Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 🤖 Anthropic’s military standoff
• 💉 Major Ozempic price cut
• 🇺🇸 State of the Union

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~3.37-minute read (896 words).

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“Wrong turns are as important as right turns. More important, sometimes.”

–Richard Bach (b. 1936)

The Pentagon has given artificial intelligence giant Anthropic a deadline of Friday to comply with its demands on using its AI models, or face cancellation of its US military contract.

The ultimatum, delivered in a meeting yesterday morning between CEO Dario Amodei and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, follows several weeks of growing friction over how the military is using Claude, Anthropic’s flagship AI model.

Some quick background: The Defense Department and Anthropic agreed to a $200 million pilot contract last year. But a January 9 memo from Hegseth calling for AI companies to remove restrictions on their tech led to the current contract renegotiation.

• Anthropic’s Claude AI model is approved for use on classified networks, a designation no other AI firm had secured until this week (when xAI had its Grok model approved).
• In recent months, the US military has used advanced AI systems like Claude for intelligence analysis, strategic planning, and real-time operational support.
• Claude in particular was used during the US military’s operation to capture former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

The disagreements

Anthropic says it’s willing to loosen some restrictions on the US military using its AI models, but not all.

• Thus far, the company has drawn two firm lines in the sand: Claude can’t be used to help with mass surveillance of Americans, or the deployment of autonomous weapons that can operate without any humans in the loop.
• In a January essay, Amodei warned that AI-powered drone swarms and large-scale surveillance systems could significantly expand government power if safeguards aren’t clearly defined in advance.

On the flip side: Pentagon officials argue Anthropic’s guardrails are too restrictive. They say companies working with the military should make their AI systems available for “all lawful purposes,” without any restrictions, to give the Pentagon the speed and flexibility needed to react in real-world defense scenarios—a deal clause other AI companies appear open to supporting.

US officials also contend that unrestricted access to the top AI tools will help America’s military maintain a competitive advantage against foreign adversaries like China.

Looking ahead…If Anthropic doesn’t show more flexibility, Hegseth says the US will not only pull the company’s military contract, but could also label them a “supply-chain risk”—forcing military contractors to stop using Claude—or invoke the Defense Production Act to essentially force Anthropic to work more collaboratively.

📊 Flash poll: Which side of the current disagreement over AI military usage do you support more: Anthropic or the US Defense Department?

• Anthropic
• US military
• Unsure/other

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BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🤖 Meta agrees to buy $100+ billion worth of AI chips from AMD; the deal, which covers 6 GW worth of AI computing power over five years, could result in Meta owning as much as 10% of AMD stock.
• 💉 Novo Nordisk is cutting US list prices for Ozempic and Wegovy by up to half—to $675/month for both—starting January 1, 2027.
• ✈️ Spirit Airlines reaches deal with creditors to emerge from bankruptcy by early summer with fewer planes and routes.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🥇 Winter Olympics averaged 23.5 million viewers across NBCUniversal and Versant platforms; it’s a 93% increase from the Beijing Games four years ago, and the largest Winter Olympic audience since 2014.
• 🔎 TODAY co-host Savannah Guthrie and her family are now offering up to $1 million for info leading to the recovery of her mother, Nancy; the 84-year-old was abducted from her Arizona home nearly a month ago.
• 🚨 Nick Reiner, son of director Rob Reiner and photographer Michele Singer Reiner, pleads not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder tied to his parents’ deaths.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🌌 Astronomers discover one of the most heavily dark-matter-dominated galaxies on record; the rare “dark galaxy” is 99% made up of dark matter.
• 🧑‍⚖️ Supreme Court agrees to review whether Colorado county can pursue state-law climate lawsuit against oil companies under federal law; it comes after Colorado’s Supreme Court allowed the case to proceed.
• 🐦🧠 Birdwatching may help mitigate typical age-related declines in brain cognition, according to newly published research.

US, WORLD & POLITICS

• 🗣️🏛️ President Trump delivers first official State of the Union address of his second term; speech is longest on record by a US President to Congress, at 1 hour 47 minutes; Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger follows up with the Democratic Party response.
• 📬 Supreme Court issues 5-4 ruling that finds Americans can’t sue the US Postal Service, even when USPS employees deliberately refuse to deliver their mail.
• 🇫🇷 Louvre Museum president resigns following parliamentary inquiry, which was called in the aftermath of a daring October heist where thieves stole jewels valued at $100+ million.

👆 The US Northeast remains covered in up to two feet of snow following a snowstorm this week, which caused governors in multiple states to issue travel bans as major roads became impassable.

🤔 Did you know? Blue whales are the largest known creature to have ever lived, with adults reaching ~100 feet in length and ~200 tons on average. Their tongues alone can weigh as much as an elephant.

📰 Worth a read: Why are there so many shipwrecks in the Great Lakes?

🖱️ What we’re clicking:

• The out-of-touch adults' guide to kid culture
• Stressed out? Try putting together a puzzle
• The everyday Americans going all in on the Chinese lifestyle

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💪 Who’s the boss? Ranking the world’s 100 most powerful women.

📝 Read: The viral AI doomsday report that sent the stock market into a tailspin.

💔 Separation of church and state: These US states have the highest divorce rates in the nation.

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*A message from our partners

How it works: We provide an incorrect stat. Your challenge is to guess whether the actual number is over or under the given value.

1. 🚗 25 mph: Top speed of the first automobiles
2. 📅 365: Days in a year
3. 🥶 −116°F: Coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth

🐒 This week’s biggest internet celebrity is Punch the monkey and his emotional support stuffed animal “mom.” After videos of the baby monkey getting shunned from his tribe went viral online, messages of support flooded in from around the world.

The Ichikawa City Zoo in Japan later reassured the public that Punch is making strides in bonding with the other monkeys.

1. 🚗 Under; 10 mph
2. 📅 Over; 365.2422
3. 🥶 Under; −128.6°F in Antarctica

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*Disclaimer: Based on internal data; results vary