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This week we explore:
Perplexity just launched an AI agent that orchestrates 19 different AI models and it might be the beginning of the end for single-model apps
NASA blows up its Artemis playbook and goes full Apollo mode resulting in more missions, faster launches, moon landing in 2028
China's humanoid robots went from stumbling memes to doing backflips on live TV in 12 months and they control 90% of the market
Samsung's Galaxy S26 Ultra has a "Privacy Display" that blocks nosy seatmates on your commute
Google's Gemini 3.1 Pro just leapfrogged everyone on reasoning benchmarks — the AI throne changes hands again
OpenAI picks London as its biggest research base outside the US — the global talent war heats up
Artificial Intelligence
Perplexity's "Computer" Is the First Real AI Agent Orchestrator
Perplexity dropped the most ambitious product in its three-year history this week: a multi-model agent platform called Computer that coordinates 19 different AI models to complete complex workflows entirely in the background. The system uses Claude Opus 4.6 as its core reasoning engine, routes deep research to Gemini, images to Nano Banana, video to Veo 3.1, lightweight tasks to Grok, and long-context work to GPT-5.2. You describe the end result you want, and Computer breaks it into subtasks, assigns each to the best model, spawns sub-agents, and runs them in parallel — for hours or even months.
This isn't a chatbot upgrade. It's a managed, cloud-based digital worker that can build websites, compile research reports, generate datasets, and deploy entire projects from a single prompt. Perplexity is positioning it against OpenClaw, the viral open-source agent that ran locally on your machine (and occasionally deleted your emails). Computer keeps everything in the cloud with curated integrations — think Apple's App Store approach versus OpenClaw's Wild West. Available now for Max subscribers at $200/month, with Pro and Enterprise rollout coming soon. If the future of AI is orchestration rather than any single model, Perplexity just made its $20 billion bet on exactly that.
Read more - VentureBeat
Google Retakes the Reasoning Crown with Gemini 3.1 Pro
Google DeepMind released Gemini 3.1 Pro on February 19, and the benchmarks are hard to argue with. The model scored 77.1% on ARC-AGI-2, an abstract reasoning test more than doubling Gemini 3's previous score of 31.1% and leapfrogging Claude Opus 4.6 and GPT-5.2. It also leads on 13 of 16 benchmarks Google measured.
That said, the full picture is more nuanced: Claude Opus 4.6 still leads on economically valuable professional tasks and tool-orchestrated work, and GPT-5.3-Codex holds advantages in certain coding scenarios. The frontier is splitting into specialized zones rather than one model ruling everything, which is exactly why tools like Perplexity's Computer exist.
Read more - Google DeepMind Model Card
OpenAI Makes London Its Biggest Research Hub Outside the US
OpenAI announced this week that London will become its largest research base outside the United States, in a move that signals the intensifying global talent war. The company cited the UK's talent pipeline, university system, and scientific institutions. It currently has about 30 researchers in London and plans to significantly expand. This puts OpenAI in direct competition with Google DeepMind, which is already headquartered in London. For anyone in tech: where frontier AI labs plant their flags is where the next decade of career opportunities will cluster.
Read more - Reuters via Storyboard18
Quick Hits
The Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF) now has 97 members in its first quarter, more than doubling early CNCF growth — MCP Dev Summit is coming to NYC in April
Airbnb's custom AI agent now handles a third of customer support issues in North America, with CEO Brian Chesky calling it a "huge step change" in quality with a global rollout planned for later this year.
Google's Opal vibe-coding app added a Gemini 3 Flash-powered agent that builds automated workflows from plain language, no coding required.
Microsoft flagged a new "memory poisoning" attack where manipulated AI summarization links inject hidden instructions into chatbot memory — over 30 organizations affected.
IBM plans to triple entry-level hiring this year, reframing AI as a workforce transformer. New roles focus on client engagement and product development augmented by AI, not replaced by it
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Robotics
China's Humanoid Robots Went From Meme to Menace in 12 Months
Remember last year's Spring Festival Gala, when China's humanoid robots wobbled through a folk dance with handkerchiefs? This year, they did backflips. Aerial parkour. Kung fu routines with weapons. Multi-robot choreography that would make Cirque du Soleil sweat. Unitree's bots stole the show and the company is targeting 10,000–20,000 robot shipments in 2026.
Read more - CNBC
Consumer Hardware
Samsung's Galaxy S26 Ultra Has One Feature That Actually Changes How You Use Your Phone
Samsung dropped the Galaxy S26 series at Unpacked in San Francisco this week, and while the spec bumps are iterative (thinner, lighter, better AI), one feature stood out: Privacy Display. After five years of R&D, the S26 Ultra can dim its screen to block side-angle viewing without a separate screen protector. You can toggle it with a double-press of the side button, and it works from the sides, above, and below. For anyone who's ever typed a password on a crowded train or reviewed sensitive docs in a coffee shop, this is genuinely useful tech.
Read more - Samsung Newsroom
Space
NASA Just Blew Up Its Moon Plan — And That's Actually Good News
In one of the biggest space announcements of the year, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman overhauled the entire Artemis program on Friday. The key change: Artemis III will no longer attempt a moon landing. Instead, it'll launch to low-Earth orbit by mid-2027 for rendezvous and docking tests with commercial landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin. The actual lunar landing gets pushed to Artemis IV in 2028 — but here's the twist: NASA wants to launch SLS rockets every 10 months instead of every three years, standardize the rocket configuration, and potentially land astronauts on the moon twice in 2028.
Read more - NBC News
SpaceX's Record Machine Keeps Rolling
SpaceX wrapped February with three Starlink launches in the final week alone, deploying 83 satellites and pushing past 500 Starlink satellites launched in 2026 by late February. One booster, B1069, flew its 30th mission this week, and another set a record with its 33rd re-flight. The Starlink constellation is approaching 10,000 spacecraft in orbit. The cadence is so routine that it barely makes headlines anymore which might be the most remarkable thing about it.
Read more - Space.com
Our Vision
This was one of those weeks where you can feel the tectonic plates shifting beneath the entire tech landscape. And if there's a single thread connecting all of it, it's this: the era of single tools doing single things is ending. The era of orchestration is beginning.
Perplexity's Computer doesn't build its own AI models it coordinates 19 of them. NASA isn't designing a new rocket it's standardizing one and launching it more often. China isn't trying to build the world's smartest robot it's scaling thousands of good-enough ones and iterating in the field. Even Samsung's S26 ships with three AI assistants working together instead of one.
The companies and individuals who will thrive in 2026 aren't the ones building the most powerful tools. They're the ones who know how to orchestrate what already exists. That's true whether you're a developer wiring up MCP servers, a product manager deciding which AI model to route each workflow to, or just someone trying to get more out of your phone.
The other thing worth sitting with this week: the speed. China's humanoid robots went from embarrassing to extraordinary in 12 months. NASA just rewrote a decade-old mission plan in a press conference. If you're still making five-year plans, you might want to reconsider the timeframe.
What surprised you most this week? Reply and let us know.
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