Latest AI News Cycle for Friday, February 13, 2026

• Anthropic raises $30 billion at $380 billion valuation: This historic funding round represents a massive shift in the AI landscape, positioning Anthropic as a primary rival to OpenAI. The sheer scale of the investment underscores the high capital requirements and intense competition for dominance in foundation models.
• Google launches Gemini 3 Deep Think for advanced reasoning: The release of Gemini 3 Deep Think marks a major technical milestone in AI reasoning capabilities. It signals Google's aggressive push to lead in advanced mathematics and scientific problem-solving, challenging the benchmarks set by previous state-of-the-art models.
• OpenAI releases GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark for real-time coding: This specialized model launch targets the developer ecosystem by offering real-time coding assistance. It demonstrates OpenAI's strategy of vertical integration and creating high-performance tools for specific professional workflows, maintaining its edge in the competitive generative coding market.
• OpenAI claims DeepSeek distilled US models to train R1: This allegation highlights a growing geopolitical and intellectual property rift in AI development. OpenAI's memo suggests that breakthroughs in Chinese AI models may rely heavily on distilling knowledge from American research, raising significant concerns about data sovereignty and competitive ethics.
• Founding team members exit xAI in massive talent exodus: The departure of half the founding team at xAI is a significant blow to Elon Musk's AI ambitions. This loss of core talent could delay research timelines and raises questions about internal stability and the future direction of the company's development.
• Microsoft AI CEO predicts white-collar automation within eighteen months: Mustafa Suleyman's aggressive timeline for white-collar task automation provides a stark warning for the global workforce. This prediction emphasizes the urgent need for professional upskilling as AI agents begin to handle complex cognitive tasks previously reserved for humans.
• IBM triples entry-level hiring to reimagine roles for AI: IBM's decision to aggressively hire entry-level talent specifically to work with AI suggests a shift in corporate talent strategy. It focuses on building a workforce that is native to AI tools, prioritizing adaptability and prompt engineering skills over traditional legacy workflows.
• JPMorgan names new COO to lead global AI strategy: Appointing a high-level executive to oversee AI strategy within a major investment bank signals the deep integration of AI into financial services. This move reflects the sector's focus on operational efficiency and the deployment of AI for complex risk management.