The Next Wave - Anthropic Said No to the Pentagon. Now It’s Blacklisted

Welcome back to another special crossover episode! This week’s episode is actually from The Next Wave podcast.

In this action-packed episode, Matt Wolfe and Joe Fier dive into the explosive showdown between AI company Anthropic and the U.S. government, a story that’s sending shockwaves through both the tech and policy worlds. They break down why Anthropic is drawing a hard line on surveillance and autonomous weapons—and how that’s causing serious friction with the Pentagon. You’ll hear the latest news, behind-the-scenes drama, and what this could mean for the future of AI accountability.

But it’s not all serious talk. The duo also roll up their sleeves to test Google’s brand new NanoBanana 2 image model. Expect real-time demos, fun creative challenges, and a look at how this technology can supercharge everything from YouTube thumbnails to AI-generated infographics. Plus, they round things out by exploring the new wave of AI agents and even take a nostalgic detour into Joe Fier’s days working at Burger King—and how fast food is embracing AI assistants.

Topics Discussed

1. Anthropic vs. Pentagon Showdown
2. AI in Military Operations
3. Testing Nanobanana 2 (Google’s Image Model)
4. AI Agents & Automation
5. Viral AI-Generated Videos
6. AI in Fast Food: Burger King’s "Patty" Assistant

Resources and Links

1. The Next Wave Podcast: https://www.thenextwave.show
2. Matt Wolfe: https://www.youtube.com/@mreflow
3. OpenClaw: https://openclaw.ai/
4. Manus: https://manus.im/
5. Nano Banana 2: https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/technology/ai/nano-banana-2/
6. Perplexity: https://www.perplexity.ai/
7. Claude: https://claude.ai/
8. Gemini: https://gemini.google.com/app
9. Cursor: https://cursor.com/