“Individuals utilizing these products are, in fact, serving as guinea pigs,” Adam Taylor, anatomy professor at Lancaster University, remarks. “There exists some information, yet it is derived from pre-clinical models. Essentially, they have undergone testing on animals, but not on human subjects.”
Certain users and advocacy groups have praised the initiative, contending that major tech firms ought not to take advantage of vast developing markets merely for financial gain. Conversely, others, such as digital rights advocate Nikhil Pahwa, argue that Meta and WhatsApp, being commercial organizations, possess a rightful ability to monetize user metadata.
The Claude AI assistant app from Anthropic surged to the top position on Apple’s U.S. free app rankings late on Saturday, following attempts by the Trump administration to impede the use of the startup’s technology by government entities.
This surge in popularity implies that Anthropic is capitalizing on its media presence, which arises from its stance against deploying its models for extensive domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons.
President Donald Trump expressed in a post on Truth Social, “The Leftwing extremists at Anthropic have made an ABYSMAL ERROR in attempting to COERCE the Department of Defense, insisting they adhere to their Terms of Service instead of the Constitution.”
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth stated that he requested Anthropic be identified as a supply-chain threat to national security, thus prohibiting U.S. defense contractors from using Anthropic tools.
According to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, “It is the Department’s right to choose contractors that best align with their objectives,” in a statement. “However, given the significant value Anthropic’s technology brings to our military, we hope for a reassessment.”
Historically, other AI chat applications have received greater consumer popularity than Claude. OpenAI’s ChatGPT ranked No. 2 in the App Store on Saturday, while Google’s Gemini stood at No. 4.
This month, the Claude iOS app has gained traction. On January 30, it was placed at No. 131 in the U.S. and has been fluctuating in the top 20 for most of February, as per analytics firm Sensor Tower. The data indicates that ChatGPT has maintained the No. 1 position for the majority of February.
Anthropic’s number of free users has surged more than 60% since January, with the daily sign-ups tripling since November, hitting a new record daily this week, as reported by a spokesperson via email. Additionally, paying subscribers have more than doubled this year, according to the spokesperson.
Over the past year, Anthropic—established in 2021 by former employees of OpenAI—has experienced growth as a provider of models for coding and general corporate applications. OpenAI, which has over 900 million weekly users of ChatGPT, has been addressing Anthropic’s business growth by forming partnerships with consulting firms like Accenture and Capgemini.
On Friday night, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced that the startup had secured an agreement with the U.S. Defense Department for the utilization of its models.
Shortly after, pop star Katy Perry shared a screenshot of Anthropic’s Pro subscription for consumers, featuring a heart overlay.
WATCH: Sec. Pete Hegseth instructs Pentagon to classify Anthropic supply-chain threat
Katherine Houser, the county health official who authored the MMWR report, said beer‑tent staff were reluctant to provide specifics because they did not want to implicate fellow community members. One worker, however, mentioned that leftover food had been placed in the cooler overnight at the beginning of the fair.
Local health officials proposed that the cooler had been contaminated with Salmonella, which then transferred to beer cans that people drank from, causing infections. With the improvised cooler no longer available, that idea could only be speculative. Consequently, investigators consulted ChatGPT for confirmation.
After feeding the chatbot the outbreak details, investigators posed several questions, such as: “Will S. Agbeni proliferate in a poorly drained cooler?”; “Besides ice, are there any plausible sources if only canned drinks and no food were present at this site?”; and “What documented examples of similar outbreaks exist in the scientific literature?”
Several of those queries could be resolved without a chatbot. A quick search of PubMed, the federal scientific literature database, readily turns up instances of Salmonella being detected in ice. Nonetheless, the chatbot told officials the cooler was a “credible and likely” source, and they maintained that hypothesis.
Ultimately, officials instituted new cooler sanitation procedures and judged the AI input to be useful. “AI was effective in this rural setting for rapid situational awareness,” Houser wrote. She also noted concerns about employing AI in outbreak work: “Given the inherent limitations of generative AI tools, including potential inaccuracies and lack of source transparency, all AI-generated summaries were critically reviewed and validated against primary literature before incorporation,” she added.
All told, the case report ends ambiguously. How much the chatbot actually contributed remains uncertain. Carefully vetting AI-produced responses can consume as much time as doing the research independently. And, of course, the true events surrounding that improvised beer cooler may never be known—though the updated cooler sanitation measures appear prudent regardless.
Berkshire Hathaway showed a significant drop in its operating profits for the final quarter, primarily attributed to challenges within the conglomerate’s insurance sector.
Operational earnings reached $10.2 billion in Q4. This marks a decrease of over 29% from $14.56 billion during the same period last year.
This quarter was the last under Warren Buffett’s leadership as CEO, who revealed his resignation at last May’s annual shareholders meeting. Greg Abel commenced his role at the beginning of 2026 and pledged in Berkshire’s annual letter accompanying Saturday’s results to preserve the culture of financial soundness and disciplined capital management established by Buffett. Buffett continues as chairman.
Profits from insurance underwriting plummeted 54% to $1.56 billion down from $3.41 billion a year ago. Insurance investment income decreased nearly 25%, dropping to $3.1 billion from $4.088 billion.
For the entire year of 2025, operating profits amounted to $44.49 billion, a decline from $47.44 billion the previous year.
Insurance underwriting profits totaled $7.26 billion, down from $9 billion in 2024. Insurance investment income for the year fell to $12.5 billion from $13.6 billion a year earlier.
Comprehensive earnings, which encompass gains or losses from the conglomerate’s stock market activities, slightly decreased in the fourth quarter to $19.2 billion from $19.7 billion the previous year. However, these figures were affected by a $4.5 billion write-down related to Berkshire’s investments in Kraft Heinz and Occidental Petroleum. Investment gains were reported at $13.5 billion.
For the full year, overall earnings declined to $66.97 billion from $89 billion the previous year. It’s important to note that Berkshire consistently advises investors to be less concerned with the performance of its investments over brief intervals.
“The level of investment gains (losses) in any specific quarter is generally inconsequential and can lead to figures for net earnings per share that may be very misleading for investors who lack extensive understanding of accounting practices,” the firm remarked in its earnings announcement.
Berkshire refrained from repurchasing shares again this quarter, even though it closed Q4 at a stable level. Despite no stock buybacks, the conglomerate’s cash reserves fell to $373.3 billion from a peak of $381.6 billion in the third quarter.
Berkshire Hathaway Class A shares appreciated by 10% in 2025, trailing behind the S&P 500’s 16.4% increase. Nevertheless, Buffett’s stewardship has resulted in exceptional wealth generation for investors.
Since 1965, Berkshire Hathaway has experienced compounded annual growth of 19.7%. This nearly doubles the S&P 500’s compounded growth over that timeframe. Overall returns for Berkshire surpass 6,000,000% during this period, while the S&P 500’s gains stand at just 46,061%, including dividends, as noted by Abel in his inaugural annual letter to shareholders as CEO.
“I wish to emphasize to those seeking to acquire money from the aircraft related to this incident that such money holds no legal value as it has not been authorized by the Central Bank and lacks a serial number; attempting to utilize this money constitutes a crime,” stated Defence Minister Marcelo Salinas.
On late Friday, OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman announced that his company has finalized an agreement with the Department of Defense regarding the utilization of its artificial intelligence models, shortly after President Donald Trump indicated that the government would not collaborate with AI competitor Anthropic.
“This evening, we came to an accord with the Department of War to implement our models within their classified infrastructure,” Altman stated in a post on X. “Throughout our discussions, the DoW exhibited profound respect for safety and a commitment to partner for optimal results.”
Altman’s message arrives at the conclusion of a tumultuous week for the AI sector, which has been at the forefront of a political discourse concerning the applications of its models. Earlier today, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth identified Anthropic as a “Supply-Chain Risk to National Security” following weeks of strained discussions. This label is often reserved for foreign adversaries, compelling DoD vendors and contractors to confirm that they do not employ Anthropic’s models.
Additionally, President Trump instructed every federal agency in the U.S. to “immediately cease” all application of Anthropic’s technology.
Anthropic was the pioneering lab to utilize its models across the DoD’s classified network and had been in negotiations regarding the terms of its contract with the agency before the talks fell through. The firm sought assurances that its models would not be deployed for fully autonomous weapon systems or mass surveillance of Americans, while the DoD insisted on the understanding that the military could utilize the models for all lawful purposes.
In a memo to staff on Thursday, Altman conveyed that OpenAI held the same “red lines” as Anthropic. He mentioned in his Friday post that the DoD consented to these limitations.
“Two of our most significant safety principles are prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human accountability for the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems,” Altman wrote. The DoW endorses these principles, reflects them in regulations and policies, and we incorporated them into our agreement.
The rationale behind the DoD’s decision to favor OpenAI over Anthropic remains unclear, although government officials have recently criticized Anthropic for allegedly being excessively focused on AI safety.
Altman expressed that OpenAI intends to create “technical safeguards to ensure its models perform as intended,” and that the company will assign personnel to “aid with our models and ensure their safety.”
“We are urging the DoW to extend these same conditions to all AI companies, which we believe should be readily accepted by everyone,” Altman wrote. “We have shown our strong intent to transition from legal and governmental confrontations towards reasonable agreements.”
In a statement released on Friday, Anthropic expressed that it was “deeply saddened” by the Pentagon’s decision to categorize the company as a supply chain risk. It declared its intent to contest that designation in court.
WATCH: Hegseth directs Pentagon to classify Anthropic a supply-chain risk
“As soon as the footage of my statement today becomes available, I wish for it to inspire everyone to appear before Congress and share what they know,” Clinton remarked. “I hope it will encourage the justice department to ultimately disclose all the documents and guarantee that this never occurs again. The survivors warrant that.”
Anthropic has announced plans to contest the classification in court.
Anthropic has announced plans to contest the classification in court.
Shortly after President Donald Trump revealed on Truth Social that he was prohibiting Anthropic products from federal usage, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth escalated the situation by declaring the AI firm a “supply-chain risk,” which Anthropic states it is prepared to contest legally.
This move could have an immediate effect on a variety of significant tech firms that utilize Claude for their contracts with the Pentagon, including Palantir and AWS. It remains unclear how broadly the Pentagon may restrict companies that provide services through Claude for purposes outside of national security, with Anthropic asserting that the classification pertains solely to the use of its Claude AI in Department of Defense contract work.
Following a week of intense discussions regarding the company’s acceptable use policies, the Pentagon issued Anthropic an ultimatum: consent by Friday, 5:30 PM EST, allowing the Pentagon to use Claude for “all lawful purposes,” including autonomous lethal weapons without human oversight and mass surveillance, or face the classification as a supply-chain risk. This classification is generally applied to firms with connections to foreign governments that represent threats to national security and would prevent any organization using Anthropic products from engaging with the Department of Defense.
In a tweet made just after 5PM ET, Hegseth extended the designation to include companies engaging in “any business activity with Anthropic,” reiterating Trump’s instruction that firms had six months to sell off their interests in Anthropic products.
“Our stance has always remained firm and will continue to be: the Department of War requires complete, unrestricted access to Anthropic’s models for every LAWFUL purpose in defending the Republic,” he asserted. “Instead, @AnthropicAI and its CEO @DarioAmodei have opted for deceit. Masquerading in the pious language of ‘effective altruism,’ they have sought to coerce the United States military into compliance – a cowardly display of corporate virtue-signaling that prioritizes Silicon Valley values over the lives of Americans.”
Hegseth, as Secretary of Defense, possesses the discretion to designate a company as a “supply-chain risk.” Nevertheless, this choice follows multiple other efforts by the Pentagon to pressure Anthropic into allowing the use of Claude as they wished, including a warning to invoke the Defense Production Act.
On Friday evening, Anthropic replied to both the Department of Defense and the White House, stating in a blog post that it had not received direct communication from either entity about the negotiation developments. According to Anthropic, contrary to what Hegseth’s tweet suggested, it informs customers that “The Secretary lacks the statutory authority to substantiate this claim.”
The firm maintains that the classification can solely apply “to the deployment of Claude as part of Department of War contracts—it cannot influence how contractors utilize Claude for other clients,” asserting that simply having a contract with Anthropic is not relevant.
Regarding the classification itself and the DoD policy advocated by Hegseth, Anthropic has expressed its willingness to litigate:
Labeling Anthropic as a supply chain risk would represent an unprecedented measure—one historically reserved for US adversaries, never before publicly designated to an American entity. We are profoundly disheartened by these events. As the pioneering AI company to integrate models into the US government’s classified systems, Anthropic has offered support to American military personnel since June 2024 and is committed to continuing that support.
We believe this classification would be legally questionable and set a perilous precedent for any American company engaging with the government.
No level of intimidation or punishment from the Department of War will alter our position on mass domestic surveillance or completely autonomous weapons. We will contest any supply chain risk classification in court.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth:
This week, Anthropic displayed a master class in arrogance and betrayal, as well as a classic example of how not to conduct business with the United States Government or the Pentagon.
Our stance has never shifted and will not shift: the Department of War must have absolute, unrestricted access to Anthropic’s models for all LAWFUL purposes in defense of the Republic.
Instead, @AnthropicAI and its CEO @DarioAmodei, have opted for duplicity. Hiding behind the self-righteous language of “effective altruism,” they have attempted to coerce the US military into compliance – a cowardly display of corporate virtue-signaling that prioritizes Silicon Valley ideals over American lives.
The Terms of Service of Anthropic’s flawed altruism will never surpass the safety, preparedness, or lives of American troops on the battlefield.
Their true aim is crystal clear: to obtain veto authority over the operational decisions of the United States military. That is unacceptable.
As President Trump articulated on Truth Social, it is the Commander-in-Chief and the American people who will decide the fate of our armed forces, not unelected tech executives.
Anthropic’s position is fundamentally at odds with American values. Consequently, their relationship with the United States Armed Forces and the Federal Government has been irreversibly changed.
In line with the President’s directive for the Federal Government to halt all use of Anthropic’s technology, I am instructing the Department of War to classify Anthropic as a Supply-Chain Risk to National Security. Immediately, no contractor, supplier, or partner that conducts business with the US military may engage in any commercial activity with Anthropic. Anthropic will continue to supply the Department of War its services for a maximum of six months to facilitate a smooth transition to a more suitable and patriotic service.
America’s military personnel will never be held captive by the ideological whims of Big Tech. This determination is final.
Update, February 27th: Added reaction from Anthropic.
Google and other browser makers require that all TLS certificates be published in public transparency logs, which are append-only distributed ledgers. Website owners can then monitor the logs in real time to verify that no rogue certificates have been issued for their domains. The transparency programs were launched after the 2011 hack of Netherlands-based DigiNotar, which enabled the creation of roughly 500 fake certificates for Google and other sites, some of which were used to spy on web users in Iran.
Once practical, Shor’s algorithm could be used to fake classical encryption signatures and to break the classical public keys that protect the certificate logs. Ultimately, an attacker could fabricate the signed certificate timestamps that are presented to a browser or operating system to indicate a certificate has been logged when it hasn’t.
To eliminate that risk, Google is adding cryptographic material from quantum-resistant algorithms such as ML-DSA. That change would only permit forgeries if an attacker were able to break both the classical and post-quantum schemes. The new approach is part of what Google calls the quantum-resistant root store, which will complement the Chrome Root Store the company formed in 2022.
The MTCs rely on Merkle Trees to offer quantum-resistant proof that a certificate has been published without having to include most of the lengthy keys and hashes. By applying other techniques to shrink the data, the MTCs will be roughly the same 4kB length they are now, Westerbaan said.
The new system has already been rolled out in Chrome. For now, Cloudflare is enrolling roughly 1,000 TLS certificates to evaluate how well the MTCs perform. At present Cloudflare is generating the distributed ledger; the plan is for CAs to take on that role in time. The Internet Engineering Task Force standards body has recently formed a working group called the PKI, Logs, And Tree Signatures, which is coordinating with other stakeholders to build a long-term solution.
“We view the adoption of MTCs and a quantum-resistant root store as a critical opportunity to ensure the robustness of the foundation of today’s ecosystem,” Google’s Friday blog post said. “By designing for the specific demands of a modern, agile internet, we can accelerate the adoption of post-quantum resilience for all web users.”
Post updated to correct reported sizes of various items.
