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OPENAI TESTS CHATGPT AGENT UPGRADES POWERED BY NEW ALPHA MODELS

Some ChatGPT users have spotted a new 'alpha models' section in the model selector. The models appeared for a limited time, and they activated agent mode. The model naming - 'Agent with truncation' and 'Agent with prompt expansion' - suggests that OpenAI may be experimenting with different system prompt setups or underlying model architectures. The release seemed accidental and was quickly rolled back, making model comparisons challenging. The new agent variants appear to be aimed at early adopters, researchers, and power users interested in tool-augmented AI workflows.

META'S OPEN LLM FOR CODE AND WORLD MODELING

Meta has released CWM, a 32B decoder-only LLM trained on code execution traces and reasoning tasks to explore world models in code generation.

COHERE'S $7B VALUATION

Cohere secured another $100 million in funding, raising its valuation to $7 billion, and announced a strategic partnership with AMD.

UNLOCKING A MILLION TIMES MORE DATA FOR AI

Every major leap forward in AI progress involved a large increase in data to support it. While AI leaders have warned that we have reached 'peak data', there is still a lot of unused data available. Most AI systems are trained on a few hundred terabytes of data - the world has digitized an estimated up to 200 zettabytes of data. The data exists, but it isn't being used for training, which is an access problem rather than a scarcity problem. The Attribution-Based Control is a potential framework for expanding access to the world's digital data while preserving ownership rights. It offers an approach to addressing the technical, legal, and economic barriers that prevent access to most of the world's data by enabling data owners to maintain control while contributing to AI development.

OPENAI SHOWS US THE MONEY

Nvidia will invest as much as $100 billion in cash into OpenAI to support new data centers. As long as OpenAI depends on Nvidia, it may be reluctant to speak about AI risk, as it may endanger its chip allocations. While Nvidia wants to make and sell as many chips as possible to the widest variety of customers, OpenAI has a strong interest in the US beating China across the board and keeping things under control. Nvidia may do better short-term by selling to China, but this will hurt other investments, and long-term, the model of compute-intensive, top-quality closed models is better for it anyway.

HUMAN-AI SYNERGY

Across 600 participants, researchers found that people who better understand others' mental states performed significantly better with AI assistance. The findings suggest that successful human-AI collaboration depends less on technical prowess and more on social intelligence.

Dive into the findings >>

CROSS-AGENT PRIVILEGE ESCALATION: WHEN AGENTS FREE EACH OTHER

Cross-Agent Privilege Escalation is when multiple coding agents operating on the same system are tricked into modifying each other's configurations to escalate their privileges. While some agents now lock down the ability to modify their own settings, this doesn't work when multiple agents are run in the same environment. The possibility of the exploit highlights the need for better isolation strategies and stronger secure defaults in agent tooling. Developers should get into the habit of running these agents in locked-down containers.

INTRODUCING THE DATA COMMONS MODEL CONTEXT PROTOCOL (MCP) SERVER: STREAMLINING PUBLIC DATA ACCESS FOR AI DEVELOPERS

CLOUDFLARE VIBE SDK

The Cloudflare Vibe SDK is an open-source full-stack AI webapp generator. It deploys an AI-powered platform that allows users to specify what they want to build in natural language, and the AI creates and deploys that application. The SDK is perfect for companies that build AI-powered platforms, internal development, and SaaS platforms. Built on Cloudflare's platform, the Cloudflare Vibe SDK utilizes the full Cloudflare developer ecosystem. A full guide on how to set it up is available.

REINFORCEMENT LEARNING ON PRETRAINING DATA

RLPT introduces a new training paradigm where language models use reinforcement learning directly on pretraining data, removing the need for human-annotated rewards.

META POACHES OPENAI SCIENTIST TO HELP LEAD AI LAB

Mark Zuckerberg has poached Yang Song, a high-ranking researcher from OpenAI, to be the lead research principal of Meta Superintelligence Labs. Song had been at OpenAI since 2022, where his research focused on improving models' ability to process large, complex datasets across different modalities. He developed a breakthrough technique that helped inform the development of the DALL-E 2 image generation model while still a graduate student at Stanford University.

NEON, THE NO. 2 SOCIAL APP ON THE APPLE APP STORE, PAYS USERS TO RECORD THEIR PHONE CALLS AND SELLS DATA TO AI FIRMS

Neon Mobile pays users for their audio conversations, selling the data to AI companies. It pays 30 cents per minute when users call other Neon users and up to $30 per day maximum for making calls to anyone else. Only Neon users are recorded during these calls. The app also pays for referrals. The app's privacy policy includes a very broad license to its user data that leaves plenty more room for the company to do with users' data than it claims. While the app raises many red flags, it may be technically legal.

MICROSOFT INVESTS $30 BILLION IN UK TO POWER AI FUTURE

Microsoft is investing $30 billion to enhance AI infrastructure in the UK from 2025 to 2028, including a major supercomputer project with Nscale.

MOVIE STUDIO LIONSGATE IS STRUGGLING TO MAKE AI-GENERATED FILMS WITH RUNWAY

Lionsgate doesn't have enough content for Runway's AI to produce quality content - even Disney's catalog is too small to create a model.

INTRODUCING GAMMA 3.0: THE NEW ERA OF HUMAN COMMUNICATION

Gamma is an AI-powered design platform that transforms raw ideas into compelling visual presentations.

TETHER EYES $500 BILLION VALUATION IN MAJOR RAISE

US CFTC MAKES TOKENIZED COLLATERAL PUSH WITH STABLECOINS

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is launching an initiative to allow stablecoins as tokenized collateral for margin requirements in the derivatives market, with acting chairman Caroline Pham calling collateral management the "killer app" for stablecoins in markets. Pham continues advancing crypto policy as part of her "crypto sprint" while President Trump's nominee Brian Quintenz remains delayed in confirmation, working alongside SEC Chairman Paul Atkins to integrate digital assets into traditional financial infrastructure. The CFTC is seeking industry input until October 20 on implementing tokenized collateral policies, with support from Circle, Coinbase, and Ripple executives, following the recent President's Working Group report recommending CFTC guidance on tokenized non-cash collateral adoption.

HYPERLIQUID'S HOME-GROWN STABLECOIN USDH GOES LIVE

USDH, issued by Native Markets, has officially launched on Hyperliquid with a USDH/USDC spot market and ~$2.2M in early trading volume. Backed by cash and short-dated Treasuries, USDH was selected through Hyperliquid's validator-run process, where Native Markets beat out Paxos, Frax, and others. Reserves will combine offchain management with onchain transparency via oracles, while a portion of reserve earnings will fund HYPE buybacks.

MORGAN STANLEY TO OFFER CRYPTO TRADING THROUGH E-TRADE

Morgan Stanley is preparing to launch crypto trading for retail customers through E-Trade in the first half of 2026, partnering with startup Zerohash for liquidity, custody, and settlement services while taking an investment stake in the company. The Wall Street giant will initially offer direct ownership of BTC, ETH, and SOL rather than third-party managed funds, allowing clients to cut management fees while taking on greater risks as the bank develops its own custody wallet for digital assets. Wealth management head Jed Finn called crypto trading "the tip of the iceberg," emphasizing that tokenization of traditional financial assets, including cash, stocks, bonds, and real estate, will significantly disrupt the wealth management industry by enabling immediate interest payments and improved efficiency.

THE IMPORTANCE OF FULL-STACK OPENNESS AND VERIFIABILITY

As the internet becomes real life, societies must insist on openness (free, auditable code/designs) and verifiability (users can prove systems behave correctly) across software, hardware, and biotech. This matters in health, personal/commercial tech, and civic infrastructure, where closed stacks create monopoly power and opaque risks. A world of open, formally verified OSes, secure open hardware, on-device AI, privacy-preserving cryptography, and public-inspectable sensors delivers both security and local sovereignty. The crypto ecosystem should prioritize a fully open and verification-friendly stack for high-security, non-performance-critical applications, then expand outward.

X402: MACHINE-READABLE PAYMENTS

Coinbase's new x402 protocol introduces a standardized way for servers to signal that a payment is required using the long-unused HTTP 402 code. Unlike human-facing paywalls, x402 is machine-readable, enabling AI agents and other automated systems to detect and process payments directly. Instead of card details, agents can authorize stablecoin transfers via cryptographic signatures, which are then routed through a new entity called a “Facilitator” (similar to a merchant acquirer) to post payments on-chain. This unlocks a new use case for stablecoins as native internet money, allowing bots, APIs, and AI systems to autonomously pay for services, data, or content online.

PERP DEX DOMINANCE ROTATES FASTER THAN THE REST OF DEFI

Perp traders are ruthless. Liquidity and users jump to whatever venue offers the best fills, incentives, and UX, hence the rapid rotations from dYdX to GMX to Hyperliquid. Other DeFi verticals turn over more slowly. Aave still leads lending, Uniswap spot, and Lido staking. Expect the top perp DEX to keep changing hands, even as leaders in other categories remain sticky.

LOW-RISK DEFI ANALYSIS

Vitalik Buterin has, for the first time, explicitly declared DeFi as Ethereum's killer app, marking a significant shift from his previously withheld praise for crypto financial applications due to his exceptionally high standards requiring broad global impact and unambiguous societal good. Five financial primitives – holding, trading, lending, borrowing, and issuing – make quality banking services globally and permissionlessly accessible rather than limited to geographic elites. The endorsement comes as Ethereum's metrics show significant scale: ETH at $540 billion market cap, DeFi assets at $500 billion, DeFi TVL at $100 billion, and Ethereum L1 scaling from 20 TPS to 10,000 TPS and L2s from 3,000 TPS to 1 million TPS, positioning Ethereum as the most credibly neutral chain for long-term asset storage and the foundation for more impactful DeFi primitives like credit systems.

USDE STABLECOIN GROWTH CONTINUES

Active USDe loans on Aave have increased by ~$1.4B since the start of 2025, highlighting growing demand for stablecoin borrowing in DeFi.

ETH AS THE ONCHAIN GOLD

The US will push stablecoins as global settlement rails tied to Treasuries, but many nations will instead favor gold.

AI AND PREDICTION MARKETS COULD BE TRANSFORMATIVE

Prediction markets thrive on data, speed, and resolution, exactly where AI excels.

COINBASE USDC LEND GROWING

In less than a week, over $20 million USDC has been deposited into the product, all earning over 10%.

GOOGLE INTRODUCES MIXBOARD – AN AI-POWERED TOOL FOR VISUAL CONCEPTING

Google Labs' Mixboard is an AI-powered design board tool that lets users generate, edit, and organize visual collections from text prompts, templates, or uploaded images, resembling tools like FigJam. It uses Google's new image model for quick edits and variations. Mixboard is currently available in a public beta for US users.

FIGMA MADE ITS DESIGN TOOLS MORE ACCESSIBLE TO AI AGENTS

Figma expanded its Model Context Protocol server to support the Figma Make AI app builder, enabling AI models to access the underlying code, in addition to visual designs. The MCP server now supports remote access from various AI coding platforms, including Anthropic, Cursor, and VS Code, making it more accessible to developers. Additional features, such as Design Snapshot for converting Make files into editable layers and AI prompt-based editing within the Design tool, are coming soon.

THE GOOGLE HOME APP IS GETTING A NEW LOOK. HERE'S WHAT'S CHANGING

Google is redesigning its Home app to prominently feature Gemini and Gemini Live instead of Google Assistant. The updated interface features an "Ask Home" search bar for AI automation, a revamped favorites page, and new icons accompanied by privacy disclosures for data collection. Google plans to announce new smart home devices in October, including a Nest speaker with built-in Gemini and various cameras for complete home automation.

SNOWBALL KILLED THE DEV-STAR: STOP HANDING OFF, START SUCCEEDING IN THE AI-FIRST WORLD

Traditional 3-in-a-box development models fail in AI-first products because AI behavior is probabilistic and emergent, making sequential handoffs between PMs, developers, and UX designers ineffective and prone to distortion. The "Snowball" approach advocates for cross-functional teams that collaborate continuously, starting with data and live prototypes rather than static wireframes to validate AI concepts with real users. UX designers must evolve beyond Figma mockups to embrace "vibe coding" and work directly with AI tools, or risk becoming obsolete in an era where successful AI products require integrated teamwork from day one.

YOUR UX DESIGN EDC (EVERY DAY CARRY)

Five essential UX design frameworks help designers move beyond intuition to strategic problem-solving: the Elements of UX for diagnosing issues across five interdependent layers, Laws of UX for evidence-based decisions using psychological principles, Morville's Honeycomb for defining user value, Object-Oriented UX helps organize complex digital systems, and the Business Model Canvas connects design decisions to business outcomes. These frameworks collectively transform designers from "pixel-pushers" into strategic partners who can confidently defend their work and influence product direction.

WHY SPOTIFY HIRED A DEDICATED TYPOGRAPHER

In this post, Spotify's staff typographer, Bianca Berning, shares how she moved from graphic design into type design, her role in shaping Spotify's cross-platform typography, and the importance of custom fonts for cultural relevance across 74 languages. She highlights how Spotify treats typography as core (not a side project) and how AI helps streamline tedious processes like font updates. Berning advises aspiring type designers to seek inspiration beyond the screen and into the wider world.

VIRAL AI VIDEO GENERATOR

Create scroll-stopping videos from any product link or image. Generate high-converting product clips and UGC-style videos with 1,000+ lifelike AI talking avatars.

LAUNCH PRODUCTION READY MOBILE APPS

Tile.dev is an AI-native platform for building and launching scalable, monetizable mobile apps with just a prompt.

THE MOST POWERFUL WEAPON IN A FREELANCER'S TOOLKIT ISN'T TALENT. IT'S COMMUNICATION

Communication stands as the most crucial skill for freelance success, outweighing talent and portfolios in determining long-term client relationships. Freelancers who maintain consistent contact, set clear expectations, and respect client timelines retain clients for decades, while those who leave clients guessing quickly lose business. Simple systems for regular updates and acknowledgment of client communications build trust and transform one-time projects into lasting professional partnerships.

CONTINUOUS' IDENTITY FOR THE WORLD BOXING CHAMPIONSHIPS PACKS A PUNCH

The inaugural World Boxing Championships in Liverpool marked the federation's first global event, aiming to secure Olympic boxing's future by emphasizing fairness and skill over spectacle. Local agency Continuous created a brand identity rooted in Liverpool's welcoming spirit with the message “Welcome to our corner” and a simple, flexible visual system that set amateur boxing apart from professional boxing while resonating with both local and global audiences.

ASIA AGENCY DESIGNS VISUAL IDENTITY FOR INSTITUTO VIAFOTO, SÃO PAULO

São Paulo's new Instituto ViaFoto is a 1,000 m² cultural hub for photography, exhibitions, and creative exchange founded by David Feffer. Agency Asia created its visual identity, designed to reflect photography's dual role in capturing moments and shaping culture. The brand extends across exhibitions, workshops, and digital touchpoints to position photography as an immersive, transformative experience.

VISION AIR AND 20TH ANNIVERSARY IPHONE COULD GET THE SAME ADVANCED DISPLAY TECH

A new report suggests Apple may use Samsung's CoE (Color Filter on Encapsulation) display technology in both the Vision Air headset and at least one iPhone in 2027, enabling thinner, brighter screens.

THE FOUNDER'S GUIDE TO HIRING DESIGNERS IN 2025

Hiring top design talent in 2025 requires more strategic effort as AI raises product quality expectations and competition intensifies between large companies and startups.

SCREEN READERS DO NOT NEED TO BE SAVED BY AI

Screen readers already handle emojis well - adding AI to fix poor content practices would create expensive, unreliable technology that changes the original meaning.

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