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18 Feb 2026

Workers Face New Psychological Condition as Fear of Job Displacement by AI Takes Mental Toll

University of Florida researchers have identified a new clinical condition called AI replacement dysfunction (AIRD), describing the psychological distress workers experience from constant fears of being replaced by artificial intelligence. With 71% of Americans worried about permanent job losses, the condition manifests through anxiety, insomnia, and identity confusion, prompting calls for standardized clinical recognition and treatment protocols.

3 Sources

SpaceX vets raise $50M to mass-produce American-made optical transceivers for AI data centers

Three SpaceX engineers who developed optical communications for Starlink satellites have raised $50 million in Series A funding for Mesh Optical Technologies. The Los Angeles startup aims to mass-produce American-made optical transceivers, addressing supply chain vulnerabilities as the devices dominated by Chinese manufacturers become critical for AI training clusters.

2 Sources

Google expands Gemini AI split-screen to regular phones, ending constant app switching

Google is expanding Gemini AI's split-screen feature beyond foldables to regular Android smartphones. The update allows users to run Gemini alongside another app, enabling contextual assistance without switching apps. A new "Share screen and app content" option lets the AI chatbot analyze content on the second screen and answer queries in real time.

2 Sources

Meta commits to millions of Nvidia GPUs in expanded AI infrastructure deal worth tens of billions

Meta Platforms has signed a multiyear strategic partnership with Nvidia to deploy millions of AI chips across its global data centers. The deal, potentially worth tens of billions of dollars, includes Blackwell and Rubin GPUs, CPUs, and networking hardware. Jim Cramer warns that companies building their own chips may now face tighter allocations, while AMD stock fell 3% following the announcement.

5 Sources

Nvidia and Meta forge massive chip deal as computing power demands reshape AI infrastructure

Nvidia and Meta have announced an expanded multi-year partnership that will see Meta deploy millions of Blackwell and Rubin GPUs alongside a large-scale rollout of Nvidia's Grace CPUs as standalone processors. The deal marks Meta as the first major tech company to commit to Nvidia's standalone CPUs at scale, signaling a shift in how AI infrastructure is built as agentic AI and data-intensive workloads demand more diverse computing power beyond traditional GPUs.

18 Sources

Google I/O 2026 scheduled for May 19-20 with Gemini and AI breakthroughs taking center stage

Google has confirmed dates for its annual developer conference, Google I/O 2026, scheduled for May 19-20 at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California. The event will focus heavily on AI breakthroughs and Gemini AI model updates across Android, Chrome, Search, and Workspace. Developer registration is now open for both in-person and online attendance.

7 Sources

Fed's Mary Daly says AI shows promise but warns it's too early to call it transformative

San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly cautioned that while artificial intelligence could enable economic growth without triggering inflation—similar to the internet boom of the 1990s—there isn't enough evidence yet to confirm AI's transformative impact. She urged policymakers to monitor disaggregated data for early signs of change, noting that current productivity gains may not be solely AI-driven.

2 Sources

17 Feb 2026

Alpha School's AI-powered education model faces scrutiny over faulty lessons and data concerns

Alpha School, endorsed by the Department of Education, promises to teach K-12 students in just two hours daily using AI tutors. But leaked internal documents reveal the AI-powered school generates flawed lesson plans that employees say do "more harm than good." Former staff describe students as "guinea pigs" while raising concerns about constant student monitoring and inadequate data security.

2 Sources

xAI Data Center Faces NAACP Lawsuit Threat Over Unpermitted Gas Turbines in Mississippi

Mississippi regulators are hosting a public hearing on Elon Musk's xAI plans to build a gas-fired power plant for its Colossus II data center. The NAACP has threatened legal action, accusing the company of violating the Clean Air Act by installing and operating 27 gas turbines without proper air permits, potentially harming largely African American communities near Memphis.

2 Sources

Palo Alto Networks acquires Koi Security for $400M to advance agentic endpoint security

Palo Alto Networks has acquired Koi Security, a file security startup, for a reported $400 million to bolster its AI security capabilities. The Tel Aviv-based startup, which raised $48 million from Battery Ventures, specializes in protecting enterprises from risky file downloads and securing AI agent usage on endpoint devices. The acquisition strengthens Palo Alto Networks' Prisma AIRS and Cortex XDR platforms.

2 Sources

Godot Game Engine Maintainers Struggle With Flood of AI Slop Pull Requests

The Godot game engine faces a crisis as maintainers drown in AI-generated code contributions. Rémi Verschelde warns the open source project can't sustain the onslaught of low-quality pull requests, with over 4,600 currently open. GitHub's AI promotion compounds the problem while maintainers question every new contribution's authenticity.

4 Sources

Anthropic releases Claude Sonnet 4.6 with human-level computer use and coding improvements

Anthropic launched Claude Sonnet 4.6, bringing frontier-level AI capabilities to free and Pro users. The update delivers improved coding skills that rival its premium Opus model, human-level performance in computer use tasks, and a 1 million token context window. Developers prefer the new model 70% of the time over its predecessor, with major gains in security against prompt injection attacks.

18 Sources

Apple accelerates AI wearables push with smart glasses, pendant, and camera-equipped AirPods

Apple is ramping up development of three AI-powered wearables, including smart glasses to rival Meta, an AI pendant that serves as the iPhone's eyes and ears, and camera-equipped AirPods. All three devices will leverage Siri integration and computer vision, with the glasses targeting production as early as December 2026 for a 2027 launch.

19 Sources

WordPress.com rolls out AI Assistant to edit sites, generate images with natural language prompts

WordPress.com has launched a built-in AI assistant that allows site owners to modify site layouts, adjust styles, create and edit images, and update content using simple natural language commands. The feature integrates with Google's Nano Banana AI models for image generation and editing, and works within the site editor and media library to understand website content and layout.

5 Sources

The AI Doc trailer shows Sam Altman, Dario Amodei, and AI experts debating humanity's precarious future

Academy Award-winning director Daniel Roher's new documentary features OpenAI's Sam Altman, Anthropic's Dario Amodei, and Google DeepMind's Demis Hassabis discussing whether AI will save or doom humanity. The film, titled 'The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist,' premieres March 27 from Focus Features after its Sundance debut.

2 Sources

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