Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)–affiliated Tasnim News reported that major US technology companies with alleged technological cooperation with Israel could be considered potential targets. The report stated that offices and cloud infrastructures of several US-based firms have been listed as facilities whose technologies were claimed to be used for military purposes, describing them as part of Iran’s new target list.

According to Tasnim, as regional conflict increasingly involves infrastructure, Iran’s definition of legitimate targets is expanding. The companies named in the report include Google, Microsoft, Palantir, IBM, Nvidia, and Oracle. The report also noted that parts of these firms’ cloud-based infrastructures are located in various Israeli cities and in several Gulf countries.

No immediate comment was available from the mentioned companies or the countries concerned, according to the report sourced from Al Jazeera.

China has released its 141-page 15th Five-Year Plan, presented at the National People’s Congress on March 5, outlining an ambitious strategy to dominate next-generation technologies, raw materials, and industries. The plan positions artificial intelligence (AI) as a central pillar across the economy, with goals to double humanoid robotics production within five years, accelerate quantum communication and nuclear fusion research, and advance brain-computer interface technologies. It also projects AI-related industries to exceed 10 trillion yuan in value during the plan’s term.

Analyst Shanaka Anselm Perera described the plan as a national technological mobilization rather than a mere economic policy, calling it a “war plan” that contrasts with the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. While Washington focuses mainly on semiconductor production, Beijing’s approach spans AI integration across heavy industry and services, investment in quantum computing, and control over critical raw materials, especially rare earth elements.

The plan strengthens China’s grip on rare mineral processing and export controls, potentially challenging U.S. defense supply chains that depend on these materials for systems like the F-35 fighter jet. Analysts warn this could reshape future power dynamics long before any battlefield confrontation.

ChatGPT has launched new interactive visual explanations to make learning math and science more engaging and intuitive. The update introduces dynamic visual modules for over 70 core concepts, allowing users to manipulate variables and observe real-time changes in formulas and graphs. These tools are available globally across all ChatGPT plans starting today, aiming to help users better grasp abstract ideas through hands-on exploration.

The announcement follows findings from a Gallup survey showing that more than half of U.S. adults struggle with math, and many parents lack confidence in helping their children learn it. ChatGPT already serves 140 million users weekly who rely on it to understand math and science concepts, prepare for exams, and explore new topics. The new feature builds on research suggesting that interactive, visual learning can strengthen conceptual understanding compared to traditional instruction.

Educators have noted that the feature emphasizes conceptual understanding by encouraging learners to explore deeper connections between ideas, helping them retain knowledge more effectively.

Singer Asif Akbar has been acquitted in a case filed over possession of foreign liquor without a license. The verdict was delivered on Monday, March 9, by Judge Ayesha Akhter Mousumi of Dhaka Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court-2 after concluding the final arguments. The case had been ongoing for eight years. Following the verdict, Asif expressed satisfaction, saying the allegation was baseless and that he had received justice after a long legal battle.

According to court sources, the prosecution failed to prove the charges, leading to Asif’s acquittal. The case originated from a 2018 incident when four bottles of foreign liquor were recovered from his office during his arrest in another case. A separate case was later filed at Tejgaon Police Station under the Narcotics Control Act of 2018.

Asif stated that he respected the court process and refrained from politicizing the issue. He thanked his family, fans, and supporters for enduring the long ordeal, calling the verdict a relief for them all.

On Monday, Anthropic filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense after being labeled a supply chain risk. Within hours, nearly 40 employees from OpenAI and Google, including Google’s chief scientist Jeff Dean, submitted an amicus brief supporting Anthropic’s case. The brief criticized the Trump administration’s decision and warned of the dangers posed by certain military uses of artificial intelligence.

The dispute stems from Anthropic’s refusal to allow its AI technology to be used for domestic mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. Following the breakdown of negotiations, the Pentagon’s designation barred Anthropic from military contracts and restricted other companies using its products. The brief argued that the designation was retaliatory and harmful to the public interest, emphasizing that AI-driven surveillance and autonomous lethal systems pose serious ethical and governance risks.

The signatories, describing themselves as engineers and researchers from leading U.S. AI labs, urged for guardrails and human oversight in military AI applications, warning that current systems remain unreliable and potentially dangerous when deployed without proper constraints.

Anthropic has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government after being designated a supply-chain risk by the Trump administration. The case, lodged in a California district court, accuses the administration of retaliating against the company for refusing to relax its restrictions on the acceptable uses of its artificial intelligence technology, particularly concerning mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons. The company argues that the designation and related actions violate its constitutional rights and unlawfully punish it for its stance on AI safety.

The dispute follows weeks of tension between Anthropic and the Department of Defense over military applications of AI. The supply-chain risk label, typically reserved for foreign entities posing cybersecurity or national security threats, led President Donald Trump to order all federal agencies to stop using Anthropic’s technology within six months. The move sparked bipartisan concern about the potential chilling effect on companies that disagree with government policy.

According to the lawsuit, several agencies, including the General Services Administration, Treasury, and State Department, have already ended or plan to end contracts with Anthropic. The Pentagon declined to comment on the matter.

Figure has unveiled a new demonstration of its humanoid system Helix 02, showing the robot autonomously tidying a living room. The system, released a little over a month ago, controls its full body directly from visual input and performs long-horizon tasks without specialized programming. In this latest test, Helix 02 navigates through a cluttered living room while manipulating objects, tools, and containers, performing coordinated actions such as cleaning surfaces, handling flexible items, and reorganizing objects.

The demonstration highlights Helix 02’s ability to integrate locomotion, dexterity, and sensing through a single neural architecture. The robot learned new behaviors—like wiping surfaces, tossing pillows, and pressing remote buttons—simply by adding data, without new algorithms or task-specific engineering. Each action combines movement and manipulation in a constantly changing environment, reflecting the complexity of real household tasks.

According to Figure, Helix 02’s expanding skill set represents progress toward scalable humanoid intelligence, where one general-purpose model can learn and perform a broad range of everyday activities in homes and workplaces.

Anthropic has introduced Code Review for Claude Code, a new agent team-based system designed to perform in-depth reviews on every pull request. The feature, now available in research preview for Team and Enterprise users, deploys multiple agents to identify, verify, and rank bugs by severity. Each review produces a concise summary comment and detailed in-line notes, aiming to catch issues that human reviewers might overlook. The system scales its depth based on the size and complexity of the code changes, with an average review time of about 20 minutes.

According to Anthropic, the internal use of Code Review has significantly increased the proportion of pull requests receiving substantive feedback. The company reports that the tool has helped detect critical bugs before merging, including issues that could have caused major service disruptions. Early access users have also reported similar benefits, with the system uncovering latent bugs in existing codebases.

Code Review is positioned as a more thorough but costlier alternative to the existing Claude Code GitHub Action. Reviews are billed based on token usage, typically ranging from $15 to $25 per review, with administrative controls available to manage spending.

X has announced a new feature that allows users to listen to long-form articles within the app, using the voice of xAI’s Grok artificial intelligence chatbot. The articles will now include a “Listen” button, enabling audio playback both while scrolling through X and when switching to other apps through background play. The feature aims to make it easier for users to consume lengthy content and help creators reach wider audiences.

The update is part of X’s broader strategy to attract content creators and boost exclusive, in-depth posts on the platform. X is particularly focused on long-form content because such material provides richer data for its xAI projects, which use information shared on X to improve AI outputs. Grok, xAI’s main product, relies on language understanding and real-time insights drawn from X discussions.

According to X’s head of product Nikita Bier, X Articles have grown 18 times over the past three months. The company has also incentivized creators with a $1 million prize for top-performing articles, underscoring its push to expand long-form content and strengthen its AI ecosystem.

Across the United States and Canada, companies are increasingly deploying AI agents—systems capable of planning, reasoning, and executing multistep tasks—to handle work once done by humans. At Snowflake, engineers now rely on AI agents to review product designs, assist during outages, and complete coding projects, freeing staff for higher-level decision-making. Similar tools from firms like Anthropic and Convictional are being used to assign tasks, manage workflows, and even evaluate employee performance, signaling a shift in how organizations operate.

This transformation coincides with widespread layoffs in white-collar sectors, as major employers including Amazon, UPS, and General Motors cite AI-driven efficiency as a factor in job cuts. Analysts estimate that 6–7 percent of U.S. workers could be displaced by AI adoption, with middle management facing the greatest disruption. Yet surveys show that most executives have not yet realized financial benefits from AI, and many job reductions reflect anticipation of future gains rather than current capabilities.

Experts warn that trust and psychological acceptance remain major barriers to successful AI integration. Some companies, such as Convictional, are experimenting with new work models to share productivity gains and maintain employee confidence, while others are setting limits to preserve human connection and oversight.

A new research paper presents a framework for measuring how artificial intelligence is affecting employment, introducing a metric called 'observed exposure.' This measure combines theoretical large language model (LLM) capabilities with real-world usage data, emphasizing automated and work-related applications. The study finds that AI’s actual use remains far below its theoretical potential, with only a fraction of feasible tasks currently automated. Occupations with higher observed exposure are projected by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to grow more slowly through 2034.

The analysis shows that workers in highly exposed professions tend to be older, female, more educated, and higher-paid. Despite these exposure levels, researchers find no systematic increase in unemployment among these workers since late 2022. However, there is some evidence that hiring of younger workers has slowed in occupations with higher AI exposure.

The authors emphasize that while AI’s labor market effects remain limited so far, their framework provides a foundation for tracking economic changes as AI adoption expands and capabilities advance.

Bangladeshi musician Haider Hossain has dismissed rumors of his death that spread on social media last Saturday evening. Several Facebook groups and pages circulated fake photo cards, some even using the names of news outlets. The artist spoke to the media, saying he was embarrassed by the situation and had been receiving nonstop phone calls. He confirmed that he is healthy and described the rumors as undesirable and inappropriate.

The false reports caused widespread concern among his fans, prompting Haider Hossain to clarify the matter himself. A few years earlier, he had made headlines due to health complications. In June 2022, he was hospitalized after suffering a heart attack and had a stent placed in his heart. Haider Hossain is a significant figure in Bangladesh’s band music history, co-founding the band Winning and later collaborating with pop icon Azam Khan.

The incident highlights how quickly misinformation can spread online, especially regarding public figures, and underscores the need for responsible social media behavior.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said that India is not a major power in artificial intelligence (AI) technology and lacks sufficient production capacity in the tech sector. Speaking at a college in Kerala on Thursday, he claimed that India cannot manufacture much and that the recent India–US trade deal has handed over crucial national data to the United States.

Gandhi criticized India’s higher education system, alleging that many vice-chancellors are appointed based on political affiliations and that the influence of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is growing in education. He argued that a specific ideology is being imposed, which he described as harmful to the country. He also said that the global AI race is dominated by the United States and China, while India remains a minor player.

He warned that without control over its own data and stronger industrial production, India could face serious challenges. Gandhi also criticized major business groups like Reliance Industries and Adani Group for focusing mainly on selling foreign products and expressed concern over job losses linked to global AI expansion.

Renowned Bangladeshi television host and producer Hanif Sanket has been named a recipient of the Independence Award 2026 for his distinguished contributions to culture. The announcement was made through a government circular signed by Additional Secretary Md. Humayun Kabir of the Cabinet Division. Following the news, Sanket expressed gratitude and dedicated the award to his audience, acknowledging their love and support throughout his long career in the cultural arena.

Sanket stated that the achievement belongs to everyone who has supported him and emphasized his belief that healthy cultural practices can enlighten society and bring honor to the nation. He reaffirmed his commitment to continue working for the promotion of positive cultural values in Bangladesh. The government has decided to honor 15 individuals and five institutions this year across various fields, including independence, liberation war, science and technology, literature, sports, and culture.

In the cultural category, singer Bashir Ahmed will also receive the Independence Award posthumously alongside Hanif Sanket.

Oracle and OpenAI have dropped their plan to expand a flagship artificial intelligence data center in Texas after prolonged negotiations over financing and changes in OpenAI’s requirements, Bloomberg News reported. The expansion was part of the Stargate initiative, a project valued at up to $500 billion and 10 gigawatts that also involves SoftBank Group. The initiative was announced by U.S. President Donald Trump in January 2025.

The companies had earlier proposed adding 600 megawatts of capacity near the Stargate site in Abilene, Texas, but that capacity will now be developed at another data center campus. The Abilene site includes eight buildings operated by Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, with two already operational. Despite the canceled expansion, Oracle and OpenAI’s broader plan to develop 4.5 gigawatts of data center capacity remains on schedule.

Following the collapse of talks, Meta Platforms is reportedly considering leasing the planned expansion site from developer Crusoe, with Nvidia helping facilitate discussions to ensure its AI chips are used at the facility.