Maximilian Schreiner
Max is the managing editor of THE DECODER, bringing his background in philosophy to explore questions of consciousness and whether machines truly think or just pretend to.
Pentagon pushes AI companies to deploy unrestricted models on classified military networks
The Pentagon is pressing leading AI companies including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and xAI to make their AI tools available on classified military networks – without the usual usage restrictions.
Read full article about: Anthropic promises to cover consumer electricity costs from new data center construction
The company plans to fully absorb grid upgrade costs, invest in new power generation, and cap its data centers' energy consumption during peak hours. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei told NBC News that the costs of AI models should fall on Anthropic, not on citizens.
Microsoft and OpenAI made similar commitments back in January. The pledges come amid growing political pressure: New York senators introduced a bill that would pause new data center permits, and Senator Van Hollen is pushing legislation that would require AI companies to cover expansion costs themselves.
According to Politico, the Trump administration is also preparing a voluntary agreement that would commit AI companies to covering electricity price increases. The Lawrence Berkeley National Lab estimates that data centers could consume around 12 percent of all US electricity by 2028 - up from 4.4 percent in 2024.
Mistral's revenue grows 20x in one year as Europe pushes for AI independence
French AI startup Mistral reports an annualized revenue run rate of over $400 million. Europe’s growing desire for digital sovereignty is driving the business.
Read full article about: ByteDance turns to Samsung for custom AI chip production and scarce memory supplies
Bytedance is in talks with Samsung to produce a custom AI chip, a deal that could also give the TikTok parent company access to hard-to-get memory chips, according to Reuters.
Bytedance is developing its own AI chip for inference tasks under the codename SeedChip and is negotiating with Samsung to manufacture it, Reuters reports. What makes the deal especially interesting: the talks also cover access to memory chip supplies, which are extremely scarce amid the global AI infrastructure buildout - making the arrangement particularly valuable for Bytedance.
The company plans to receive its first sample chips by the end of March and produce at least 100,000 units this year, with a possible ramp-up to 350,000. Bytedance intends to spend more than 160 billion yuan (roughly $22 billion) on AI-related procurement in 2026 - more than half of that going toward Nvidia chips, including H200 models, and development of its own chip.
Bytedance executive Zhao Qi acknowledged during an internal meeting in January that the company's AI models still trail global leaders like OpenAI, but pledged continued support for AI development. Bytedance itself denies the chip project - a spokesperson told Reuters the information was inaccurate without providing further details.
Read full article about: OpenAI's first AI device won't arrive until 2027 as company ditches "io" branding
OpenAI won't be using the name "io" for its planned AI hardware devices. That's according to a court filing submitted as part of a trademark lawsuit brought by audio startup iyO, Wired reports. OpenAI had already scrubbed references to the project back in June 2025.
OpenAI VP Peter Welinder said the company reviewed its naming strategy and decided against "io." OpenAI also revealed that its first hardware device won't ship until the end of February 2027 at the earliest - later than previously indicated. No packaging or marketing materials exist yet.
OpenAI acquired the hardware startup from former Apple designer Jony Ive for $6.5 billion in May 2025. Over the weekend, a fake Super Bowl ad allegedly showing OpenAI's device made the rounds online. OpenAI spokesperson Lindsay McCallum told Wired the company had nothing to do with it.
Read full article about: Pony AI and Toyota begin rolling out 1,000 self-driving electric SUVs for robotaxi duty
Chinese robotaxi operator Pony AI and Toyota have kicked off commercial production of a self-driving electric car. The first of 1,000 fully electric, autonomous Toyota bZ4X compact SUVs has rolled off the assembly line at a joint venture plant run by Toyota and the Guangzhou Automobile Group. The vehicles are meant to help Pony AI hit its goal of expanding its robotaxi fleet to more than 3,000 cars by the end of the year. The bZ4X is one of three models Pony AI is deploying with its latest autonomous driving software across major Chinese cities.
The vehicles run on Pony AI's autonomous driving system, rated at SAE Level 4. That means the car drives itself completely within designated areas - no human needs to sit behind the wheel, hold the steering wheel, or watch the road. There are still limitations, though, such as restrictions on operating zones or weather conditions.
Even though the technology enables driverless operation, human support is still part of the equation. Right now, one person oversees roughly 30 vehicles and can step in if something goes wrong.
Pony AI competes with other Chinese robotaxi companies like Baidu and WeRide.
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Source: PRNewswire
