[2/28 06:00] Musk bashes OpenAI in deposition / Inception Mercury 2 diffusion-based reasoning LLM

AI News Flash for February 28, 2026 at 06:00 UTC. Topics: 1. Musk bashes OpenAI in deposition https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/27/musk-bashes-openai-in-deposition-saying-nobody-committed-suicide-because-of-grok/ 2. Inception Mercury 2 diffusion-based reasoning LLM https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260224034496/en/Inception-Launches-Mercury-2-the-Fastest-Reasoning-LLM-5x-Faster-Than-Leading-Speed-Optimized-LLMs-with-Dramatically-Lower-Inference-Cost 3. February 2026 record AI funding month https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/27/openai-raises-110b-in-one-of-the-largest-private-funding-rounds-in-history/ 4. OpenAI-Amazon strategic infrastructure alliance https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/27/open-ai-funding-round-amazon.html