AP Business SummaryBrief at 3:41 a.m. EST

Anthropic, OpenAI rivalry spills into new Super Bowl ads as both fight to win over AI users

OpenAI and Anthropic, the startups behind ChatGPT and Claude, are gearing up for a major showdown. Both need to prove they can turn a profit. Their main battleground is winning over corporate leaders who want AI tools to boost productivity. Anthropic is airing Super Bowl ads mocking OpenAI for introducing ads on ChatGPT. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called the ads funny but dishonest. This rivalry began when OpenAI leaders left to form Anthropic in 2021. Both companies launched product updates this week. They also face competition from Google, Amazon and Microsoft.

Bessent says it would be up to Trump whether to sue his Fed nominee over interest rates

WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says it would be up to the president to decide whether to sue Kevin Warsh, Donald Trump's nominee for Federal Reserve chair, if he doesn't lower interest rates. Trump joked about suing Warsh during a private dinner on Saturday. He later told reporters it was all in jest. Sen. Elizabeth Warren questioned Bessent about Trump's remarks during a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Wednesday. Concerns have risen over the Trump administration's interference with the Fed's independence. Sen. Thom Tillis has said he won't support Warsh's nomination until an investigation into current Fed chair Jerome Powell is resolved.

Amazon's shares fall after announcing surge in capital spending but posts strong 4Q holiday sales

NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon sales surged 14% during the fourth quarter, helped by strong holiday spending and a better-than-expected growth in its prominent cloud computing unit. But shares fell more than 11% in after hours trading on Thursday as investors appeared to be spooked by the Seattle-based tech company’s plans to increase its capital spending by nearly 60% to $200 billion from last year’s $128 billion as it sees opportunities in artificial intelligence, robots, semiconductors and satellites. The company’s fourth-quarter profits also were slightly below analysts’ projections.

Japan's top automaker Toyota taps earnings expert as its chief after reporting declining profits

TOKYO (AP) — Toyota has reported a 43% drop in quarterly profit and announced Chief Financial Officer Kenta Kon as its new chief executive and president. Kon will replace Koji Sato in April, with shareholder approval expected in June. Sato calls the personnel changes a “gear shift” and remains vice chairman. Rising material costs and tariffs have impacted Japanese automakers. Toyota estimates tariffs erased 1.45 trillion yen from its operating profit last year. Despite a 26% profit decline for the nine months through December, global vehicle sales grew. Toyota maintains its full fiscal year profit forecast, and stocks rose 2% after the announcements.

Giant snails and tiny insects threaten the South's rice and crawfish farms

KAPLAN, La. (AP) — Farmers in Louisiana are going toe-to-toe with some nasty enemies: apple snails that clog crawfish traps while laying millions of bubblegum-colored eggs and tiny bugs called delphacids that can wipe out half a rice field while spreading plant disease. Scientists are trying to figure out how to stop them, but the recent surge in these pests that threaten the cultural heritage of the South is still largely a mystery. Researchers are examining possible factors including farming methods, pesticides and extreme weather. They say that in general climate change is helping invasive species find footholds.

Cash-strapped Lebanon finds itself sitting on a gold mine, as precious metal prices surge

BOURJ HAMMOUD, Lebanon (AP) — Tiny Lebanon sits on one of the largest gold reserves in the Middle East and its government is weighing whether to use that stockpile to restore a crippled economy while its citizens are looking at gold as a way to revive their battered finances. With gold near an all-time high, authorities have discussed using part of the reserves to pay back depositors who lost their savings in a bank collapse a few years ago, but doing so would go against historical precedent. Meanwhile, many Lebanese are crowding marketplaces to buy gold and silver in hopes of recovering some of their losses.

Bitcoin falls 8% and Asian shares mostly slip after Wall Street is hit by tech stock losses

HONG KONG (AP) — Asian shares are mostly lower after Wall Street extended losses driven by technology stocks. Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 0.8% as tech shares in Japan bounced back. U.S. futures edged lower and bitcoin sank about 8% to roughly half its record price, erasing gains since U.S. President Donald Trump was elected for a second term. Oil prices were higher, while gold and silver prices fell following some recovery earlier in the week. On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 1.2%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.2% and the Nasdaq composite fell 1.6%.

Google's quarterly results paint a picture of an internet powerhouse getting stronger in AI age

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google’s latest quarterly report provided further evidence that its internet empire is withstanding an artificial intelligence shakeup that’s turning into another potential boon for the company. The numbers released Wednesday marked the third consecutive quarter that Google has boosted its digital ad sales by more than 10% from the previous year while also posting revenue gains of more than 30% in its division that powers data centers for AI services. That growth during the October-December period propelled Google’s corporate parent Alphabet Inc. well past the earnings forecasts of stock market analysts.

Meet the man behind the Super Bowl's annual confetti blizzard

Noah Winter has attended more Super Bowls than Tom Brady, but not as a player. Winter is the mastermind behind the confetti spectacle at the end of each game. His company, Artistry in Motion, has been creating the colorful celebrations in the winning team's colors since the 31st Super Bowl, in 1997. Winter began his career in lighting design and pyrotechnics before transitioning to confetti for Disney and major concerts. The confetti is made from recycled materials and is biodegradable. Winter's team makes sure the confetti drops precisely when the game ends. And in the right colors.

US job openings fall to 6.5 million, fewest since 2020, as labor market remains sluggish

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. job openings fell to the lowest level in more than five years, another sign that the American labor market remains sluggish. The Labor Department reported Thursday that vacancies fell to 6.5 million in December — from 6.9 million in November and the lowest since September 2020. Layoffs rose slightly. The number of people quitting their jobs — which shows confidence in their prospects — was basically unchanged at 3.2 million.