{"id":495567,"date":"2026-02-28T12:07:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T12:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/495567\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T12:07:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T12:07:09","slug":"ai-changed-everything-this-week-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/495567\/","title":{"rendered":"AI changed everything this week. Here\u2019s why"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n We\u2019ve been talking about AI changing the world for a long time. But this week felt different \u2014 as if it were right in the middle of something big.\n <\/p>\n

\n The stock market tumbled \u2014 three separate days \u2014 because of investors\u2019 both bearish and bullish fears about AI, including Nvidia\u2019s somewhat tepid outlook and a viral blog post that imagined a hypothetical scenario in which white-collar work evaporated.\n <\/p>\n

\n Anthropic unveiled new tools that could upend the way people do work. Then Anthropic entered into an epic battle over red lines with the Pentagon that risked making the AI company a pariah. At the same time, the company loosened its safety policy as the AI market continues to charge ahead.\n <\/p>\n

\n And then there was Block, which laid off 4,000 people \u2014 nearly half of its staff \u2014 because of AI. The company\u2019s CEO predicted that other companies were about to do the same.\n <\/p>\n

\n What a week, indeed. Here\u2019s how it unfolded.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Dow tumbled<\/a> more than 800 points on Monday, in large part because of a Substack post <\/a>from Citrini Research that laid out hypothetical scenarios for how developments in AI could disrupt<\/a> certain parts of the economy, including AI agents making white-collar work superfluous.\n <\/p>\n

\n The post, which was published last Sunday, specifically said it was not meant to be predictive. It was a work of fiction.\n <\/p>\n

\n And yet stocks for companies mentioned in the report \u2014 like DoorDash and American Express \u2014 tumbled on Monday.\n <\/p>\n

\n Tech stocks tumbled again on Thursday after leading chipmaker Nvidia released its earnings. Although the company\u2019s profit nearly doubled in the fourth quarter and sales reached an all-time high, Wall Street seemed disappointed by its somewhat lackluster outlook. It fueled AI bubble concerns \u2014 that massive investments in AI infrastructure may not translate to big returns.\n <\/p>\n

\n The steep declines this week showed just how on edge investors are regarding AI \u2014 even when the news is good, or when doomsday scenarios are completely made out of thin air.\n <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n Anthropic fed into disruption fears earlier this month when it announced an update to its Claude Cowork<\/a> agent, stoking fears that it could replace dozens of software tools.\n <\/p>\n

\n On Tuesday, Anthropic announced another update<\/a> to Claude to improve the tool\u2019s performance at specific jobs, such as design, human resources and wealth management roles, and it can now work within applications like Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint apps.\n <\/p>\n

\n Anthropic denied that its tools will replace existing software tools and jobs, noting Claude Cowork is designed to be complementary. But its rapid-fire updates are giving Wall Street whiplash.\n <\/p>\n

\n Dario Amodei, Anthropic\u2019s chief executive, went head-to-head with the Pentagon in a high-stakes battle over AI safety.\n <\/p>\n

\n Anthropic set two red lines for its AI: Claude will not be used in autonomous weapons, and it will not be used in the mass surveillance of US citizens.\n <\/p>\n

\n Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon would use the Defense Production Act to access Anthropic\u2019s technologies regardless of the company\u2019s decision. He met with Amodei on Tuesday, saying that the Pentagon wanted to use the AI model \u201cfor all lawful purposes\u201d and set a Friday deadline for the company to agree.\n <\/p>\n

\n Hegseth also threatened<\/a> to end Anthropic\u2019s $200 million contract and could deem the company a \u201csupply chain risk,\u201d effectively barring all companies with military contracts from doing business with Anthropic.\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump amplified that threat on Friday, posting on Truth Social that federal agencies must \u201cimmediately\u201d stop using Anthropic\u2019s technology. The president said there will be a \u201csix month phase out period\u201d for agencies using Anthropic\u2019s products.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cAnthropic better get their act together, and be helpful during this phase out period, or I will use the Full Power of the Presidency to make them comply, with major civil and criminal consequences to follow,\u201d Trump said.\n <\/p>\n

\n But Anthropic has rejected<\/a> the Pentagon\u2019s offer.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThreats do not change our position: we cannot in good conscience accede to their request,\u201d Amodei said in a blog post.\n <\/p>\n

\n Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Anthropic had loosened its core safety policy<\/a> to better adapt to a fast-moving market in which competitors may not abide by the same safety standards.\n <\/p>\n

\n Economists and investors have long been worried for years that AI adoption could result in mass layoffs.\n <\/p>\n

\n Those fears seemed to come to fruition on Thursday when Block \u2014 the company behind Square, Cash App and Afterpay \u2014 said it would cut its staff by 40%. Co-founder Jack Dorsey plainly cited \u201cintelligence tools\u201d as the reason in a letter to shareholders.\n <\/p>\n

\n The company would lay off more than 4,000 people, reducing its workforce to under 6,000. And Dorsey said in his note<\/a> that \u201cmost companies are late\u201d and he thinks \u201cthe majority of companies will reach the same conclusion.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n That sparked a whole host of new fears about a jobs apocalypse \u2014 one that many economists still doubt is coming en masse. But Dorsey\u2019s prediction of mass AI-induced layoffs sure seems closer to reality this week than at any time in history.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019ve been talking about AI changing the world for a long time. But this week felt different \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[182,181,507,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-495567","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}