When Anthropic’s deal with the Pentagon broke down, OpenAI took advantage of the opportunity. The backlash against the ChatGPT maker was swift.

Anthropic’s agreement went sour after its CEO Dario Amodei insisted on limiting AI use in autonomous weapons and mass domestic surveillance. OpenAI chief Sam Altman claimed to have come up with a compromise, but users responded. By the next day, ChatGPT uninstalls jumped up 295%, while Anthropic’s Claude shot to the top of app download charts.

Altman later confessed that he handled the situation poorly. “We were genuinely trying to de-escalate things and avoid a much worse outcome, but I think it just looked opportunistic and sloppy.”

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Anthropic’s battle with the Pentagon not only puts the company in opposition to the federal government, it also casts CEO Dario Amodei in a different light than his tech billionaire counterparts. Everyone from Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg to Sundar Pichai and Sam Altman have kowtowed to President Donald Trump—and the move may have brought Anthropic some goodwill from Trump critics, as its downloads show.

The names of four U.S. soldiers killed in Iran this week were released Tuesday, the first group of American service members killed in action to be identified as the U.S. and Israel carry out strikes against Iran. The group makes up most of the U.S. death toll from the conflict in the Middle East, with President Donald Trump recently suggesting U.S. military operations in Iran could last weeks.

American taxpayers have already spent more than $1 billion on the war with Iran, initial estimates reveal. The three jets struck down in Kuwait on Sunday cost the U.S. military at least $270 million, while transporting troops, ships and aircraft to the region likely set the military back an estimated $630 million, according to Elaine McCusker, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute think tank.

Jack Dorsey’s Block slashed roughly 40% of its entire workforce last week, joining a slew of tech firms that have used AI to justify mass layoffs. But some critics are accusing Dorsey of using the threat of artificial intelligence as a smokescreen for his own managerial failures, as he faces shareholder pressure to turn around the company’s fortunes.

There are plenty of dating apps out there, but now two former Hinge executives are building an app that helps you make plans with friends and family by pulling key details from social media content and turning them into a calendar-style hold. The founders announced they raised a seed round of $8.5 million for their new company Rodeo. There aren’t many apps “focused on your existing relationships and how you maintain and nurture those over time,” says CEO Sam Levy.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick agreed to testify before the House Oversight Committee as part of its investigation into the Epstein files. Lutnick admitted last month to having visited Jeffrey Epstein’s private island in 2012—seven years after he previously claimed to have distanced himself from the convicted sex offender—though he told Axios this week that he has “done nothing wrong.”

Neurosurgeons are preparing for an experimental operation designed to treat Alzheimer’s disease by clearing pathways to the brain using microrobots, made by Florida-based startup MMI. It’s MMI’s biggest, boldest bet yet—with a potentially massive market, as more than 55 million people globally have Alzheimer’s or some other form of dementia.

The Fall Of Iran And Venezuela Are A Boon For Oil Tanker Billionaires

The tanker business has always ebbed and flowed along with oil prices and geopolitical events, but this year has been shockingly good for Nikolas Tsakos and his company, Tsakos Energy Navigation.

On January 3, the Trump Administration captured Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. His removal opened up the country’s oil exports and allowed more Western tanker firms to resume operations there. One of Tsakos’ ships, the Mediterranean Voyager, was the first tanker to load oil out of Venezuela that day.

Tsakos says that spot rates to charter one of his ships in Venezuela soared to $110,000 by the end of January, up from $70,000 before. That’s how much a customer, such as an oil firm or oil trader, would pay a tanker firm for a single ship per day with immediate loading. Now, after the strikes on Iran, he says that’s up to as much as $160,000 for certain ships.

Those higher rates have also been fueled by disruptions to shipping lanes, both in the Red Sea—where the Iran-backed Houthi militia was targeting Western ships—and now in the Strait of Hormuz, where Tehran is effectively shutting down a key waterway through which 20% of global oil supplies pass every day. They’ve also led to a surge in tanker stocks.

All of these factors have propelled the fortunes of the 13 richest tanker owners tracked by Forbes up by more than 50% over the past year to a collective $130 billion, largely due to higher stock prices and ship valuations.

WHY IT MATTERS “Venezuela, Iran and Russia were the last major oil exporters that faced Western sanctions and had to resort to the ‘shadow’ or ‘gray’ fleet to transport oil to their buyers, mostly in China,” says Forbes deputy editor Giacomo Tognini. “Now Trump’s ouster of Maduro—and possible regime change in Iran—could open up that business to the world’s largest tanker firms, providing a lucrative new market. In the meantime, the chaos in the Persian Gulf has sent tanker rates soaring, also boosting their business in the short-term.”

MORE Oil Up 7% After Iran Attacks LNG Port And Tankers Near Strait Of Hormuz

Department of Justice lawyers accused Live Nation and Ticketmaster of operating an illegal monopoly over the live entertainment industry Tuesday. The comments came during the opening statements of a high-profile trial that could result in a breakup of the massive ticketing company:

$7.58: How much DOJ attorney David Dahlquist said Live Nation and Ticketmaster pocket on average per ticket sold at major venues

‘We do not have monopoly power,’ said Live Nation lawyer David Marriott

2024: When the Justice Department and dozens of states filed a lawsuit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster

Today’s talent shortage doesn’t come from a lack of ambition—it’s about creating pathways for America’s workers to develop the necessary skills. The U.S. needs an additional 1.7 million skilled trade workers each year, based on recent job openings, yet it has underinvested in the talent supply chains between schools and employers. If you’re interested in a job in the trades, it’s worth considering an apprenticeship, which allows you to earn money while learning.

Federal lawmakers introduced legislation this week to impose an annual wealth tax on billionaires, though it’s unlikely to pass. What tax rate does it propose?

Thanks for reading! This edition of Forbes Daily was edited by Sarah Whitmire and Chris Dobstaff.

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