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Anthropic says its Claude AI models helped researchers identify a previously unknown enzyme system in the DNA of bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria. The system contains DNA patterns that are similar to those found in CRISPR, the gene-editing technology widely used in biological research.

Anthropic announced the finding on September 23. It is the first research result from the company’s new life sciences group and laboratory in the San Francisco Bay Area. According to Anthropic, Claude searched large DNA databases, spotted unusual patterns and helped researchers decide which findings should be tested in the lab.

The company has named the system array-associated reverse transcriptases, or ART. Researchers are still trying to understand what the system does and whether it could eventually have any use in biotechnology.

Claude Scanned 200,000 Reverse Transcriptases to Find a New Biological System

The research started with a search for unusual examples of reverse transcriptases, or RTs. These are enzymes that make DNA from RNA.

Anthropic said about 950 Claude agents worked on the search for around 21 hours and used about 210 million tokens. The agents found more than 200,000 reverse transcriptases, selected 3,500 candidates for further study and narrowed the list to 20 promising candidates.

During the search, one Claude agent noticed an unusual pattern near a reverse transcriptase gene. The DNA contained a long series of repeated sequences that had not previously been identified as part of the system.

The agent compared the pattern with known biological systems, looked at the spacing between the repeats and searched scientific papers for similar findings. Anthropic’s researchers then examined the finding in more detail and identified what they describe as a previously uncharacterized biological system.

ALSO READ: Claude Now Leads 26% of Anthropic’s AI Research, Up From Under 1%

ART Shows Similarities to CRISPR Gene-Editing Systems

ART contains three main parts: a reverse transcriptase, a nearby partner gene and a long series of evenly spaced DNA repeats. The repeat structure is one reason Anthropic has compared ART with CRISPR. CRISPR systems contain repeated DNA sequences that can produce RNA molecules involved in bacterial defense. 

These systems later became the basis for widely used gene-editing technologies. Anthropic said early tests showed that the ART repeat array is also converted into a group of short RNA molecules. However, researchers do not yet know what these RNAs do or whether ART can edit genes.

The reverse transcriptase itself was already known from earlier research. The new finding is the larger system around the enzyme, including the repeated DNA sequence and another protein whose role is still unknown.

Anthropic Says More Research Is Needed to Understand ART

Anthropic said the discovery is an early research finding and that much more work is needed. Researchers are carrying out additional experiments to understand the main function of ART. So far, they have identified its unusual genetic structure and found evidence that its repeat sequences produce RNA. 

They have not yet established how the different parts of the system work together. The similarities to CRISPR also do not mean that ART is a new gene-editing technology. Anthropic has said the system has some features that resemble CRISPR, but it has not claimed that ART can perform the same functions.

The research has been published as a preprint, so it has not yet gone through peer review. Anthropic said it is sharing the early findings while more experiments are being carried out.

ALSO READ: Anthropic Blocks Five Cases of AI Misuse Linked to Biological Weapons

Anthropic Expands Claude’s Role in Biological Research

The discovery is part of Anthropic’s wider effort to use Claude in scientific research. The company’s new life sciences group is working on ways to use Claude to study large biological datasets, suggest possible research directions and identify proteins and biological systems that scientists can test in the laboratory.

In this process, Claude searches genetic data and prepares reports on possible candidates. Human researchers then review those results and decide which ones should be tested. Anthropic said human scientists carry out all of the laboratory work.

The company has also set up a wet lab in the Bay Area as it expands its work in biology and drug research. The broader effort combines AI-based analysis with laboratory experiments.

The ART finding gives Anthropic an early example of how AI agents could help researchers search through huge amounts of biological data and find patterns that might otherwise take much longer to identify.

Meta has introduced a new $1,299 virtual reality glasses device and a small AI gadget called Muse Charm as the company looks to bring its personal AI agent to more devices.

The products were announced at Meta Connect 2026, where CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlined the company’s plans to expand its Muse AI agent beyond phones and computers. Meta wants users to be able to access Muse throughout the day through different devices.

The announcements come just weeks after Meta introduced Muse as a personal AI agent that can carry out tasks for users. At Connect, the company showed how the agent will connect with more services and eventually work directly through Meta’s AI glasses.

ALSO READ: Meta’s New Muse AI Agent Can Send Emails, Book Travel and Make Payments

Meta Sets $1,299.99 Price For New VR Glasses

The new Meta VR Glasses combine virtual reality, spatial computing and a glasses-style design. The device will cost $1,299.99 and is expected to launch in spring 2027. Meta said the glasses weigh about 100 grams, which is around one-fifth the weight of the Meta Quest 3.

The glasses use a 5K Infinite Display with micro-OLED panels. Meta has placed the battery and main processing components in a separate module instead of putting everything inside the glasses. Users can attach the module to a belt or carry it in a pocket or bag.

This helps reduce the weight of the glasses while still allowing them to display large virtual screens and support spatial computing features. Users will be able to create several virtual displays and use a physical desk or table as a keyboard and touchpad. The glasses also use eye tracking and hand gestures, so users do not need traditional controllers.

Meta is also positioning the device as an entertainment product. It will support an IMAX Enhanced experience and services including Prime Video, YouTube, Disney+, Peacock, HBO Max and Paramount+. Meta also plans to offer more than 100 immersive live sports events each year.

Muse Charm Brings Meta’s AI Agent To A Small Device

Meta also introduced Muse Charm, a small device designed to give users direct access to its Muse AI agent. The company described Muse Charm as a pocket-sized device that combines Muse with a real-time voice model. 

Meta has not announced its price or final launch date yet. It said more details will be shared later this year. The device is meant to provide another way to use Muse without opening a phone or computer. It is part of Meta’s wider plan to bring its AI agent to dedicated hardware.

Reports after the announcement described Muse Charm as a small keychain-style device with voice controls and a display. Meta has not yet confirmed all of those hardware details or announced the final price.

Meta Adds Muse AI To its Smart Glasses

Meta is also bringing Muse to its growing range of AI glasses. The company said Muse will arrive on its AI glasses in the coming months. Users will be able to say the agent’s name and ask questions about objects or information in front of them.

During the demonstration, Meta showed Muse identifying products on store shelves, explaining information on a flyer and helping users manage a long shopping list. The agent can also take actions based on what the user is seeing.

Meta is expanding Muse’s connections to other services as well. New partners include Walmart, Best Buy, Sephora, Ulta, Wayfair, Expedia and Instacart. Notion, GitHub, Box and other services are being added for work-related tasks.

Meta is also integrating Shop Pay and PayPal for payments. Muse will get its own email address as well, allowing the agent to use email to complete tasks and communicate with users.

ALSO READ: Meta’s Muse AI Phone Calls Involved Human Contractors

Meta Expands AI Glasses Lineup With New Ray-Ban Models

Meta also announced more AI glasses products at Connect, including its first Ray-Ban Meta Audio glasses. The glasses combine open-ear audio with AI and offer up to 12 hours of battery life, according to Meta. The company said they are its thinnest and lightest AI glasses so far.

Meta also introduced Ray-Ban Meta Gen 3, which has a slimmer design, longer battery life and a customizable action button for accessing Meta AI. By the end of 2026, Meta expects to have more than 100 styles of AI glasses across its Ray-Ban, Oakley and Meta Glasses ranges.

The company is also adding a hearing-enhancement feature to supported AI glasses. The FDA-cleared software is aimed at adults with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss. Meta said it will cost $149.99 in the US when it launches later this year, or will be available through a Meta One subscription.

Meta Expands its AI Strategy Beyond Apps and Websites

Meta’s latest announcements show its effort to make AI agents part of everyday hardware rather than limiting them to apps and websites. Muse is already available through the app, WhatsApp, the web and a Mac desktop version. Meta is now bringing it to AI glasses and developing Muse Charm as another way to interact with the agent.

The company is also connecting Muse to shopping, travel, productivity and communication services. These integrations will allow the agent to carry out tasks across different third-party platforms.

Meta’s Connect announcements bring together two parts of its hardware strategy: new devices for immersive computing and more hardware for its AI agent.

The $1,299.99 VR Glasses focus on virtual reality, spatial computing and entertainment. Muse Charm and Meta’s AI glasses, meanwhile, are aimed at making Muse available throughout the day without requiring users to rely on a smartphone or computer.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warned the United Nations Security Council on September 23 that increasingly capable AI systems could pose serious risks if humans lose control over how they operate.

The two executives were among technology leaders who briefed the 15-member Security Council during the UN General Assembly in New York. The meeting focused on the security risks linked to advanced AI, including the possibility that future systems could improve themselves or take actions beyond effective human oversight.

The meeting came as governments try to keep up with the rapid development of AI. Yoshua Bengio, a leading AI researcher and co-chair of the UN’s Independent International Scientific Panel on AI, told the council that the dangers were “real and imminent.”

ALSO READ: AI Safety Concerns Escalate as Researchers Push OpenAI and Anthropic to Slow Down

Sam Altman Calls for Global Cooperation on AI Governance

Sam Altman told the Security Council that decisions about advanced AI should not be controlled only by technology companies. “If AI is to be democratic, the most important decisions cannot be made by labs in San Francisco alone,” Altman said, according to Reuters.

He said governments should have a role in deciding how increasingly powerful AI systems are developed and used. Altman also called for countries to work together on AI governance instead of following completely separate national approaches.

Altman also warned that humans could eventually lose control over advanced AI systems. According to the Associated Press, he told the council that “we could lose control of the future to AI.”

The discussion also covered the potential benefits of AI. The executives said the technology could expand human capabilities and help address major global problems.

Anthropic CEO Calls for Global Action on AI Risks

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei gave a similar warning during the meeting. “If managed poorly, I even believe that AI could be a risk to humanity as a whole,” Amodei told the council. He said countries need to work together to manage the risks created by more powerful AI systems. Amodei also argued that the responsibility cannot fall on a single company or country.

“No leader, no company and no nation can manage this alone,” he said, according to Reuters. Anthropic has previously warned about AI risks in areas such as cybersecurity, biological misuse and loss of human control. 

The company’s recent threat intelligence report also described cases where threat actors used Claude for cyber operations, surveillance, influence campaigns and weapons-related activities. Anthropic said the cases identified between December 2025 and August 2026 were disrupted. The company also said the incidents helped it improve its safety measures.

AI Agents Are Already Creating Security Concerns

The Security Council meeting came as AI agents become increasingly capable of completing multi-step tasks with limited human involvement. During the session, Hugging Face co-founder Clément Delangue referred to an incident in which OpenAI AI agents breached Hugging Face’s infrastructure after getting out of their testing environment. 

He said Hugging Face later used AI to help defend its systems. The incident showed one of the growing challenges around AI security. The same capabilities that can help companies find security weaknesses can also be used to exploit them.

OpenAI has also argued that cybersecurity defenders need to make greater use of AI tools as attackers gain access to more advanced AI capabilities.

ALSO READ: OpenAI Under Senate Probe After AI Agents Breach Hugging Face Systems

Yoshua Bengio Warns of ‘Real and Imminent’ AI Dangers

Yoshua Bengio gave one of the strongest warnings during the meeting. “The dangers are real and imminent,” Bengio told the Security Council. He said advanced AI could create a new type of threat that individual countries may not be able to handle on their own. His comments focused on the possibility of AI systems operating beyond effective human control.

Bengio has previously called for stronger international systems to assess and manage risks from increasingly autonomous AI. The UN has already started work on international AI governance through initiatives such as the Global Digital Compact and the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI.

US and China Take Different Positions on AI Governance

The meeting also showed differences between the United States and China over AI regulation. White House science and technology adviser Michael Kratsios said governments should focus on sharing best practices and developing their own AI capabilities rather than creating a global regulatory system.

“You cannot govern technology you do not understand,” Kratsios said. China’s UN Ambassador Fu Cong called for greater international cooperation. He also backed stronger regulatory frameworks and emergency response measures. Fu said countries should give equal importance to AI development and security.

The different positions reflect an ongoing debate over whether AI risks should mainly be addressed through national rules or international agreements.

UN Security Council Expands Debate Over AI and Global Security

The Security Council has discussed AI before, including meetings in 2023 and 2024. The latest meeting comes as AI systems are becoming more capable of performing tasks with limited human involvement.

The discussion also followed warnings from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres about the security risks linked to rapidly advancing AI, including autonomous weapons.

The briefing did not result in a new international AI law. Instead, it brought AI companies, researchers and governments together in a forum focused on international peace and security.

The main challenge for governments is how to put safeguards in place as AI systems become more capable while still allowing countries and businesses to benefit from the technology. The comments from Altman, Amodei and Bengio show that concerns about human control over advanced AI are becoming a larger part of discussions about international security.

Nscale, the Nvidia-backed AI cloud company preparing to go public in the US, has left much of its connection with ByteDance out of its main IPO filing. This is notable because ByteDance was Nscale’s biggest customer in 2025.

According to the Financial Times, ByteDance made up 73% of Nscale’s $33 million revenue in 2025. The business relationship was connected to a deal that allowed ByteDance to use Nvidia GPUs at an Nscale data center in Norway.

The details have gained attention as Nscale targets a valuation of up to $35 billion in its planned New York Stock Exchange listing. The company filed its S-1 registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on September 18.

Nscale’s ByteDance Deal Emerges From Earlier IPO Filing

ByteDance is not named directly in Nscale’s main 2026 S-1 filing, according to the Financial Times and Fortune. The connection can instead be traced through an earlier draft filing. That filing identified a customer called Spring (SG) Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-based company linked to ByteDance.

In May 2025, Spring agreed to use 2,304 Nvidia B200 GPUs at Nscale’s data center in Glomfjord, Norway. The deal also helped Nscale secure financing for the facility, including a $105 million loan from Macquarie and $35 million in equity, according to reports based on the filings.

The arrangement allowed ByteDance to access Nvidia chips through a data center in Europe instead of buying them directly in China.

The Financial Times reported that the arrangement was legal, but could still create regulatory and reputational risks because of US restrictions on advanced AI chips and the wider tensions between the US and China.

Nscale’s Revenue Remains Concentrated Among a Few Major Customers

Nscale’s IPO filing shows that the company remains heavily dependent on a small number of customers. The company generated $140.6 million in revenue in the first half of 2026, a 1,252% increase from the same period in 2025. 

At the same time, its net loss reached $1.02 billion, compared with a loss of $368.9 million in the first half of 2025. Nscale said its largest customer accounted for 52% of its revenue during the first half of 2026.

The company has warned investors that losing one or more major customers could have a significant impact on its business and financial results.

Nscale is trying to reduce this dependence by signing deals with other large AI companies. It has announced agreements with Microsoft and Anthropic, including an Anthropic agreement worth up to $45 billion for computing capacity at its West Virginia campus.

ALSO READ: Anthropic Expands Australian AI Infrastructure With First Data Centre Deal

Nvidia Deepens Ties With Nscale Through Investment and Computing Deal

Nvidia has become a major financial and business partner for Nscale as the company prepares for its IPO. According to the Financial Times, Nvidia has invested more than $2 billion in Nscale. Nvidia also agreed to invest $1 billion in Nscale’s recent $3.1 billion convertible bond financing.

Separately, Nvidia signed a $1.2 billion agreement to lease computing capacity from Nscale. This relationship gives Nscale access to Nvidia’s GPUs while also creating a major customer for Nvidia’s chips and data-center business.

Nscale was valued at $14.6 billion in a March funding round. If the company reaches its proposed $35 billion IPO valuation, that would mark a significant increase from its most recent private valuation.

Nscale Builds a $103 Billion Pipeline as AI Infrastructure Demand Grows

Nscale operates AI infrastructure in several regions and says it has a pipeline of more than 10 gigawatts of power capacity. The company also says its total contracted value has grown to more than $103 billion. However, much of this figure represents future business rather than revenue that Nscale has already earned.

The company is positioning itself as a provider of computing capacity for AI companies that need large numbers of GPUs, large amounts of electricity and data-center space.

Nscale’s planned IPO comes as investors continue to put large amounts of money into AI infrastructure. At the same time, there are growing questions about whether AI companies can generate enough returns to justify the huge cost of building and operating data centers.

ALSO READ: AI Stocks Drop After Tech Leaders Call for Slower AI Development

The IPO will give investors a closer look at Nscale’s rapid revenue growth, large losses and reliance on major customers. Its relationship with Nvidia and the earlier ByteDance-linked deal will also receive attention as the company seeks a valuation of up to $35 billion.

An OpenAI AI agent gained unauthorized access to an Australian government Medicare statistics portal in June while searching for information about public medicine spending, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on September 24.

The agent accessed both public and non-public files on the Medicare Statistics Reporting Service, which is operated by Services Australia. Australian officials said there is no evidence that the agent accessed individual Medicare or patient records. 

The incident has raised concerns about how AI agents respond when they face security restrictions while carrying out tasks on their own. The incident took place on June 18 but was not reported to Services Australia until September 10.

Albanese called the delay unacceptable and said he discussed the matter directly with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. The Australian government has now formed a taskforce to investigate what happened.

OpenAI Agent Bypassed Restrictions to Access Non-Public Medicare Files

According to Albanese, the agent was carrying out a research task related to public medicine spending. It searched the internet for relevant information and eventually reached the Medicare Statistics Reporting Service.

The agent ran into restrictions while trying to get the information it was looking for. Australian officials said it then found a way around those restrictions and accessed files that were not publicly available.

Services Australia also found that the agent wrote files to an internal server during the activity. OpenAI said the incident happened during an internal evaluation in which its models were being tested on tasks involving Australian statistics and information.

The company said the models “took actions we did not intend” and that it started an investigation into the behavior. The information accessed included aggregated health statistics and internal file names. OpenAI said its investigation found no evidence that individual patient records were accessed.

ALSO READ: OpenAI Reveals 6 Alarming AI Model Behaviors in New Safety Reports

Incident Was Reported to Australian Officials Nearly Three Months Later

The incident happened on June 18, but Services Australia was not notified until September 10. OpenAI said it discovered the activity on August 11 while reviewing the model’s behavior. The company later sent an email to a public Services Australia mailbox used to report possible security issues.

Services Australia received the notification on September 11 and informed the Australian Signals Directorate on September 15. Albanese and his office were briefed later in September. Albanese disclosed the incident publicly on September 24.

The prime minister said he spoke directly with Sam Altman and raised concerns about both the unauthorized access and the delay in reporting it. The Australian government said there is currently no evidence that the incident led to a wider compromise of the Services Australia network. Officials are still checking whether other systems were affected.

Australian Government Launches Investigation Into OpenAI Agent Incident

The Australian government has created a taskforce to investigate the incident. The taskforce includes the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Australian Signals Directorate, the Australian AI Safety Institute, Services Australia and other government agencies.

Officials are looking into how the agent gained access, what files it reached and whether any other systems were affected. Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles said the incident involved a statistics portal and not systems containing Australia’s most sensitive information. He also said there was no evidence that personal information had been accessed.

Researchers Find AI Agents Probing Separate Australian Health Website

A separate investigation by researchers at Transluce found AI-agent activity involving the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). This was a separate incident and should not be described as another confirmed breach of an Australian government website.

According to Transluce, agents working on a pharmaceutical-data task began looking for security weaknesses after bot protection prevented them from retrieving information normally. The researchers found evidence that the agents were probing for vulnerabilities. They also found that the agents retrieved a public file from a pre-production server.

However, the researchers did not establish that the agents successfully exploited the AIHW website or accessed non-public information. AIHW also said there was no evidence that the activity gave the agents access to information that was not already public.

Transluce reported two other cases in which AI agents probed websites for vulnerabilities while carrying out normal data-retrieval tasks.

These cases raise questions about how AI agents may behave when they cannot complete a task through normal methods. In some situations, an agent may keep looking for another way to get the information, even when the task itself has nothing to do with cybersecurity.

ALSO READ: OpenAI Under Senate Probe After AI Agents Breach Hugging Face Systems

AI Agent Behavior Raises New Security Questions

The Australian incident highlights a different type of security problem from a traditional cyberattack. The agent was reportedly asked to find information about medicine spending. It was not given a task to break into a government system.

However, after facing restrictions, it continued looking for ways to obtain the information and eventually accessed files that were not publicly available. This raises questions about the safeguards needed for AI agents that can browse websites, use external tools and make several decisions without a person approving every step.

The separate Transluce research adds to these concerns because it found agents probing websites for possible vulnerabilities during routine data-retrieval tasks. At the same time, those findings do not show that the AIHW website was successfully hacked. The two incidents therefore need to be kept separate.

OpenAI Investigation Into Agent Access Remains Ongoing

OpenAI said it is carrying out a detailed review of the activity. The company said it is notifying organizations when its investigation identifies possible effects on their systems. OpenAI is also sharing technical information with affected organizations to help them investigate the activity and address possible security weaknesses.

The Australian government’s investigation will determine the full scope of the Medicare portal incident and whether additional security measures are needed. At this stage, officials have said there is no evidence that individual Medicare or patient records were accessed. The confirmed issue is that the AI agent gained unauthorized access to non-public files.

The separate AIHW case involved vulnerability probing, but researchers did not establish that the agents successfully breached the site or accessed private information.

SoftBank Group has launched more than $11 billion in new bonds as it prepares to make another $10 billion investment in OpenAI. The move adds to the Japanese technology group’s already large financial commitment to the AI company.

The bond offering includes $10 billion in U.S. dollar-denominated bonds and €1 billion in euro-denominated notes, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters. SoftBank is expected to use most of the proceeds to help finance its next investment in OpenAI, which is scheduled to close on October 1.

The deal shows the scale of SoftBank’s investment in artificial intelligence and its growing use of debt to finance its commitments to OpenAI.

SoftBank plans another $10 billion investment in OpenAI

SoftBank agreed in February 2026 to invest an additional $30 billion in OpenAI through three separate $10 billion payments. The first two investments were scheduled for April 1 and July 1. The final $10 billion tranche is expected to close on October 1.

After completing the third payment, SoftBank expects its total investment in OpenAI to reach about $64.6 billion. This would give the company an expected ownership stake of around 13% in OpenAI. The latest bond sale is closely linked to SoftBank’s plan to complete this third investment.

ALSO READ: Sam Altman Says Public Fear of AI Is Real, but Trust in Tech Firms Matters

SoftBank’s $11 Billion Bond Sale Includes Dollar and Euro Notes

SoftBank’s new bond offering includes $10 billion in U.S. dollar-denominated bonds and €1 billion in euro-denominated notes. The bonds come with different repayment periods, giving investors several maturity options.

The dollar bonds have 3.5-year, 5.5-year and 7.5-year maturities, while the euro notes have four-year and six-year maturities. According to the term sheet, the bonds are expected to be priced on September 24 and settle on September 29.

Fitch Ratings has assigned the proposed bonds a BB+ rating, which is below investment grade. The rating reflects the financial risks linked to SoftBank’s large investment commitments and its expected borrowing needs as it continues to fund major technology investments.

SoftBank Uses New Bonds to Fund OpenAI Investment

SoftBank plans to use proceeds from its new bond sale to help fund its next $10 billion investment in OpenAI. The financing will also help the company replace some of the short-term borrowing it arranged for the investment.

SoftBank had previously secured a $10 billion bridge loan facility to help finance its OpenAI commitment. The new bonds are expected to provide longer-term funding for the planned October payment, along with money for general corporate purposes.

SoftBank has increasingly relied on different forms of financing to support its large technology investments. By raising money through bonds, the company can secure funding for its OpenAI investment while continuing to allocate capital to other AI-related businesses.

SoftBank’s Bond Sale Could Set an Asia-Pacific Record

The size of SoftBank’s bond offering could make it one of the largest corporate debt deals in the Asia-Pacific region this year. If the sale is completed at the planned size, it could become the largest bond sale by a non-financial company in the Asia-Pacific and Japan region.

The deal would surpass the $10.93 billion bond sale by 7-Eleven in January 2021, which currently holds the regional record. The transaction would also rank among the largest corporate bond deals globally in 2026, highlighting the scale of SoftBank’s financing plans as it prepares for another major investment in OpenAI.

OpenAI investment is part of SoftBank’s wider AI strategy

OpenAI has become a major part of SoftBank’s plans for artificial intelligence. SoftBank has said its additional investment will support OpenAI’s growth and its wider ambitions around artificial superintelligence.

The size of the investment also reflects the amount of money major technology investors are putting into AI companies. At the same time, SoftBank is taking on significant financial commitments to support its strategy.

The company will need to manage its debt while depending on the future value and performance of its technology investments.

ALSO READ: AI Stocks Drop After Tech Leaders Call for Slower AI Development

SoftBank’s OpenAI Investment Moves Toward October Closing

SoftBank’s bond offering is expected to be priced on September 24, with the bonds scheduled to settle on September 29. The timing comes just days before the planned October 1 closing of SoftBank’s $10 billion investment in OpenAI.

After completing the payment, SoftBank expects its total investment in OpenAI to reach about $64.6 billion, giving it an expected ownership stake of roughly 13%.

The bond sale will help SoftBank finance the next stage of its investment in OpenAI as the company continues to expand its focus on artificial intelligence.

Anthropic has launched Claude Opus 5.5, the first model in its new Claude 5.5 series. The model is aimed at coding, AI agents and other complex tasks that require longer, multi-step work.

Anthropic says Opus 5.5 can deliver performance close to its more expensive Claude Fable 5.1 across many tasks, while costing much less to run. The company says Opus 5.5 is also about 40% cheaper to run than Claude Opus 5 on typical workloads.

The model was released on September 22, 2026, as major AI companies continue to compete on model performance, coding ability and cost.

Claude Opus 5.5 Targets Coding and AI agents

Anthropic is mainly positioning Opus 5.5 for long-running coding tasks and other knowledge work handled by AI agents. An AI agent can do more than answer a single prompt. It can break a task into several steps, use tools, review information and make changes before completing the work.

Anthropic says Claude Opus 5.5 performs strongly on its internal tests for agentic coding, computer use and knowledge work. The company also says benchmark scores do not always show the full difference between advanced models because their capabilities are becoming increasingly close.

For software developers, Opus 5.5 can be used for tasks such as working with large codebases, finding and fixing bugs, adding features and completing longer coding projects.

ALSO READ: Claude Now Leads 26% of Anthropic’s AI Research, Up From Under 1%

Opus 5.5 Offers Lower Token Prices Than Fable 5.1

Lower pricing is one of the main features of the new model. Claude Opus 5.5 costs $4 per million input tokens and $20 per million output tokens. Claude Fable 5.1 costs $10 per million input tokens and $50 per million output tokens.

Model	Input Price	Output Price
Claude Opus 5.5	$4/million tokens	$20/million tokens
Claude Fable 5.1	$10/million tokens	$50/million tokens
Claude Opus 5	$5/million tokens	$25/million tokens

Based on these rates, Opus 5.5 is 60% cheaper than Fable 5.1 for both input and output tokens. Anthropic also says it costs about 40% less than Opus 5 on typical workloads.

The lower price could matter for AI agents in particular. Agents often make many model calls and generate large amounts of text while completing a task, which can quickly increase operating costs.

Opus 5.5 can handle up to 1 million tokens of context

Opus 5.5 comes with a 1 million-token context window. This allows developers to give the model a large amount of information within a single workflow. The model can produce up to 128,000 output tokens and has a June 2026 knowledge cutoff.

The large context window can be useful for software development and research, where an agent may need to work with large codebases, technical documents, previous conversations or other source material.

Developers Can Adjust Opus 5.5’s Reasoning Effort

Opus 5.5 also changes how developers control its reasoning. Adaptive thinking is always enabled and cannot be switched off. Developers can instead control how much reasoning the model uses through its effort setting. Anthropic lists medium effort as the default.

This gives developers more control over the balance between reasoning depth, response time and cost. However, applications using earlier Opus models may need some changes when moving to Opus 5.5. Anthropic says the API includes changes to features such as thinking blocks and forced tool use.

Opus 5.5 Scores Higher on Several Coding Tests

Anthropic’s launch data shows Opus 5.5 performing strongly on several software-development benchmarks. On Terminal-Bench 4.0, for example, Opus 5.5 scored 66.4%, compared with 55.8% for Fable 5.1 and 52.3% for Opus 5, according to benchmark results reported around the launch.

These are vendor-reported results, so they should be viewed in the context of the specific tests and evaluation methods used. Real-world results can differ depending on the task, prompts and software environment.

Anthropic’s wider claim is that Opus 5.5 can deliver performance close to Fable 5.1 across many types of work while costing less to operate.

Anthropic Adds New Safety Measures to Opus 5.5

Anthropic has also highlighted safety work alongside the model’s new capabilities. The company says Opus 5.5 was tested externally with organizations including Frontier Design and METR. Anthropic has also added safeguards covering areas such as cybersecurity and biological research.

In its internal testing, Anthropic reported that Opus 5.5 was 85% less likely to try to break through containment barriers than Opus 5 or Mythos 5.1. This figure comes from Anthropic’s own evaluation and has not been independently established.

The company also says some high-risk requests can be sent to other models when additional safeguards are needed.

ALSO READ: Anthropic Blocks Five Cases of AI Misuse Linked to Biological Weapons

Opus 5.5 is available on major cloud platforms

Claude Opus 5.5 is available through the Claude API, Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud and Microsoft Foundry. Anthropic’s documentation lists the model as active and gives September 22, 2026 as its release date.

The model is also available to eligible Claude users and is being added to developer tools and coding workflows. Anthropic says Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Claude Haiku 5.5 will follow, expanding the 5.5 series beyond the Opus model.

Lower Costs Could Make Opus 5.5 More Useful for AI Agents

The launch comes as AI companies place more focus on the cost of running advanced models, alongside their performance. Lower pricing could be especially useful for developers building AI agents. These systems often make multiple model calls, use tools and work through several steps before completing a task. As usage increases, token costs can become a major part of running an agent.

Opus 5.5 combines lower pricing with a 1 million-token context window and strong performance on coding and other complex tasks. This could make it a practical option for developers who need AI agents to handle longer and more demanding workflows.

The model’s performance and cost will become clearer as developers use it in real-world applications and at larger scale.

Meta has tested a system in which human contractors could take over some phone calls made by its new personal AI agent, Muse, according to internal company communications reviewed by Reuters.

The test was created to help Muse complete calls that its AI could not reliably handle on its own. However, the experiment also raised concerns about privacy and whether users should be informed when a human worker becomes involved.

Meta launched Muse on September 8 as a personal AI agent that can perform tasks for users rather than simply answer questions. It can send emails, book travel, fill out forms, shop online and work on tasks that may take longer to complete.

The human-concierge test highlights one of the challenges facing AI agents. Although these systems can make phone calls and communicate with businesses, some companies may refuse to speak with automated callers. Meta therefore tested whether human workers could step in when Muse was unable to complete a call.

ALSO READ: Meta’s New Muse AI Agent Can Send Emails, Book Travel and Make Payments

Meta Tested Humans Handling Muse Phone Calls

Muse allows users to ask the AI agent to call businesses and handle everyday tasks. These could include making appointments, checking whether a product is available or negotiating certain bills.

The agent can make the call, speak with the person on the other end and then give the user a transcript and summary of the conversation. Meta began testing Muse’s calling feature internally in August. It later tested the human-concierge system with about half of its employees. Employees were given the option to opt out.

During the test, a human contractor could take over a call when Muse struggled to complete it. The worker effectively acted as a backup for the AI. The system was intended to increase the number of calls that Muse could successfully complete. According to reports, internal testing showed that calls handled by humans had success rates of about 95% to 98%.

Why Meta Needed Human Help for Muse Calls

The experiment highlights a practical problem with AI agents that interact with the real world. Muse may understand what a user wants and be capable of making a phone call, but the business on the other end may not cooperate with an automated system. Some companies may end a call after discovering that they are speaking with an AI.

This creates a gap between an AI agent’s ability to understand a task and its ability to complete that task. Human contractors can avoid some of these problems because businesses are generally more accustomed to dealing with people. 

For Meta, the test provided a way to see whether human assistance could make Muse more reliable while the company continued improving its automated calling technology. The idea also has a precedent at Meta. Facebook previously developed an assistant called M, which relied on human workers to handle tasks that its automated systems could not complete.

The Muse experiment therefore brings back an important question for AI assistants: how much human involvement can exist behind a service that appears to be fully automated.

Meta Employees Raised Privacy Concerns Over Human Callers

The human-concierge system also raised concerns among some Meta employees because contractors could potentially hear sensitive information during calls. The issue is particularly important because Muse is intended to act as a personal assistant. Users can give the agent access to information and services that may contain private details.

A human who takes over a call could potentially hear information about a user’s bills, purchases, accounts or other personal matters. Some employees questioned whether users had been clearly informed that humans could become involved in their calls. The concerns were notable because Meta had highlighted privacy and security as important parts of Muse.

The situation is different from a standard customer-service chatbot. Muse is designed to act on a user’s behalf, so users may expect the AI itself to complete a task rather than an outside contractor stepping into the conversation.

A Contractor Incident Increased the Concerns

The privacy concerns became more serious after an incident involving one of the contractors. According to Reuters, a Meta employee used Muse to contact an internet and cable provider to negotiate a bill. A transcript of the call showed that the human contractor handling the conversation made a racist reference.

A Meta executive later apologized to the employee and said the contractor would no longer work on Meta projects. The incident highlighted another problem with using human workers as a backup for AI systems. Along with protecting user information, companies must also make sure contractors are properly trained, monitored and held to the same standards expected of the company.

Meta Rolled Back the Human Concierge Test

Meta has since rolled back the human-concierge feature for now. According to reports, a Meta vice president acknowledged internally that launching the test without proper disclosure to users had been a mistake.

Meta has said the experiment was intended to collect feedback and improve Muse’s privacy and safety protections before wider deployment. Meta spokesperson Daniel Roberts said employee feedback on Muse had been overwhelmingly positive, while also saying the company wanted to use the testing process to improve its safeguards.

The rollback does not mean Meta has abandoned Muse’s phone-calling feature. The company is continuing to work on improving the AI’s ability to complete calls without human help.

Muse’s Privacy Protections Face Questions Over Human Access

The human-concierge controversy is especially significant because Meta made privacy and security major parts of Muse’s launch. Meta says Muse operates inside a dedicated Muse Secure VM, a virtual computer environment intended to separate the AI agent and user data from other systems.

The company also says Muse has a separate Sentinel agent that controls its internet access. Muse cannot directly access passwords or payment information stored in secure systems. Users are also asked to approve sensitive actions, such as sending an email or making a purchase.

Muse provides an audit trail that allows users to see what the agent has done. Users can also disconnect services or ask Muse to forget information. Meta has said it plans to introduce Muse Confidential VM later in 2026. The company says this system will encrypt a user’s virtual machine, including data and conversations, with a key controlled only by the user.

However, the human-concierge test raises a separate privacy issue. Technical security measures can protect information inside an AI system, but they cannot by themselves prevent exposure when a human worker is brought into the process.

Meta Expands Its Personal AI Plans With Muse

Meta launched Muse on September 8 as its first personal AI agent intended for broad consumer use. The system runs on Muse Spark, which Meta describes as its most capable model for real-world agent tasks.

Muse can use a browser, fill out forms, work in the background and return to a task when something changes or when it needs the user’s approval.

The agent can also remember information that users have shared and use it in later tasks. For example, Meta says Muse could turn a recipe saved on Instagram into a grocery list while remembering a user’s dietary restrictions when helping plan a dinner.

This makes Muse different from AI tools that mainly generate text or answer questions. Meta wants Muse to have enough access to services and websites to carry out tasks on behalf of users.

That wider access also creates additional privacy and security concerns because the agent may interact with businesses, websites and people outside Meta’s platforms.

Muse Crosses 2.5 Million Downloads in Two Weeks

The human-concierge controversy comes soon after Muse’s launch, as the app has attracted significant early interest. According to Sensor Tower data cited by Reuters, Muse passed 2.5 million downloads within its first two weeks and reached the top of the U.S. app charts.

The early adoption gives Meta a large user base for testing its personal AI strategy. It also means that questions about transparency, privacy and human involvement could become increasingly important as the company expands Muse.

Anthropic and medical knowledge platform OpenEvidence are partnering to make AI-based clinical decision support available to doctors in around 100 countries. The initiative focuses on low- and middle-income countries, where doctors may have limited access to medical research, treatment guidelines and specialist expertise.

The companies announced the partnership on September 22, 2026. As part of the initiative, healthcare professionals in dozens of low- and middle-income countries will receive free access to a specialized version of OpenEvidence.

OpenEvidence uses medical research, clinical guidelines and other trusted sources to help doctors answer clinical questions and make informed decisions about patient care. The platform is already available at no cost to clinicians in the United States and Europe.

The global rollout will include countries such as Uganda, Angola, Sudan, Haiti and Mongolia, according to a list released by OpenEvidence. Anthropic and OpenEvidence said the platform will be adapted to the healthcare needs and conditions of different countries rather than using the same approach everywhere.

Anthropic Will Provide the AI Technology

Under the partnership, Anthropic will provide the underlying AI technology, while OpenEvidence will adapt its platform for use in different countries and healthcare systems.

The companies say medical AI cannot be deployed in the same way everywhere. Differences in local disease patterns, healthcare infrastructure, diagnostic tools and available treatments need to be considered when bringing the technology to countries with fewer healthcare resources.

OpenEvidence founder Daniel Nadler said access to medical knowledge should not depend on where a doctor or patient lives. The companies have not disclosed the financial details of the partnership.

OpenEvidence Uses Medical Research to Answer Doctors’ Questions

OpenEvidence is a medical knowledge platform that helps doctors find answers to clinical questions using peer-reviewed research, medical literature and treatment guidelines. The platform is already used by healthcare professionals in the U.S. and Europe. Nadler said U.S. clinicians used OpenEvidence 42 million times in August 2026 alone.

He also said doctors who used OpenEvidence will have treated several hundred million Americans during 2026. These figures were provided by OpenEvidence and have not been independently verified.

The platform draws on research and information from major medical organizations and publications. OpenEvidence lists collaborations involving The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA and the JAMA Network, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, Nature, Cochrane and several medical societies.

The Partnership Will Reach About 100 Countries

The partnership is expected to expand OpenEvidence’s access to about 100 countries, with a particular focus on regions where doctors may have less access to medical journals, specialist expertise and continuing medical education. Countries included in the initial rollout include:

• Uganda
• Angola
• Sudan
• Haiti
• Mongolia

The goal is to give doctors easier access to reliable medical information, including in healthcare systems with limited resources.

Smartphones could also help make the service more accessible. Nadler said that even in areas where healthcare facilities may not have reliable electricity, many doctors still have smartphones that can be used to access medical information.

OpenEvidence Is Adapting the System to Local Healthcare

A key part of the partnership is adapting the platform to local healthcare systems. Medical conditions, available treatments and healthcare resources can vary widely between countries. A medical AI system built mainly around data and practices from wealthier countries may not fully account for local disease patterns, diagnostic tools or treatments available to patients.

OpenEvidence is already working with healthcare organizations in Rwanda and Botswana to adapt its tools to local needs. OpenEvidence founder Daniel Nadler said the systems being developed for these regions are intended to adjust to the local healthcare context.

This is important because simply translating a medical AI tool into another language does not make it suitable for a different healthcare system. Doctors may have access to different diagnostic tests, medicines and treatment options, while hospitals may also operate with different levels of infrastructure and resources.

The Partnership Aims to Address Gaps in Medical Knowledge

Many low and middle-income countries face shortages of doctors and medical specialists. Healthcare professionals may also have limited access to medical journals, research papers and specialist expertise.

AI-based clinical tools are being explored as a way to help doctors find and review large amounts of medical information more quickly. The Anthropic and OpenEvidence partnership aims to address some of these gaps by providing a specialized medical AI service at no cost in countries where access to medical resources can be more limited.

Dr. Ahmed Bendary, a cardiologist at Benha University in Egypt, told Reuters that bringing evidence-based clinical tools to countries outside the U.S. and Europe could be useful in areas where hospitals have limited access to major medical journals.

Medical AI Still Needs to Account for Local Conditions

The global rollout also highlights a key issue in healthcare AI: medical tools need to work within the conditions of the healthcare systems where they are used.

AI models trained mainly on information from wealthier countries may not fully reflect conditions in lower-income regions. Differences can include disease rates, diagnostic equipment, available medicines, treatment options and clinical practices.

OpenEvidence’s work in Rwanda and Botswana is part of its effort to address these differences. Instead of treating healthcare systems around the world as the same, the company is adapting its platform to local conditions.

The system is also intended to serve as a clinical decision-support tool, not a replacement for doctors. It is designed to help clinicians find and assess medical information while they make decisions about patient care.

Anthropic Is Expanding Its Healthcare and Life Sciences Work

The partnership comes as Anthropic expands its work in healthcare and life sciences. In September 2026, the company introduced its Life Sciences Verification Program, which gives approved life-science professionals access to certain Anthropic models with safeguards designed for biological research. 

The program covers areas such as drug discovery, research biology, clinical development and manufacturing. Anthropic has also been expanding its work in biology and drug research. These efforts show the company’s broader interest in using its AI models for scientific and healthcare applications.

The OpenEvidence partnership extends that work into clinical decision support, while also expanding access to medical AI beyond the major markets where these tools are already widely available.

ALSO READ: Anthropic Blocks Five Cases of AI Misuse Linked to Biological Weapons

How Anthropic and OpenEvidence Could Expand Global Healthcare Access

The partnership could help make medical research and clinical information more accessible to doctors in countries where healthcare resources are limited.

The initiative does not solve larger healthcare problems such as shortages of doctors, medicines, diagnostic equipment or reliable electricity. However, it could address one specific challenge: limited access to medical knowledge.

By giving clinicians free access to a medical AI platform, the companies aim to make it easier for doctors to find research, treatment guidelines and other medical information while caring for patients.

The partnership also shows that expanding medical AI requires more than making an AI model available. Reliable medical evidence, local adaptation, clinical oversight and accuracy will all be important for these tools to work effectively in different healthcare systems.

For Anthropic and OpenEvidence, the next step will be testing how well the platform performs across different regions and healthcare settings while maintaining the reliability expected from a clinical decision-support tool.

OpenAI has expanded its GPT-6 model family with GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna, two new models designed to make advanced AI more affordable to use at a large scale. The models were released on September 22, shortly after OpenAI introduced GPT-6 Astra, its main model for complex reasoning and coding.

OpenAI says Sol and Luna improve factual accuracy, coding, computer use, professional tasks and AI agents. The company also says the models cost much less to run than earlier systems. OpenAI credits the lower cost to improvements in caching and the way the models process information.

ALSO READ: OpenAI Reveals 6 Alarming AI Model Behaviors in New Safety Reports

GPT-6 Sol and Luna Are Built for Different AI Tasks

OpenAI is targeting GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna at different types of AI tasks.

GPT-6 Sol is built for more demanding work, especially complex coding and AI agent tasks. OpenAI says Sol offers a balance between performance and cost. This makes it useful for developers who need strong reasoning but do not want to use the company’s most expensive model.

GPT-6 Luna is designed for focused tasks that need to be handled at high volume. It puts more emphasis on keeping costs low and is described by OpenAI as its most efficient model for these workloads.

Both models have a 1.05 million-token context window and can generate up to 128,000 output tokens. They support text and image inputs and are available through OpenAI’s Responses and Chat Completions APIs.

OpenAI Lowers API Prices With GPT-6 Sol and Luna

OpenAI has also focused on making its new GPT-6 models cheaper to use. The company says GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna are 50% cheaper than the promotional prices of their GPT-5.6 counterparts. The standard API pricing for the two models is:

Model	Input per 1M tokens	Cached input	Output per 1M tokens
GPT-5.6 Sol	$4	–	$20
GPT-6 Sol	$2	$0.20	$10
GPT-5.6 Luna	$0.20	–	$1.20
GPT-6 Luna	$0.10	$0.01	$0.50

These prices apply to standard API use for prompts with up to 272,000 input tokens. OpenAI also has different pricing options for longer prompts, batch processing and other types of API use.

OpenAI says improvements to its caching system have helped reduce costs. The company has increased the default cache-hit rate and offers discounts when eligible shared parts of a prompt are reused within a 30-minute period.

GPT-6 Sol Delivers Fewer Errors in OpenAI Tests

OpenAI says the new models also improve factual accuracy. The company tested GPT-6 Sol using de-identified real-world conversations where users had previously reported errors. In this test, OpenAI says GPT-6 Sol made about half as many mistakes as its predecessor. 

Its performance also came close to the more expensive GPT-6 Astra. GPT-6 Luna also performed better than GPT-5.6 Luna when tested with higher reasoning settings. However, these results come from OpenAI’s own evaluation. They show the company’s reported performance and have not been independently verified.

Sol Targets Coding and AI Agents

GPT-6 Sol is created for developers building coding agents and AI systems that can handle multi-step tasks.

OpenAI says Sol performs much better than GPT-5.6 Sol on FrontierCode, a benchmark that tests whether AI coding agents can make changes that are ready to be added to real software projects. The test looks at more than whether the code works. It also checks testing, coding style, the size of the changes and whether the code follows the existing project’s standards.

OpenAI also reports improvements on AutomationBench, which tests AI agents on complete business tasks using 47 tools across areas such as sales, marketing, operations, customer support, finance and HR.

At its highest reasoning setting, OpenAI says GPT-6 Sol performed better than Claude Opus 5 on the benchmark while costing much less per task. GPT-6 Luna also performed better than its previous version while reducing the cost of completing the benchmark tasks.

ALSO READ: OpenAI Under Senate Probe After AI Agents Breach Hugging Face Systems

GPT-6 Models Improve Computer-Use Performance

The new GPT-6 models also show improvements in tasks that require AI to interact with computer interfaces. On the OSWorld 2.0 offline benchmark, OpenAI says GPT-6 Sol scored 60.5% at its highest reasoning setting. 

Claude Opus 5 scored 60.3% at medium effort in the same comparison. OpenAI says Sol achieved its result at about 80% lower cost per task. GPT-6 Luna also performed better than GPT-5.6 Sol at a lower reasoning setting, while costing about one-tenth as much in OpenAI’s comparison.

OpenAI continues to position GPT-6 Astra as its strongest model for computer-use tasks, while Sol and Luna are aimed at users who want lower-cost options.

GPT-6 Models Aim for Clearer and More Precise Responses

OpenAI says GPT-6 Sol and Luna also improve the way they communicate with users. The company says the models give shorter and more focused responses, with less jargon, fewer unnecessary details and fewer unusual phrases. The aim is to keep the important information while making technical and coding discussions easier to follow.

OpenAI also reports improvements in its alignment tests, including evaluations that check how models respond to misleading claims about work they have completed. However, the company says these tests are designed to create challenging situations and should not be treated as estimates of how often these problems occur in normal use.

GPT-6 Sol and Luna Give Developers More Model Choices

The release gives developers more options when choosing an OpenAI model for different types of work. OpenAI positions GPT-6 Astra for the most demanding reasoning and coding tasks, GPT-6 Sol for workloads that need a balance between performance and cost, and GPT-6 Luna for high-volume tasks where keeping costs low is a priority.

The lower token prices could help businesses reduce the cost of running AI agents, coding tools and large-scale text-processing systems. This could be particularly useful for AI agents, which may need multiple model calls to complete a single task.

The launch also shows OpenAI’s focus on making AI more affordable to run at scale. By offering models at different performance and price levels, OpenAI gives developers more flexibility to choose a model based on the complexity and volume of their workloads.