[2/16 03:00] Pentagon Alibaba/BYD/Baidu military blacklist added then withdrawn / Noah Smith dramatically shifts AI risk assessment, warns of bioweapons

AI News Flash for February 16, 2026 at 03:00 UTC. Topics: 1. Pentagon Alibaba/BYD/Baidu military blacklist added then withdrawn https://asia.nikkei.com/politics/international-relations/us-china-tensions/pentagon-withdraws-list-after-alleging-alibaba-byd-aiding-chinese-military 2. Noah Smith dramatically shifts AI risk assessment, warns of bioweapons https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/updated-thoughts-on-ai-risk 3. China AI Lunar New Year model rush, DeepSeek V4 imminent https://www.scmp.com/news/article/3342951/chinas-ai-arms-race-sees-sector-brace-major-flagship-model-launch-week 4. Intel ZAM memory challenges HBM with SoftBank partnership https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/intel-is-co-developing-new-z-angle-memory-to-compete-with-hbm-used-in-ai-data-centers-vertically-stacked-memory-touts-2-to-3x-more-capacity-greater-bandwidth-and-half-the-power-consumption