Anthropic Refusing to Let U.S. Government Use AI for Mass Domestic Surveillance and Fully Autonomous Weapons
February 27th, 2026Via: Anthropic:
The Department of War has stated they will only contract with AI companies who accede to “any lawful use” and remove safeguards in the cases mentioned above. They have threatened to remove us from their systems if we maintain these safeguards; they have also threatened to designate us a “supply chain risk”—a label reserved for US adversaries, never before applied to an American company—and to invoke the Defense Production Act to force the safeguards’ removal. These latter two threats are inherently contradictory: one labels us a security risk; the other labels Claude as essential to national security.
Regardless, these threats do not change our position: we cannot in good conscience accede to their request.
Apple Will Begin Manufacturing Mac Mini In Texas Later This Year
February 24th, 2026Via: Apple:
Apple today announced a significant expansion of factory operations in Houston, bringing the future production of Mac mini to the U.S. for the first time. The company will also expand advanced AI server manufacturing at the factory and provide hands-on training at its new Advanced Manufacturing Center beginning later this year. Altogether, Apple’s Houston operations will create thousands of jobs.
“Apple is deeply committed to the future of American manufacturing, and we’re proud to significantly expand our footprint in Houston with the production of Mac mini starting later this year,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We began shipping advanced AI servers from Houston ahead of schedule, and we’re excited to accelerate that work even further.”
Firefox 148 Rolls Out With The Promised AI Kill Switch
February 24th, 2026Via: Techspot:
Firefox and its forks remain the preferred browsers for a niche segment of power users, many of whom strongly opposed Mozilla’s plans to infuse the browser with generative AI features. To its credit, Mozilla listened to community feedback and agreed to introduce a graphical interface option allowing users to disable all AI features globally. The so-called “AI kill switch” is now available in Firefox 148.
Related: Mozilla Firefox
Former Norway PM Attempts Suicide After Epstein-Linked Raid, Corruption Charges
February 24th, 2026— cryptogon (@cryptogon) February 24, 2026
Via: ZeroHedge:
Norway’s former Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland was hospitalized a week ago after a failed suicide attempt, days after he was charged with “gross corruption” after a police probe into his ties with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, local outlet iNyheter reports.
Jagland, 75, who gave Barack Obama a Nobel peace price less than nine months into his presidency, was charged on February 12 after police carried out an extensive search of his properties – including apartments in Oslo and in Risør.
‘Special Research for Artichoke’
February 24th, 2026The following is from a 1952 CIA document called, Special Research for Artichoke:
It is believed that specific research should be undertaken to develop new chemicals or drugs or to improve known elements for use in the Artichoke work. A study should be made to determine what drugs are best suited for direct use on subjects along the lines of amytal and pentothal and which drugs are best for indirect or lcng-range approach to subjects. This second type of drug should be one that could be administered over a considerable period of time, possibly being placed in food or water and would either have an agitating effect (producing anxiety, nervousness, tension, etc.) or a depressing effect (creating a feeling of despondency, hopelessness, lethargy, etc.). This study should include chemicals or drugs that can effectively be concealed in common items such as food, water, coca cola, beer, liquor, cigarettes, etc. This type of drug should also be capable of use in standard medical treatments such as vaccinations, shots, etc.
Via: Daily Mail:
A newly released CIA document reveals a chilling blueprint to manipulate minds through covert drugging experiments.
The report, added to the CIA’s reading room in 2025, details the government’s once top-secret Project Artichoke that ran from 1951 to 1956, focusing on behavior control, interrogation techniques and psychological manipulation.
The seven-page document, titled ‘Special Research for Artichoke,’ with an attachment labeled ‘Suggested Fields for Special Research Relative Artichoke,’ outlines proposals to develop chemicals capable of altering human behavior.
It discusses drugs designed for both immediate effects, like truth serums and long-term influence, potentially administered through food, water, alcohol or cigarettes.
Researchers also suggested that such substances could be disguised in medical treatments such as vaccinations or injections.
The CIA was also looking into methods beyond chemicals, listing hypnosis, sensory deprivation, gases and other psychological methods for interrogation and behavioral control.
Artichoke served as a precursor to the CIA’s MKUltra program, which later broadened mind-altering experiments on a larger scale.
“I want to wash my car. The car wash is 50 meters away. Should I walk or drive?”
February 24th, 2026Many AIs fail to answer the question correctly, but far more of a worry is that 28% of humans also get it wrong:
The most common pushback on the car wash test: “Humans would fail this too.”
Fair point. We didn’t have data either way. So we partnered with Rapidata to find out. They ran the exact same question with the same forced choice between “drive” and “walk,” no additional context, past 10,000 real people through their human feedback platform.
71.5% said drive.
Via: Opper:
The car wash test is the simplest AI reasoning benchmark that nearly every model fails, including Claude Sonnet 4.5, GPT-5.1, Llama, and Mistral.
Donut Lab Starts to Release Independent Test Results of Their Solid State Battery
February 23rd, 2026Donut Lab only released charge rate information so far, along with a countdown to the next release of test results. While they appear to want the controversy to drag on for as long as possible, at least they are moving in the right direction with the release of some information.
I was really hoping for confirmation of power density, but we’re going to have to wait for that.
Via: The Verge:
Since announcing earlier this year that it was on the cusp of a major battery breakthrough, Finnish startup Donut Lab has faced a lot of questions, and plenty of skepticism, about its production-ready, solid-state battery. Could the company really make a fast-charging battery at scale while avoiding some of the theoretical production headaches that have stymied past efforts? Today, Donut Lab sought to dispel some of the doubts with the release of the first independent test of its battery, evaluating its charging speed and the “thermal behavior” of its pack.
The test, which was conducted by state-owned VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, concludes that the battery is able to be charged significantly faster than a traditional lithium-ion battery. In several tests, the battery was able to charge from 0–80 percent in around 9.5 minutes, while retaining 100 percent of its capacity. In other tests, 0–80 percent was achieved in about 4.5 minutes while retaining 99 percent capacity.
U.S. Air Force Transports Compact Nuclear Reactor Aboard C-17
February 22nd, 2026Via: The Defense Post:
The US Department of Defense has airlifted a compact nuclear reactor from California to Utah, marking the first time a C-17 military transport aircraft has transported a nuclear microreactor.
In partnership with Hawthorne-based Valar Atomics and the Department of Energy, officials flew the unfueled Ward 250 reactor from March Air Reserve Base to Hill Air Force Base.
The reactor will then be moved to the Utah San Rafael Energy Lab for assessments, where it is expected to reach initial operations capability by July 2026 under Washington’s effort to accelerate domestic nuclear deployment.
More:
Department of War Partners With Department of Energy in Historic Nuclear Energy Initiative
Iran (So Far Away)
February 22nd, 2026The RAMpocalypse. No hard drives. GPU and SSD prices through the roof?
Worth it.
Via: Dr Phoxotic:
In case you don’t know what inspired the AI slop above: A Flock Of Seagulls – I Ran (So Far Away):
Man Accidentally Gains Control of 7,000 Robot Vacuums
February 22nd, 2026Via: Popular Science:
A software engineer’s earnest effort to steer his new DJI robot vacuum with a video game controller inadvertently granted him a sneak peak into thousands of people’s homes.
While building his own remote-control app, Sammy Azdoufal reportedly used an AI coding assistant to help reverse-engineer how the robot communicated with DJI’s remote cloud servers. But he soon discovered that the same credentials that allowed him to see and control his own device also provided access to live camera feeds, microphone audio, maps, and status data from nearly 7,000 other vacuums across 24 countries. The backend security bug effectively exposed an army of internet-connected robots that, in the wrong hands, could have turned into surveillance tools, all without their owners ever knowing.
