AI Briefing

Palantir just published a 22-point manifesto calling for AI weapons, military conscription, and the rearmament of former Axis powers, and the internet responded about how you'd expect. Meanwhile, OpenAI is locking in $20 billion worth of non-NVIDIA chips from Cerebras in the biggest AI infrastructure bet yet, Snap laid off 16% of its workforce because AI now writes 65% of its code, Novo Nordisk partnered with OpenAI to let AI loose on drug discovery, and Meta finally shipped a model worth talking about.

01PolicyFast Company ↗

Palantir Publishes 22-Point 'Technofascism' Manifesto Calling for AI Weapons and Military Conscription

Palantir posted a 22-point manifesto on X, distilled from co-founder Alex Karp's book 'The Technological Republic,' arguing that leading US tech firms owe a 'moral debt' to the country and should build AI weapons, reinstate universal military service, and rearm Germany and Japan. The manifesto declares some cultures 'regressive,' calls debates about AI weapons 'theatrical,' and argues Silicon Valley must fuel American 'hard power.' Belgian philosopher Mark Coeckelbergh called it 'an example of technofascism,' and Palantir shares slid on the backlash. This is the most explicit statement yet from a major defense-tech contractor about AI's role in warfare, and it arrived the same week Congress is debating AI regulation.

02IndustryTechCrunch ↗

OpenAI Commits $20 Billion to Cerebras Chips, Breaking NVIDIA's Grip on AI Inference

OpenAI will pay AI chip startup Cerebras more than $20 billion over the next three years for servers powered by Cerebras chips, double the size of its previously reported agreement. The deal includes warrants for up to a 10% equity stake in Cerebras, plus $1 billion from OpenAI to fund Cerebras data center development. Cerebras is now filing for an IPO targeting a $35 billion valuation, with the OpenAI partnership as its anchor revenue story. This is the clearest signal yet that the biggest AI companies are actively diversifying away from NVIDIA, and it could reshape the economics of AI inference if Cerebras delivers on its promise of cheaper, faster computing.

03IndustryTechCrunch ↗

Snap Cuts 1,000 Jobs, 16% of Workforce, Says AI Now Writes 65% of Its Code

Snapchat parent Snap is laying off approximately 1,000 employees and closing over 300 open roles, with CEO Evan Spiegel citing 'rapid advancements in artificial intelligence' that allow smaller teams to match previous output. The company disclosed that AI now generates more than 65% of new code at Snap. The cuts will save over $500 million annually, and Snap's stock jumped 7-11% on the news. This is one of the starkest examples yet of a major tech company explicitly linking layoffs to AI productivity gains, and the 65% code generation figure gives a concrete benchmark for how deeply AI tools have penetrated real engineering workflows.

04IndustryCNBC ↗

Novo Nordisk Partners with OpenAI to Deploy AI Across Drug Discovery and Operations

Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk announced a strategic partnership with OpenAI to integrate AI across its entire business, from drug discovery and clinical trials to manufacturing, supply chains, and commercial operations. The company plans full deployment by end of 2026 as it races to accelerate identification of new obesity and diabetes treatments while fighting to regain market ground against Eli Lilly. This is the largest pharma-AI partnership to date by scope, covering every stage from molecule identification to patient delivery. It signals that Big Pharma is moving past AI pilots into enterprise-wide transformation, with OpenAI positioning itself as the default AI partner for Fortune 500 companies.

05ProductMeta ↗

Meta Launches Muse Spark, Its First Flagship Model Built by Superintelligence Labs

Meta released Muse Spark, the first model from its new Muse series developed by Meta Superintelligence Labs under chief AI officer Alexandr Wang. The model delivers competitive performance on multimodal reasoning, health, and agentic tasks at a fraction of the compute cost of Llama 4's mid-size variant, scoring 52 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index behind only Gemini 3.1 Pro, GPT-5.4, and Claude Opus 4.6. Muse Spark is rolling out across WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, and Meta's AI glasses. The release marks a strategic reset for Meta: rather than chasing raw benchmark crowns, Wang's team built a model optimized for efficiency and real-world deployment across Meta's 3+ billion user ecosystem.