Good morning. If you’re looking for another scary paper about AI to read as a chaser to that viral Citrin Research report, check out this new study by a researcher at Kings College London.
Kenneth Payne ran a bunch of virtual war games that pitted top AI models (Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet 4, Google’s Gemini 3 Flash, and OpenAI’s GPT-5.2) against each other. As Fortune’s Jeremy Kahn writes, the models were just a wee bit aggressive.
“Payne found that the models were often willing to resort to the use of tactical nuclear weapons, and in some cases were willing to launch an all-out nuclear war rather than back down.” This seems like a good one for Pete Hegseth to read.
Alexei Oreskovic
@lexnfx
alexei.oreskovic@fortune.com
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Nvidia crushes earnings; Wall Street shrugs
Nvidia delivered absolutely blockbuster results in the final three months of 2025, as demand for its AI chips went through the roof. Revenue increased an astounding 73% to $68.1 billion, and Nvidia said sales in the current quarter would expand by as much as 78%.
If Nvidia’s stock was up less than 1% (and even dipped slightly into negative territory) after these heroic results, it’s because there’s a fundamental problem at play. More than half of Nvidia’s revenue comes from the five big “hyperscalers”—the Googles and Amazons of the world—who are feverishly buying as many of Nvidia’s GPU chips as they can to stuff in the massive AI data centers they’re constructing. The big hyperscalers are budgeting nearly $700 billion in capex this year. But at some point, the spending on AI infrastructure has to stop right? Or at least slow down significantly?
Not anytime soon, said CEO Jensen Huang. Businesses are “going to be building out this capacity from this point forward and continue to expand from here," he said on the earnings call.
Huang’s comments may one day be remembered as the peak of the AI bubble—the classic moment that occurs in every bubble when hubris and self-delusion overtake common sense. For that not to be the case, it would mean that, beginning in 2026, the U.S. embarked on one of the greatest and most unprecedented economic expansions in history. It’s a scenario that Huang clearly believes in—n0w he just has to convince investors.—AO
Samsung launches new Galaxy phones
Samsung launched its new smartphone lineup in San Francisco on Wednesday.
The three new phone models—the Galaxy S26, the S26 Plus, and the S26 Ultra—are the Korean electronic giant's competitors to Apple's iPhone 17 lineup. To take on Apple, Samsung is going big on AI features—some homegrown and some courtesy of Google and Perplexity. There are new features to let you quickly do things like order an Uber at a specific place. And Bixby, Samsung's answer to Siri, gets some new skills as well.
If you ask me though, the coolest feature is the Privacy Display, which is available only on the high end, $1,299 Ultra model. According to ZDNet, the feature adjusts the screen so that nosy bystanders can't see what you're texting or browsing. It can even blur specific areas of the screen, like only text notifications. —AO
Crackdown at prediction market Kalshi
Prediction market Kalshi said Wednesday it has closed investigations into two cases of insider trading, including one that targeted a MrBeast employee named Artem Kaptur who made over $5,000 on bets related to YouTube streaming milestones.
The incidents illustrate how prediction markets—which let people bet on real world events from sports and elections to celebrity behavior, and which are exploding in popularity—are also tempting some individuals to make a quick buck from insider information.
Kalshi said it caught Kaptur due to “his near-perfect trading success on markets with low odds, which were statistically anomalous.” The company said it had also received tips from other users on its platform, and found he had access to inside information as an editor of a MrBeast YouTube show.
The second investigation targeted a long-shot candidate for California governor in violation of Kalshi’s rules for politicians. In a salty tweet sharing news of the investigations, Kalshi co-founder Luana Lopes Lara, using a variation of a popular crude expression, said the pair “F***ed around, found out.”—Jeff John Roberts
More tech
—Pentagon asks Boeing and Lockheed to assess their Claude use. Ratcheting up Anthropic ultimatum pressure.
—Google brings Intrinsic in-house. The robotics software firm was an Alphabet independent.
—Anthropic acquires Seattle startup Vercept. Agentic startups are hot commodities.
—OpenAI poaches Meta's $200 million man. Ruoming Pang had left Apple for Meta seven months ago.
—Salesforce earnings: Revenue grows 12%, shares fall.
—C3.ai layoffs: 26% of workforce to be cut following CEO transition.
