Key departures for Anthropic, OpenAI, and xAI

Press Clips #46 - February 16, 2026

Feb 16, 2026

Delivered to your inbox every Monday, Press Clips is a rundown of the previous week’s happenings in politics and tech in America. News, opinion, podcasts, and more, to bring you up to speed for the week ahead.

POLITICS

POLITICO reported that the Trump administration has drafted a pact with the aim of ensuring data center build outs do not increase household energy prices.
- Anthropic have since committed to covering any consumer energy price increases resulting from its data center expansion:
Source: Anthropic
- Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced legislation with the same goal. The GRID Act would ban new grid-connected data centers and mandate that data centers publish current and future usage.
The White House pressured Republican Utah Senate Majority Leader Kirk Cullimore Jr. to abandon AI transparency legislation.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) introduced the bipartisan AI Workforce Training Act, which would create a federal tax credit for companies that provide AI training to their employees.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Jim Banks (R-IN) are reportedly preparing bipartisan legislation banning the export of certain chips to China, in defiance of President Trump’s increasing leniency.

TECH

Anthropic CEO says proposed 10-year ban on state AI regulation 'too blunt' in NYT op-ed | Reuters — **Source: Reuters**

A mixed week for Anthropic: the company lost a key figure while simultaneously securing a massive new funding round.
- A notable departure as safeguards research lead Mrinank Sharma resigned. In a letter posted on X, he wrote
  “I’ve repeatedly seen how hard it is to truly let our values govern our actions.”
- The resignation comes as Anthropic released its latest Sabotage Risk Report for Opus 4.6, which found the model shows an “elevated susceptibility” to misuse for “heinous crimes.”
- At the same time, Anthropic closed its Series G round, raising $30 billion at a $380 billion valuation — a sharp increase from its previous $183 billion valuation.
- The company also pledged $20 million to AI safeguards group Public First Action, led by former Representatives Chris Stewart (R-UT) and Brad Carson (D-OK).
- Additionally, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Pentagon used Anthropic’s Claude to aid the capture of Nicolás Maduro, via their partnership with Palantir.
  - The Pentagon has this week threatened to cut ties with the tech firm following months of failed negotiations to secure an agreement on using Claude for “all lawful purposes.”
Departures continue at xAI, as co-founders Tony Wu and Jimmy Ba announced they were leaving the company. They are the fourth and fifth founders to leave in the last year.
This came as the company’s CEO, Elon Musk, announced a restructuring that includes a strategic pivot from Mars exploration toward a renewed focus on the Moon.