☕️ OpenClaw creator joins OpenAI

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In today's Techpresso:

👀 OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger joins OpenAI

🏛️ Pentagon may cut ties with Anthropic

💥 Alibaba launches Qwen 3.5 AI model

💾 Western Digital hard drives sold out for all of 2026

🍎 Apple announces special event on March 4

🎬 ByteDance to limit AI video generator after Disney's legal threat

Plus: 🎁 10 other news you might like, 🧰 6 tools, and 📚 1 papers.

👀 OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger joins OpenAI LINK

Peter Steinberger, the creator of the autonomous AI tool OpenClaw, is joining OpenAI to work on what the company calls "the next generation of personal agents" for ChatGPT and other products.

OpenClaw operates autonomously by accessing personal services like email and computer files to handle tasks such as clearing your inbox, and it sends updates through iMessage or WhatsApp.

Altman confirmed that OpenClaw will continue as an open-source project with OpenAI "support," though security experts have raised concerns about the tool's broad access to users' information and services.

🏛️ Pentagon may cut ties with Anthropic LINK

The Pentagon is reportedly pressuring Anthropic to let the U.S. military use its AI technology for "all lawful purposes," and may cancel a $200 million contract if the company refuses.

The government is making the same demand to OpenAI, Google, and xAI, with one reportedly agreeing and two others showing some flexibility, while Anthropic has been the most resistant.

Anthropic says it is focused on Usage Policy questions around its hard limits, specifically opposing fully autonomous weapons and mass domestic surveillance rather than discussing Claude's role in specific operations.

💥 Alibaba launches Qwen 3.5 AI model LINK

Alibaba released Qwen 3.5, a large language model designed for the "agentic AI era," which the company says outperforms GPT-5.2, Claude Opus 4.5, and Gemini 3 Pro on several internal benchmarks.

Qwen 3.5 is 60% cheaper than the previous version, up to eight times better at handling large workloads, and includes an open-weight model released under an Apache 2.0 license supporting 201 languages.

The launch comes days after ByteDance updated its Doubao chatbot, which leads China with nearly 200 million users, while DeepSeek is expected to introduce a next-generation model soon.

💾 Western Digital hard drives sold out for all of 2026 LINK

Western Digital has sold out its entire hard drive manufacturing capacity for 2026, with some enterprise customers already locking in long-term agreements stretching into 2027 and even 2028.

AI data centers are driving the demand, as hard disks offer a relatively low-cost way to store data, and enterprise cloud customers now account for roughly 89% of Western Digital's total revenue.

Hard drive prices are already at their highest in two years, and with consumer drives making up only 5% of WD's revenue, supply for regular buyers will likely stay tight.

🍎 Apple announces special event on March 4 LINK

Apple has announced an invite-only special event scheduled for March 4 in New York City, where it may reveal products like M5 MacBook Pro models, updated iPads, and the iPhone 17e.

The 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro could get M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, while the MacBook Air and iPad Air may also receive upgrades following their March 2025 releases.

Desktop Mac lines like the iMac, Mac mini, and Mac Studio probably won't appear at this event, as those updates are expected to arrive later in the first half of 2026.

🎬 ByteDance to limit AI video generator after Disney's legal threat LINK

ByteDance has restricted its Seedance 2.0 AI video tool after Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter alleging unauthorized use of copyrighted characters, with Paramount and industry groups quickly following with their own demands.

A research platform called LightBar says it helps studios detect suspected misuse of copyrighted material by running structured prompts and measuring percentage likeness, distinctive character traits, and prominence in AI outputs.

SAG-AFTRA condemned Seedance 2.0 for unauthorized use of performers' voices and likenesses, while the Motion Picture Association urged ByteDance to stop the tool, saying it uses copyrighted works without authorization.

Other news you might like

• Memory shortages could delay PlayStation 6 launch until 2029, raise Switch 2 priceLINK

• Upcoming Low-Cost MacBook May Come in Yellow, Green, Blue, and PinkLINK

• Tesla CarPlay is coming but it's reportedly being held back by low iOS 26 adoption numbersLINK

• YouTube adds new hurdles for ad blockers, and there’s currently no way around itLINK

• It’s time for Apple to let go of 60Hz displaysLINK

• ‘Hey, that’s my voice!’ Veteran broadcaster claims Google stole his voice for AI toolLINK

• One of Stanford’s original AI gurus says productivity liftoff has begun after doubling in 2025 amid transition to ‘harvest phase’ along J-curveLINK

• Vitalik Buterin is not happy about the current trajectory of prediction marketsLINK

🧰 Trending tools

Base44 Backend Platform: a no-code development tool that generates functional backend applications from natural language descriptions, eliminating the need for manual coding.LINK

Toolspend: tracks SaaS subscriptions and identifies unused licenses, duplicate tools, and renewal dates to reduce wasted spending on software.LINK

PenguinBot AI: an autonomous assistant that executes tasks like managing emails, scheduling, and creating documents by running workflows automatically in the background 24/7.LINK

NVIDIA PersonaPlex: a multi-agent AI framework that enables developers to build applications with multiple specialized AI personas that collaborate to handle complex tasks.LINK

JDoodle.ai MCP: enables full-stack app development with integrated database, hosting, and automatic bug fixing using AI-powered code generation on pay-as-you-go credits.LINK

microgpt: a 4,000 parameter GPT implementation that visualizes neural network activations in the browser for educational purposes.LINK

📚 Trending papers & reports

AI system proves math theorems without human guidance: the system generates its own conjectures, searches for proofs autonomously, and verified 10 novel theorems in group theory.LINK

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