Author HubMatthias Bastian

Matthias is the co-founder and publisher of THE DECODER, exploring how AI is fundamentally changing the relationship between humans and computers.
AI research
Update

So-called reasoning models are more efficient but not more capable than regular LLMs, study finds

AI in practice

Google leans on token metrics, not revenue, adding to bubble talk about AI growth

AI and society

The long-predicted deepfake dystopia has arrived with Sora 2

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AI in practice
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Black Forest Labs has raised USD 300 million in a new Series B round, bringing its valuation to USD 3.25 billion. Salesforce Ventures and Anjney Midha (AMP) led the round, with existing investors like a16z and Nvidia joining in, along with new backers including Canva and Figma Ventures.

The company is best known for its Flux image models, which it says are among the most widely used on Hugging Face and support products from partners such as Adobe, Meta, and Microsoft. Black Forest Labs released its newest model, Flux 2, just a few days ago.

The fresh funding will help the Freiburg- and San Francisco-based team accelerate its work on what it calls "visual intelligence" - models intended to combine perception, generation, memory, and logical reasoning. The company also plans to expand its team.

AI in practice
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OpenAI researcher Sebastien Bubeck says GPT-5's math skills saved him a month of work. In a post on X, Bubeck reports that GPT-5 tackled a highly complex mathematical task for him. The model designed the solution path, ran a simulation to check a formula, and then wrote a complete proof, effectively a seamless calculation. While this process would have previously taken him around a month, GPT-5 finished it in just an afternoon. Bubeck calls it the "most impressive LLM output" he has seen to date.

Generative AI is becoming increasingly apparent in high-level mathematics—and not just because of gold medals in Math Olympiads. Mathematician Terence Tao recently noted that AI saved him several hours of work, though he used the tool to verify his theoretical assumptions rather than relying on it autonomously. An OpenAI report backs this up, showing how GPT-5 can save significant research time across various scientific fields.

AI research
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Programmers who rely on AI assistants tend to ask fewer questions and learn more superficially, according to new research from Saarland University. A team led by Sven Apel found that students were less critical of the code suggestions they received when working with tools like GitHub Copilot. In contrast, pairs of human programmers asked more questions, explored alternatives, and learned more from one another.

Apel et al.

In the experiment, 19 students worked in pairs: six in human-only teams and seven in human-AI teams. According to Apel, many of the AI-assisted participants simply accepted code suggestions because they assumed the AI's output was already correct. He noted that this habit can introduce mistakes that later require significant effort to fix. Apel said AI tools can be helpful for straightforward tasks, but complex problems still benefit from real collaboration between humans.

AI in practice
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Kimi is rolling out a 48-hour free trial for its new slide generator powered by Google's Nano Banana Pro model. During the trial, users can try "Agentic Slides" for free and automatically turn PDFs, images, and documents into presentations. The slides can be edited in the browser and exported as PowerPoint files. The agent-driven K2 search tool is included. You can access the offer through this link, but registration is required.

Infographics generated by Nano Banana Pro can be turned into editable text with one click. The tool extracts the text, removes the original image lettering, and replaces it with editable text that may look different. However, an initial test showed uneven results, with some text converting properly and other parts staying unchanged, especially on slides 6 and 7 of a presentation based on this article. The tool also doesn't apply company design templates, which limits its usefulness. But it's still a cool toy.

AI and society
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OpenAI has rejected the lawsuit filed by the family of 16-year-old Adam Raine, saying the company is not responsible for the teenager's suicide. In a court filing on Tuesday, the company argued that Raine misused ChatGPT in ways that violated its terms of use and intentionally worked around the system's safety filters. According to OpenAI's lawyers, the model pointed him to support resources more than 100 times, but Raine repeatedly disguised his intentions to bypass those warnings. The family and their attorney, Jay Edelson, claim the situation unfolded differently, accusing the company of releasing the heavily criticized GPT-4o model despite concerns about flattery and safety. One OpenAI developer recently described the model as "insufficiently aligned" when interacting with users.

In a blog post, OpenAI said it intends to handle the case respectfully but will have to reveal "difficult facts" about Raine's mental health as part of its defense. The company says the plaintiffs cited only selected chat excerpts, prompting OpenAI to submit the full, sealed transcripts to the court.

AI in practice
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OpenAI leaked customer data belonging to API users following a hack at third-party analytics provider Mixpanel. Unauthorized parties managed to export records containing names, email addresses, and approximate location data, along with information about operating systems and browsers. Organization and user IDs, as well as referring websites, were also part of the exposed data.

According to OpenAI, critical information—such as passwords, API keys, and chat content—was not accessed during the breach. The company also confirmed that ChatGPT users are not affected.

The incident took place on November 9, 2025, prompting OpenAI to immediately stop using Mixpanel. The company is currently notifying affected organizations directly and warning them to watch out for phishing attempts that might exploit the stolen metadata. Moving forward, OpenAI plans to enforce stricter security requirements for all external partners.

AI in practice
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Microsoft is adding new AI shopping tools to its Edge browser in the US. The built-in Copilot can now surface price comparisons, price histories, and cashback options right inside the browser. Users can open the feature from the sidebar icon, which then pulls up product details and sends price alerts automatically. A new "Copilot Mode" also flags cheaper deals or active discounts when they appear. All features are optional and currently limited to the U.S.

OpenAI recently moved in a similar direction with ChatGPT Shopping, its new e-commerce interface focused on personalized product research.

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AI research

The ARC benchmark's fall marks another casualty of relentless AI optimization

AI in practice

DeepseekMath-V2 is Deepseek's latest attempt to pop the US AI bubble

AI research

Frustrated authors withdraw papers after realizing their reviewers are just lazy LLMs

Google News