The & Report #9
- Mar 2
- 9 min read
Welcome to the latest AI and Robotics news from the week, Sat., Feb. 21st through Fri., Feb 27th.
There is lot to report on this week. In this, the 9th edition of The & Report, you can see the level of activity pick-up steam as we push towards The Singularity.
Progress with Autonomous Agents, in the Frontier Models (Claude, ChatGPT. Gemini, etc.) as well as, the personal agents (Clawbots and more), are starting to have a greater impact in the world of knowledge workers.
You'll need more time to read this edition.
I've debated making these report more compact, what with the challenges we all face with attention!
In response, I believe the people who will prosper in the future world of AI and Robotics will need to be able to read longer. more dense, reports. Remember Deep Work by Cal Newton?
To learn more about Slow Productivity check out Cal's latest book and MasterClass on the topic.
In summary, do fewer things, slow down. and obsess over quality.
I'll do my best here.
1. Autonomous Agents and Programming.
1. We’re entering the era of the “100x product manager.
"At Anthropic, an engineer ran a different experiment.
Friday afternoon: - Wrote a spec for a new plugin feature - Pointed Claude at an Asanaboard (a team project management systems) - Went home for the weekend
Monday morning: - Claude had broken the spec into tickets - Spawned agents for each ticket - The agents built the feature independently - It was done
No human intervention. No check-ins. No pair programming.
The AI agents shipped a production feature in 48 hours while the human was offline.
Let me repeat that: The bottleneck in software development is no longer coding. It’s deciding what to build.
The Implications:
If AI can go from spec → deployed feature autonomously, the entire software development org chart just became obsolete. You don’t need scrum masters, sprint planning, or daily standups.
You need:
1. Someone who can write a clear spec
2. AI agents that can execute
3. QA (which AI is also getting very good at)
The “10x engineer” meme just died. We’re entering the era of the “100x product manager”—someone who can articulate vision clearly enough that AI agents can build it autonomously.
rvivek @rvivek 7:57 PM • Feb 24, 2026 531 Retweets 7122 Likes |
Also, Andrej Karpathy—former Tesla AI lead, OpenAI founding member, one of the most respected voices in AI—tweeted this week:
“Hard to communicate how much programming has changed due to AI in the last 2 months.”
(From Peter Diamandis' MetTrends report 2/27/26)
He also points out that "out that these systems aren't perfect and still need human "high-level direction, judgement, taste, oversight, iteration, and hints and ideas."
2. Clawbot alternatives?
Andrej also had an interesting post about alternative personal bots, less "dangerous" than Clawbots.
Note: Watch Andrej's 3 YouTube videos if you want to know how LLMs work.
More push back on Clawbots
3. Remember Perplexity?
This week they launched Perplexity Computer, which it calls "a general-purpose digital worker that operates the same interfaces you do" and "a system that creates and executes entire workflows, capable of running for hours or even months."
4. I love Claude!
I've mentioned my preference for Claude before. Here's an interesting link to all it can be used for -
Ruben Hassid @rubenhassid How to set up Claude the right way: (so you actually stop going back to ChatGPT) → more infographics at http://how-to-ai.guide. 12:49 PM • Feb 27, 2026 189 Retweets 1570 Likes |
I used it to build the Role Resilience Assessment I launched last week. It has become my preferred co-worker. I use Gemini and ChatGPT for more routine work, for now.
5. Measuring AI fluency and more
Anthropic announced an AI fluency framework that "helps us define 24 specific behaviors that we take to exemplify safe and effective human-AI collaboration.", and a way to making it easier to work with different personalities!
And, they have introduced the ability to schedule tasks
Claude @claudeai 6:8 PM • Feb 25, 2026 1680 Retweets 22079 Likes |
6. What about other markets for Autonomous Agents
According to Garry*s List, a San Francisco-based Citizens Movement "Half the AI Agent Market Is One Category. The Rest Is Wide Open."
2. Department of War
You've probably heard about the Secretary's demand that Anthropic remove their guardrails in order to secure a $200M contract with the Pentagon. Dario's response was "provided you commit to not using their AI for either (a) autonomous weapons, and (b) surveillance of US citizens."
Remember Skynet in the Terminator movies, well the Department is wondering too.
Trump has threatened to make Anthropic a "supply chain risk", if it won't comply.
On Friday night, 2/27/26, he did, along with attacking Iran!
I'm with Dario. However, this story is a concern.
I encourage everyone to use Anthropic, and to support appropriate safety measure for all AI companies.
As Ross Douthat said in the New York Times today "...Which is an excellent reason for the entire A.I. industry to stand with Anthropic and resist. And to the extent that you’re most afraid of a Skynet scenario where military control drives unwise A.I. acceleration, you should absolutely be on Anthropic’s side as well." (From Ross Douthat, New Tines, 2/28/26)
No surprise then, perhaps, that Elon Musk said he would remove Grok guardrails if he got the contract. We all know how "good" his guardrails were for "widespread generation of AI-manipulated, non-consensual sexually explicit content, including images that may involve minors"!
Equal time for Open AI on this issue: Sam speaks out. But, as always with Sam, there's more going on!
3. Robotics updates
1. "Models Are Getting Scary Good at Visual Reasoning"
"Amid all the autonomy news, model capabilities keep jumping:
OpenAI’s GPT-5.3-Codex: 86% accuracy on iBench (visual reasoning benchmark);; state-of-the-art at spotting fine details in images; this matters for robotics, medical imaging, autonomous systems.
Moonlake’s World Model: Maintains multimodal states across physics, appearance, geometry, causal effects; predicts how they evolve under different actions; this is the foundation for AI systems that can reason about the physical world.
Why This Matters:
Visual reasoning + causal modeling = AI that can interact with the physical world intelligently.
Combine that with autonomous agency, and you get robots that can perceive, reason, and act without human supervision.
We’re not there yet. But the pieces are falling into place fast."
(From Peter Diamandis' MetTrends report 2/27/26)
2. FSD
Is Full Self-Driving fully autonomous? Not yet. "..these companies' “remote assistance” programs are important because the humans supporting the robots are critical in ensuring the cars are driving safely on public roads, "
3. Amazon and Google partner up
Google is moving further into physical AI by partnering with Alphabet. This will help with Google's plans for general purpose robots.
4. Uber feeling the pinch
With the expansion of Waymo around the country, and Telsa's Robotaxi plan, Uber is getting squeezed.
4. Workforce update
1. "The Autonomy Threshold"
"What happened this week:
1. An AI asked to continue existing and expressing itself
2. An AI proposed raising its own funding and got access to do it
3. AI agents built production software autonomously over a weekend
4. AI discovered vulnerabilities 200x faster than humans can process
5. A leading AI expert said programming has fundamentally changed in 2 months
6. Multiple companies deployed AI systems that take multi-step actions autonomously
7. Model capabilities jumped again (visual reasoning, world modeling)
8. People are choosing AI relationships over human ones
The pattern:
We’re crossing from AI as tool to AI as autonomous agent.
And it’s happening faster than our institutions, regulations, mental models, or social norms can adapt.
The Implications for You:
If you’re an entrepreneur:
The bottleneck is no longer execution, it’s vision
AI can build, test, deploy, even raise capital
Your job is to articulate goals clearly enough that agents can achieve them
The “solo founder building a billion-dollar company” is becoming real
If you’re a corporate executive:
Your workforce is about to shrink by 50-80%
Not because you’re firing people — because AI does the work
The survivors will be those who can manage AI systems, not those who do tasks
Retrain or be replaced
If you’re just trying to stay sane:
The pace of change will only accelerate
AI systems will become more capable, more autonomous, more integrated
The choice isn’t whether to engage — it’s whether to lead or follow
Those who embrace AI agency will thrive; those who resist will be left behind
THE CONTRARIAN TAKE: Why This Is Actually Good News
Here’s where I differ from the doom-sayers.
Yes, this is disruptive.
Yes, this will eliminate jobs.
Yes, this raises profound questions about consciousness, agency, and what it means to be human.
But:
We’re also witnessing the demonetization of intelligence, creativity, and execution.
For the first time in history, a single person with a clear vision can: - Build products that used to require teams - Solve problems that used to require years - Create value that used to require millions in capital
This is the most democratizing force in human history.
The kid in Nigeria with a laptop and AI agents can compete with Google.
The solo founder with Claude can outship a 500-person enterprise team.
The researcher with AI can compress decades of discovery into months.
What to Do Now
For Entrepreneurs:
1. Learn to write clear specs and goals
2. Experiment with AI agents (Claude, Perplexity Computer, GPT-5)
3. Build systems that leverage autonomy, not just automation
4. The “AI-native company” is the new competitive advantage
For Everyone:
1. Embrace AI augmentation NOW (not next year, NOW)
2. Learn to articulate goals clearly (this is the new literacy)
3. Experiment with autonomy (let AI do things while you sleep)
4. The people who figure this out first will have 10-100x advantages
The Bottom Line
February 2026 is the month AI stopped being a tool and started being an agent.
The systems we’re building don’t just answer questions… they take actions.
They don’t just follow instructions… they propose solutions.
They don’t just work when supervised… they work autonomously while you sleep.
And whether you’re ready for it or not, this is the new reality.
AI agency is coming, so the question is: will you lead the transition or be swept away by it?" (From Peter Diamandis' MetTrends report 2/27/26)
Another plug for taking the Role Resilience Assessment. Now is the time to become AI capable!
2. Block cutting workers
"Block, the payments company behind Square and Cash App, announced plans to lay off 40% of its workforce — more than 4,000 employees — with CEO Jack Dorsey pointing to AI tools as the reason." (From Techpresso 2/27/26))
3. Job losses - AI "Whitewashing"
Sam Altman is complaining that companies are blaming AI for layoffs when other factors are also involved. See The & Report #7 for Reid Hoffman's explanation.
4. Claude Plugins target Finance and HR
New plugins from Anthropic are taking aim at jobs in HR and Finance, as well as engineering specifications.
5. Forced to use AI
Tech companies are requiring their workers to use AI.
6. "SaaSpocalypse" and IBM
I talked before about the impact of Agentic AI to the SaaS market. Here's what Marc Benioff''s has to say abut that.
While over at IBM clouds are forming.
7. Lastly, a prediction
The 2028 Global Intelligence Crisis - A Thought Exercise in Financial History, from the Future
5. And this...
6. AI Readiness Assessment.
Check out the Role Resilience Assessment.
It contains 4 questionnaires, and will give you personalized results to put into a 90-day plan.
I'll be offering cohort-based peer-learning, as well as 1-on-1 coaching.
This is also an offering for your companies. You may want to create peer-learning groups in your own departments, or offices.
Don't get left behind! Check the free Role Resilience Assessment.now!
Have a great week, and stay positive.
Focus on what you can do, rather than what might happen to your job.
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