Anthropic refuses to bow to the Pentagon despite threats, Block is laying off nearly half its workforce, and Burger King will use AI to monitor employee 'friendliness' episode artwork

EPISODE · Feb 27, 2026 · 8 MIN

Anthropic refuses to bow to the Pentagon despite threats, Block is laying off nearly half its workforce, and Burger King will use AI to monitor employee 'friendliness'

from Engadget News + Next · host Engadget

-Despite an ultimatum from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei said that it can't "in good conscience" comply with a Pentagon edict to remove guardrails on its AI. -Block, helmed by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, is slashing its current staff of 10,000 to "just under 6,000." -Burger King, the chain that leans into creepy, is at it again. The Verge reported on Thursday that the company is rolling out a new voice-controlled AI chatbot for its workers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Feb 27, 2026

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Anthropic refuses to bow to the Pentagon despite threats, Block is laying off nearly half its workforce, and Burger King will use AI to monitor employee 'friendliness'

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