Pentagon Picks OpenAI, Apple Rebuilds Siri with Gemini, and AI Ethics Backlash Grows

On the March 4, 2026 Digital Focus Podcast, host John Suder covers five top stories: the Department of Defense blacklisted Anthropic after it walked away from a contract seeking hard limits on mass surveillance and automated weapons, while OpenAI took the deal and Sam Altman said such decisions belong to elected officials; Apple announced a rebuilt AI-powered Siri targeting March 2026 with iOS 26.4, powered by Google’s 1.2T-parameter Gemini via Apple’s Private Cloud Compute, as Samsung aims for 800M Gemini devices by end of 2026; Nvidia will invest $4B in photonics firms (Mellanox and Coherent) to push optical networking for AI data centers; hundreds marched in London’s King’s Cross in the largest anti-AI protest yet; and Brown University research found chatbots like ChatGPT often fail core ethical standards when acting as therapists.00:00 Intro00:15 Pentagon Contract Drama01:36 Apple Rebuilds Siri02:50 Nvidia Goes Photonics04:00 London Anti AI March05:25 Chatbots as Therapists06:37 Wrap Up