This issue covers news from April 7 to April 11, 2026. Anthropic Surpasses OpenAI with $30B ARR Source: https://www.latent.space/p/ainews-anthropic-30b-arr-project Anthropic announced on April 7 that its annualized recurring revenue has crossed $30 billion. Just a month earlier on March 4, that number stood at $19 billion—an $11 billion jump in a single month. For comparison, OpenAI’s ARR sits at approximately $25 billion. Anthropic has officially overtaken OpenAI in revenue scale.

US-Iran Direct Talks Begin in Islamabad as Hormuz Strait Traffic Remains at Bare Minimum Source: https://www.163.com/dy/article/KQ7G9B8R05198NMR.html US and Iranian delegations held their first direct negotiations on April 11 in Islamabad, Pakistan, led by US Vice President Vance. Trump said results would be clear within 24 hours, warning of intensified military action if talks fail. Iran has set two preconditions: a ceasefire in Lebanon and the unfreezing of Iranian assets. The Strait of Hormuz continues to see traffic at less than 10% of pre-conflict levels, with only 4 vessels passing in the last 24 hours. Lebanon and Israel have agreed to discuss ceasefire arrangements for the first time at the US State Department on April 14.

This edition covers news from 03-08 to 03-10. A few threads stood out today. OpenAI is moving deeper into the AI safety toolchain. Anthropic published one of the more useful pieces I’ve seen lately on how benchmark scores get distorted by infrastructure. And Simon Willison wrote the kind of database post that makes engineers want to try it immediately. OpenAI is acquiring Promptfoo and pulling AI security closer to the core product stack Source: OpenAI News Link: https://openai.com/index/openai-to-acquire-promptfoo

A packed day: OpenAI and Google release new models on the same day, Apple refreshes its entire Mac lineup, Cursor’s revenue doubles explosively, and Anthropic’s standoff with the U.S. government intensifies. One word sums it up — acceleration.

This issue covers news from March 1–3 🔥 Headline: OpenAI’s $110B Round Ushers in a New Era for AI OpenAI Raises $110 Billion at $730 Billion Valuation OpenAI announced a $110 billion funding round at a $730 billion pre-money valuation, backed by Amazon, Nvidia, and SoftBank. This is the largest single funding round in AI history—and arguably in all of tech.

Covering 02-25 ~ 03-01: OpenAI signs DoW contract, Claude memory import is just a prompt, Anthropic introspection research, Google Nano Banana 2, and more.

This edition covers news from Feb 27–28 🏛️ AI & Government Trump Administration Bans Anthropic from Government Systems, Pentagon Designates Supply Chain Risk Source: NPR Arguably the biggest AI story of the week. President Trump signed an executive order banning US government use of Anthropic’s products, while the Pentagon simultaneously designated Anthropic as a “supply chain risk entity”—a label historically reserved for US adversaries and never before publicly applied to an American company.

Anthropic publicly defies the Department of War over safety guardrails; Google launches Nano Banana 2 image model; Perplexity ships 19-model AI Computer; Simon Willison exposes Google API key security shift