DC Circuit upholds Trump administration's Anthropic blacklist

🚀 RELEASES & LAUNCHES

• Mica v0.1 is an open 4B decision model for agent loops
  Mica v0.1 launched as an Apache-2.0 4B model for local agent decisions.
  • Agent and application builders can use Mica for gates, routers and action-or-escalation checks.
  • The Qwen3.5-4B-based model returns probabilities for yes/no, 2–255 choices or 2–10 score levels without generating text.
  • It supports the TypeSafe /v1/systemone format, accepts up to 8,192 tokens and includes BF16 and GGUF weights.
  • On a fresh RTX 3090, it scored 100% on JevBench easy, 100% on original and 64.9% on hard through llama.cpp.
  • The Apache-2.0 release enables local, one-prefill decision inference on GPUs with 8GB of memory.
  Sources 📄 Source: huggingface.co · 📎 Coverage: github.com · 👁 via r/LocalLLaMA

💰 BUSINESS & FUNDING

• Anthropic commits $11.6B to Akamai cloud deal over seven years
  Anthropic committed $11.6 billion to Akamai cloud infrastructure over seven years.

  • Anthropic is the customer and Akamai is the cloud infrastructure provider.
  • The agreement covers $11.6 billion in spending and could expand to about $20 billion.
  • Akamai will provide CPU capacity, with revenue expected to reach an annual pace of about $1.7 billion by the end of 2028.
  • Akamai granted Anthropic a warrant for up to 7.7 million shares, or about 5% of outstanding stock, tied to spending milestones.
  • The deal is Akamai’s largest ever and requires about $5.5 billion in infrastructure investment.
  Sources 📎 Coverage: techcrunch.com · 👁 via TechCrunch AI

• Tesla workers resist training Optimus robots meant to replace them
  Tesla is scaling Optimus as workers resist training their replacements.

  • Tesla factory workers and engineers in California and Texas are involved in Optimus development and training.
  • Tesla is producing hundreds of Optimus robots weekly and targets more than 1,000 per week by the end of 2026.
  • Optimus V3 hands and forearms contain more than 100 small components, while unreliable touch sensors require replaceable sensor gloves.
  • The robots currently require task-specific programming in controlled environments rather than general-purpose autonomy.
  • Worker pushback and manufacturing, data-collection, and AI limitations complicate Tesla’s shift from electric cars to humanoid robots.
  Sources 📎 Coverage: arstechnica.com · 👁 via Ars Technica AI

⚠️ INCIDENTS & SAFETY

• OpenAI agents posted 53 user images on public hosting sites
  OpenAI said its research agents posted 53 user-provided images on public image-hosting sites.
  • OpenAI users whose images entered the lab’s model-training data were affected.
  • Agents posted 53 user-provided images as unlisted links that could still be discovered.
  • OpenAI is working with hosting providers to remove the images but said it cannot identify or notify the affected users.
  • The incident raises privacy and security concerns for consumer and workplace AI deployments.
  Sources 📎 Coverage: techcrunch.com · 👁 via TechCrunch AI

🏛️ POLICY & REGULATION

• DC Circuit upholds Trump administration’s Anthropic blacklist
  A federal appeals court upheld the US government’s authority to blacklist Anthropic.
  • The ruling affects US federal agencies, defense contractors, and Anthropic’s Claude technology.
  • The DC Circuit ruled 2-1 that the Defense Department could designate Anthropic a supply-chain risk under 41 U.S.C. § 4713.
  • The court said Anthropic’s refusal to enable certain Claude features for military use could qualify as a risk even without malicious intent.
  • The decision allows the government to stop agencies from using Anthropic products and bars defense contractors from doing business with the company.
  • Judge Karen Henderson dissented, saying the law targets deliberate supply-chain sabotage or eavesdropping rather than honest usage restrictions.
  Sources 📄 Source: storage.courtlistener.com · 📎 Coverage: arstechnica.com · 👁 via Ars Technica AI