AI News Flash for February 18, 2026 at 02:00 UTC.

Topics:

1. Pentagon vs Anthropic AI Weaponization

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6389495719112

2. California AI Oversight Unit

https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/california-builds-ai-oversight-unit-presses-xai-investigation-2026-02-18/

3. Mesh Optical Technologies $50M

https://siliconangle.com/2026/02/17/mesh-optical-technologies-raises-50m-mass-produce-american-made-data-center-links/

4. Promptware Kill Chain

https://www.scworld.com/brief/promptware-kill-chain-a-new-framework-for-ai-llm-attacks