Defense Secretary summons Anthropic’s Amodei over military use of Claude

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories to start your morning

View this email online in your browser  February 23, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 Defense Secretary summons Anthropic's Amodei over military use of Claude: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has summoned Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei to the Pentagon for a tense discussion over the military's use of Claude. Hegseth has threatened to designate Anthropic a "supply chain risk." Read More The 9,000-pound monster I don't want to give back: I thought: other than hotels that use SUVs like the Escalade IQL to ferry guests around, what kind of monster chooses a car like this? Read More TechCrunch Mobility: Waymo makes its defense: Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Read More Be the first to know when news breaks Subscribe to our News Alerts, and you won't miss a thing. Breaking news, exclusives, and special reports—straight to your inbox. Sign up for News Alerts! A message from HSBC HSBC CIB Survey Reveals Trade Trends in Tech Sector Tech firms are setting the pace in global trade preparedness, with 91% confident about international growth in the next two years. 79% have made or considered changes to where assembly or processing takes place to mitigate tariffs. Liquidity is a top priority, as 71% have seen an increase in short-term financing to address working capital needs. Download the report Morning Must-Reads 5 days left to lock in the lowest TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 ticket rates: 5 days to save up to $680 on your TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 ticket. These lowest rates of the year disappear on February 27 at 11:59 p.m. PT. Register here. Read More Bill Gurley says that right now, the worst thing you can do for your career is play it safe: "The number one thing is to get out of your head this ideal that gets passed around in the self-help world: 'go get a mentor,' and everyone runs out and cold calls someone that's ridiculously too high and unachievable, and it doesn't work." Read More Trump says Netflix will face 'consequences' if it doesn't fire board member Susan Rice: Netflix board member Susan Rice had predicted that corporations that "take a knee" to Trump will be "held accountable" when Democrats return to power. Read More Quantonation's double-sized second fund shows quantum still has believers: Quantonation Ventures, a venture firm investing in quantum and physics-based startups, has closed its oversubscribed second fund at €220 million, or approximately $260 million. That's more than twice the size of its inaugural fund, and comes in addition to other signals that the quantum winter isn't coming yet. Read More Wispr Flow launches an Android app for AI-powered dictation: AI-powered dictation startup Wispr Flow has launched its Android app today. The company released its app for Mac and Windows first, then launched on iOS in June 2025. On iOS, users could use Wispr Flow through a dedicated keyboard. On Android, the interface is a bit different, as you can access the dictionary through a floating bubble. You can hold the bubble and dictate, or press once to start, and then press the close button to stop the process. Just like on other platforms, in addition to dictation, the app cleans up the filter words and also formats the text based on the context of the app and spoken content. "Android finally gave us the freedom to build the voice experience we always wanted. Only when the platform gets out of the way can we truly expect voice to replace typing on mobile," Tanay Kothari, co-founder and CEO of the startup, said. The app can support translation in over 100 languages and can work across other apps. Along with the Android app release, Wispr Flow said that it has done an infrastructure rewrite that makes dictation 30% faster than before. [jwp-video n="1"] While there are tons of AI-powered dictation apps available on desktop and iOS, Wispr Flow is one of the few available on Android with this launch, besides Typeless, which launched an app for the platform last month. What's more, the company has also released a new model for Hinglish, a mix of Hindi and English, for people in Read More A message from Fidelity Stop Guessing What Fundraising Requires Cap table. Pitch deck. Investor updates. Diligence. The Fundraise-Ready Startup Kit equips you with the core materials founders can use to raise with confidence. Download the Kit  Last but Not Least 6 days left to lock in the lowest TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 rates: Super Early Bird pricing for TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 ends February 27 at 11:59 p.m. PT. That means you have just 6 days left to secure up to $680 of ticket savings. Read More Check out some of our other newsletters: StrictlyVC TechCrunch Events TechCrunch Mobility Want to adjust your daily newsletter schedule? You can do it right here Got a tip? Get in touch securely. Want to advertise on TechCrunch? advertise@techcrunch.com Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. Unsubscribe Member Center Privacy Policy Copyright © 2026 TechCrunch Media LLC 501 2nd Street, Suite 650, San Francisco, CA 94107

Sam Altman would like remind you that humans use a lot of energy, too

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories this weekend

View this email online in your browser  February 22, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 Sam Altman would like remind you that humans use a lot of energy, too: "It also takes a lot of energy to train a human." Read More Great news for xAI: Grok is now pretty good at answering questions about Baldur's Gate: A new report from Business Insider reveals that high-level engineers at xAI were pulled off other projects to make sure Grok could answer detailed questions about the video game Baldur's Gate. Read More Google VP warns that two types of AI startups may not survive: As generative AI evolves, a Google VP warns that LLM wrappers and AI aggregators face mounting pressure, with shrinking margins and limited differentiation threatening their long-term viability. Read More A message from TechCrunch Events 6 days left to save up to $680 at Disrupt 2026 At Disrupt, founders find momentum, VCs discover their next investment, and operators take their next leap. October 13–15 in San Francisco, 10,000 tech leaders converge at San Francisco's Moscone West to connect and hear from 250+ industry-defining voices across 200+ sessions. Save up to $680 on your pass before February 27, 11:59 p.m. PT. Or save up to 30% when you bring your community. Register Now Sunday Must-Reads InScope nabs $14.5M to solve the pain of financial reporting: The startup, founded by accountants who worked at Flexport, Miro, Hopin and Thrive Global, automates the difficulties of prepping financial statements. Read More 7 days until ticket prices rise for TechCrunch Disrupt 2026: Lowest ticket prices to TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 end February 27. Up to $680 off individual passes and up to 30% off group passes. Register before they go up to join 10,000 founders, tech operators, and VCs. Read More Tesla loses bid to overturn $243M Autopilot verdict: "The grounds for relief that Tesla relies upon are virtually the same as those Tesla put forth previously during the course of trial." Read More Apple's iOS 26.4 arrives in public beta with AI music playlists, video podcasts, and more: Several updates are introduced in iOS 26.4, including an AI-powered playlist-generation feature in Apple Music, support for video content in the Podcasts app, end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for RCS messages, and more.  Read More India's Sarvam launches Indus AI chat app as competition heats up: Sarvam's Indus chat app is currently available in beta. Read More A message from TechCrunch Events Upgraded tech to get 30% higher quality leads at Disrupt Exhibiting at Disrupt puts your company in front of 10,000+ decision-makers and VCs, powered by upgraded lead-capture technology that drives up to 30% higher-intent connections. Limited tables position your brand at the center of three days of high-volume Expo Hall traffic. Secure your table early. Get Exhibit Table Be the first to know when news breaks Subscribe to our News Alerts, and you won't miss a thing. Breaking news, exclusives, and special reports—straight to your inbox. Sign up for News Alerts! Last but Not Least Wikipedia blacklists Archive.today after alleged DDoS attack: Wikipedia editors have decided to remove all links to Archive.today, a web archiving service that they said has been linked to more than 695,000 times across the online encyclopedia. Read More Check out some of our other newsletters: StrictlyVC TechCrunch Events TechCrunch Mobility Want to adjust your daily newsletter schedule? You can do it right here Got a tip? Get in touch securely. Want to advertise on TechCrunch? advertise@techcrunch.com Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. Unsubscribe Member Center Privacy Policy Copyright © 2026 TechCrunch Media LLC 501 2nd Street, Suite 650, San Francisco, CA 94107