Anthropic, the company behind the Claude chatbot, is raising $10 billion at a valuation of $350 billion - nearly double its $183 billion valuation from just four months ago. Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC and Coatue Management are leading the round, which is expected to close in the coming weeks. The final numbers could still shift, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Google's "Nano Banana" is currently the most powerful image model on the market, but the name is undeniably strange. According to the Wall Street Journal, the moniker was a 2:30 a.m. accident. When project manager Naina Raisinghani needed a name to upload the model to the benchmark platform LM Arena, no one was around to consult. She simply mashed up two of her own nicknames: Nano and Banana. Within days, the tool shot to the top of the performance rankings and became a social media trend. Compared to this late-night improvisation, the name "Gemini" has a slightly more deliberate origin story.
Another interesting detail from the WSJ report: An OpenAI researcher, of all people, apparently helped push Google co-founder Sergey Brin out of retirement and back into the company's AI efforts. Daniel Selsam asked him at a party why he wasn't working full-time on AI given the rise of ChatGPT. That question helped drive Brin back to Google to accelerate the company's AI ambitions.
Amazon's AI shopping tool lists products without seller permission
Multiple online retailers report that Amazon’s AI-powered shopping tool displays their products on the marketplace without consent. Amazon defends the program, but criticism is mounting.
Artificial Analysis just released version 4.0 of its Intelligence Index, ranking AI models across multiple benchmarks. OpenAI's GPT-5.2 at its highest reasoning setting takes the top spot, with Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.5 and Google's Gemini 3 Pro close behind.
The index scores models across four equally weighted categories: Agents, Programming, Scientific Reasoning, and General. Results are less saturated this time, with top models peaking at 50 points compared to 73 in the previous version.
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index v4.0: GPT-5.2 (xhigh) leads with 50 points, followed by Claude Opus 4.5 (49) and Gemini 3 Pro Preview (48). It's a tight race at the top. | Image: Artificial AnalysisAt the top of the cost table is GPT-5.2 (xhigh) with a total cost of $2,322, followed by Grok 4 ($1,574) and Claude 4.5 Opus ($1,510). Gemini 3 Pro Preview trails significantly behind at $988. | Image: Artificial Analysis
The updated index swaps three older tests (AIME 2025, LiveCodeBench, and MMLU-Pro) for a fresh set: AA-Omniscience checks model knowledge across 40 topics while flagging hallucinations, GDPval-AA tests models on practical tasks across 44 professions, and CritPt tackles physics research problems. Artificial Analysis says it ran all tests independently using a standardized approach, with full details available on its website.
The AI industry seems to have found its narrative for 2026: AI models are more capable than the people using them.Following Satya Nadella, OpenAI product head Fidji Simo has now weighed in. Her message: "AI models are capable of far more than how most people experience them day to day." OpenAI's goal for 2026 is closing the gap between what AI can do and how people actually use it. The company that turns research into useful products will lead the market.
ChatGPT has over 800 million weekly active users and one million business customers, according to Simo. In 2026, OpenAI plans to evolve it from a chatbot to a more personal "super assistant," one that understands goals, stores context, and helps proactively. A leaked mid-2025 document describes how such a super assistant would compete for human attention.
For businesses, OpenAI wants to build an automated workflow platform, with Codex serving as an "automated teammate" for developers. To justify higher prices, OpenAI needs major AI agent improvements: the company is reportedly considering plans costing up to 20,000 dollars per month.
Boston Dynamics unveils production Atlas designed for warehouses and factory floors
Boston Dynamics is turning its humanoid robot Atlas into a commercial product. The first fleet ships to Hyundai in 2026, where the 1.9-meter-tall robot will handle heavy lifting in warehouses and factories.
