Good morning. It's Monday, February 23, and we're covering AI governance tensions, the future of work in the age of automation, NVIDIA’s high-stakes OpenAI deal shakeup, and more.

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💸 NVIDIA Swaps $100B AI Pact (Paywall): NVIDIA is reported to be close to finalizing up to $30B in OpenAI, replacing a stalled $100B pact.

🔊 OpenAI Eyes $300 Smart Speaker (Paywall): The Information reports OpenAI plans to sell a smart speaker for $200 to $300 while assembling a dedicated AI hardware team, signaling ambitions beyond software into consumer devices.

☀️ AI Predicts Solar Storms Weeks Ahead: Researchers at Southwest Research Institute and NSF’s National Center for Atmospheric Research unveiled PINNBARDS, a physics-informed neural network that forecasts flare-producing solar regions weeks in advance.

💰 General Catalyst Pledges $5B to India: The $43 billion venture firm plans to invest $5 billion in Indian startups over five years, targeting AI, healthcare, defense, fintech, and consumer tech.

🔌 AWS AI Tools Linked to Outages: Amazon confirmed its Kiro and Q Developer coding assistants were involved in two late-2025 AWS disruptions, including a 13-hour December outage in China, but called it coincidence.

📈 Young Indians Drive ChatGPT Surge: OpenAI says 18- to 24-year-olds generate nearly 50% of ChatGPT messages in India, its second-largest market with 100 million weekly users.

🧮 G42, Cerebras Bring 8 Exaflops to India: UAE’s G42 and chipmaker Cerebras will deploy an 8-exaflop AI supercomputer in India, complying with local data rules and serving government, academia, and small businesses.

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Anthropic restricts Claude subscription tokens for OpenClaw, sparking backlash as developers pivot to OpenAI.

Speaking at the AI Impact Summit in Delhi, Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, told BBC News that more research into artificial intelligence risks “needs to be done urgently.” He called for “smart regulation” and “robust guardrails” to address threats from bad actors and the potential loss of control over increasingly autonomous systems.

His remarks come as more than 100 countries debate global AI governance, with the U.S. rejecting centralized oversight while leaders from the U.K. and India push for coordinated safeguards. The comments underscore growing divides over how to manage AI’s rapid development—and who should set the rules. → Read the full article here.

At Web Summit Qatar in February 2026, startup founders told TechCrunch that AI will automate tasks but stop short of eliminating entire roles. David Shim, CEO of Read AI, said AI tools function like navigation apps—guiding decisions but leaving humans “in the middle.”

Abdullah Asiri, founder of Lucidya, argued that automation shifts workers into supervisory, relationship-building, or business development roles rather than replacing them outright. Both companies say internal AI adoption has enabled leaner teams and productivity gains, even as broader debates continue over job displacement. → Read the full article here.

Belmont, California–based startup ZaiNar has raised $10 million at a $1 billion valuation, positioning its Wi-Fi and 5G-based location technology as an alternative to GPS for AI-powered systems. CEO Daniel Jacker says the nine-year-old company can deliver precise, low-latency positioning indoors—without satellites, cameras, or added battery drain.

The firm has raised $100 million to date and counts investors including Jerry Yang and Tom Gruber, with Steve Jurvetson on its board. ZaiNar says its system could help robots, hospitals, and construction sites track people and assets more accurately, addressing a longstanding challenge in “physical AI.” → Read the full article here. (Paywall)

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Matthew Berman & The Forward Future Team

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