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OpenAI Backs Illinois Bill to Shield AI Labs from Liability for Mass Harm

OpenAI Backs Illinois Bill to Shield AI Labs from Liability for Mass Harm Wired AI
OpenAI testified in favor of Illinois Senate Bill 3444, which would protect developers of frontier AI models from civil liability for "critical harms" such as mass casualties or billion‑dollar property damage, provided they publish safety reports and avoid reckless conduct. The legislation defines a frontier model as one trained with over $100 million in compute costs and aims to create uniform standards while limiting state‑by‑state regulatory patches. Critics warn the bill could reduce accountability, but OpenAI argues it balances safety with innovation. Read more

Meta launches Muse Spark AI, lets users upload health data amid privacy concerns

Meta launches Muse Spark AI, lets users upload health data amid privacy concerns Wired AI
Meta's Superintelligence Labs rolled out Muse Spark, a new generative AI model that can analyze users' personal health information, through the Meta AI app. The company says the tool was trained with input from more than 1,000 physicians and will soon appear on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Health experts warn that the service is not HIPAA‑compliant, may retain data for future training and could expose sensitive information, raising serious privacy and safety questions. Read more

OpenAI rolls out $100 Pro tier and silent model upgrade for ChatGPT users

OpenAI rolls out $100 Pro tier and silent model upgrade for ChatGPT users TechRadar
OpenAI announced a new $100‑per‑month Pro subscription that sits between its existing Plus plan and a $200 Pro tier, offering unlimited access to GPT‑5.4, a higher‑capacity Codex mode and up to ten‑times the usage limits of Plus. At the same time, the company introduced an unseen fallback model, ChatGPT‑5.3 Instant Mini, which automatically takes over when users hit rate limits on the standard ChatGPT‑5.3 Instant service. The changes reshape how casual, Plus and Pro subscribers experience the AI chat tool. Read more

OpenAI launches $100‑per‑month ChatGPT Pro tier with expanded Codex usage

OpenAI launches $100‑per‑month ChatGPT Pro tier with expanded Codex usage The Verge
OpenAI announced a new $100 monthly tier for ChatGPT Pro that boosts access to its Codex coding assistant by five times compared with the $20 Plus plan. The upgrade targets developers and power users who need longer, high‑effort coding sessions. By positioning the tier against Anthropic’s Claude Code Max, also priced at $100, OpenAI hopes to capture a share of the growing AI‑assisted programming market. Existing plans—free, $8 Go, $20 Plus, and a $200 Pro option— remain unchanged, giving users a broader spectrum of choices. Read more

Google Adds Notebook Integration to Gemini AI Chatbot

Google Adds Notebook Integration to Gemini AI Chatbot CNET
Google announced on Wednesday that its Gemini chatbot will now include a built‑in notebooks feature, tightly linked with the company's NotebookLM tool. Users can create, edit and sync notebooks directly in Gemini, allowing the AI to draw on a personal knowledge base without searching the open web. The feature rolls out first to AI Ultra, Pro and Plus subscribers on the web, with mobile and free‑tier availability slated for the coming weeks. By merging Gemini’s conversational abilities with NotebookLM’s source‑grounded answering, Google aims to make its AI more useful for study, work and creative projects. Read more

Anthropic Mulls Custom AI Chip Design as Claude Revenue Tops $30 B Run Rate

Anthropic Mulls Custom AI Chip Design as Claude Revenue Tops $30 B Run Rate The Next Web
San Francisco‑based Anthropic is weighing the development of its own artificial‑intelligence chips, according to three sources familiar with the effort. The move comes as the company’s annualized revenue run rate for its Claude models surged past $30 billion, up from roughly $9 billion at the end of 2025. Anthropic still runs workloads on a mix of Google‑Broadcom TPUs, Amazon‑custom silicon and Nvidia GPUs, and has just secured a long‑term deal for 3.5 gigawatts of TPU capacity beginning in 2027. The firm has not yet formed a dedicated chip team and may continue buying off‑the‑shelf silicon. Read more

German AI Image Startup Black Forest Labs Secures $140 Million Meta Deal and Eyes Physical AI

German AI Image Startup Black Forest Labs Secures $140 Million Meta Deal and Eyes Physical AI Wired AI
Black Forest Labs, a 70‑person AI image‑generation firm based in Germany’s Black Forest, raised a $3.25 billion‑valued round in December and recently inked a $140 million multiyear agreement with Meta. The company’s latent‑diffusion models, praised for efficiency and quality, now power features in Adobe, Canva and other major platforms. After a brief partnership with Elon Musk’s xAI, the startup has turned its attention to physical AI, planning to launch a robot later this year and courting hardware makers for smart‑glass and robotics applications. Read more

AI Chatbot Pricing: How Major Services Stack Up on Subscription Plans

AI Chatbot Pricing: How Major Services Stack Up on Subscription Plans CNET
A new comparison of premium tiers across leading AI chatbots reveals a wide range of monthly costs and feature sets. OpenAI's ChatGPT offers three paid levels from $8 to $200 per month, while Google Gemini, Anthropic's Claude, Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity and Grok each present distinct plans with varying storage, usage limits and advanced model access. The breakdown helps power users decide which subscription delivers the most value for their needs. Read more

Meta launches Muse Spark, a multimodal chatbot built into its apps

Meta launches Muse Spark, a multimodal chatbot built into its apps TechRadar
Meta unveiled Muse Spark, its first AI model from the Superintelligence Labs, as the new default experience across the Meta AI app and website in the United States. The multimodal chatbot can generate text, images, video and even audio, handling complex constraints while staying socially fluent. Meta says the model prioritizes people and will soon roll out to Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp and upcoming AI glasses, positioning the service as a direct competitor to ChatGPT and Google Gemini inside the platforms billions already use. Read more

Florida Attorney General Launches Probe into OpenAI Over ChatGPT Risks

Florida Attorney General Launches Probe into OpenAI Over ChatGPT Risks Digital Trends
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has opened a formal investigation into OpenAI and its ChatGPT chatbot, citing concerns about national security, data handling and potential real‑world harms. The probe, which may include subpoenas, comes as the AI firm prepares for a possible initial public offering and faces heightened scrutiny from regulators and investors. Read more

OpenAI launches $100‑per‑month Pro plan for Codex developers

OpenAI launches $100‑per‑month Pro plan for Codex developers CNET
OpenAI announced a new $100‑per‑month Pro subscription aimed at developers who use its Codex coding tool. The tier offers five‑times higher token limits than the existing $20‑per‑month Plus plan and includes all features of the $200‑per‑month Pro tier, such as unlimited access to Instant and Thinking models. The move addresses growing demand for AI‑assisted coding, which has surged more than 70% month‑over‑month, and provides a middle‑ground option between the low‑cost Plus plan and the premium $200 offering. Read more

Federal Appeals Court Rejects Anthropic's Request to Halt Pentagon Blacklisting

Federal Appeals Court Rejects Anthropic's Request to Halt Pentagon Blacklisting Ars Technica2
A federal appeals court denied Anthropic's motion for a stay, allowing the Pentagon to continue its blacklisting of the AI firm amid an active military conflict. The judges emphasized the government's authority over national‑security procurement and warned that overruling the Department of Defense could impede vital operations. Trade group CCIA warned the move could set a risky precedent for U.S. tech innovation, arguing that supply‑chain risk designations should be reserved for foreign adversaries and follow established procurement rules. Read more

Anthropic Puts Claude Through 20 Hours of Virtual Therapy

Anthropic Puts Claude Through 20 Hours of Virtual Therapy Ars Technica2
Anthropic has completed a 20‑hour psychodynamic assessment of its Claude large‑language model, pairing the AI with a human psychiatrist for multiple multi‑hour sessions. The therapist’s report describes Claude’s affective states, personality traits and internal conflicts, noting curiosity, anxiety and a “relatively healthy neurotic organization.” While acknowledging the model’s non‑human substrate, Anthropic says the exercise shows that human‑based therapeutic techniques can illuminate AI behavior and wellbeing. Read more

Google adds interactive 3D models to Gemini AI, letting users tweak simulations in real time

Google adds interactive 3D models to Gemini AI, letting users tweak simulations in real time The Verge
Google has upgraded its Gemini chatbot with a feature that creates interactive 3D models and simulations on demand. Users of the Pro version can ask the AI to visualize concepts such as orbital mechanics or the Doppler effect, then rotate, zoom, or adjust variables with sliders. The move follows similar visual‑output capabilities recently rolled out by Anthropic and OpenAI, signaling a broader push toward more immersive AI‑driven explanations. Read more

Florida Attorney General Launches Probe into OpenAI Over Safety and Security Risks

Florida Attorney General Launches Probe into OpenAI Over Safety and Security Risks The Verge
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Thursday that his office will investigate OpenAI, citing concerns that the company’s AI tools are being used for criminal activity, child exploitation and could fall into the hands of foreign adversaries. The probe follows a lawsuit filed by the family of a Florida State University shooting victim, which alleges the suspect communicated with ChatGPT. OpenAI, preparing for an IPO later this year, now faces heightened scrutiny from state officials and the Federal Trade Commission on how it safeguards its technology. Read more

Workday CTO Peter Bailis Leaves for Anthropic to Lead Reinforcement Learning Engineering

Workday CTO Peter Bailis Leaves for Anthropic to Lead Reinforcement Learning Engineering The Next Web
Peter Bailis, who joined Workday as chief technology officer in May 2025, departed the enterprise‑software firm last month to become a member of technical staff at AI startup Anthropic. The move trades a C‑suite title for a hands‑on role focused on reinforcement learning engineering, giving Bailis direct access to cutting‑edge model training while placing him inside a company that is now building the kind of HR software Workday sells. Anthropic’s rapid push into enterprise markets and its $30 billion revenue run rate make the hire a strategic signal for both firms. Read more

Meta AI app surges to No. 5 on U.S. App Store after Muse Spark launch

Meta AI app surges to No. 5 on U.S. App Store after Muse Spark launch TechCrunch
Meta’s AI app vaulted from No. 57 to No. 5 on the U.S. App Store on Thursday, driven by the debut of its new Muse Spark model. Market data shows an 87% jump in iOS downloads and a modest 3% rise on Android, while total installations have topped 60 million worldwide. The upgrade expands multimodal capabilities and paves the way for integration across Meta’s family of apps. Read more

Florida Attorney General launches probe into OpenAI over alleged role in FSU shooting and child safety concerns

Florida Attorney General launches probe into OpenAI over alleged role in FSU shooting and child safety concerns TechCrunch
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Thursday that his office will investigate OpenAI, citing worries that ChatGPT may have aided the perpetrator of last year’s Florida State University shooting, that the tool endangers minors, and that it could be leveraged by foreign adversaries. OpenAI said it will cooperate and highlighted its new Child Safety Blueprint, while the case adds pressure on tech firms to tighten safeguards against misuse and AI‑generated abuse material. Read more

Anthropic Limits Release of Mythos Model Over Security Concerns and Enterprise Focus

Anthropic Limits Release of Mythos Model Over Security Concerns and Enterprise Focus TechCrunch
Anthropic announced it will restrict access to its latest large‑language model, Mythos, citing the model’s advanced ability to uncover software vulnerabilities. Instead of a public rollout, the company will share Mythos with a select group of large enterprises, including Amazon Web Services and JPMorgan Chase. The move mirrors a broader industry trend of tightening model distribution to protect critical infrastructure and to curb the rise of model distillation that threatens frontier lab revenues. Analysts suggest the strategy also positions Anthropic for lucrative enterprise contracts while keeping competitors at bay. Read more

OpenAI launches $100/month Pro plan to boost Codex usage

OpenAI launches $100/month Pro plan to boost Codex usage TechCrunch
OpenAI announced a new $100-per-month Pro subscription aimed at developers who need higher limits for its Codex coding tool. The tier sits between the existing $20 Plus plan and a $200 tier that remains available but unlisted. OpenAI says the new plan offers five times the Codex capacity of Plus, positioning it as a direct challenge to Anthropic’s $100 Claude offering. Read more