AI just designed 16 working viruses.

The Frontier

Science & tech breakthroughs in AI models, hardware, and computing that define what's possible

Scientists Used AI to Create 16 New Viruses. Researchers used AI systems to design 16 new bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria, for work aimed at addressing antibiotic-resistant infections. The result expands the demonstrated use of generative AI in biological design while raising biosecurity and regulatory questions around increasingly capable life-science models.

16 new bacteriophages show AI bio-design has advanced beyond protein optimization to viable viral systems. Biosecurity and regulatory screening will expand to viral-system design workflows within 16 months.

Wired

AMD to Acquire Taalas. AMD has agreed to acquire Toronto-based AI-chip startup Taalas, which develops custom silicon designed to hardwire AI models into chips. Financial terms were not disclosed, and the transaction remains subject to closing conditions and regulatory approval.

AMD agreed to acquire Toronto-based Taalas, a $50 million-funded startup founded by former AMD employees and Tenstorrent leaders. Taalas designs custom chips that embed AI models for inference. At closing, AMD will add Taalas’s model-specific inference technology.

Betakit

White House AI Safety Plan Remains Secretive. The Trump administration has finalized a voluntary framework for testing new AI models for safety and cybersecurity risks, according to reports cited by The Guardian. The White House has reportedly limited the criteria to selected companies including OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Google, Nvidia and Microsoft rather than publishing the policy.

Six invited giants now hold the rulebook while every other lab flies blind, handing them a regulatory moat. The White House showed its safety criteria only to OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, Microsoft and Nvidia, mirroring the 6-bank Basel III carve-outs of 2013. Expect shut-out startups to press Congress within 90 days for public standards.

The Guardian

Model Developments

Latest AI model releases, capabilities, and technical breakthroughs shaping the competitive landscape

GPT-5.6 Sol Improves as Luna Reaches Free Users. OpenAI said it has updated GPT-5.6 Sol for ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscribers, citing improved factual reliability and more focused responses, and added a slider that lets users select the amount of reasoning applied to a response. The company also moved free users to GPT-5.6 Luna, offering unlimited text chats and a Think button for access to higher-reasoning responses on harder queries.

OpenAI is turning reasoning controls into a tiering tool: free users receive unlimited Luna chats and Think, while Plus and Pro receive Sol’s reasoning slider. By 2027, paid tiers will retain more granular reasoning controls.

Openai

Capital & Control

Tracking the flow of capital and influence that shapes the tech landscape

Trump Administration Spends Nearly $4B Cancelling Offshore Wind. The Trump administration agreed to pay German utility RWE $1.2 billion to cancel offshore-wind leases planned for California, Louisiana and New York, bringing reported federal spending on such cancellations to nearly $4 billion. RWE said it will redirect $900 million into a Louisiana LNG-export terminal stake and $300 million toward natural-gas turbines for 15 peaking plants; the cancelled New York project alone was expected to generate more than 3 gigawatts.

RWE’s $1.2B lease cancellation removes a New York offshore project expected to exceed 3 GW while shifting $900M to a Louisiana LNG terminal stake and $300M to turbines for 15 peaking plants; turbine backlogs will constrain replacement capacity into the early 2030s.

TechCrunch

China’s Unitree Prices Humanoid-Robot IPO. Chinese humanoid-robot maker Unitree Robotics priced its initial public offering, testing investor appetite for companies developing humanlike robots. The listing places a prominent Chinese robotics supplier in public markets as investors assess whether humanoid systems can become a major commercial technology category.

Unitree’s Shanghai IPO gives investors a rare liquid humanoid-robot pure-play and puts a prominent Chinese robotics supplier in public markets. The listing tests appetite for humanlike-robot makers. UBTech will list on STAR Market before year-end.

New York Times

Infrastructure & Power

The physical backbone of AI: compute, data centers, supply chains, and the geopolitics of energy

European Heat and Drought Strain the Power Grid. Heat and drought in Europe have reduced water availability for power generation, forcing several countries to curtail nuclear-reactor operations, according to New Scientist. The restrictions coincided with elevated air-conditioning demand, contributing to higher electricity prices and renewed concerns about grid reliability and potential blackouts.

32°C river water and drought constrained cooling, prompting France and Germany to curtail nuclear output as air-conditioning demand raised prices and blackout concerns. By 2028, longer heatwaves will force France and Germany to ration industrial power.

Newscientist

Digital Defense

Threats and defenses shaping the global security landscape

OpenAI Flags Astra’s Critical Cyber Potential. OpenAI said internal evaluations and expert assessments of its upcoming Astra model found advances in agentic coding and cybersecurity sufficient for the company to conclude it cannot rule out critical cyber capabilities under its Preparedness Framework. The company disclosed the assessment publicly, marking a potential transition to heightened safeguards for a frontier model with materially stronger offensive and defensive cyber potential.

OpenAI’s Astra is the first model publicly placed near the Preparedness Framework’s critical-cyber threshold. Before Astra’s deployment, OpenAI will publicly state the critical-cyber safeguards governing Astra’s agentic coding and cybersecurity.

Openai

The Performance Edge

Peak performance science for sustained execution in high-stakes environments

Wearable Ultrasound Patch Improves REM Sleep Measures. Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin reported that a soft wearable device combining ultrasound stimulation with brain-activity monitoring improved REM-sleep measures in a 28-person study. Participants reached REM sleep 43 minutes sooner and spent about 16 additional minutes in REM sleep, with researchers also reporting markers associated with stress regulation and emotion-related brain circuitry.

28 adults wearing UT Austin’s NEUSLeeP patch reached REM 43 minutes sooner and spent 16 more minutes in REM; EEG tracked brain activity and researchers reported stress-regulation markers. By 2029, larger trials will test whether these gains hold.

Science Daily

Crypto & Digital Assets

Bitcoin, Ethereum, DeFi protocols, and digital asset market dynamics

ClickFix Attack Delivers macOS Crypto-Stealing Malware. Researchers identified a Go-based macOS infostealer distributed through ClickFix social-engineering attacks that targets cryptocurrency assets. The malware also collects browser-stored passwords, Apple Keychain data and cached credentials, potentially extending compromise beyond wallets.

CrowdStrike’s $75B cap gains a catalyst as BleepingComputer reports a Go-based macOS infostealer delivered through ClickFix attacks targets crypto assets and collects browser passwords, Apple Keychain data and cached credentials. Enterprises add EDR over the next six months.

Bleepingcomputer

Market Pulse

Daily market data: indices, sectors, top movers, and volatility

Markets Up. The S&P 500 rose 0.3%, the Nasdaq 100 gained 0.6%, the Dow was effectively flat and the Russell 2000 climbed 0.9%, with small caps leading. Technology advanced 0.8% while Energy fell 0.9%; PLTR gained 9.1%, SMCI rose 5.3% and COIN added 4.4%.

Russell 2000 rose 0.9%, leading major indices as Technology gained 0.8% and Energy fell 0.9%; PLTR rose 9.1%, SMCI 5.3% and COIN 4.4%. Small caps lead at next session’s close.

Yahoo Finance