Jimmy Ba is the latest co-founder to leave xAI, and like the five who left before him, he’s full of praise for the company and predicts massive AI breakthroughs ahead. Yet somehow, half of xAI’s twelve founding members have still walked out the door.
OpenAI has upgraded Deep Research in ChatGPT. The feature now runs on the new GPT-5.2 model, as OpenAI announced on X. A key addition is that users can connect apps to ChatGPT and—potentially very useful—search specific websites. The search progress can also be tracked in real time, interrupted with questions, or supplemented with new sources. Results can now be displayed as full-screen reports.
Until now, Deep Research—which launched in 2025—ran on o3 and o4 mini models. OpenAI considers it the first "AI agent" in ChatGPT, since the system independently kicks off multi-stage web searches based on the user's query before generating a response.
That said, even web searches don't protect against generative AI errors, and the longer the generated text, the higher the risk of mistakes. In everyday use, targeted search queries with capable reasoning models are often more reliable. Web search significantly reduces hallucination rates overall, but doesn't eliminate them.
Isomorphic Labs, Google DeepMind's AI medicine startup, has unveiled a new system called "Isomorphic Labs Drug Design Engine" (IsoDDE) that it says outperforms AlphaFold 3. According to the company, IsoDDE doubles AlphaFold 3's accuracy when predicting protein-ligand structures that differ significantly from the training data (see left graph below).
Beyond structure prediction, IsoDDE can identify previously unknown docking sites on proteins in seconds based solely on their blueprint, with accuracy that Isomorphic Labs says approaches that of lab experiments. Isomorphic Labs also claims the system can estimate how strongly a drug binds to its target at a fraction of the time and cost of traditional methods. These capabilities could uncover new starting points for active compounds and speed up computational screening.
Isomorphic Labs says it already uses IsoDDE daily in its own research programs to develop new drug candidates. Details are available in the company's technical report.
OpenAI won't be using the name "io" for its planned AI hardware devices. That's according to a court filing submitted as part of a trademark lawsuit brought by audio startup iyO, Wired reports. OpenAI had already scrubbed references to the project back in June 2025.
OpenAI VP Peter Welinder said the company reviewed its naming strategy and decided against "io." OpenAI also revealed that its first hardware device won't ship until the end of February 2027 at the earliest - later than previously indicated. No packaging or marketing materials exist yet.
OpenAI acquired the hardware startup from former Apple designer Jony Ive for $6.5 billion in May 2025. Over the weekend, a fake Super Bowl ad allegedly showing OpenAI's device made the rounds online. OpenAI spokesperson Lindsay McCallum told Wired the company had nothing to do with it.
Chinese robotaxi operator Pony AI and Toyota have kicked off commercial production of a self-driving electric car. The first of 1,000 fully electric, autonomous Toyota bZ4X compact SUVs has rolled off the assembly line at a joint venture plant run by Toyota and the Guangzhou Automobile Group. The vehicles are meant to help Pony AI hit its goal of expanding its robotaxi fleet to more than 3,000 cars by the end of the year. The bZ4X is one of three models Pony AI is deploying with its latest autonomous driving software across major Chinese cities.
The vehicles run on Pony AI's autonomous driving system, rated at SAE Level 4. That means the car drives itself completely within designated areas - no human needs to sit behind the wheel, hold the steering wheel, or watch the road. There are still limitations, though, such as restrictions on operating zones or weather conditions.
Even though the technology enables driverless operation, human support is still part of the equation. Right now, one person oversees roughly 30 vehicles and can step in if something goes wrong.
Pony AI competes with other Chinese robotaxi companies like Baidu and WeRide.
Anthropic is starting to feel the OpenAI effect. Growing commercialization and the need to raise billions of dollars is forcing the company into compromises, from accepting money from authoritarian regimes and working with the US Department of Defense and Palantir to praising Donald Trump. Now Mrinank Sharma, head of the Safeguards Research Team—the group responsible for keeping AI models safe—is leaving. In his farewell post, he suggests Anthropic has drifted away from its founding principles.
Throughout my time here, I've repeatedly seen how hard it is to truly let our values govern our actions. I've seen this within myself, within the organization, where we constantly face pressures to set aside what matters most, and throughout broader society too.
Mrinank Sharma
The Oxford-educated researcher says the time has come to move on. His departure echoes a pattern already familiar at OpenAI, which saw its own wave of safety researchers leave over concerns that the company was prioritizing revenue growth over responsible deployment. Anthropic was originally founded by former OpenAI employees who wanted to put AI safety first, making Sharma's exit all the more telling.
A simple prompt injection trick can turn Google Translate into a chatbot that answers questions and even generates dangerous content, a direct consequence of Google switching the service to Gemini models in late 2025.
OpenAI is rolling out ads in ChatGPT for users in the United States. The test targets logged-in adult users on the free and "Go" tiers. Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Education plans remain ad-free. Free-tier users can opt out of advertising, but doing so reduces their daily message allowance.
OpenAI says the decision comes down to high infrastructure costs. The company stresses that ads don't influence ChatGPT's responses, and conversations stay private. Which ad a user sees depends on the conversation topic, previous chats, and interactions.
Users under 18 won't see any ads, and ads won't appear around sensitive topics like health or politics. Users can hide individual ads, delete their ad data, and adjust personalization settings. Advertisers get aggregated performance statistics but have no access to chat logs or personal data, OpenAI says.
What will always remain true: ChatGPT’s answers remain independent and unbiased, conversations stay private, and people keep meaningful control over their experience.
Putting ads in chatbots is controversial, since the potential for manipulation is greater than with traditional search engines. OpenAI says it will keep ads clearly separated from content. Long term, the company plans to roll out additional ad formats.
