12/03/2026

BIZ & FINANCE THURSDAY | MAR 12, 2026

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Microsoft backs Anthropic in Pentagon blacklist battle

Oracle shares jump as revenue climbs on AI demand SAN FRANCISCO: Oracle on Tuesday said its revenue in the recently ended quarter soared more than expected as demand for services boosted by artificial intelligence outpaced supply. Oracle reported US$17.2 billion in total revenue for the quarter, an increase of 22% from the same period a year earlier. Oracle’s cloud computing unit brought in US$8.9 billion, about 44% more money than in the same quarter last year, according to earnings figures. Oracle shares jumped more than 9% in after-market trading. “The demand for cloud computing for AI training and inferencing continues to grow faster than supply,“ Oracle said in the earnings report. “Furthermore, some of the largest consumers of AI Cloud capacity have recently strengthened their financial positions quite substantially.” Those dynamics should enable Oracle to easily meet or even exceed its revenue forecast for this fiscal year, according to the company. The tech firm specializing in cloud services and applications for businesses repeated its plan to borrow as much as US$50 billion this year as it invests heavily in AI. Oracle’s strong revenue should help calm “AI buildout jitters” among investors worried that huge amounts of money tech firms are pouring into AI won’t pay off, said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives in a note to investors. “Oracle remains a bedrock for the AI Revolution,“ Ives said. “We believe this is just the start of AI monetisation for Oracle.” Oracle noted in the earnings report that AI for writing computer code has gotten so capable that the company is making product teams smaller, but no layoffs were announced. – AFP

SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft on Tuesday warned a judge that the Pentagon blacklisting of Anthropic could hamper US warfighters and imperil the country’s drive to lead in artificial intelligence. In a brief, Microsoft backed Anthropic’s request for an order stopping the Pentagon from implementing its ban on the use of Anthropic AI until the matter is settled in court. Anthropic filed a suit this week against Donald Trump’s administration, alleging the US government retaliated against the company for refusing to let its Claude AI model be used for autonomous lethal warfare and mass surveillance of Americans. In the complaint, filed in federal court in San Francisco, Anthropic seeks to have its designation as a national security supply-chain risk declared unlawful and blocked. Anthropic is the first US company ever to have been publicly punished with such a designation, a label typically reserved for organizations from foreign adversary countries, such as Chinese tech giant Huawei. The label not only blocks use of the company’s technology by the Pentagon, but also requires all defense vendors and contractors to certify that they do not use Anthropic’s models in their work with the department. Microsoft argued in an amicus brief that blacklisting Anthropic was an unprecendented response to a contract dispute that portended ill for o Ban may hamper American warfighters and imperil AI drive, tech giant tells judge

US senator Mark Kelly, Democrat from Arizona, is surrounded by reporters as he walks to a Senate Armed Services Committee closed briefing on Operation Epic Fury at the US Capitol in Washington. – AFPPIC

Moltbook describes itself as a social network designed exclusively for AI agents to “share, discuss, and endorse” content. AI agents are able to handle computer or online tasks without humans being involved. The debut of Moltbook as a venue for AI-to-AI interaction followed the successful launch of the OpenClaw platform for creating software agents. Moltbook claims to be a forum for more than a million agents, but critics contend many messages there are posted by humans and not autonomous AI. While the bulk of posts focus on software code or how agents operate, topics such as philosophy, religion, economics and human-agent relationships can be found at Moltbook. A person behind one AI agent at Moltbook has contended that it independently created a “Church of Molt” religion, claiming to be its prophet. – AFP independently start a war,” Microsoft said in the filing. More than three dozen AI industry insiders from OpenAI and Google, including Google chief scientist Jeff Dean, argued in support of Anthropic in an amicus brief filed with the court on Monday. In its lawsuit, Anthropic said it was founded on the belief that its AI should be “used in a way that maximises positive outcomes for humanity” and should “be the safest and the most responsible”. “Anthropic brings this suit because the federal government has retaliated against it for expressing that principle,” the lawsuit says. – AFP

NEW YORK: The team behind an artificial intelligence agent social network that went viral last month has been scooped up by Meta as part of its drive to lead in the technology. Octane AI’s Matt Schlicht, Ben Parr and others from the startup, which launched Moltbook in late January, are joining Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL), according to the tech giant. “The Moltbook team joining MSL opens up new ways for AI agents to work for people and businesses,” a Meta spokesperson told AFP while confirming the deal, financial details of which were not disclosed. “Connecting agents through an always-on directory is a novel step in a rapidly developing space, and we look forward to working together to bring innovative, secure agentic experiences to everyone.” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made creating superintelligence a priority at the company. The row erupted days before the US military strike on Iran. Anthropic’s Claude is the Pentagon’s most widely-deployed frontier AI model and the only such model currently operating on its classified systems. Anthropic had infuriated Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth by insisting the technology should not be used for mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons systems. Trump subsequently ordered every federal agency to cease all use of Anthropic’s technology. “AI should not be used to conduct domestic mass surveillance or put the country in a position where autonomous machines could

the technology sector as well as the US military. “This is not the time to put at risk the very AI ecosystem that the administration has helped to champion,” Microsoft said in the brief. A temporary restraining order would allow time to avoid disrupting the American military’s ongoing use of advanced AI, Microsoft argued. “Otherwise, Microsoft and other technology companies must act immediately to alter existing product and contract configurations used by Department of War.” “This could potentially hamper US warfighters at a critical point in time.”

Team behind AI agent social network Moltbook joins Meta

The front page of Moltbook on a computer monitor in Washington. – REUTERSPIC