On May 1, the Pentagon signed classified-network AI contracts with 8 companies — SpaceX, OpenAI, Google, NVIDIA, Microsoft, AWS, Reflection, Oracle. Anthropic was excluded by name for refusing the lawful-purpose clause. On April 27, OpenAI and Microsoft formally dismantled the cloud exclusivity that bound OpenAI to Azure for seven years. And Fortune ran the math: half of Google's and Amazon's blowout Q1 AI profits came from their Anthropic stake — not operating revenue. Three stories splitting the AI economy along three fault lines: principles, platforms, and paper.
Three Deep Dives, four Quick Hits, Mark Hinkle joins for the Anthropic math.
1. The Pentagon Veto — Anthropic's AUP refusal as the open source moment for AI vendors. GPL vs BSD as the philosophical parallel. Audit your vendor's TOS for five phrases by Friday.
2. The Azure Divorce — multi-cloud AI is now real. Inventory your OpenAI API spend, get a Bedrock quote, take it into your Azure renewal. Microsoft account economics in 2026 reward the move.
3. Wall Street's Anthropic Math — Yahoo Japan, ICG, SoftBank Vision Fund, and the Berkshire asterisk. Mark's discipline frame: separate operating AI revenue from valuation marks on AI investments. Three eras, same physics.
Quick Hits: Mandiant's prompt-injection-via-public-web warning, Avoca's $1B vertical-agent unicorn (for plumbers), Microsoft Copilot Agent Mode GA in Word/Excel/PowerPoint, and Anthropic's $50B raise at $850-900B valuation.
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