The Verge AI

After a rollercoaster negotiation process with the Trump administration that dragged on for two weeks, Anthropic's Mythos 5 is finally back in action — at least, somewhat, for a select group of organizations, according to a letter from the government to Anthropic that was viewed by The Verge. Fable 5, however — the public-facing Mythos-class model — appears to still be in limbo, with no apparent timeline for a rollout agreement.

Less than 24 hours after news broke that OpenAI would stagger its next model release at the request of the Trump administration, that model, GPT-5.6, is here. On Friday, the company unveiled the limited preview of its new GPT 5.6 model suite: Sol, the flagship; Terra, a medium-tier model for "high-volume work"; and Luna, a "fast and affordable" everyday model. OpenAI says it's especially skilled at coding, cybersecurity, and biology, as well as staying focused during long-horizon agentic AI tasks. Per million tokens, GPT-5.6 Sol is priced at $5 input / $30 output (nearly half the cost of Anthropic's Claude Fable 5, which is $10 input / $50 output). Terra is half the cost of Sol, and Luna is less than half the cost of Terra. The company also debuted two additional modes for Sol: a "max" mode for deeper reasoning and an "ultra" mode for leveraging sub-agents — evoking OpenClaw, and perhaps a sign of OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger’s work at OpenAI so far. Unsurprisingly amid a security panic in Washington, D.C., OpenAI dedicated the majority of its announcement blog post to safety and potential misuse. It appeared to reference the recent jailbreaking travails of its rival Anthropic, writing that “GPT‐5.6 is trained to refuse prohibited cyber assistance, including when users attempt to disguise their intent or jailbreak the model.” It also said that flagship model Sol “is better at helping people find and fix vulnerabilities than reliably carrying out end-to-end attacks,” and that Sol doesn’t cross the cyber-critical threshold under OpenAI’s preparedness framework — though it should be noted that OpenAI recently revised its preparedness framework in April and removed some areas of previous study. The company said Sol has the company’s “most robust safety stack to date” and that it “strengthened protections for higher-risk activity, sensitive cyber requests, and repeated misuse.” OpenAI said it had dedicated “approximately 700,000 A100e GPU hours” to automated red-teaming and also worked with third-party testers, the latter of which will continue to test it for the next two weeks.  OpenAI also seemed to be taking an extra-sensitive approach during the preview period, which is being closely monitored by the Trump administration. The company wrote that “safeguards may occasionally intervene on legitimate work, particularly in dual-use areas where defensive and offensive activity can initially look similar. That is part of what the preview is designed to test.” The report earlier this week said that the Trump administration will approve customers on a case-by-case basis during the preview period. OpenAI said the model suite should be generally available in the coming weeks because the company believes in “broad access,” and that the company cooperated with the US government ahead of this launch, but that it hopefully wouldn’t be the norm. “We don’t believe this kind of government access process should become the long-term default,” the company wrote. “It keeps the best tools from users, developers, enterprises, cyber defenders, and global partners who need them. We are taking this short-term step because we believe it is the strongest path to broader availability in the coming weeks, while we work with the Administration to develop the cyber Executive Order framework and a repeatable process for future model releases.”

It’s been two weeks since Anthropic took its Mythos-class models offline after a Friday evening ultimatum from the Trump administration. The company sprang into action immediately, sending a barrage of executives to Washington, DC. But updates have been suspiciously lacking, with no resolution in sight.

The Trump administration, citing security concerns, has asked OpenAI to stagger the release of GPT-5.6. OpenAI will offer a limited preview to enterprise customers only, with access approved case-by-case by the administration. This contrasts with harsher restrictions imposed on rival Anthropic.

After topping JD Power's initial quality ranking, Ford acknowledged challenges from over-reliance on automation, which required rehiring experienced engineers to correct robot errors. The automaker realized AI's effectiveness depends on data quality and underestimated veteran engineers' institutional knowledge. Ford has brought back over 350 experienced engineers, shifted from 'find and fix' to prevention, and strengthened collaboration between software and hardware teams.

Meta is bringing back the Facebook Creator Studio page manager, now reimagined as a standalone AI companion app to help creators connect with audiences and grow on Facebook. The AI assistant provides performance insights, engagement recommendations, and can auto-draft replies to comments. Currently testing with select creators, with a waitlist for early access.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) says her staff used AI for "spellcheck" in an amendment summary for a major defense bill, but denies it was used for the bill text itself and says "NO Legislation is ever drafted with AI." She issued the response after screenshots showed a Claude AI reference in the summary.

New York Assemblyman Alex Bores narrowly lost the Democratic primary to Micah Lasher, marking a temporary truce in a $27 million proxy war between Anthropic and OpenAI. Bores, known for his AI safety bill, was outspent but outperformed other high-profile candidates, with AI industry PACs spending $27.41 million combined.

Figma has unveiled some new design and coding product updates at its annual Config conference that aim to help creatives "push their ideas further" and automate tedious tasks with AI. Part of this is a reimagined canvas that's now optimized for full-stack development, bringing teams, AI agents, tools, and materials together in one place.

OpenAI unveiled a custom AI inference chip called Jalapeño, developed with Broadcom, aiming to reduce reliance on Nvidia GPUs, with deployment expected by end of 2026.

Google Home's facial recognition is getting an update to identify people even when not facing the camera, using body size and clothing. Familiar Faces library auto-updates. AI event descriptions now include sounds. New system health alerts and Matter switch improvements.

Netflix, A24, Focus Features, and Warner Bros.' Clockwork have reportedly passed on distributing 'Artificial,' Luca Guadagnino's biopic about OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Amazon MGM also dropped the film after investing $50B in OpenAI, reflecting Hollywood's reluctance to criticize Big Tech due to financial ties.

The tech industry has poured over $27 million into New York's 12th Congressional District primary, backing candidate Alex Bores amid a feud between AI companies over safety regulation. The race has attracted multiple super PACs from Anthropic, Ripple, and others, making AI safety a central issue.

Google Fitbit Air is a well-designed $99 screenless fitness tracker with excellent battery life. Its key feature is Google Health Coach, an AI assistant powered by Gemini. However, the AI requires significant user investment—hours of data input—to be useful, and it still forgets context. The experience varies widely; for those willing to engage, it's a helpful tool between doctor visits, but for others, it's mediocre. The Air smartly offers both AI and traditional modes, letting users choose.

Sony's AI Camera Assistant on the Xperia 1 VIII fails to provide useful photography advice, instead offering aggressive filters and degrading camera performance, making it worse than Google's Camera Coach.

Meta announced new smart glasses that drop the Ray-Ban branding, starting at $299 — $80 less than the Ray-Ban collaboration. Designed with EssilorLuxottica, they come in three styles and seven colors with adjustable nose pads. Privacy concerns and a facial recognition feature loom, but Meta promises updates. AI capabilities are upgraded with more natural interactions and multilingual support.

Nvidia claims its fully liquid-cooled data center design for the Rubin generation eliminates most water usage and reduces power, but doesn't address construction concerns or cost.

The article explores how AI-generated fake listing photos and descriptions waste renters' time and lead to disillusionment, while also discussing the legality and ethics of virtual staging, noting varying state laws on AI use in real estate ads.

AI makes app creation easy, but security risks abound. This article details vulnerabilities like SQL injection, lack of authentication, and data leaks in vibe-coded apps, with expert advice on mitigation.

Atlantic reporter Alex Reisner recently uncovered four datasets of music being used to train AI models and made them fully searchable for the public. Two of the sets are absolutely enormous at 12 million and 9 million tracks. Google and Stability AI have confirmed they used the data.

Luca Guadagnino's film about OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Artificial, has reportedly been dropped by Amazon MGM. The film covers the tumultuous five days in 2023 of Altman's termination and reinstatement, starring Andrew Garfield. Amazon has close ties to OpenAI, having invested $50 billion.

Five months after returning to OpenAI, Barret Zoph — the company’s head of enterprise AI sales — has departed, The Verge has learned. He returned in mid-January after a stint as co-founder and CTO of Thinking Machines Lab, where he departed amid misconduct allegations. OpenAI confirmed his departure.

Anthropic's new AI model Fable 5 was banned by the US government just days after launch due to export controls and security concerns, revealing the chaotic state of US AI regulation and Anthropic's strained relationship with the Trump administration.

Adobe is introducing new capabilities for its Firefly AI assistant, alongside a "reimagined" AI studio that lets you edit and generate new designs from a single interface. Key features include "Elements" for saving and reusing characters, locations, and objects, and "Projects" for organizing assets and workflows. The Firefly AI assistant also gains brand kit generation, video editing tools, and storyboard creation, positioning itself as a collaborative partner for creatives.

Adobe has launched AI assistants in beta for its Creative Cloud apps, including Photoshop, Premiere, Illustrator, InDesign, and Frame.io, allowing users to automate tasks using natural language prompts.

Midjourney CEO David Holz just showed off the company's first hardware product and plans to build a San Francisco spa, which he admitted is a bit different from the "cat pictures" produced by its AI image generator. Dubbed The Midjourney Scanner, it's an ultrasound-based full-body scanner that uses a ring of sensors to capture vertical slices of the inside of your body, looking at the composition of your muscle, fat, bone, and organs to start. Holz said ideally, you could do this once a year or every single day, as it "aims for image quality comparable to MRI in many ways."

The Trump administration abruptly ordered Anthropic to cut access to its newest AI models for all foreign nationals, including users inside the US and its own employees, forcing a block on Fable 5 and Mythos 5. Experts say this is unprecedented and exposes the instability of current AI governance.

According to the latest Pew Research poll, 49 percent of Americans report using chatbots at least occasionally, but 63 percent think the tech is advancing too quickly. Overall, use of AI chatbots has increased dramatically since 2024, when only 33 percent reported using them. Specifically, ChatGPT's usage has doubled since 2023, with 44 percent of respondents saying they've used it. But opinions remain negative, with only 16 percent saying that AI will have a positive impact on society. Younger generations use AI more but are more pessimistic.

This article analyzes the political turmoil behind the White House's export restrictions on Anthropic's Fable and Mythos models, highlighting Anthropic's struggle due to its opposition to the Trump administration and the uncertainty in AI regulation.

Meta's new AI Mode in Facebook search uses public posts from Facebook Groups and Instagram Reels to answer complex queries like weekend plans. Testing shows it can provide false information, such as recommending a closed pool or a coffee shop in Texas instead of Minneapolis, but it avoids spreading serious misinformation about vaccines, 9/11, and elections.