Good morning. The connections between Jeffrey Epstein and Silicon Valley are becoming more visible every day as the millions of emails in the DOJ’s archive of Epstein files are pored over. While the names that have turned up in various searches have made for some sensational headlines, the significance of the relationships has not always been evident.
To get a more complete understanding, Fortune reporters Jessica Mathews and Eva Roytburg focused on one specific tech industry relationship that Epstein tried to cultivate—with Elon and Kimbal Musk—and pieced together the various events that occurred over a period of several months. The story details an elaborate campaign by Epstein that led to a months-long relationship between a woman under his sway (who provided Epstein with regular updates) and Kimbal Musk. When Kimbal eventually broke off the relationship, Epstein’s “in” with Kimbal’s brother Elon withered away (not that Epstein didn’t keep trying).
It’s just one chapter in the long disturbing record of Epstein scheming and misdeeds, but it’s a revealing one that’s well worth reading if you want to understand how Epstein infiltrated so much of the business class. You can read the full story here.
Today’s tech news below.
Alexei Oreskovic
@lexnfx
alexei.oreskovic@fortune.com
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Anthropic is in the Pentagon's sights
The U.S. Department of Defense is close to cutting business ties with Anthropic and declaring the company a "supply chain risk"—a remarkable move that could deal a serious blow to the $380 billion AI startup's business—according to a bombshell exclusive published by Axios on Monday.
The situation apparently follows months of tough negotiations between the Pentagon and Anthropic over the ways its AI tools can be used by the military. While Anthropic's Claude is already used by the military (and is currently the only AI available in its classified systems, according to Axios), Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is adamant that the technology can not be used with weapons that don't require human involvement or that the tech be used to spy on Americans.
That's not sitting well with the DoD, which Axios says wants AI companies to allow it to use their tech for "all lawful purposes." The Defense Department is also negotiating with Google, Meta, and Xai.
While losing its contract with the DoD wouldn't cause Anthropic too much pain, the supply chain risk designation could cause serious harm since it would mean any other companies doing business with the Pentagon could no longer use Anthropic.
Just last week, Anthropic announced that it had attained a $14 billion annual revenue run rate as business customers, including 8 of the Fortune 10, use its Claude AI tools. The San Francisco company, which raised $30 billion in funding, is considered a top candidate for an IPO in the coming year.
That gives the DoD significant leverage as it tries to force Anthropic's hand. And, for anyone concerned about the limits and safeguards society places on AI, it raises real questions about whether for-profit AI companies have the ability to control their creations.—AO
OpenAI hires OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger
Peter Steinberger, creator of popular open-source artificial intelligence program OpenClaw, will be joining OpenAI Inc. to help bolster the ChatGPT developer’s product offerings.
“OpenClaw will live in a foundation as an open source project that OpenAI will continue to support,” OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman wrote in a post on X Sunday, adding that Steinberger is “joining OpenAI to drive the next generation of personal agents.”
OpenClaw has garnered a cult following since launching in November for its ability to operate autonomously, clearing users’ inboxes, making restaurant reservations and checking in for flights, among other tasks. Users can also connect the tool to messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Slack and direct the agent through those platforms.
Steinberger wrote in a separate post on his website that he will be joining OpenAI to be “part of the frontier of AI research and development, and continue building.”—Bloomberg
Apple's tri-city event
Apple is holding an event on March 4, according to invitations sent to the media, signaling the imminent unveiling of some new products.
According to various media outlets, Apple could show off a new budget iPhone (the 17e), a new low cost MacBook, a MacBook Pro with the M5 chip, and new iPads. As always, Apple is being coy, describing the upcoming event only as a "special Apple experience."
In an interesting twist however, Apple said this experience will take place in New York, London, and Shanghai, but not at its Cupertino, Calif. headquarters. Since Apple executives don't do live on-stage product launches anymore, with the company screening pre-filmed videos instead, the three locations for the March 4 event probably means that the invitees will get hands-on time with some of the products after they watch the promotional video.—AO
More tech
—Binance fires top investigators who claim to have uncovered evidence of Iranian sanctions violations.
—Trillion-dollar AI market wipeout post-mortem. Investors banked ‘almost every tech company would come out a winner.’
—Rampant AI demand for memory is fueling a growing chip crisis.
—Amazon’s Ring ends license-plate reading partnership. Super Bowl ad raised fears of dystopian surveillance society.
—OpenAI’s Codex and Anthropic’s Claude spark coding revolution. Developers say they’ve abandoned traditional programming.
—Commentary: AI is transforming science – more researchers need access to these powerful tools for discovery
