Anthropic just announced that #Claude can analyze #COBOL code — potentially helping enterprises modernize legacy systems and migrate to newer platforms faster.

Markets reacted quickly: investors dumped IBM stock, triggering a sharp ~13% drop on Monday (Feb 23, 2026).

And honestly… the reaction isn’t entirely irrational.

IBM’s mainframe ecosystem and its multi-billion-dollar modernization consulting business rely heavily on the complexity of legacy systems. If AI meaningfully reduces the cost and risk of understanding decades-old COBOL, it could reshape how modernization projects are delivered.

From Anthropic’s own framing:

COBOL still powers an estimated 95% of ATM transactions in the U.S.
Hundreds of billions of lines run critical systems across finance, airlines, and government — while the number of engineers who truly understand it keeps shrinking.

That’s the real pressure point: institutional knowledge is disappearing faster than organizations can modernize.

The interesting question isn’t whether AI will replace modernization work — it’s how it changes the economics of it.

Here’s the irony I keep thinking about:

What if IBM itself adopts Claude (or similar AI) to accelerate COBOL analysis, reduce delivery costs, and preserve margins inside the very modernization wave investors fear will shrink?

AI may not eliminate modernization consulting — it may simply redefine who captures the value.

#AI #EnterpriseIT #Mainframe #Modernization #IBM #Anthropic #SoftwareEngineering #DigitalTransformation

Anthropic has publicly revealed what it describes as a large-scale coordinated effort by competing AI labs — including DeepSeek, Moonshot, and MiniMax — to extract the capabilities of its Claude models through millions of fraudulent interactions.

According to the company, more than 16 million exchanges across approximately 24,000 fake accounts were used to generate outputs that could later be used to train competing systems.

The allegation signals a new and increasingly complex challenge for the AI industry: protecting model capabilities in an environment where outputs themselves can become training data.

What Anthropic Says Happened

Anthropic claims that multiple organizations orchestrated large-scale operations designed to mimic normal user activity while systematically collecting responses from Claude.

The company alleges:

• Model distillation at scale — training weaker systems using outputs generated by stronger models.
• MiniMax allegedly ran the largest operation, exceeding 13 million exchanges.
• Anthropic says it detected a rapid shift in activity toward a new model release in less than 24 hours after intervention.
• DeepSeek reportedly requested step-by-step reasoning and rewrites of politically sensitive prompts, generating structured datasets covering both logic workflows and moderation boundaries.

These patterns, according to Anthropic, were not isolated experiments but coordinated efforts aimed at accelerating model development.

Why Distillation Matters

Distillation is not a new concept in machine learning. Researchers have long used it to compress large models into smaller, more efficient ones.

What changes the conversation here is scale and intent.

If a frontier model’s outputs can be harvested at industrial scale, companies may effectively “borrow” capabilities without replicating the years of research, infrastructure, and cost required to build them from scratch.

This raises several difficult questions:

• Where is the line between normal usage and capability extraction?
• How should AI companies protect outputs without harming legitimate users?
• Can open access coexist with frontier-level competitive pressures?

A Growing Industry Concern

Anthropic’s claims come amid broader discussions about model security and competitive risk. OpenAI recently raised similar concerns in conversations with policymakers, signaling that the issue may be gaining traction beyond individual companies.

The debate is no longer only about model safety or alignment — it is increasingly about economic protection, intellectual property, and strategic advantage.

As AI systems become more capable, outputs themselves may become one of the most valuable assets to defend.

The Bigger Picture

There is an irony at the center of this debate.

The AI industry itself continues to face scrutiny over how training data is sourced, licensed, and used. As a result, public sympathy may be limited when companies argue that others are benefiting from their outputs without permission.

Still, the core issue is clear: frontier AI development is becoming both a technological and geopolitical competition, and model distillation appears to be emerging as a new battleground.

Why This Matters Going Forward

If Anthropic’s claims are accurate, the industry may be approaching a turning point where:

• AI labs tighten access controls and monitoring.
• Governments become more involved in setting rules around model usage.
• Collaboration and competition collide in new ways.

Ultimately, the question is not just who builds the most capable AI — but who can protect, govern, and sustain those capabilities in an increasingly crowded ecosystem.

https://www.anthropic.com/news/detecting-and-preventing-distillation-attacks

OpenAI’s rumored first hardware product — a $200–$300 smart speaker designed with Jony Ive and expected around 2027 — is easy to interpret as just another consumer gadget.

That would be a mistake.

The real story isn’t the device itself. It’s the strategic shift toward owning the interface layer of AI.

AI Is Outgrowing the Screen

For the last decade, software platforms competed inside existing ecosystems — mobile apps, browsers, and cloud APIs. AI has largely followed the same path.

But AI changes the equation.

Unlike traditional software, AI thrives on context:

• Where you are
• What you’re doing
• Who you’re interacting with
• What intent exists before you even ask

A device with cameras, sensors, and persistent presence turns AI from a reactive tool into an ambient system.

That’s a major architectural shift.

Why Hardware Matters for AI Platforms

From a platform perspective, hardware gives three strategic advantages:

1️⃣ Continuous Context Capture

Software only knows what users explicitly provide. Hardware observes environments and behavior patterns — enabling richer, proactive experiences.

2️⃣ Control Over Experience

Owning hardware means controlling latency, interaction design, and trust boundaries — something cloud-only AI providers struggle with.

3️⃣ Platform Lock-In at the Interface Level

The company that owns the daily interaction surface controls the ecosystem. Apple did this with smartphones. Amazon tried with voice assistants. OpenAI appears to be trying with AI-native devices.

This isn’t about speakers — it’s about becoming the operating system for everyday decisions.

The Risk: Software Companies Underestimate Hardware

OpenAI’s reported internal friction — design secrecy, slower iteration cycles, and cross-team tension — reflects a common challenge:

Software moves fast. Hardware does not.

Physical products introduce realities that cloud engineers rarely face:

• Supply chains
• Manufacturing tolerances
• Regulatory and privacy concerns
• Multi-year product cycles

Execution, not vision, will determine success.

The Competitive Window Is Narrow

The timing is significant:

• Apple is pushing AI deeper into its device ecosystem
• Amazon continues evolving Alexa into an AI-first assistant
• Meta is experimenting with wearable AI interfaces

OpenAI’s first hardware launch will effectively define whether it becomes:

• A foundational AI platform provider, or
• A model supplier living inside other companies’ ecosystems.

That’s a massive strategic difference.

The Bigger Industry Shift

What we’re watching is the early stage of a new computing layer:

Cloud → Mobile → AI Ambient Computing

The winners may not be the companies with the best models alone — but those who control how humans naturally interact with AI in daily life.

From an engineering perspective, this changes how we think about systems:

• AI becomes event-driven and context-aware
• Devices act as distributed edge nodes
• Cloud models become orchestration brains rather than front-end experiences

The interface is becoming the platform.

Final Thought

Whether OpenAI’s first device succeeds or fails almost doesn’t matter.

What matters is that the industry is signaling a shift: AI is moving from an app you open to an environment you live in.

And whoever defines that environment first may shape the next decade of computing.

OpenAI’s long-rumored entry into consumer hardware is beginning to take shape — and early reports suggest the company is aiming high.

According to The Information, OpenAI and legendary Apple designer Jony Ive are working on a smart speaker priced around $200–$300, expected to launch in early 2027. The device would include a built-in camera and facial recognition system designed to enable AI-powered interactions and even purchases.

If accurate, this would mark OpenAI’s first major step beyond software into physical consumer products.

The Team Behind the Vision

The hardware initiative reportedly emerged after OpenAI acquired Ive’s startup Io Products for approximately $6.5 billion in May. The acquisition brought together a team of over 200 specialists — including former Apple veterans — to lead:

• Hardware engineering
• Industrial design
• Supply chain and manufacturing
• Product experience

Jony Ive’s design firm, LoveFrom, is said to be leading the creative direction, while OpenAI’s internal teams focus on hardware execution.

What the Device Could Look Like

Early details suggest the smart speaker goes far beyond today’s voice assistants:

• A built-in camera that observes surroundings
• AI-driven contextual nudges that encourage user actions
• Face ID–style recognition for seamless purchasing
• Tight integration with AI workflows rather than simple voice commands

The goal appears to be creating a more proactive, ambient AI companion — one that understands context instead of waiting for commands.

Beyond the Speaker: The Long-Term Hardware Roadmap

Reports also indicate OpenAI is exploring additional device categories:

• AI-powered smart glasses (targeted for 2028 or later)
• A smart lamp prototype designed as an experimental interaction device

These projects suggest OpenAI isn’t thinking about single products — it’s exploring an entire ecosystem of AI-native hardware.

Internal Challenges Already Emerging

As with many ambitious hardware efforts, the road hasn’t been frictionless. Reports mention:

• Tension between OpenAI teams and LoveFrom over design secrecy
• Slow revision cycles tied to Ive’s meticulous design process
• Coordination challenges between design and engineering teams

This isn’t surprising. Hardware development introduces constraints that software-first companies rarely face: supply chains, manufacturing timelines, physical reliability, and user safety.

Why This Launch Matters

OpenAI entering hardware isn’t just about shipping a speaker — it’s about defining how people physically interact with AI.

The timing is critical:

• Apple is accelerating AI integration across devices
• Amazon continues evolving Alexa into a more conversational assistant
• Other players are racing toward AI-native form factors

OpenAI’s window to shape the category is narrowing. A successful first product could establish a new standard for AI-first devices — but a misstep could make hardware look like an expensive distraction from its core strength.

The Bigger Picture

For years, AI has largely lived inside screens. A well-designed device could shift AI from something we open to something that simply exists around us — ambient, contextual, and always available.

Jony Ive’s design legacy and OpenAI’s AI leadership make this partnership one of the most watched experiments in tech right now. Whether it becomes the “next iPhone moment” or a difficult learning experience will depend on execution — and how much real value AI hardware can deliver beyond novelty.

https://www.theinformation.com/articles/inside-openai-team-developing-ai-devices