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Tuesday, 24 February 2026

3Before9

3 must-know AI stories before your 9am coffee

Who should pay attention

AI developers | Regulators | Investors | Geopolitics analysts

What changes next

Debate is likely to intensify regarding AI governance and export controls.

1

Chinese AI startup trained model on Nvidia’s most advanced chips despite U.S. export ban

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek’s upcoming AI model was trained using Nvidia’s most advanced AI chip (the Blackwell), potentially violating U.S. export control rules, a senior U.S. official said 4raising fresh policy and geopolitics questions over chip access and technology competition.

Why it matters for Asia

China’s access to advanced AI compute, even under export restrictions, underscores shifting dynamics in global AI infrastructure competition and could prompt tighter controls or new regulatory responses.^

2

Anthropic says Chinese AI companies used its Claude outputs to improve their own models

Anthropic revealed that three Chinese AI firms: DeepSeek, Moonshot and MiniMax, conducted millions of interactions using fake accounts on its Claude model to distill and improve their own AI systems, highlighting rising global tensions over model reuse, governance and IP control.

Why it matters for Asia

the dispute illustrates how AI development practices are intersecting with legal, ethical and national security concerns, a flashpoint for regulators and firms across Asia and the U.S. pushing for stronger export and training safeguards.^

3

Asian markets face pressure amid renewed AI-linked stock angst

Most Asian stock markets were set for early declines as fresh anxiety over artificial intelligence’s impact on corporate profits weighed on investor sentiment, with markets tracking weaker U.S. leads and tech sector uncertainty.

Why it matters for Asia

capital flow volatility tied to AI narratives, including concerns about cost structures, automation impact and regulatory responses, can swiftly affect funding conditions and valuations for Asia’s tech and innovation sectors.^

That's today's 3-Before-9.

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Recent Editions

Tuesday

10 March 2026

1.The Trump administration is pressuring US states to align their AI regulations with a national deregulatory agenda through today's Department of Commerce and Federal Trade Commission reports.
2.States face the potential loss of up to $21 billion in federal broadband infrastructure funds if their AI laws are deemed inconsistent with the federal framework.
3.The US government seeks to establish a singular federal AI standard, replacing disparate state laws, but short-term uncertainty remains as existing state laws persist until court challenges are resolved.

Monday

9 March 2026

1.OpenAI's head of robotics resigned due to the company's decision to deploy its AI models on the Pentagon's classified cloud networks, citing a lack of clear guardrails for domestic surveillance and lethal autonomy.
2.This high-profile departure highlights growing internal dissent within OpenAI regarding ethical governance and the rapid implementation of AI technologies in sensitive sectors.
3.The incident underscores that governance concerns are not merely external criticism but represent a significant internal operational risk for AI vendors and enterprise buyers alike.

Friday

6 March 2026

1.GPT-5.4 offers native computer use, achieving 75% on the OSWorld-Verified benchmark, surpassing human performance.
2.It boasts a 1 million token context window, direct integrations with Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets, and a 47% reduction in token usage for specific agentic tasks.
3.OpenAI’s new model matches or exceeds human professionals in 83% of 44 evaluated occupations, according to their GDPval benchmark.

Thursday

5 March 2026

1.Apple launched the MacBook Neo, a new budget-friendly laptop priced from $599, featuring the A18 Pro chip and a 13-inch Liquid Retina display.
2.OpenAI released GPT-5.3 Instant, an updated ChatGPT model designed to be less preachy, with reduced moralising and fewer conversational preambles.
3.This update also reportedly decreased hallucinations by 26.8% when utilising web search, suggesting an improvement in model accuracy and user experience.

Wednesday

4 March 2026

1.Anthropic's refusal to allow military use of its AI led to a US government ban, prompting industry-wide calls for ethical AI limits and boosting consumer support for Claude.
2.Apple is launching its most affordable Mac to date, powered by an A18 Pro chip, targeting students and emerging markets with a competitive price point and colourful designs.
3.NVIDIA invested $4 billion in photonics companies Lumentum and Coherent, securing critical supply for its next-generation data centre interconnects.

Tuesday

3 March 2026

1.Claude experienced a significant global outage yesterday, affecting various services including its app, Code, console, and government platforms.
2.Anthropic attributed the outage to "unprecedented demand" and confirmed that while the core enterprise API was mostly stable, some methods malfunctioned.
3.This incident highlights the critical need for enterprise AI buyers to implement robust failover strategies and consider multi-provider fallbacks to mitigate supply-side reliability risks.