HigherEd AI Daily Tuesday, March 10, 2026 Ask The PhD Community |
askthephd.com Empowering 1 Million Educators, One AI Tool at a Time
Story 1. Anthropic Sues the Pentagon
https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2026/03/10/861190.htm
Anthropic’s own statement
https://www.anthropic.com/news/where-stand-department-war
Story 2. Microsoft Copilot Cowork – Official Microsoft announcement
VentureBeat coverage
https://venturebeat.com/orchestration/microsoft-announces-copilot-cowork-with-help-from-anthropic-a-cloud-powered
Reuters coverage
https://www.reuters.com/business/microsoft-taps-anthropic-copilot-cowork-push-ai-agents-2026-03-09/
Story 3. a16z Top 100 Gen AI Consumer Apps – 6th Edition
https://www.a16z.news/p/top-100-gen-ai-consumer-apps-march
Story 4. NotebookLM https://notebooklm.google/
Tool of the Day. Claude Marketplace https://claude.ai
Navigator CTA https://navigator.askthephd.com/
Substack https://askthephd.substack.com
Website https://askthephd.com
STORY 1 Anthropic Sues the Pentagon. Twice.
Anthropic filed two lawsuits Monday to block the Pentagon supply-chain
risk designation. The company argues the designation is
unconstitutional and punishes it for protected speech. The Pentagon
blacklisted Anthropic after the company refused to remove guardrails
on autonomous weapons and domestic surveillance. Trump ordered the
entire federal government to stop using Claude. Over 30 employees from
OpenAI and Google DeepMind, including Jeff Dean, filed public
statements supporting Anthropic. Microsoft then launched a new product
powered by Claude, not OpenAI.
Why it matters for your campus. If your institution uses Claude
through any federal grant or government contract, this case is worth
watching. It opens a real classroom conversation about who controls AI
guardrails and whether safety limits are a feature or an obstacle.
Read more: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2026/03/10/861190.htm
STORY 2 Microsoft Built Its New AI Coworker on Claude, Not ChatGPT
Microsoft launched Copilot Cowork this week. It runs background tasks
across M365 apps and pulls data from emails, meetings, and files. It
runs on Anthropic Claude, not OpenAI. Microsoft is an investor in
OpenAI. This is the first major Microsoft product to use a competing
model.
Why it matters for your campus. Most institutions run on Microsoft
365. Copilot Cowork is coming to your environment. Knowing it runs on
Claude matters for your AI policy conversations.
Anthropic statement: https://www.anthropic.com/news/where-stand-department-war
STORY 3 a16z Releases Its Consumer AI Top 100. Claude and Gemini Are
Gaining Fast.
Andreessen Horowitz released its sixth annual top 100 consumer AI
apps. ChatGPT still leads with 900 million weekly users. Claude and
Gemini are both growing. Research, writing, and learning tools
dominate the top positions.
Why it matters for your campus. This list reflects what your students
are already using. Use it to audit which AI tools are running inside
your classes right now.
Full list: https://a16z.com/100-gen-ai-apps/
STORY 4 NotebookLM Can Now Build Slides Without Templates
Google updated NotebookLM this week. You upload your source material.
NotebookLM structures it into a presentation. No separate design tool
needed. Still free for individual users.
Why it matters for your campus. If you use NotebookLM for lecture
prep, this update saves you a step and gives you a reason to recommend
it to colleagues.
Try it: https://notebooklm.google/
TOOL OF THE DAY Claude Marketplace Category. AI Research and Workflow
Hub Cost. Free to explore. Some partner tools are paid.
Anthropic launched the Claude Marketplace in limited preview this
week. It connects Claude to partner tools including GitLab, Harvey,
and research databases. For faculty, Claude can now reach into your
existing tools without copying and pasting.
Explore: https://claude.ai
Take the 90-Second AI Readiness Assessment. https://navigator.askthephd.com/
Dr. Ali Green AskThePhD | askthephd.com | askthephd.substack.com