The Download: how AI is used for military targeting, and the Pentagon’s war on Claude

“We see a future where intelligence is a utility, like electricity or water, and people buy it from us on a meter.” 

—OpenAI CEO Sam Altman makes a new pitch to investors at a BlackRock event, Gizmodo reports. 

One More Thing 

How the Ukraine-Russia war is reshaping the tech sector in Eastern Europe 

GATIS INDRēVICS/ LATVIAN MINISTRY OF DEFENSE

When Latvian startup Global Wolf Motors first pitched the idea of a military scooter, it was met with skepticism—and a wall of bureaucracy. Then Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and everything changed.  

Suddenly, Ukrainian combat units wanted any equipment they could get their hands on, and they were willing to try out ideas that might not have made the cut in peacetime. 

Within weeks, the scooters were on the front line—and even behind it, being used on daring reconnaissance missions. It signaled that a new product category for companies along Ukraine’s borders had opened: civilian technologies repurposed for military needs. Read the full story. 

—Peter Guest 

We can still have nice things 

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line.) 

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