France and Germany sign deal to co-develop 'tank of the future': Le Monde reports the French and German defense ministers agreed to jointly develop a new battle tank platform with cutting-edge AI and laser weapons technology.

Musk wins China’s backing for Tesla’s driver-assistance service: Beijing gives tentative approval for carmaker’s tech in its second-biggest market. WSJ

Tesla clears Beijing’s strict data rules, paving way for self-driving cars: The Times reports Elon Musk also agrees deal for Chinese road-mapping licence.

Tesla to work with Baidu in push to offer self-driving tech in China: Nikkei reports the US carmaker clears regulatory obstacles but timetable still unclear.

Elon Musk’s Tesla strikes deal with China’s Baidu for driver assistance: FT reports the US electric-vehicle maker moves closer to rolling out more autonomous driving features in world’s biggest auto market.

Bloomberg: Musk leaves China with Tesla driving software hurdles cleared

+ Carmaker to partner with tech giant Baidu on maps, navigation

+ Musk sought clearance from Beijing for potential revenue boost

The United States had every right to force a TikTok sale Tim Wu

US has little to fear from Chinese AI, for now: The country is still far off from catching up with its rival on artificial intelligence. Parmy Olson

Bloomberg: Microsoft CEO to meet Indonesian president during regional tour

+ Nadella to also visit countries such as Thailand and Malaysia

+ Apple’s Cook also met Widodo as tech firms eye Southeast Asia

How the right US chip strategy can keep Taiwan free Dmitri Alperovitch

Politically motivated cyber attacks are on the rise, putting our elections at risk: NETSCOUT found that DDoS attacks rose 15% in the second half of 2023 compared to the first half. FC

What happens when the professional class loses out to AI? Megan McArdle

Bloomberg: AI faces its ‘Oppenheimer moment’ during killer robot arms race

+ Civilian, military, and technology leaders convene Vienna talks

+ Artificial intelligence weapons defy traditional arms control

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and the $2 trillion company powering today's AI: Jensen Huang leads Nvidia – a tech company with a skyrocketing stock and the most advanced technology for artificial intelligence. 60 Minutes

CNBC: Oracle boosts its generative AI capabilities as cloud competition heats up

+ “Generative AI is basically the talk of the town right now,” Rondy Ng, executive vice president of applications developement at Oracle, told CNBC.

An AI blood test purports to diagnose postpartum depression: Companies are using artificial intelligence to take aim at a host of health issues including this common pregnancy complication. WP

Investors are showering AI startups with cash. One problem: They don’t have much of a business: Some startups are raising hundreds of millions of dollars before having a product or revenue. WSJ

AI start-ups face a rough financial reality check: The table stakes for small companies to compete with the likes of Microsoft and Google are in the billions of dollars. And even that may not be enough. NYT

Meta’s ‘set it and forget it’ AI ad tools are misfiring and blowing through cash: The Verge reports advertisers say that costs per impressions on the automated ad platform Advantage Plus have skyrocketed and performance has dropped.

Jim VandeHei on AI-proofing the news and ignoring ‘Twitter nerds’ Benjamin Hart

The Financial Times and OpenAI strike content licensing deal: FT reports the agreement comes as Microsoft-backed start-up seeks data from reliable sources to train latest artificial intelligence models.

Friends from the old neighborhood turn rivals in big tech’s AI race: Demis Hassabis and Mustafa Suleyman, who both grew up in London, feared a corporate rush to build artificial intelligence. Now they’re driving that competition at Google and Microsoft. NYT

Darktrace’s exit for the US rocks Britain’s tech scene: The Cambridge tech firm says its $5bn sale to private equity house Thoma Bravo will be good for it and for Britain. But that may not be so for the London stock market. The Times

Nashville is booming. Locals fret about their future in Music City. As Oracle headquarters moves in, Nashvillians reckon with the pros and cons of being a boomtown. WSJ

Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.

-Marc