[2/18 03:00] Perplexity Drops Advertising, Goes All-In on Subscriptions / YouTube Suffers Major Outage Due to Recommendation System Failure

AI News Flash for February 18, 2026 at 03:00 UTC. Topics: 1. Perplexity Drops Advertising, Goes All-In on Subscriptions https://www.ft.com/content/6eec07a5-34a8-4f78-a9ed-93ab4263d43c 2. YouTube Suffers Major Outage Due to Recommendation System Failure https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/youtube-is-down-for-thousands-of-users-in-the-us-020718165.html?src=rss 3. Starboard Pushes Riot Platforms to Accelerate AI Data Center Pivot https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-02-18/starboard-is-said-to-urge-riot-to-speed-up-shift-to-data-centers