Covering the week of February 23, 2026
The AI Round-up: Year 4, Issue 7
I have a lot of people ask me what careers their kids should pursue, with AI breathing down our necks. I understand the concern parents have mainly because I’m in the same boat. My girls are 16 and 20 and are not huge fans of what AI has (potentially) done to careers they are passionate about.
My answer, when asked, is they should do what they’re interested in doing. However, they need to use AI to help them apply that skill to a lot of other careers because we are getting to a place where we’re all expected to be generalists.
It’s why I believe in communications so much. (Maybe you’ve heard I have a podcast about it?)
The better question is…why ask me when you can ask people in the field and who are so much smarter than me? Which is exactly what this week’s first article did.
Let’s get to it.
12(!!) stories – Here we go.
Story 1: What AI executives tell their own kids about the jobs of the future. (WSJ)
Story 2: AI is upending marketing on two fronts. (HBR)
You know us marketers…always overachieving.
Story 3: Anthropic given ultimatum—abandon AI safeguards or be labeled a national security threat. (Gizmodo)
Thankfully Anthropic is sticking to its very strict policies. Oh, wait a minute. Nope.
Story 4: Anthropic ditches core safety promise in wake of Pentagon showdown (CNN)
But there’s hope….because just this morning…whipsaw alert!!!....
Story 5: Anthropic rejects the Pentagon. (Axios)
“I know there is good in you…the Emperor hasn’t driven it from you fully.”
Story 6: We’re not done with you yet, Anthropic. (Shelly Palmer)
Not sure if you’ve heard of Claude’s plug-ins. Code for ‘AI that can just do what you do’. As Shelley’s headline points out…it solves a problem you didn’t know you had. (Or maybe creates one?)
Story 7: AI, the pied piper. (Pew)
Teens view AI as a positive influence in their lives, currently using it for homework (54%), entertainment (47%) and…emotional support (12%).
Story 8: Pope? Nope. (The National Catholic Reporter)
Pope Leo urges priests to avoid using AI to write homilies.
Story 9: What’s better than one banana? Two. Yep, Nano Banana 2 is here. (CNBC)
How good is it? Glad you asked…Mike Lawrence, take it away:
The direction from Ben: "Mike, be funny."
My direction to Nano Banana 2: "Make me be funny."
It did it, with a little extra prompting on my part. I got to say, it's really solid. And like a real-life camera, it adds 10 lbs.
Image created:
Go deeper: Google has a solid user guide.
Deeper yet: Ethan Mollick does what Ethan Mollick does. You were warned.
Story 10: Realtor accidentally places AI image of demon in the bathroom of listing pictures. (Futurism)
I can’t stop laughing at this…it’s so good and so stupid.
Story 11: Attack of the killer essays. (Ethan Mollick)
If you missed the story…but happened to see that a ‘doomsday’ essay caused an 800 point drop for the DJI…by all means, read more here (WSJ) as to how that happened. Because to Mollick’s point…uh, this needs to stop.
(related) Story 12: AI ‘hot takes’ are becoming a market risk. (Ellen Presutti)
Hot takes…makes me think of hot cakes…makes me think of pancakes. I need to go eat breakfast. That’s enough stories for the week!
5 Nopes.
1. Alexa’s new AI personalities are cringe. (As cringey as that Pete Davidson ‘I like you too’ commercial?) – PC World
2. Do you have to be polite to AI? (Probably wouldn’t hurt?) – BBC
3. Gold medal miff – Brady Tkachuk isn’t happy with the White House AI video of him. – ESPN
4. I didn’t think it needed to be said but… Don’t use AI to generate your passwords. -- LifeHacker
5. Meta director of AI safety accidentally lets OpenClaw delete her inbox. (Can’t make it up folks.) -- 404
-Ben
As a reminder, this is a round-up of the biggest stories, often hitting multiple newsletters I receive/review. The sources are many … which I’m happy to read on your behalf. Let me know if there’s one you’d like me to track or have questions about a topic you’re not seeing here.