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Matthias Bastian

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

Elon Musk seeks up to $134B from OpenAI and Microsoft as lawsuit puts OpenAI's nonprofit origins on trial

Thousands of pages of evidence in the Musk vs. OpenAI case are now public, and both sides have some explaining to do. One question that stood out to me: can becoming a billionaire ever be a “secondary consideration”?

Read full article about: OpenAI wants its API format to become the industry standard

OpenAI is pushing "Open Responses," an open interface that works with language models from different providers. The project builds on OpenAI's Responses API and lets developers write code once and run it with any AI model.

Currently, Google, Anthropic, and Meta all handle their APIs differently, which means developers have to rewrite code when switching between models. Open Responses tries to fix that with a shared format for requests, responses, streaming, and tool calls. Vercel, Hugging Face, LM Studio, Ollama, and vLLM have already signed on.

Of course, if successful, this move works in OpenAI's favor. If its API becomes the default, competitors would need to adapt to OpenAI's approach, while existing OpenAI customers wouldn't have to change a thing. The "open" label also lets the company signal a spirit of collaboration, even though it's not sharing any technology beyond what's already public.

OpenAI will soon test ads in ChatGPT despite CEO Sam Altman once calling the idea dystopian

OpenAI will start testing ads in ChatGPT, despite CEO Sam Altman’s earlier objections. With a valuation of up to $750 billion to justify and only around five percent of users paying for the service, the company is under enormous pressure to find new revenue streams.

Read full article about: Anthropic opens Claude Cowork AI agent to all Pro subscribers

Anthropic has expanded access to its new Claude Cowork feature. When Cowork debuted on Monday, it was limited to Max subscribers, a $200 per month tier that put it out of reach for most users. Pro subscribers can now access the feature for $20 per month, though Anthropic warns they may hit usage limits faster since Cowork consumes more tokens than regular chat. Max subscribers still get higher usage limits.

Cowork brings the agent-based capabilities of Claude Code to the desktop app for everyday tasks that don't require programming knowledge. With computer access enabled, Claude can handle more complex tasks on its own: sorting files, gathering context from multiple documents, and similar workflows. For now, the feature remains exclusive to the macOS desktop app.

Anthropic has already shipped several updates since Monday's launch: users can now rename sessions, connections to external services are more reliable, file previews work better, and the app prompts for confirmation before deleting files.

Terence Tao says GPT-5.2 Pro cracked an Erdős problem, but warns the win says more about speed than difficulty

Terence Tao says OpenAI’s GPT-5.2 Pro has solved an open Erdős problem largely on its own for the first time. He calls it a milestone but warns against reading too much into it. For Tao, the more exciting development lies elsewhere.

Read full article about: Some of the largest AI players are now paying Wikipedia for the data they already use

Wikipedia has landed major AI companies as partners: Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Mistral AI, and Perplexity have joined the Wikimedia Enterprise partner program, with Google, Ecosia, and others already on board. These companies use the APIs to integrate Wikipedia content into their products.

Wikipedia is considered one of the highest-quality datasets for training large language models, and its content powers chatbots, search engines, and voice assistants. The Wikimedia Foundation argues that human-curated knowledge is more valuable than ever in the AI era, but without financial contributions from companies profiting from this data, the open knowledge model could be at risk.

In late October, Wikipedia raised concerns about declining traffic from AI systems that display its content without sending users to the website and later called for fair licensing through its API.

This tension is likely to grow. Chatbots are extracting value from the web at scale, and the legal landscape remains murky. Not every site can follow Wikipedia's path, or that of Tailwind, by offsetting lost revenue through partnerships and paid APIs.

Read full article about: OpenAI launches call for US-based AI hardware suppliers in push for domestic manufacturing

What China can do, the US can do too: OpenAI has published a call for proposals to boost domestic AI hardware production. AI relies on a broad ecosystem of physical components beyond chips, OpenAI says. The company is seeking manufacturers and suppliers of data center components like cooling systems, power supplies, and networking equipment, plus consumer electronics and robotics. Applications are open through June 2026.

The move comes as China reportedly restricts Nvidia H200 imports and pushes domestic manufacturers to source hardware locally. If China succeeds in decoupling its supply chain, the US can expect countermeasures—and if both countries want true independence, they'll each have to build their own.

The initiative fits squarely with Trump's "America First" agenda. OpenAI frames it as "reindustrialization of the country." Notably, OpenAI President Greg Brockman donated $25 million to Trump's campaign.

Read full article about: OpenAI invests in Merge Labs, a brain-computer interface startup co-founded by Sam Altman

OpenAI has invested in Merge Labs, a startup developing brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). The company raised a total of $252 million in seed funding, according to Bloomberg. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is a co-founder of Merge Labs. The exact size of OpenAI's investment remains unknown.

Merge Labs aims to combine biological and artificial intelligence to improve human capabilities. The startup is working on safer BCIs with higher bandwidth by combining biology, devices, and AI, according to OpenAI. OpenAI views BCIs as an important way for humans to interact more naturally with AI systems. The collaboration includes basic science models and tools to speed up research.

Merge Labs relies on ultrasound technology instead of electrodes. The goal is to create less invasive BCIs that can interact with more neurons. This puts OpenAI in direct competition with Elon Musk's Neuralink, which was founded in 2016 and uses electrode-based implants. The investment follows OpenAI's strategy of backing hardware and interface technologies. Rumors about this investment had circulated since summer.

Read full article about: OpenAI quietly launches ChatGPT Translate, a standalone tool that looks like Google Translate and DeepL

OpenAI has launched a standalone translation tool built on ChatGPT. "ChatGPT Translate" supports more than 25 languages with an interface similar to Google Translate or DeepL—two text fields with automatic language detection for the input.

OpenAI's ChatGPT Translate uses the familiar two-panel layout seen in other translation tools. | Screenshot: THE DECODER

Users can refine translations with additional prompts, for example, switching to a business tone or simplifying for children. These prompts redirect to the main ChatGPT interface, suggesting the tool is mainly designed as a gateway to the chatbot. OpenAI hasn't officially announced it yet.

Unlike full ChatGPT, the tool only handles text with apparent length limits. During testing, it sometimes returned chatbot responses asking for clarification instead of translations, with no way to respond. This suggests it's essentially a prompt in a new interface rather than a specialized translation model. For now, ChatGPT itself remains the more capable option.