|
February 16, 2026, 8:00 AM
|
Mediagazer
memeorandum
WeSmirchTop News
| Sam Altman / @sama: |
Sam Altman says Peter Steinberger, creator of OpenClaw, is joining OpenAI “to drive the next generation of personal agents”; OpenClaw will remain open source — Peter Steinberger is joining OpenAI to drive the next generation of personal agents. He is a genius with a lot of amazing ideas about the future of very smart agents interacting with each other to do very useful things for people. We expect this will quickly become core to our
More: Peter Steinberger, The Register, TechCrunch, Computerworld, Help Net Security, Financial Times, Reuters, The Verge, Bloomberg, Tech.eu, Times of India, Benzinga, Tom's Guide, Silicon Republic, The Next Web, The Hans India, CNBC, The Information, Decrypt, Implicator.ai, The Deep View, SiliconANGLE, Business Insider, and Crypto Briefing
X: @steipete, @yuchenj_uw, @altryne, @om, @gdb, @ibab, @levie, @dylanabruscato, @steipete, @jessicalessin, @dabit3, @filipe_almeida, @thsottiaux, @emollick, @scottjduffy, @rayfernando1337, @alxfazio, @timhaldorsson, @toddsaunders, @anothercohen, @romainhuet, @dahongfei, @steipete, @cofoundersnik, @christyhwchoi, @chrismaconi, @alexfinn, @theprimeagen, @badlogicgames, @dvassallo, @swyx, @zackkorman, @edzitron, @themotelman, @davemorin, @apoorva_mehta, @aakashgupta, @mirkogarozzo, @romainhuet, @krausefx, @fidjissimo, @hsvsphere, @jquinonero, @iannuttall, @bilawalsidhu, @joannastern, @raphaelschaad, @benjamindekr, @gregisenberg, @bullyesq, @sytaylor, @kareldoostrlnck, @meta_alchemist, and @steipete
LinkedIn: Romain Huet, Wei Manfredi, Choon Leng Chia, and Iago Maciel
Mastodon: @drahardja@sfba.social and @carnage4life@mas.to
Forums: Hacker News, r/BetterOffline, r/OpenAI, and r/openclaw
| Marcus Schuler / Implicator.ai: |
In a podcast, OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger describes his phone calls with Mark Zuckerberg and Sam Altman, and says he had been contacted by “every big VC” — Mark Zuckerberg needed ten minutes. He was finishing code. — Peter Steinberger had called him on WhatsApp without scheduling anything.| Osmond Chia / BBC: |
ByteDance says it “respects IP rights and we have heard the concerns regarding Seedance” and it plans to “strengthen” safeguards, after Disney's legal threats — Chinese technology giant ByteDance has pledged to curb a controversial artificial intelligence (AI) … | Todd Spangler / Variety: |
Following Disney, Paramount sent a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance, alleging its AI-generated Seedance videos and Seedream images infringed Paramount's IP — Disney also sent a legal demand to Chinese internet company — Paramount Skydance accused ByteDance of engaging in …
More: The Verge, CNBC, Decrypt, The Information, Breitbart, The Wrap, Deadline, Associated Press, and South China Morning Post
Forums: r/technology, r/MediaMergers, and r/movies
| Bloomberg: |
Sources: Sony is considering pushing back the debut of its next PlayStation console to 2028 or even 2029, as the AI boom fuels huge memory chip demand — A growing procession of tech industry leaders including Elon Musk and Tim Cook are warning about a global crisis in the making … | Dominic Preston / The Verge: |
Samsung releases an ad for the Galaxy S26 series that briefly shows a “Zero-peeking privacy” toggle to black out on-screen content for onlookers at an angle — Leaker Ice Universe has shared a video of the tech in action. … Samsung has released a new advertisement …
More: YouTube, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, SammyGuru, The Mac Observer, Digital Trends, and SamMobile. X: @universeice
| Eduardo Baptista / Reuters: |
Alibaba debuts Qwen 3.5, adding “visual agentic capabilities” to independently execute tasks, and says it is 60% cheaper to use and 8x better at large workloads — Alibaba on Monday unveiled a new artificial intelligence model Qwen 3.5 designed to execute complex tasks independently …
More: Qwen, The Information, South China Morning Post, Bloomberg, Dow Jones Newswires, and Reuters
X: @tphuang, @scaling01, @scaling01, @theahmadosman, @suvsh, @shariqriazz, @teortaxestex, @alibaba_qwen, @theahmadosman, and @kimmonismus. Forums: Hacker News
| Mari Novik / Financial Times: |
Keir Starmer says no platform “should get a free pass”, as the UK moves to tighten online safety laws covering AI chatbots and social media, to protect children — Keir Starmer to warn tech companies that ‘no platform gets a free pass’ after deepfake scandal involving Grok
More: The Guardian, Keir Starmer, The Register, The Economic Times, Forbes, GOV.UK, Help Net Security, Sky News, The Independent, Tech in Asia, Benzinga, crypto.news, BBC, HuffPost, Bloomberg, and The i Paper
X: @yougov, @lukejcr, @keir_starmer, @karlemilnikka, @clashreport, @alistrathern, @anglopjdst, @guidofawkes, @kathrynporter26, @douglascarswell, @beccajiggens, @drhingram, @deandobbs, @togetherdec, @anglofuturist, @tomdavenport, @archrose90, @awakenedoutlaw, @james7holland, @scitechgovuk, @joshhousden, @prestonjbyrne, @prestonjbyrne, @drbenspencer, @scitechgovuk, @leicesterliz, and @silkiecarlo. Forums: r/ukpolitics
| Zack Abrams / The Block: |
Vitalik Buterin, who backed Polymarket, says he's “starting to worry” that prediction markets “seem to be over-converging to an unhealthy product market fit” — Quick Take — Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin warned that prediction markets are “over-converging” … | Shirin Ghaffary / Bloomberg: |
OpenAI retired GPT-4o on February 13, angering loyal users, 20K+ of whom signed a petition; 4o showed the unique attachment that people can form with chatbots — GPT-4o showed the unique attachment that people can form with chatbots — OpenAI is forcing thousands of people to break up with its most controversial AI model.
More: Tom's Guide and PiunikaWeb
| Erik Brynjolfsson / Financial Times: |
Analysis: US productivity rose by ~2.7% in 2025, nearly doubling the 1.4% annual average over a decade, as AI-exposed sectors cooled their entry-level hiring — New economic data suggests the US is transitioning to a phase of measurable gains from the technology
More: Fortune. X: @danobrien20, @fabioghironi, @producercities, @matthewstoller, @ft, @happyhappyhenri, @alexolegimas, @wholemars, @ai, @darioperkins, @firstadopter, @erikbryn, @briancalbrecht, @micro2macr0, and @greenplusane
LinkedIn: Anthony Battle Mrics Msc and Eric Hazan
| Anthropic: |
Anthropic opens a Bengaluru office, its second in Asia, says its India run rate revenue doubled since October, and curates training data for 10 Indic languages — India is the second-largest market for Claude.ai, home to a developer community doing some of the most technically intense AI work we see anywhere.
More: The Hans India, Nikkei Asia, Bloomberg, Inc42, Capacity, Business Standard, BMI, and MediaBrief. X: @anthropicai
| Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch: |
More: Unite.AI, The Indian Express, CNBC, The Hans India, Digit, Times of India, Fortune India, Moneycontrol, Tech in Asia, The Economic Times, DigiTimes, Livemint, and Hindustan Times. Bluesky: @atroposinsights.com
| Financial Times: |
Analysis: sports bets on Kalshi generate an estimated ~$1.3B in annualized revenue, underscoring the threat prediction markets pose to traditional operators — DraftKings and Flutter shares slide as investors fret about threat posed by apps such as Kalshi — Sports wagers on Kalshi … | Matthew Chin / CNBC: |
Sensor Tower: TikTok's US DAUs were ~95% of its usership the week of January 19, with metrics showing little sign of a mass exodus since its January 23 takeover — TikTok's U.S. joint venture seems to have survived a turbulent rollout with minimal change in usership, as early narratives … | Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: |
Sources: Apple tweaked its Maps app for Tesla before the EV maker's planned addition of CarPlay; low-cost MacBook will get an aluminum chassis in playful colors — Tesla's plan to start supporting CarPlay in its vehicles has been held back by the need for changes in iOS 26's Maps app.
More: MacRumors, Thurrott, PCMag, T3, 9to5Mac, Gizmodo, iPhone in Canada, The Mac Observer, Engadget, Tech Times, GSMArena.com, Digital Trends, Forbes, The Apple Post, Neowin, PhoneArena, Appleosophy, AppleInsider, Cult of Mac, and iClarified
X: @markgurman, @markgurman, @markgurman, @thijsverreck, @markgurman, @rudrank, and @markgurman. Mastodon: @carnage4life@mas.to. Forums: MacRumors Forums
Sponsor Posts
Command Line:
Azure Content Understanding: Building on lessons from a decade of Document Intelligence — What a decade of teaching machines to read real-world documents taught us about what LLMs can and can't do.
Azure Content Understanding: Building on lessons from a decade of Document Intelligence — What a decade of teaching machines to read real-world documents taught us about what LLMs can and can't do.
Will Reed:
The best sales leaders aren't job hunting. Here's how to reach them without months of cold outreach. — Our team came from Box, Square, and Brex, so we already know the GTM leaders worth meeting.
The best sales leaders aren't job hunting. Here's how to reach them without months of cold outreach. — Our team came from Box, Square, and Brex, so we already know the GTM leaders worth meeting.
Zoho:
Zoho Books now supports CT600 & Final Accounts Filing as an add-on in the FREE plan — Managing end-of-year filing for limited companies in the UK is often expensive and multi-layered.
Zoho Books now supports CT600 & Final Accounts Filing as an add-on in the FREE plan — Managing end-of-year filing for limited companies in the UK is often expensive and multi-layered.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.Featured Podcasts
Lenny's Podcast:
Why every company now needs to think and operate like a lab team | Josh Woodward (Google Labs, Gemini, AI Studio)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Big Technology Podcast:
Meta & Microsoft's Claude Slowdown, His Agent Leaked His Banking Info, Don't Bully Your AI
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Sources:
Qualcomm's CEO on the coming AI phone supercycle
Candid conversations with the leaders shaping what's next in AI and the broader tech industry. Hosted by Alex Heath, who has covered Silicon Valley for more than a decade.
Subscribe to Sources.
The Upstarts Podcast:
Bringing Back Mammoths And Building Noah's Ark 2.0 | Colossal's Ben Lamm
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
Great Chat:
The launch industrial complex
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Larry Ellison's Media Ambitions & Kevin Roose on AI's Biggest Gamble
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
About This Page
This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 8:00 AM ET, February 16, 2026.
The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.
From Mediagazer
New York Times:Nieman Lab:
Max Tani / Semafor:
Upcoming Tech Events
Earlier Picks
| Baiju Kalesh / Bloomberg: |
More: Moneycontrol, Times of India, Blackstone, Inc42, Fortune India, Entrackr, The Economic Times, DealStreetAsia, and TechCrunch
| Will Oremus / Washington Post: |
More: Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Neowin, Digital Trends, and Newser
X: @willoremus, @defnotbeka, @ryp__, @mollyhf, @lumoherdaui, @rotopat, and @eilperin
Bluesky: @carnage4life, @annabookwriter, @samthielman.com, @newsjennifer, @treblaw, @brutumfulmen, @shiraovide, @jeradwalker, and @acarv.in
Forums: Hacker News and r/NPR