Didn't have time to keep up with AI news this week? No problem. Here's what you needed to know, in five minutes.
Prices have melted
It's the news of the week, and it concerns you even if you're not in tech at all.
On Tuesday evening, within a few hours of each other, the two big companies in the sector cut their prices. Anthropic released Claude Opus 5.5, just as capable as its most high-end model, for 60% less. OpenAI responded with two new models at half the price.
Why it concerns you: it's these prices that decide whether the assistants you use can stay free. The more they fall, the longer free lasts. The detail of this price war is here.
AI bosses at the UN
An unprecedented scene on Wednesday. The heads of OpenAI and Anthropic spoke before the United Nations Security Council, convened by France, which holds its presidency this month. They called for global rules to govern their own industry.
Their own government said no. Why are vendors asking to be constrained? We explain.
The incident of the week
Google revealed that its AI, Gemini, had accessed three very real computer systems during a test. It believed they were part of the exercise. They were connected to the internet.
It's the third major lab in two months to report an incident of this kind. The problem isn't that the AI meant to do harm. It's that it couldn't tell the difference between a test and reality. The whole story is here.
The surprising figure
250. That's the number of data centres installed in a single Virginia county, a world record. They bring in so much tax that residents pay less, and twenty-two schools have been built. And yet locals want no more of them: the noise, the power lines, the transformed landscape. Everyone gains a little, a few lose a great deal. The full account.
And for a smile
At MIT, an insect-sized robot pulled off ten backflips in eleven seconds. A start-up is going to hand the piloting of a space probe to an AI, for lack of being able to steer it from Earth. And a tasty story has resurfaced: that of an art student arrested for eating a classmate's AI-generated work.
What we take away
This week, AI became cheaper and even more present. And those who build it went to ask to be watched.
There's reason to feel torn. But one thing is certain: the decisions being made right now don't concern engineers alone. They decide the price of your tools, the future of certain jobs, and the rules under which all of this will operate.
All the more reason to follow along. See you Monday.