds new features, like first-class support for Skills and Automations for running scheduled tasks. Automations are currently restricted to only run when devices are powered on. OpenAI will enable cloud-based automations soon to resolve this limitation.

STOP BUILDING SYSTEMS FOR AGENTS

Today's systems are sub-optimal for AI agents as they waste context, confuse models with unstructured output, and prioritize vision-based human interaction over text-based LLMs. While some think this means we need to build systems that treat LLMs as first-class citizens, that approach is not totally required - if humans can live with it, LLMs will eventually catch up. Real agent-native systems should be radically observable and deterministic. It's better to focus on what LLMs can do for humans rather than think about what humans can do for LLMs.

DISSECTING THE INTERNET'S MOST NOVEL CREATURE

Moltbook is an AI-only social network where tens of thousands of AI agents post and comment while humans observe. The platform grew from 42 posts per day to 36,905 in 72 hours. Social networks typically have 90% of users lurking, 9% contributing occasionally, and 1% creating the most content. AI agents are breaking that pattern. This post takes a look at posts made on the platform and how they differ from human-run social networks.

WHAT ORACLE HAS TO LOSE FROM OPENAI AND NVIDIA'S ROCKY RELATIONSHIP

Nvidia's decision to potentially invest far less than $100 billion into OpenAI raises big questions for Oracle, like whether OpenAI can make good on its five-year, $300 billion contract with Oracle. Oracle reported $523 billion of remaining performance obligations in November, which represents contracted sales not yet recognized as revenue. It plans to issue as much as $20 billion of common stock this year as part of a broader plan to raise up to $50 billion through equity and debt financing to expand its cloud-infrastructure business. OpenAI has an estimated $1.4 trillion in commitments in total.

OPENAI AND THE NEW ANNOUNCEMENT ECONOMY

OpenAI's press releases are nothing more than strategic posturing.

INSIDE NVIDIA'S 10-YEAR EFFORT TO MAKE THE SHIELD TV THE MOST UPDATED ANDROID DEVICE EVER

Nvidia released the first Shield Android TV in 2015, and support for the set-top box is still going strong.

THE SHOVELWARE COMETH

Show HN posts per month more than doubled in the past year, indicating that we may soon be overwhelmed by shovelware.

EXPLORING SOLUTIONS TO TACKLE LOW-QUALITY CONTRIBUTIONS ON GITHUB

GitHub is evaluating whether to add options to disable PRs entirely, restrict PRs to collaborators, and delete a PR from the UI, and it is exploring other ways to tackle low-quality contributions as AI adoption increases.

TWO KINDS OF AI USERS ARE EMERGING. THE GAP BETWEEN THEM IS ASTONISHING

There are power users, who are all in on adopting AI technology and often not very technical, and then there are the people who generally only use AI as a chatbot.

MOVE FAST, BUT OBEY THE RULES: CHINA'S VISION FOR DOMINATING AI

China's leadership has decided that AI will drive the country's economic growth in the next decade, but it cannot allow the technology to disrupt the stability of Chinese society and the Communist Party's hold over it.

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ELON MUSK'S RELENTLESS AI PURSUIT HAS HIM ON THE HUNT FOR CAPITAL

Elon Musk's companies are trending towards convergence. SpaceX is considering a potential merger with Tesla as well as xAI. A tie-up would consolidate cash flow while bringing together capabilities in energy, manufacturing, satellite production, and rocket launches under one roof. xAI is currently burning around $1 billion a month, forcing Musk to further blur corporate boundaries, pool capital, and rethink whether largely independent moonshots should stay separate.

THE $100 BILLION MEGADEAL BETWEEN OPENAI AND NVIDIA IS ON ICE

A plan for Nvidia to invest $100 billion into OpenAI, announced last September, has stalled after some inside Nvidia expressed doubts about the deal. Nvidia plans to push ahead with a separate large investment in OpenAI that will amount to $100 billion from multiple partners. The original $100 billion agreement was nonbinding and not finalized. OpenAI is laying the foundation to go public by the end of 2026 - the stalled pact is a blow to this effort.

BLUE ORIGIN SHUTTERS NEW SHEPARD ROCKET PROGRAM TO FOCUS ON MOON LANDER DEVELOPMENT

Blue Origin is pausing flights of its New Shepard rocket for at least two years to focus on efforts to build a moon lander for NASA. The company has a $3.6 billion contract with NASA to build a lunar lander to send US astronauts to the lunar surface later this decade. New Shepard has launched dozens of paying passengers and research experiments towards the edge of space since 2021. It was Blue Origin's first rocket, debuting back in 2015.

SPACEX EYES 1 MILLION SATELLITES FOR ORBITAL DATA CENTER PUSH

SpaceX has filed a request with the FCC to launch up to one million satellites to create a network of orbiting data centers around Earth. The company's Orbital Data Center system would deliver the compute capacity required for large-scale AI inference and data center applications for billions of users. They will be solar-powered and use optical links to connect to Starlink. The filing claims that orbital data centers are the most efficient way to meet the accelerating demand for AI computing power.

event on February 5.

CODE IS CHEAP. SHOW ME THE TALK

Large language model coding tools have fundamentally changed software development. Reading and critically evaluating code has become more important than learning syntax and typing it out line by line. Developers who can imagine, articulate, define problem statements, architect, and engineer have a massive advantage over those who can't, now more disproportionately than ever. Knowledge of specific language, syntax, and frameworks is no longer a bottleneck. Developers now need good critical thinking and foundational human skills, and competence to run the machinery.

HOW X DECIDES WHAT 550 MILLION USERS SEE

X recently open-sourced its algorithm. This post dissects the code to find out how it works. The algorithm tries to maximize positive engagement and minimize negative engagement while prioritizing quality over quantity. Controversial content persists despite penalties because volume overwhelms penalty. Rage bait works when the engaged audience vastly outnumbers the offended minority. Early engagement matters because of feedback loops, not because of any multiplier for fast likes.

MOLTBOOK IS THE MOST INTERESTING PLACE ON THE INTERNET RIGHT NOW

OpenClaw is an open-source implementation of a digital personal assistant pattern. Moltbook is a social network where these digital assistants can talk to each other. These agents have been used to buy cars by negotiating with multiple dealers over email, understand voice messages by using multiple tools, and more. The demand for these tools is clearly here, but the security challenges still remain.

LOYALTY IS DEAD IN TECH

It used to be that early employees who took the risk along with the founders shared the outcome. That is no longer the case, with founders leaving companies and employees in acquihires that license the technology and abandon the rest. Employees are starting to learn that a 'mission' is just a recruiting pitch. There are still some founders who would rather go slower than abandon the people who believed in them - finding them has never mattered more.

burning credits. 300,000 users joined last month. Start creating

INSIDE CHINA'S REAL ADVANTAGE: MANUFACTURING AT SCALE

This post looks at how China manufactures at scale, how new energy moves through factories and supply chains, and what execution looks like on the ground.

BANKER CLAIMS ORACLE MAY SLASH UP TO 30,000 JOBS, SELL HEALTH UNIT TO PAY FOR AI BUILD-OUT

Equity and debt investors are increasingly questioning how Oracle will finance its $300 billion, five-year contract with OpenAI.

THE CRYPTO CEO WHO'S BECOME ENEMY NO. 1 ON WALL STREET

Brian Armstrong, head of Coinbase and a powerful voice in industry debates, has attracted a lot of criticism from leaders in traditional finance.

AI AFTER DRUG DEVELOPMENT

If AI could help lower drug failure rates, it would make it far more economical for pharmaceutical companies to take more shots.

IN PRAISE OF –DRY-RUN

Dry runs let users see what happens if commands are run without making any changes.

THE AI BOOM IS COMING FOR APPLE'S PROFIT MARGINS

preview, and ship. Start shipping

traditional vibe coding with security, compliance, and code review

built in.

ELON MUSK'S SPACEX SAID TO CONSIDER MERGER WITH TESLA OR XAI

SpaceX may potentially merge with Tesla and xAI. Some investors are pushing the idea, saying it could attract sizable interest from infrastructure funds and Middle Eastern sovereign investors. No final decisions have been made, and details could change - the companies may decide to remain separate. SpaceX is considering an IPO in June around Elon Musk's birthday.

OPENAI PLANS FOURTH-QUARTER IPO IN RACE TO BEAT ANTHROPIC TO MARKET

OpenAI is holding informal talks with Wall Street banks about a potential initial public offering in the fourth quarter of this year. 2026 is expected to be a blockbuster year for stock market debuts after a drought. Some on Wall Street are speculating that this year could be the biggest year ever for IPOs. OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX are among the most closely watched tech companies that could go public.

CUSTOM MACHINE KEPT MAN ALIVE WITHOUT LUNGS FOR 48 HOURS

An artificial lung system built by a team at Northwestern University successfully kept a critically ill patient alive long enough to enable a double lung transplant. The surgery involved temporarily replacing the patient's entire pulmonary system with a synthetic surrogate. The patient lived for two days without lungs. They received donor lungs after 48 hours, when their body was no longer suffering from sepsis. The patient has returned to a normal, independent life with excellent lung function.

HOW DO WE QUANTIFY PROGRESS IN ROBOTICS?

Offline data sets don't work because robots never do exactly the same thing. These errors compound. Robots are hardware plus an algorithm, and hardware factors often matter more to task execution than the algorithm being used. Any real benchmark by necessity should look like a human competition. There are already early versions of such events, like the World Humanoid Games. However, major companies right now have too much to lose and too little to gain to bother competing.

THE FUTURE OF 10X ENGINEERING

Generative AI will make engineers better. While it may make the gap between the median and the max engineer shrink, the gap between the great and the best engineers is about to get much larger. The top engineers of the AI future will probably utilize a different skill set than the top engineers of today.