Anthropic vs. The Pentagon, Bloodbath at Block, The Citrini Selloff

Big Technology Podcast

Alex Kantrowitz

Management, Religion, Politics, Entrepreneurship, Business News, News, Investing, Marketing, News Commentary, Social Sciences, Science, Society & Culture, Religion & Spirituality, Business, Tech News, Philosophy, Government, Technology

4.7 • 596 Ratings

🗓️ 27 February 2026

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) The origins of Anthropic's stare-down with the Pentagon 2) Claude's use in the operation to capture Venezuela president Nicolas Maduro 3) Was Claude really being used for autonomous warfare or mass surveillance, and did the military seek it out? 4) Maybe this is just a culture clash 5) Anthropic's marketing win 6) Should AI be used for autonomous warfare? 7) OpenAI raises $110 billion 8) Is that money real? 9) Block to cut nearly half its staff 10) Can AI be helpful in managing large companies? 11) Another science fiction story leads to a market panic. --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Anthropics Showdown with the Pentagon reaches an endpoint.
0:02.7	We dig into what it means.
0:04.5	Block is laying off half the company,
0:06.5	as Jack Dorsey tells everyone,
0:08.5	AI might be coming for their jobs too.
0:10.8	Open AI finally raises its $110 billion fundraising rounds,
0:15.5	and we have yet another AI science fiction sell-off.
0:18.5	That's coming up on a Big Technology Podcast Friday edition right after this.
0:23.4	Michael Lewis here. My best-selling book, The Big Short, tells the story of the build-up and
0:29.0	burst of the U.S. housing market back in 2008. A decade ago, the Big Short was made into an
0:35.2	Academy Award-winning movie, and now I'm bringing it to you for the first time as an audiobook narrated by yours truly.
0:42.3	The Big Short's story, what it means to bet against the market, and who really pays for an unchecked financial system, is as relevant today as it's ever been.
0:51.3	Get the Big Short now at Pushkin.fm slash audiobooks or wherever audio books are
0:57.0	sold. Welcome to Big Technology Podcast Friday edition where we break down the news in our
1:03.4	traditional cool-headed and nuanced format. We have a great show for you today. We're going to
1:07.7	break down everything that's happening between Anthropic and the
1:11.2	Pentagon and discuss what it means for the company. And maybe the future of war and defense.
1:16.6	We'll also talk about the big layoffs at Block. Half the company seems like it's on the way
1:20.7	out the door. We'll talk about Open AI finally raising the $110 billion round, that round might grow even larger.
1:28.7	And of course, the Citrini sell-off.
1:30.9	We're joined, as always, by Ron John Roy of Margins, who's back from Europe and ready to podcast.
1:36.6	Let's podcast, Ron John.
	...

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