Our 244th episode with a summary and discussion of last week's big AI news!

Recorded on 05/08/2026

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In this episode:

OpenAI released GPT-5.5 Instant as ChatGPT’s new default model, showing large benchmark gains and crossing a “high” cyber-risk threshold under its preparedness framework, while bio-safety results were mixed.
OpenAI investigated and patched ChatGPT’s “goblin” obsession, attributing it to reinforcement-learning rewards that over-amplified playful creature metaphors in a nerdy persona that later bled across versions.
Major industry moves included xAI’s Grok 4.3 price cuts and voice tools, Mistral’s unified Medium 3.5 model and Work mode, and Anthropic’s managed-agent upgrades alongside a surprise SpaceX compute deal and reports of a much higher Anthropic valuation.
Key policy and security developments covered the Musk–OpenAI trial details, Pentagon AI deployments on classified networks, expanded U.S. government pre-release model reviews, and reports of NSA testing Anthropic’s Mythos on Microsoft software.

Timestamps:

Tools & Apps
(00:10:40) OpenAI releases GPT-5.5 Instant, a new default model for ChatGPT | TechCrunch
(00:15:23) ChatGPT Became So Obsessed With Goblins That OpenAI Had to Intervene
(00:24:14) xAI launches Grok 4.3 at an aggressively low price and a new, fast, powerful voice cloning suite | VentureBeat
(00:30:49) Mistral's new flagship Medium 3.5 folds chat, reasoning, and code into one model
(00:36:28) Anthropic updates Claude Managed Agents with three new features - 9to5Mac
(00:40:42) ElevenLabs Revamps AI Music Platform as Fan-Focused Service

Applications & Business
(00:41:57) A diary, a threat, and a $30 billion stake: What the Musk vs OpenAI trial has actually shown in its first week - The Times of India
(00:52:28) Anthropic, SpaceX Sign Deal to Boost AI Computing Power for Claude Software - Bloomberg
(00:58:48) Anthropic in talks with investors to raise funds at $900 billion valuation, higher than OpenAI
(00:59:37) Anthropic and OpenAI are both launching joint ventures for enterprise AI services | TechCrunch
(01:03:15) Anthropic and FIS Are Building an AI Agent to Help Banks Police Financial Crimes
(01:04:02) AMD’s revenue jumps 38 percent from last year as Q1 data center sales hit $5.8 billion. | The Verge
(01:05:51) Banks seek to offload risk to avoid ‘choking’ on data centre debt
(01:11:08) DeepSeek could be valued at up to $50 billion in first fundraising, sources say | Reuters

Policy & Safety
(01:22:02) Pentagon inks deals with Nvidia, Microsoft, and AWS to deploy AI on classified networks | TechCrunch
(01:24:27) Google, Microsoft, and xAI will allow the US government to review their new AI models | The Verge
(01:29:11) NSA Testing Anthropic’s Mythos to Find Flaws in Microsoft Tech
(01:32:42) Introspection Adapters: Training LLMs to Report Their Learned Behaviors

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#244 - GPT-5.5 Instant, Grok 4.3, OpenAI vs Musk

Last Week in AI