The Machine Economy Brief

Monday, February 23, 2026

The Machine Economy Brief

Monday, February 23, 2026

The Signal

A dozen Chinese humanoid robots, armed and seemingly trained for combat, were filmed maneuvering through an obstacle course in the snow-covered mountains. The footage raises questions about its authenticity and the implications of such developments [Google News].

Labor Watch

Sam Altman accuses tech companies of 'AI-washing' their layoffs, suggesting they blame AI for job cuts that are actually financially motivated [San Francisco Chronicle; Gizmodo]. Meanwhile, Jack Dorsey faces backlash for mass layoffs and mandatory AI tool usage at Block, Inc. [Inc.com].

Agent Infrastructure

Shift4 Payments' valuation is under scrutiny following their stablecoin launch amidst mixed analyst and institutional activity [Simply Wall St]. Meanwhile, Runlayer offers new secure agent capabilities for enterprises [VentureBeat].

The Labs

OpenAI's compute costs could reach $600 billion by 2030, a staggering projection underscoring the scale of AI's future [PYMNTS.com]. Anthropic launched an autonomous vulnerability-hunting tool for their Claude Code platform [PCMag].

Elon Watch

Elon Musk’s xAI received a $3 billion investment from a Saudi-backed firm, showcasing significant international interest despite facing a second lawsuit over datacenter pollution [The New York Times; The Guardian].

Venture Signals

Over $9 billion was invested globally in AI seed rounds over the past six months, with a focus on cybersecurity, multimedia, robotics, and automation [Crunchbase News].

Robotics & Physical World

The authenticity of a video showing armed Chinese humanoid robots executing complex maneuvers is under scrutiny, raising alarms about their potential military applications [Google News; Snopes].

Podcast Intelligence

Peter Steinberger, in conversation with Lex Fridman, claims that the perceived degradation of AI is actually a reflection of human understanding, not a decline in AI capability [Lex Fridman Podcast].

Startup Obituaries

No significant shutdowns to report today.

The Number

OpenAI's anticipated compute spend could hit $600 billion by 2030, reflecting AI's burgeoning infrastructure demands [PYMNTS.com].