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BANDPASS
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February 22, 2026 · 2 min read
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Independent editorial ·
Methodology |
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Bandpass is independently written.
SectorHQ funds this issue so it stays free.
No editorial control. |
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OpenAI grabbed the headlines. Sony grabbed the momentum.
Sony climbed 62 places in seven days (#90 → #28) on 12 mentions from 105 publishers. Sony’s move is real (12 mentions) but not yet high-confidence. Meanwhile, OpenAI and Anthropic showed up together most often this week (23 shared mentions). ★ Oddity: Sony went from obscurity to the top 30 in a single week. What this signals Signal Sony's coverage is still thin. Watch whether it sustains next week or fades. Mechanism Meanwhile, OpenAI and Anthropic keep showing up together. The competitive overlap is intensifying. Implication Second-order watch: Western Digital is rising alongside Sony. When one breakout pulls others, the signal is in the category. |
What this is:
Bandpass is a daily brief on what’s materially happening across AI, startups, and
markets, built from thousands of publishers and scored for momentum.
Key:
Momentum is a 0 - 100 score for how much the AI sector is being talked about right now,
based on news volume, product launch pace, and overall tone.
Velocity = change vs yesterday.
Rank #1 = most momentum.
A mention is one news item where a company appears.
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Today's 3 tells ▸Product launches up 233% (950 this week vs 285 prior).
Why: Release cadence is compressing. Market-share land-grab behaviour. ▸Sony: #90 → #28 on 12 mentions (7d).
Read: Sony’s move is real (12 mentions) but not yet high-confidence. Watch for follow-through next week. ▸Momentum 61 (Heating Up) - 16,233 mentions vs 14,947 last week.
Note: Volume, sentiment, and launch pace all pointing up. The market is converging. SO WHAT?
Investors: High launch velocity usually precedes category consolidation. Watch for bundles and platform tie-ups in the next 7 days.
Builders: Ship faster and borrow distribution. In a launch race the bundlers win. |
Presented by SectorHQ (sponsor)
SectorHQ is a live dashboard that tracks which AI companies
and products are getting the most attention across 105+ publishers.
No editorial control.
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Explore the live board →
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The one-line takeaway
OpenAI got the headlines this week. Sony got the momentum. Watch which one matters more.
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The forward
“Product launches up 233%. When everyone ships at once, distribution moats become the differentiator.”
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Sony had the biggest move in AI this week, up 62 places (#90 → #28). Why it matters: companies outside the usual top 5 are drawing serious attention. (Momentum 61/100, 16,233 mentions)
Copy for Slack: Sony had the biggest move in AI this week, up 62 places (#90 → #28). Why it matters: companies outside the usual top 5 are drawing serious attention. (Momentum 61/100, 16,233 mentions) https://bandpass.news/intelligence/2026-02-22
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Live snapshot · 08:00 GMT
Momentum 61 (Heating Up) high One number for market heat: how fast (velocity = change vs yesterday), how positive, and how much shipped - blended weekly. Top mover (24h): Cloudflare up 1 placesmedium 24-hour rank move. Daily moves are leading indicators - confirmation comes from the weekly. Fastest-rising term: "Declaration" new (24 mentions, 24h) high This term surged vs its baseline. 24 mentions across independent publishers in 24 hours. This week's hottest pairing: OpenAI ↔ Anthropic (23 shared mentions) high OpenAI and Anthropic appeared together in 23 mentions this week - the most frequent pairing in the data.
Confidence: HIGH = 10+ publishers confirm ·
MED = 5-9 publishers ·
LOW = emerging signal, verify next week.
Full methodology |
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Investor lens
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Our read: Launch pace is surging. 950 launches this week signals compressed release cycles.
We’re wrong if launch volume reverts next week and these are incremental updates, not real product bets.
| Dark horse → Sony → +62 places on 12 mentions in 7 days | attention clustering → OpenAI, Anthropic → 23 shared mentions this week |
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The Trade · next 7 days
Watch: Launch velocity (950 this week). If it holds, consolidation announcements follow.
We're wrong if: Launch volume drops below 475 next week - these were incremental updates, not a real cycle.
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14-day news mention trend
Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
Daily AI news mentions trending up 12% over 14 days.
Daily AI news mentions across all tracked publishers. Peak day: 4,229 on Feb 10. 14-day total: 31,180.
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Momentum
Where the market is today |
As of 08:00 GMT
| 61 | Heating Up 0 Cool50 Warm75 Hot100 Frenzy
Velocity ▲ +9% ·
Market sentiment positive ·
950 launches
Since yesterday: launches +162
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The Lead OpenAI: Ranked #1. Covered by 5 publishers. OpenAI debated alerting police months before school shooting Internal debates at OpenAI escalated over whether to alert Canadian police about a user's violent ChatGPT logs, which an automated system had flagged months before a school shooting. Why it's in this issue: It's a distribution move in a heavy launch cycle. Context: OpenAI ranks #1 in Power Board. Covered by 5 publishers. |
Sponsor Spotlight
SectorHQ is a live dashboard that tracks which AI companies
are getting the most attention across 100+ publishers.
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Power Board
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OpenAI LLM
7d ▼ -6% Positive
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accelerating
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226 mentions this week |
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Google Cloud
7d ▲ +1% Bullish
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surging
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219 mentions this week |
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Anthropic LLM
7d ▲ +9% Bullish
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accelerating
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177 mentions this week |
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Microsoft Cloud
7d ▲ +4% Positive
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steady
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103 mentions this week |
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Nvidia General AI
7d ▲ +2% Bullish
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accelerating
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99 mentions this week |
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Meta General AI
7d ▲ +23% Positive
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steady
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59 mentions this week |
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Amazon General AI
7d flat Bullish
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accelerating
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49 mentions this week |
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Apple General AI
7d ▲ +2% Bullish
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accelerating
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63 mentions this week |
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Breakouts & breakdowns
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HIGH CONFIDENCE (25+ mentions)
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None this week. Requires 25+ mentions to qualify.
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NEW ON RADAR (early blips, treat with caution)
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Fault lines
OpenAI and Anthropic appeared together in
23 mentions this week - the most of any tracked pair.
Also linked: Meta / Nvidia (15), Google / Apple (8), AMD / Nvidia (7).
Why it matters: 23 shared mentions across 5 tracked pairs this week. The top pair accounts for 39% of all co-mentioned volume. |
The bet: OpenAI/Anthropic co-mentioned hit 23 this week. Track whether this holds above 10 next issue.
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Second-order bets
who benefits indirectly
These are not recommendations. They are pattern-derived hypotheses from this week's data.
Enterprise AI integrators If Sony is re-rating on enterprise AI demand, the system integrators and consultancies that deploy these solutions benefit first. | AI security and compliance With 950 product launches this week, enterprises need security review and compliance tooling to evaluate them all. | Data infrastructure OpenAI and Anthropic showed up together in 23 mentions. When model providers converge on the same use cases, the data layer underneath captures value. |
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Intelligence Briefs
Anthropic CEO Predicts AGI in 3 Years, Trillion-Dollar AI Economy One million tokens of context. Context: Top-10 ranked company (#3). Covered by 4 publishers. | Google Releases Gemini 3.1 Pro with Major Benchmark Gains Google's new Gemini 3.1 Pro model has delivered a significant leap in performance, posting major gains across key industry benchmarks.to AI Tag... Context: Top-10 ranked company (#2). Covered by 3 publishers. | Microsoft names Asha Sharma new Xbox CEO in leadership shake-up Microsoft has appointed AI executive Asha Sharma as the new CEO of its Xbox division, replacing the departing Phil Spencer in a major leadership restructuring.. Context: Top-10 ranked company (#4). Covered by 3 publishers. | Apple Unveils Ferret-UI Lite, Camera-Equipped AirPods Pro, and AI Wearables Apple researchers have unveiled Ferret-UI Lite, a new 3B-parameter AI agent designed to understand and interact with any device's screen.. Context: Top-10 ranked company (#8). Covered by 3 publishers. |
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What to do this week
Builders: Google shipped this week (Releases Gemini 3.1 Pro with Major Benchmark Gains). Covered by 3 publishers. Investors: Western Digital jumped +188 places on 3 mentions (7d). Now #67. Watch list: Cohere dropped 102 places. (1 mention - low volume, verify with next week's data.) |
Watchpoints
next 2 weeks OpenAI/Anthropic: 23 shared mentions this week. Tracking whether co-mentioned volume holds or diverges. Western Digital: +188 places on 3 mentions (7d). Now #67. If mention count stays above 10, this is structural. Below 5 = noise. |
The Number 23 times OpenAI and Anthropic appeared in the same mention this week. |
