MATTHEW GAULT SECURITY FEB 9, 2026 6:30 AM AI Is Here to Replace Nuclear Treaties. Scared Yet? The last major nuclear arms treaty between the US and Russia just expired. Some experts believe a combination of satellite surveillance, AI, and human reviewers can take its place. Others, not so much. ILLUSTRATION: JIM HEIMANN/GETTY IMAGES Get our Tracker: ICE newsletter to understand what’s happening and what’s coming next SIGN UP By signing up, you agree to our user agreement (including class action waiver and arbitration provisions), and acknowledge our privacy policy. You’ve read your last free article. The intersection of technology, power, and culture. Start your free trial and get access to 5 all-new premium newsletters—cancel anytime. START FREE TRIAL Already a subscriber? Sign In The intersection of technology, power, and culture. Start your free trial and get access to 5 all-new premium newsletters START FREE TRIAL You Might Also Like In your inbox: Sign up for our new Tracker: ICE newsletter TikTok now collects even more of your data Big Story: ICE pretends it’s a military force, but it would get soldiers killed Microdosing for depression works about as well as drinking coffee Watch: We raced in exoskeletons to see if they actually help Matthew Gault is a writer covering weird tech, nuclear war, and video games. He’s worked for Reuters, Vice, and the New York Times. ... Read More CONTRIBUTOR TOPICS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SATELLITES NATIONAL SECURITY MACHINE LEARNING SPACE RUSSIA CHINA NUCLEAR WAR NUCLEAR Don't Just Keep Up. Get Ahead Sign up for the Daily newsletter to get our biggest stories, handpicked for you each day. SIGN UP By signing up, you agree to our user agreement (including class action waiver and arbitration provisions), and acknowledge our privacy policy. READ MORE AI-Powered Disinformation Swarms Are Coming for Democracy Advances in artificial intelligence are creating a perfect storm for those seeking to spread disinformation at unprecedented speed and scale. And it’s virtually impossible to detect. DAVID GILBERT AI’s Hacking Skills Are Approaching an ‘Inflection Point’ AI models are getting so good at finding vulnerabilities that some experts say the tech industry might need to rethink how software is built. WILL KNIGHT Moltbook, the Social Network for AI Agents, Exposed Real Humans’ Data Plus: Apple’s Lockdown mode keeps the FBI out of a reporter’s phone, Elon Musk’s Starlink cuts off Russian forces, and more. ANDY GREENBERG How AI Companies Got Caught Up in US Military Efforts Two years ago, companies like Meta and OpenAI were united against military use of their tools. Now all of that has changed. NICK SRNICEK The Only Thing Standing Between Humanity and AI Apocalypse Is … Claude? As AI systems grow more powerful, Anthropic’s resident philosopher says the startup is betting Claude itself can learn the wisdom needed to avoid disaster. STEVEN LEVY The Danger of Reducing America’s Venezuela Invasion to a 60-Second Video January 3 marked the return of US military intervention in Latin America. While the events unfolded between Caracas and Brooklyn, social networks had already fabricated their own reality. ANNA LAGOS Mistral's New Ultra-Fast Translation Model Gives Big AI Labs a Run for Their Money “Too many GPUs makes you lazy,” says the French startup’s vice president of science operations, as the company carves out a different path than the major US AI companies. JOEL KHALILI A New AI Math Startup Just Cracked 4 Previously Unsolved Problems Axiom says its AI found solutions to several long-standing math problems, a sign of the technology’s steadily advancing reasoning capabilities. WILL KNIGHT Inside OpenAI’s Raid on Thinking Machines Lab OpenAI is planning to bring over more researchers from Thinking Machines Lab after nabbing two cofounders, a source familiar with the situation says. Plus, the latest efforts to automate jobs with AI. MAXWELL ZEFF Waymo Hits a Rough Patch In Washington, DC The company’s robotaxi service is supposed to launch in the US capital this year. But while service rollouts have been relatively smooth in other cities, DC’s rules have made things tricky. AARIAN MARSHALL The Real AI Talent War Is for Plumbers and Electricians The AI boom is driving an unprecedented wave of data center construction, but there aren’t enough skilled tradespeople in the US to keep up. CAROLINE HASKINS Ads Are Coming to ChatGPT. Here’s How They’ll Work OpenAI says ads will not influence ChatGPT’s responses, and that it won’t sell user data to advertisers. MAXWELL ZEFF