The GPT-5.6 Launch Became a Guest List
At the U.S. government’s request, OpenAI disclosed roughly 20 GPT-5.6 preview participants; meanwhile, more than 100 U.S. institutions gained access when the Mythos 5 block was lifted. Frontier access is separating into model-specific lanes.
Om Malik, a longtime technology writer, the founder of Gigaom, and a partner at True Ventures, died on Wednesday at 59
Om Malik passed away on June 24, 2026, at Stanford Hospital after a long health journey with his heart. He was surrounded by family and friends.
Apple's stock closed down 6.15% on Thursday after the company raised prices on several products and hinted at more increases, its worst fall since April 2025
Apple on Thursday announced price hikes on MacBooks and iPads, its first formal move to pass higher memory and storage costs on to consumers after CEO Tim Cook said increases had become unavoidable.
Microsoft says it will increase the prices of Xbox consoles on August 1 by $100 for 512GB models and $150 for 1TB models, the third price hike since May 2025
Microsoft is increasing the prices of Xbox Series consoles once more and introducing a ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ option
OpenAI releases three versions of GPT-5.6, called Sol, Terra, and Luna, as a limited preview to ~20 companies, with participants disclosed to the US government
OpenAI is rolling out GPT-5.6 Friday, but says it's limiting access to all three versions of the new model at the behest of the U.S. government.
Sources: OpenAI leans toward holding off its IPO until 2027 after warnings that Sam Altman's desired $1T valuation may not be met in current market conditions
The A.I. company's advisers are pushing its chief executive, Sam Altman, to move slowly after SpaceX's stock has been volatile …
Sony's Bungie cuts a “significant number” of staff, “including most of the Destiny team and some Marathon team members”; Bungie's headcount is estimated at 800
The studio said the sci-fi MMO failed to meet expectations … The studio announced a “reduction in force” …
Sources: Sam Altman told staff the US government asked OpenAI to stagger GPT-5.6's release over security concerns and that the US would approve each customer
For AI companies on the verge of releasing cutting edge new AI models, there's a new normal in the wake …
Microsoft quietly extends the Extended Security Updates program for Windows 10 consumers by a year, letting eligible users get updates through October 12, 2027
Windows 10's ESU program has been quietly extended by an extra year, now ending on October 12, 2027 instead of October 2026.
Sources: Apple plans to skip higher-end M6 versions and launch its next Pro and Max chips in 2027 as part of the M7 lineup, to boost on-device AI capabilities
Apple Inc. is making one of the biggest-ever changes to its Mac silicon strategy, preparing to jump ahead to a new artificial …
Apple says it removed VK's apps from the App Store to comply with sanctions; VK says they were removed without warning and it has never been under US sanctions
The Kremlin demanded an explanation from Apple (AAPL.O) on Thursday after several Russian mobile apps related …
Notion plans to shut down its Gmail client Notion Mail on September 22 and go “all in” on AI agents to run inboxes, saying 50%+ of users do not open the inbox
Last year, Notion expanded its productivity suite to include Notion Mail, an AI-powered email client.
Arizona-based chipmaker Onsemi agrees to acquire Synaptics in a nearly $7B all-stock deal, expected to close in mid-2027; ON drops 15%+ and SYNA stays flat
ON Semiconductor has agreed to buy Synaptics in a nearly $7 billion all-stock deal to bolster its push into physical artificial intelligence technology.
Sources: Apple's 14" and 16" OLED touch-screen MacBook Pros will be powered by the existing M5 Pro and M5 Max chips and have an updated industrial design
Apple Inc.'s first-ever touch-screen laptop will rely on the company's current high-end M5 chips, rather than next-generation silicon …
Sources: during SpaceX's IPO roadshow, COO Gwynne Shotwell told investors that it may launch a Starlink mobile service and build its own terrestrial US network
Move would test whether group can turn sky-high ambition into a mass-market phone business — Elon Musk's SpaceX has told investors …
YouTube rolls out changes to Shorts, like adding a setting to double the playback speed, removing the “dislike” button, adding a Clear Screen mode, and more
YouTube is rolling out a series of changes to Shorts, including a new method that lets users shrink the duration of short form videos.
Letter: the US lifts its block on Mythos 5, allowing Anthropic to release it to more than 100 US institutions; sources: talks about Fable 5 are ongoing
THE SCOOP — The US government Friday lifted its block on Anthropic's powerful Claude Mythos 5 AI model, allowing the company to release …
OpenAI says 97.9% of its employees are now using Codex, up from ~40% in August 2025; non-developer Codex usage is up 137x for individuals and 12x within OpenAI
Codex, it's not just for developers, really — A company can learn a lot about the market by looking at its own employees.
Sources: Paul Meade, Apple's top executive in charge of Vision Pro and smart glasses efforts, is leaving for OpenAI to work on the company's AI-powered devices
Apple Inc.'s top executive in charge of the Vision Pro headset and the company's smart glasses efforts is leaving for OpenAI …
Apple raises Mac, iPad, and other product prices by 15%-25%, saying it has “never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly”; iPhone is unchanged
Increases come a week after Tim Cook said higher memory costs made them ‘unavoidable’
Q&A with Tim Sweeney on his vision for a cross-platform gaming social system, Unreal Engine 6, AI's PR challenges, the state of AAA game development, and more
The Epic Games CEO discusses his vision for “Team Open,” his objections to Steam's AI disclosure requirement, and the huge problems facing AAA game development.
A study of 408 teens in Australia finds 80%+ were still using social media three months after the ban came into force, citing inadequate age verification checks
Experts say law not enough to stop children accessing harmful content online and more ‘convincing strategy is required’
Google launches a Google Finance app for Android, with market data, financial news, and an AI-powered “Key Moments” feature, and plans an iOS version this year
Google on Thursday launched a dedicated mobile app for Google Finance that houses users' watchlists and provides real …
AWS hikes prices for Nvidia GPUs in its EC2 Capacity Blocks service, which let businesses rent AI compute in advance, by 20%; Trainium chip pricing is unchanged
Amazon Web Services is raising the price for its AI workload rental service by 20%, the company said on Friday …
Binance tells EU customers that it will stop providing services for them from July 1, after Greece rejected its application for a bloc-wide license last week
World's biggest crypto exchange tells customers how to withdraw their money as MiCA rules set to come into force
California launches a tool designed to be an “early warning system” for widespread AI-driven job loss, linking AI exposure with unemployment insurance claims
Politicians like California Governor Gavin Newsom are under pressure to appear proactive in the face of the technology's threat to the labor market
Sources: DeepSeek's $7.4B raise was prompted by the release of Mythos as CEO Liang Wenfeng realized DeepSeek couldn't compete without a massive war chest
Up until two months ago, DeepSeek, the three-year-old Chinese AI lab, was an anomaly in the increasingly costly global AI battle.
Sources: Donald Trump Jr. got ~$300K in Kalshi equity after becoming a strategic adviser in 2025, when the company was valued at ~$2B; Kalshi is now worth $22B+
Privately owned company's valuation has soared as US administration has adopted a light-touch approach to the sector
Sources: Russian hackers were behind a 2025 ransomware attack on Jaguar Land Rover that used “mind-blowing” encryption and cost UK's economy an estimated $2.5B
A loose collective of cybercriminals initially took credit for crippling Jaguar Land Rover last year.
How AI-native law firms use “management services organisation” structures to access capital historically barred from US law firms, including PE and VC funds
Interest in a model that separates legal casework from other operations exploded alongside the new tech
NHTSA proposes eliminating the mandate for manual brake pedals in “vehicles designed to be driven exclusively by automated driving systems”
Apple says “the rapid expansion of AI data centers has created an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage”; the MacBook Neo rises from $599 to $699
Some quick thoughts on the hardware prices Apple increased — and didn't increase — today.
Italy is investigating Microsoft 365's price hike, saying Microsoft did not adequately inform users that it was integrating AI tools like Copilot into the suite
Italy's antitrust authority said on Friday it had opened an investigation into Microsoft (MSFT.O) over alleged unfair commercial practices linked …
Upside, which provides social workers with AI-powered housing insights, raised a $20M Series A led by Aquiline with Flare Capital, 645, and others participating
funding round series A Payers Medicaid — Upside, a scalable housing stability platform, banked a $20 million series …
OpenAI appoints ex-Uber India head Prabhjeet Singh as its first managing director for India, to scale its presence in its second-largest market after the US
OpenAI is making yet another big, visible bet on India. It has appointed former Uber India and South Asia president Prabhjeet Singh …
Sources: Zuckerberg urged execs to explore Polymarket and Kalshi partnerships, as the Arena prediction app targets 100M monthly active “predictors” aged 18-34
Mr. Zuckerberg's plans for Arena, a prediction markets app that Meta is building, also include appealing to 18- to 34-year-old users.
President Trump threatens to impose a 100% tariff on any country that imposes a digital services tax on US companies
President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to impose a “100% TARIFF” on the goods of any country that imposes a digital services tax on U.S. companies.Truth Social:@realDonaldTrump ….Forums:r/politic...
Warp, a startup using AI to automate payroll compliance and employee management, raised a $60M Series B led by Battery, bringing its total funding to $85M
Warp, a startup using AI to automate payroll compliance and employee management, raised $60 million in Series B funding, CEO Ayush Sharma tells Axios exclusively.
Patronus AI, which builds simulated digital environments for evaluating AI agents, raised a $50M Series B led by Greenfield, bringing its total funding to $70M
AI agents are becoming more sophisticated. They are evolving from answering questions to autonomously executing multi-step complex tasks.
Sources: Revolut told new hires they'll have to work in office at least three days a week from next year, retreating from its long-held remote-first approach
Europe's most valuable fintech will require junior staff to spend at least three days a week in the office from next year
How US federal AI policy has gone from implausibly libertarian to increasingly draconian and opaque, and how to fix it, including using independent auditors
35 thoughts on what has happened and what America should do — Nothing below is an official or unofficial view of OpenAI.
GPT-5.6 Sol matches Mythos Preview on ExploitBench, adds Ultra mode with subagents for complex workflows, and max reasoning for deep problem-solving
We're beginning a limited preview of the GPT-5.6 series: Sol, our flagship model; Terra, a balanced model for everyday work; and Luna, a fast and affordable model.
Swiss watchmaker Swatch seeks $170M from Samsung in a London trial over 26 digital watch face apps that allegedly cloned luxury brand designs, including Omega
Swiss watchmaker accuses technology group of ‘large-scale appropriation’ of luxury designs in London lawsuit
Uber expands the list of criminal convictions that disqualify US drivers and expands the background-check timeline, possibly removing ~0.5% of active US drivers
Uber Technologies Inc. is tightening driver background checks in the US and applying the new standards retroactively to existing workers …
Utah-based ecommerce tech company Redo raised an $81M Series B at a $1.25B valuation led by Smash Capital, with participation from Pelion and Cervin
The Utah eCommerce-technology company started with returns. — Now it is raising growth capital to build a broader AI-powered platform …
Oracle's stock fell 19% this week, the steepest weekly drop since a 20% plunge in August 2001, amid concerns about its debt load and AI investments
Oracle just wrapped up its worst week on Wall Street in 25 years as concerns continue to mount about the software company's debt load …
Elastic announces a ~7% reduction in its workforce, and says “advances in AI and automation are letting us operate with leaner teams”; ESTC closed down 8.70%
CEO says automation is enabling leaner teams as engineering is split into three core areasForums:Hacker NewsForums:Hacker News:Elastic lays off 7% of employees
Despite the “DeepMind mafia” pulling billions into London AI startups, none of Demis Hassabis' former lieutenants is building a homegrown UK frontier AI model
The tech sector is buzzing in Britain. But can it ever be more than a US outpost? Two decades ago, King's Cross was central London's most neglected district.
The FTC fast-tracks approval for SpaceX to acquire Mesh, which raised a $50M Series A in February to make high-efficiency optical transceivers for data centers
Elon Musk received a regulatory greenlight to acquire startup Mesh Optical Technologies, a company founded by former SpaceX engineers working …
Nebulock, which helps security teams proactively find and remediate threats across a company's security stack, raised a $25M Series A led by FirstMark
Source: Google is asking publishers that test new AI features in Google News to grant it broad rights to their content, including to potentially train AI models
SoftBank's stock fell 12.53% after a report that OpenAI may delay its IPO until 2027; expectations of a windfall from OpenAI's debut had buoyed Softbank's stock
Aya Wagatsuma /Bloomberg:
How the US AI build-out is pushing up prices for electricity, software, and more; in a survey, 81% of economists say it will add to inflation over the next year
Editor's note: New York Fed President John C. Williams prepared …
Sources: Kraken is in talks to acquire a 15% stake in DeFi protocol Aave at a $385M valuation, investing 35,000 ETH in return for 250,000 AAVE tokens
OpenAI says GPT-5.6 Sol and Terra were capable of identifying vulnerabilities but were unable to execute autonomous, end-to-end attacks against hardened targets
GPT-5.6 is a new family of three models: Sol, our new flagship model; Terra, a capable lower-cost option; and Luna, our fastest and most cost-efficient model.
Doc: the DOD quietly revised US military's targeting doctrine, giving AI a bigger role by envisioning “systems where AI initiates actions with human monitoring”
OpenAI hopes to make GPT-5.6 generally available in the coming weeks and says “this kind of government access process” should not become the long-term default
Amrith Ramkumar /Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Google expands the scope of its months-old AI coding strike team to “midtraining” to try to catch up with Anthropic, after major executive departures
Memo: Meta Superintelligence Labs is hiring three founders and other team members behind AI security startup Virtue AI; two founders report to Nat Friedman
Sail, whose software optimizes how AI models run on existing chips, emerges from stealth with $80M in seed and Series A led by Kleiner at a $450M valuation
Sources: Bumble explores a sale amid slowing growth in the online dating sector; its shares fell 48% over the past 12 months, giving it a market cap of $388M
Netris, which helps neoclouds automate network configuration to bring their data centers online faster, raised a $15M Series A from a16z
Shares of Japanese NAND flash maker Kioxia slid 12% on Friday after a report that OpenAI was considering delaying its IPO sparked a selloff in AI-related shares
Sam Nussey /Reuters: