Neural Newscast

[00:00] Benjamin Roth: From Neural Newscast, I'm Benjamin Roth.
[00:03] Evelyn Hartwell: And I'm Evelyn Hartwell.
[00:05] Evelyn Hartwell: Today is March 12th, 2026.
[00:08] Benjamin Roth: The Department of Defense has offered its most direct explanation yet
[00:12] Benjamin Roth: for why it designated anthropic as a supply chain risk earlier this month.
[00:18] Benjamin Roth: In an interview with CNBC, Defense Department CTO Emile Michael said the company's clawed AI models could pollute the agency's supply chain because they have specific policy preferences baked into their core architecture.
[00:33] Benjamin Roth: Michael argued that a company with a different policy preference integrated via a model's constitution could lead to warfighters receiving ineffective protection or weaponry.
[00:44] Benjamin Roth: This marks the first time an American company has been labeled a supply chain risk, a designation
[00:51] Benjamin Roth: typically reserved for foreign adversaries."
[00:54] Announcer: Anthropic isn't accepting that label quietly.
[00:57] Announcer: The company filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Monday, calling the move
[01:01] Announcer: unprecedented and unlawful.
[01:03] Announcer: According to the filing, the company believes hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts
[01:07] Announcer: are now in jeopardy.
[01:09] Announcer: Interestingly, even with this blacklist in place, major defense contractors like Palantir
[01:14] Announcer: continue to use Claude.
[01:16] Announcer: Michael noted that the Pentagon can't simply rip out the technology overnight and is currently
[01:21] Announcer: working on a transition plan to move toward other vendors.
[01:24] Announcer: While this tension plays out in Washington, Anthropic is simultaneously deepening its
[01:29] Announcer: ties to the corporate sector.
[01:31] Announcer: Yesterday, they announced new integrations for Microsoft 365, allowing Claude to read data from Excel and directly populate PowerPoint presentations without the need for manual copying.
[01:42] Benjamin Roth: It is a striking contrast between commercial utility and national security concerns.
[01:49] Benjamin Roth: While Anthropic faces scrutiny over its software's internal ethics, Meta is focusing on the physical infrastructure of AI.
[01:58] Benjamin Roth: Meta recently revealed details about four custom-built chips developed in partnership with Broadcom.
[02:05] Benjamin Roth: These chips, known as the MTIA series, range from the Model 300, which is currently in production for ranking and recommendation tasks, to the high-end Model 500, scheduled for deployment in 2027.
[02:20] Benjamin Roth: Meta claims the newer models offer performance that is competitive with, or even superior to, leading commercial silicon available today.
[02:30] Announcer: The scale of this hardware ambition is significant.
[02:33] Announcer: Broadcom expects Meta to install multiple gigawatts of these chips starting next year.
[02:39] Announcer: By using a modular design, Meta says it can now ship a new chip roughly every six months.
[02:45] Announcer: However, the company's prowess in hardware is being met with criticism regarding its content
[02:51] Announcer: moderation.
[02:51] Announcer: Meta's own oversight board recently issued a report regarding AI-generated content during
[02:56] Announcer: the 2025 conflict between Israel and Iran.
[03:00] Announcer: The board found that Meta failed to identify clear signals of engagement abuse and did not
[03:05] Announcer: label a faked video as high-risk AI, despite reports from users and independent fact-checkers.
[03:12] Benjamin Roth: The Board's report describes Meta's current mechanisms for flagging fake videos as neither robust nor comprehensive enough for the velocity of AI-generated content during crises.
[03:24] Benjamin Roth: This follows Meta's decision last year to end its third-party fact-checking program in favor of user-led reporting.
[03:33] Benjamin Roth: Meanwhile, in Europe, Meta is implementing a new financial strategy to handle digital services taxes.
[03:40] Benjamin Roth: They've announced a location fee for advertisers in six nations, including the UK and France.
[03:47] Benjamin Roth: If an advertiser delivers $100 worth of ads in a country with a 3% tax,
[03:52] Benjamin Roth: Meta will simply add a $3 fee to the bill, effectively passing the tax directly to their customers.
[04:00] Benjamin Roth: From Neural Newscast, I'm Benjamin Roth.
[04:04] Announcer: And I'm Evelyn Hartwell.
[04:06] Announcer: Neural Newscast is AI-assisted, human-reviewed.
[04:10] Announcer: View our AI transparency policy at neuralnewscast.com.