Outside testers say Anthropic's AI is improving about twice as fast with AI's own help, and Anthropic blacked out most of their evidence

The stories

43 stories on this beat today.

Every story told the same way: what happened, who is involved, why it matters, how it works, the truth and the good news.

1. 01

   Outside testers say Anthropic's AI is improving about twice as fast with AI's own help, and Anthropic blacked out most of their evidence

   1.9 times

   how much faster Anthropic's test scores have risen since October 2025

   METR's 95% range runs from 1.5 to 2.8 times [3]

   12 times

   how much faster Anthropic's staff said AI makes them, in quick polls

   METR calls these polls only very loose evidence [3]

   4 of 7

   kinds of evidence with no results in the public report

   results from 2 more are only partly in, after Anthropic's cuts [3]

   What happened

   • METR, a non-profit that tests AI, published a report on Anthropic on Thursday. [1] Anthropic makes the Claude AI models. [2]
   • It says the models are likely improving on well-specified tasks at around twice their old rate. [3] The old rate is from March 2024 to October 2025. [3]
   • METR guesses that about 80% of that speed-up comes from Anthropic using AI to build AI. [3] It gives this guess with substantial uncertainty. [3]
   • Anthropic had the right to cut non-public facts from the report before publication. [3] It cut a majority of the evidence METR found most useful. [3]
   • METR's main number is 1.9 times. [3] Since October 2025, Anthropic's test scores have risen 1.9 times as fast as before. [3]
   • The test is AECI, Anthropic's own version of the Epoch Capabilities Index, which scores AI models on sets of tasks. [3]
   • With 95% confidence, METR puts the speed-up between 1.5 and 2.8 times. [3] Other ways of running the sums gave 1.1 to 2.9 times. [3]
   • METR says that adds up to roughly 2 years of the old progress in the past year. [3]
   • METR is confident the speed-up did not come from faster growth in the computing power used for training. [3] Anthropic cut the details of that evidence. [3]
   • METR's staff worked on this for 11 weeks, from 12 August to 29 October. [3]
   • They read internal data and held about 15 interviews with key staff. [3] METR says Anthropic shared more than first agreed, beyond its expectations. [3]
   • Staff also voted in Slack polls on how much faster AI makes them. [3] By October the answers reached 12 times. [3]
   • METR calls those polls "only very loose evidence". [3] Interviews gave a wide range of answers, centred around 2 times. [3]
   • AI cannot yet do the most important parts of model training fully alone, METR understands. [3] Staff described early signs that it soon could. [3]
   • METR's table lists 7 kinds of evidence. [3] Results from 1 kind are fully in the public report, 2 are partly in, and 4 are out. [3]
   • The cuts include estimates of progress in AI methods, measures of what goes in, and forecasts for future models. [3]
   • Anthropic said the cuts were "aimed at removing confidential information that could accelerate other AI developers". [3]
   • METR gave Anthropic a draft on 26 October. [3] Anthropic tightened its rules for what to cut on 27 to 29 October. [3]
   • Anthropic could also say no to any request for data. [3] METR says a small number of its requests were refused. [3]
   • Anthropic also cancelled one planned part of the review. [3] It would have checked how its computers are split between stronger AI and safety. [3]
   • Anthropic said it wanted to keep the work focused, and would come back to that check later. [3]
   • METR published a second page the same day, on a safety report Anthropic issued in August. [4]
   • Anthropic's report argued it had not crossed its own warning line: AI making its progress 2 times faster. [4]
   • METR calls that argument overstated, and says the line had plausibly been crossed by 15 July. [4]
   • METR also agrees that the risk of disaster from those July models was low. [4] Most researchers at both groups lean towards the line not having been crossed. [4]
   • Anthropic may sell its shares to the public as soon as this month. [1]
   • Its filing for that sale warns that its models could advance faster than its safety work. [5]
   • More than 90% of the code it added in September was written by Claude, Business Insider reports. [6]
   • This review is not the one Anthropic announced on 15 October, METR says. [3] This one did not include full staff-like access to data and documents. [3]

   Who is involved

   • METR a non-profit that tests AI models; it spent 11 weeks on this review and took no pay from Anthropic
   • Anthropic the US company that makes Claude; it opened its data, then cut most of the key evidence from the public report
   • Jacob Coxon a researcher who left Anthropic in September; he says the top AI labs are racing towards AI that improves itself

   How it unfolded

   1. 12 Aug Anthropic starts sharing private data with METR [3]
   2. 29 October the work ends
   3. 26 October METR hands over a draft
   4. 27 to 29 Oct Anthropic tightens those rules [3]
   5. 25 Oct Anthropic sends its rules for what to cut [3]
   6. 2 Nov Anthropic's share-sale filing warns it may soon meet its own speed-up test [5]
   7. 5 Nov METR publishes both pages [1]

   Why it matters

   METR says this makes it hard for the public to judge the evidence. [3] So people must rely on METR's judgement far more than would be ideal, it says. [3]

   If each better model speeds up the next one, the gain can compound. [3] METR found no clear limit over the next 12 months, and may have missed some. [3]

   How it works

   Engineers call this a positive feedback loop: what comes out goes back in and adds to the next round. [3]

   METR was told the speed-up comes mainly from AI helping people, not from AI working alone. [3] One researcher told METR the limit is now "ideas & compute", not code. [2]

   Seen it before

   A microphone too near its own speaker picks up its own sound, plays it louder, and squeals.

   The truth

   • What is really going on METR, an outside group, says Anthropic's AI is improving at around twice its old rate, and that Anthropic's own use of AI is probably most of the reason. [3]Anthropic removed most of the evidence METR found most useful, so on the biggest question the public has METR's word for it. [3]
   • Why it works on people A big number is easy to repeat, and 12 times is the biggest here. METR itself calls the polls behind it only very loose evidence. [3]
   • METR says even its own team disagrees: "most" staff on the project hold the view of about 2 times. [3]
   • The scores cover well-specified tasks that are easy to grade. [3] METR warns this could overstate the gain in messy real-world work. [3]
   • METR took no pay from Anthropic. [3] It worked on Anthropic's own computers, and used free Anthropic tokens, which are units of AI use. [3]
   • Jacob Coxon, who left Anthropic in September, says OpenAI and Anthropic are "gambling with our lives". [2] Anthropic did not immediately answer Reuters. [1]
   • Who gains Anthropic — It gets an outside report before its share sale, and keeps the cut methods from rivals, which is its stated reason for the cuts. [3][1]
   • Who pays Anyone trying to judge how fast AI is moving — They cannot test the verdict on the most important question themselves. [3]
   • Nobody knows yet

     How fast Anthropic's AI is really speeding up.

     METR's page says it would not be surprised by 1.3 or 3 times, while Reuters quotes METR as saying 1.5 or 2.5. We use the page and cannot say why they differ. [3][1]

   • Nobody knows yet

     What the cut evidence says.

     METR says some of it suggests a speed above 2 times and rising, but the evidence itself was removed and has several plausible readings. [3]

   • Nobody knows yet

     How Anthropic's computers are split between building AI and safety work.

     Anthropic cancelled that check before METR reached any finding, and said it would return to it later. [3]

1. 02

   Three giants sue California over children's feeds

   What happened

   • Google, Meta and TikTok sued on Thursday to block a new California law on social media for children. [20]
   • The law, AB 1709, bars autoplay videos and personalised feeds for users under 16. [21] It starts in January. [20]
   • If those features stay on, the platform must delete the under-16's account. [21] Fines can reach $50,000 for each affected user. [21]

   Who is involved

   The suit names Rob Bonta, California's attorney general, the state's top lawyer. [21] His office says it will defend the law. [21]

   • Rob Bonta California's attorney general

   How it unfolded

   In March, Meta and YouTube lost a Los Angeles case brought by a young woman who said she got addicted. [20] They must pay her $6 million. [20]

   Australia banned social media for under-16s in December 2025. [21] France passed a similar law, but its top court struck it down. [21]

   1. Thursday the companies sue
   2. January the law starts

   Why it matters

   These are the first major challenges to the law. [20] The law would make firms block those features for under-16s from January. [20]

   How it works

   US lawyers call this a First Amendment case: the constitution limits how far a government can control speech. [20]

   Meta says that choosing and ordering posts is its own editorial judgement, which a state cannot override. [22] The California law calls such features psychologically exploitative for minors. [20]

   Seen it before

   A shop can be told where to put its sweets. A newspaper cannot be told which story goes first.

   The truth

   • Campaigners at the Heat Initiative say the companies are protecting their profits, not free speech. [20]
   • Yet the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group, also opposes the law. [21] It says the law forces platforms to collect more data on every user. [21]
   • Who pays Under-16s in California, if the law stands — A platform that keeps the banned features on for them must delete their accounts. [21]
   • Nobody knows yet

     Whether a court will stop California's law before January.

     The suits are in their early stages, and the state's attorney general is still reading them. [22][21]

1. 03

   OpenAI answers the voters with promises

   What happened

   • OpenAI published promises for its future data centres on Thursday, 2 days after US voters turned against them. [7]
   • It says it will pay for the electricity its sites use, and for the grid upgrades they need. [23]
   • It says it will publish water and electricity use for each site. [23] It will not sign secrecy deals with public officials. [23]
   • The promises cover data centres OpenAI owns and runs. [7] It also asks lawmakers to turn such promises into law. [7]

   How it unfolded

   OpenAI told investors in February it is aiming to spend $600 billion on computing by 2030. [7]

   1. Tuesday voters reject data centres
   2. Thursday OpenAI publishes its promises

   Why it matters

   Worried voters say data centres could raise bills and harm the environment. [7] OpenAI needs them built to serve its customers. [7]

   How it works

   Economists call this an externality: a cost that lands on people outside a deal. [23]

   A power firm can pass a data centre's grid upgrades on to local homes. [23] OpenAI says it will pay for them itself. [23]

   Seen it before

   A neighbour's loud party keeps you awake, though nobody asked you. Paying for your hotel would put that cost back on them.

   Why an outside report says how much it was allowed to show

   Auditors call it a limit on scope: a checker can state a verdict, but readers can test it only as far as the evidence is shown.

   The twist

   An outside check has two halves: what the checker saw, and what the reader can see. A reader can only test the second.

   The picture

   • Results fully in the report1 kind · 14%
   • Partly in2 kinds · 29%
   • Left out4 kinds · 57%

   Step by step

   1. 1 A company lets an outside checker in
   2. 2 The checker sees evidence the public cannot
   3. 3 The company may remove some of it before the report comes out
   4. 4 The checker says what was removed, and how much the verdict rests on it
   5. 5 Readers can test what is left, and must take the rest on trust

   The same force, elsewhere today

   Where this chain is also running, in today's other stories.

   • Why nobody can say how much water a data centre uses

     Owners mostly report water for the whole company, so a town cannot test a claim about the site next door.

   • OpenAI answers the voters with promises

     OpenAI says it will publish water and power use for each site, which would let outsiders do the check themselves.

   • Axiom's AI checks a giant library of maths

     The whole proof is written out as code and a program checks each line, so nothing rests on one person's word.

   • Zipline's drones add 300 Walmart sites

     Its figure of 150 million miles without a safety incident is the company's own, so a reader has only Zipline's word.

   Where you've seen this

   Company accounts

   an auditor who could not see enough records has to say so in the signed opinion

   School inspections

   a report means more when it says which classes the inspector was not shown

   Restaurant kitchens

   a hygiene score tells you about the day of the visit and the rooms that were opened

   The catch

   Some secrets are real, since showing a method can help a rival, so a cut does not prove the verdict is wrong. It only marks the part a reader cannot test.

   And the whole of it

   Anthropic saw all of it, METR saw much of it and says it may have missed things, and everyone else sees what was left. Governments, share buyers and users are all making choices from that last seat.

   The truth

   • OpenAI told Bloomberg it had planned this for months, before the results. [23] Its policy chief says the plan had been in the works since August. [7]

1. 04

   Meta's president says building will get harder

   What happened

   • Dina Powell McCormick, Meta's president, said on Wednesday that Democrats' wins will make data centres harder to build. [9]
   • "The visible sort of manifestation of AI is a data center," she said. [9] She tied the anger to how people feel about AI in general. [9]
   • Meta has data centres in 23 states, she said. [9] 5 of its projects are planned at 1 gigawatt of power or more. [9]
   • She said Meta wins sites by paying for its own power and keeping the workforce local. [9] It also sends tax surpluses to teachers and first responders. [9]

   Who is involved

   • Dina Powell McCormick Meta's president

   Why it matters

   Meta's big bet is that Muse, its AI helper, grows from 10 million users to billions. [9]

   How it works

   Economists call this salvage value: what something can still earn if the first plan fails. [9]

   Meta built its computers for its own AI. [9] If Muse stays small, she says, firms calling every day would rent them. [9]

   Seen it before

   A bike you stop riding can still be sold, so buying it was less of a gamble.

   The truth

   • The renting is her claim. [9] She named nobody who is calling. [9]
2. 05

   Europe's data-centre protests begin

   What happened

   • More than 100 groups in 15 European countries planned protests against data centres for Friday and Saturday. [8]
   • They want a moratorium, a halt on new large sites, until rules decide if and where they get built. [24]
   • Plans include a protest at Poland's parliament, a march in Dublin, and a demonstration at a Microsoft site in Denmark. [8]
   • Organisers expect anything from a handful of people to several hundred at each event. [8]
   • Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace are among the backers. [8] The tech industry says data centres bring jobs and growth. [8]

   Who is involved

   • Campaigners want a halt
   • Tech industry says jobs and growth

   How it unfolded

   The Register cites a report that a Google company illegally felled 250,000 trees in Finland to clear a site. [24]

   Why it matters

   The UK government has already overturned local councils that refused data centres. [24] So British campaigners can expect little sympathy from it, The Register says. [24]

   How it works

   Grid planners call this a connection queue: projects wait in line to be linked to the power network. [8]

   In the UK, 315 data centres are queueing for 73 gigawatts. [8] The whole country's peak use is 45 gigawatts, so the queue alone asks for more. [8]

   Seen it before

   More people waiting for a bus than it has seats means someone is left at the stop.

   The truth

   • Alan Howard, an analyst at the research firm Omdia, says US politicians used data centres as an "opportunistic political football". [24]

   What comes next

   A march to the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh follows on 14 November. [24]

3. 06

   US Democrats agree AI matters, not what to do

   What happened

   • US Democrats won both chambers of the US Congress this week. [25] They call AI a priority, but have not agreed on rules. [25]
   • Yassamin Ansari, a Democrat in the US House, wants a pause on advanced AI and a ban on superintelligence. [26]
   • Greg Stanton, of the New Democrat Coalition, says plenty of debate lies ahead, with no policy agreed. [25]
   • Ted Lieu, another Democrat in the House, said: "We will hold public hearings on AI." [25]

   Who is involved

   • Yassamin Ansari wants a pause and a ban
   • Greg Stanton no policy agreed

   How it unfolded

   Maria Cantwell, a senator, wants a law requiring independent testing of AI models before release. [25]

   Why it matters

   Donald Trump has threatened to veto bills he does not like. [25] So a sweeping law remains hard, even with bigger majorities. [25]

   How it works

   Political scientists call this a veto point: a place in the process where one actor can block a change. [25]

   Semafor lists the blocks: party splits, gaps between House and Senate, and a threatened veto. [25] Any one could stop an AI bill. [25]

   Seen it before

   A family trip that needs a yes from every parent and every child rarely happens by Friday.

   The truth

   • A Democratic staffer told Semafor the party can now use subpoenas. [25] One target is a June Trump order on AI that was never fully released. [25]
4. 07

   Why nobody can say how much water a data centre uses

   What happened

   • Data-centre owners typically report water use for the whole company, not for each site. [10] So working out what each site draws is hard. [10]
   • A giant 1-gigawatt site can use up to 10 million gallons a day. [10] That figure is from Shaolei Ren, a researcher at the University of California, Riverside. [10]
   • Modern AI chips sit in sealed loops that use very little water. [10] The water goes on moving that heat out of the building. [10]
   • Meta says its Indiana site will use zero water for most of the year. [10] Yet its allowance could reach 8 million gallons a day by 2031. [10]
   • Equinix, which rents out data-centre space, used 1.2 billion gallons across its company in 2025, up 10%. [10]

   Why it matters

   Voters passed 40 of 41 measures to limit data centres this week, CNBC counts. [10] Water and power top the worries of people paying utility bills. [10]

   How it works

   Engineers call this the cooling trade-off. [10] Dry cooling saves water but can use far more power, and evaporative cooling does the reverse. [10]

   Meta's Indiana site relies on dry cooling, and sprays mist in hotter months. [10] So its water use depends on the weather. [10]

   Seen it before

   Sweat cools you because it evaporates, so you need more water to drink on the hottest days.

   Owners mostly report water for the whole company, so a town cannot test a claim about the site next door.

   The idea, in story 03: Why an outside report says how much it was allowed to show →

   The truth

   • CNBC says this has left room for misinformation from builders and from opponents alike. [10]
   • Nobody knows yet

     How much water any one data centre uses.

     Operators such as Equinix report for the whole company, not for each site. [10]

5. 08

   US lawmakers ask Nvidia's boss to explain a contact

   What happened

   • 3 senior Republicans in the US House asked Jensen Huang, Nvidia's boss, to a private briefing on 18 November. [27] Nvidia makes AI chips. [16]
   • They want to ask about his contact with Alice Huang, a former executive at Megaspeed. [16] Megaspeed, based in Singapore, buys Nvidia's AI chips. [16]
   • The New York Times reported last week that US intelligence found she was passing information to China's government. [27]

   Who is involved

   • Jensen Huang Nvidia's boss
   • Alice Huang former Megaspeed executive

   How it unfolded

   US authorities have looked at Megaspeed over suspicions that it helped China get chips barred from shipment there. [16]

   1. 17 November Nvidia's results
   2. 18 November the briefing

   Why it matters

   The letter asks how far US security has been put at risk. [16] It also asks about Nvidia's protections against foreign spying. [16]

   How it works

   Political scientists call this oversight: lawmakers use questions and hearings to find out what powerful people did. [16]

   Here 3 committee chairs wrote to Huang and invited him to one closed-door session. [27] They say China's access to US technology is core to their committees' work. [27]

   Seen it before

   A head teacher can ask a pupil in for a quiet talk before anything formal starts.

   The truth

   • Nvidia said: "Meetings with customers are part of a CEO's job." [27] It did not say whether Huang will attend. [27]
   • Nobody knows yet

     Whether Jensen Huang will go to the briefing on 18 November.

     Nvidia did not say when CNBC asked. [27]

   What comes next

   Nvidia reports its results on 17 November, the day before the briefing. [27]

6. 09

   A Chinese AI lab seeks Nvidia's banned chips in Europe

   What happened

   • Moonshot, the Chinese maker of Kimi AI models, sought to rent Nvidia's Blackwell chips in Europe, 4 people told CNBC. [15]
   • US rules bar those chips from going to China. [15] Current US law gives regulators little power over renting them overseas through the internet. [15]
   • One source said talks covered groups of 8,000 or more of the chips. [15]
   • One source said it was proposed that Moonshot pay 30% to 50% more up front than other customers. [15]

   Who is involved

   • Moonshot Chinese maker of Kimi
   • Blackwell Nvidia's top AI chips

   How it unfolded

   In July, the US president's office said Moonshot had reached the same chips through a site in Thailand. [15]

   Why it matters

   A bill to close this gap passed the US House in January, and has not passed the US Senate. [15]

   How it works

   Trade lawyers call these export controls: rules on what can leave a country. [15]

   Those rules were aimed at chips crossing a border. [28] A lab that rents from a European firm gets the use of a chip that never reaches China. [28]

   Seen it before

   Barred from buying a car, you could still hire one in the next town.

   The truth

   • All of this rests on unnamed sources. [15] Moonshot, Nvidia and the US president's office did not answer CNBC. [15]
   • Who gains Companies that rent out AI chips in Europe — One source says it was proposed that Moonshot pay 30% to 50% more up front than other customers. [15]
   • Nobody knows yet

     Whether Moonshot's talks in Europe led to any deal.

     CNBC's sources describe talks. Moonshot, Nvidia and the US president's office did not answer. [15]

7. 10

   Memory chip sales near 5 times last year's

   What happened

   • Sales of DRAM, the working memory in computers and phones, reached nearly $200 billion last quarter, Counterpoint Research says. [12]
   • That is up 369% on a year earlier. [12] Yet the amount of memory shipped rose only about 4% this quarter. [12]
   • Higher prices remain the main cause, with the average at $1.90 per gigabit. [12]
   • Samsung led the makers, with 38% of sales. [12]

   Why it matters

   AI servers are taking the supply. [12] Laptops and desktops rose by double-digit percentages in Europe this summer. [12]

   Phone shipments fell by at least a fifth, as budget models were squeezed out. [12]

   How it works

   Economists call this inelastic supply: when a price jumps, the amount made barely changes. [12]

   Major new memory factories will not start making chips until 2028, Counterpoint says. [12] So buyers compete for supply rather than bargain on price, it says. [12]

   Seen it before

   Once a concert sells out, more fans wanting tickets raises the price, not the number of seats.

   The truth

   • Who gains Memory makers — Buyers now compete for supply instead of bargaining on price, Counterpoint says. [12]
   • Who pays Buyers of cheap phones and laptops — Makers send memory to dearer products first, which pushes budget models off the market. [12]
8. 11

   A pay fight stops work on a Micron plant in Taiwan

   What happened

   • Micron, a US memory chip maker, has paused building its $4.5 billion plant in Taoyuan, Taiwan, Tom's Hardware reports. [13]
   • Its talks with the Taoyuan union over profit-sharing have not reached a deal. [13]
   • The union held a one-day strike last month. [13] The two sides were due to meet again on 6 November. [13]
   • Micron has offered a bonus worth up to 5 times some workers' yearly pay. [13] A bigger union, at Taichung, took a deal. [13]

   Who is involved

   • Micron offers bonuses
   • Taoyuan union wants clearer terms

   How it unfolded

   SK Hynix, a South Korean rival, is set to pay each worker $477,000 in bonuses this year. [13]

   1. Last month a one-day strike
   2. 6 November the next talks

   Why it matters

   Major new memory factories will not start making chips until 2028, Counterpoint says. [12] Micron's Taoyuan site is one of many it is building. [13]

   How it works

   Labour economists call this rent sharing: when a firm earns unusually high profits, its workers ask for part of them. [13]

   The AI boom has given memory makers huge profits. [13] So workers at Micron, Samsung and SK Hynix are all pressing for bigger shares. [13]

   Seen it before

   When a small café suddenly gets famous, its staff expect a rise.

   The truth

   • Micron says its operations continue as normal. [13] It has not explained the pause in public. [13]
9. 12

   China's biggest flash-memory maker pauses its share sale

   What happened

   • Yangtze Memory, or YMTC, China's largest maker of flash memory, has put its Shanghai share sale on hold, Reuters reports. [14]
   • It had aimed to raise 33 billion yuan, about $4.9 billion. [14] Flash memory stores data in phones, computers and data centres. [14]
   • An internal note blamed "various factors". [14] 2 people said the listing will likely come in the first half of 2027. [14]
   • China's market regulator has told banks informally to slow share sales by AI and chip firms, 4 people said. [14]

   How it unfolded

   An index of Shanghai chip and AI firms fell 40% from July to the end of October. [14]

   Why it matters

   YMTC has been winning Chinese customers from Samsung and SK Hynix during the shortage. [14] The delay could upset its plans to make more. [14]

   How it works

   Bankers call this an IPO window: a stretch when buyers will pay well for new shares, and it can shut. [14]

   Chinese regulators are tightening approvals in a weak market. [14] So YMTC's listing now depends on market conditions, perhaps until 2027. [14]

   Seen it before

   A shop with a stall to sell waits for the summer fair, not a rainy Tuesday.

   The truth

   • Reuters' sources are unnamed. [14] YMTC and the regulator did not answer it. [14]
10. 13

    Blast at a Panasonic circuit-board plant kills 2 in Taiwan

    What happened

    • An explosion and fire at a Panasonic factory in Hsinchu, Taiwan, killed 2 people and injured 5 on Wednesday. [29]
    • The fire began at 2am, when more than 20 staff were on the production lines. [29]
    • The 2 who died had been missing, and were found after firefighters dug through the debris. [29]
    • The plant makes printed circuit boards, the boards that chips are fixed on, and chip packaging materials. [29]
    • It passed a safety inspection in August. [29] Panasonic is investigating, and the cause is not yet known. [29]

    How it unfolded

    Last month, an explosion at an Intel factory in Israel also killed 2 people. [29]

    1. August the plant passes inspection
    2. Wednesday the explosion

    Why it matters

    The blast comes during a shortage of circuit boards driven by AI. [29] No report says how long the plant will stay shut. [29]

    How it works

    Safety engineers call this process safety: keeping chemicals that can burn from ever meeting a spark. [29]

    Early reports point to flammable solvents used at the plant, such as methanol. [29] Investigators have not confirmed that. [29]

    The truth

    • Nobody knows yet

      What the Panasonic factory blast does to supplies of circuit boards.

      The cause is still being investigated, and no report says how long the plant will stay shut. [29]

11. 14

    India sets a 2-year goal for its own AI chip

    What happened

    • India wants its own GPU, the kind of chip AI runs on, within about 24 months, a top official said. [30]
    • Krishnan, the secretary of India's electronics ministry, gave the target in an interview on 4 November. [30]
    • He did not name who would design or make it. [30]

    Who is involved

    • Krishnan secretary, India's electronics ministry

    How it unfolded

    Krishnan compares AI with the year 2000 computer bug, when fixing it brought India's firms work from around the world. [30]

    Why it matters

    India's IT services firms employ about 6 million people. [30] A government paper estimates 2 million jobs could go and 4 million could arrive. [30]

    How it works

    Chip designers call RISC-V an open design: an open-source plan for a processor. [30]

    India's SHAKTI and VEGA chips use RISC-V, so local developers can build processors without relying on a company's private design. [30]

    Seen it before

    A recipe everyone may use lets a small bakery start without buying one from a chain.

    The truth

    • A 2024 VEGA chip runs at up to 100MHz, and is meant for sensors and wearables. [30] SHAKTI and VEGA are also main processors, not GPUs. [30]
12. 15

    SpaceX's chip bill goes on sale to investors

    What happened

    • Goldman Sachs and Apollo are in talks to sell parts of a roughly $40 billion SpaceX chip deal, Bloomberg reported. [31]
    • Some investors were asked to take stakes of up to $500 million. [31] Reuters could not check the report itself. [31]
    • Elon Musk says he is highly confident SpaceX can build 10 gigawatts of data centres in 2027. [32] It has 3 today. [32]
    • Analysts cited by Tom's Hardware say that is possible, if everything goes right. [32]

    How it unfolded

    Its Colossus 2 site had 0.4 gigawatts of power in January. [32] It is projected to reach 2.4 by the end of the year. [32]

    Why it matters

    This is the largest deal of its kind for AI chips on record, the report said. [31] Investors who buy in take on part of SpaceX's chip bill. [31]

    How it works

    Accountants call this off-balance-sheet finance: the debt sits in another firm's books. [31]

    An Apollo company buys the chips and leases them to SpaceX for a little over 5 years. [31] So SpaceX owes rent, and its own books show no loan for them. [31]

    Seen it before

    Leasing a car means you pay every month, while someone else owns it and owes the bank.

    The truth

    • A finished building is not a working one. [32] Tom's Hardware notes that grid links, permits and public opposition can still stall a site. [32]
13. 16

    Microsoft passes on a bigger Nscale site in Texas

    What happened

    • Microsoft has reportedly decided against expanding a Texas deal with Nscale, which rents out AI chips. [33]
    • Microsoft held an option on a second phase of 700 megawatts at Barstow, from late 2027. [33]
    • The existing Texas contract stays. [33] It covers about 104,000 Nvidia chips at a 240-megawatt site. [33]

    Who is involved

    • Microsoft passed on the option
    • Nscale rents out AI chips

    How it unfolded

    Microsoft pulled out of another Nscale site, in Essex, England, in October. [33] Grid delays had pushed its power into the 2030s. [33]

    Why it matters

    Nscale is asking investors to value it at up to $35 billion in its New York listing. [33] Big contracts are part of its pitch. [33]

    How it works

    Bankers call this an option: the right to buy more later, with no duty to do so. [33]

    Microsoft got the right in October 2025 to take the second phase. [33] So Microsoft could walk away from the second phase, and the first contract stays. [33]

    Seen it before

    Paying to hold a seat at a show lets you skip it if something better comes along.

    The truth

    • The FT's account of the timing rests on one unnamed person: that Microsoft decided months before Nscale filed to list. [33]
14. 17

    Airbnb says outside AI agents barely book anything

    What happened

    • Airbnb says it will launch its own AI travel agent in the first half of 2027. [34]
    • Boss Brian Chesky says agents like Meta's Muse bring a "very non-material" number of its daily bookings. [17] Those total nearly half a million. [17]
    • He says traffic from those agents peaked in early October, and has not grown since. [17]
    • Booking.com and Expedia said the same this week. [17] DoorDash's boss says outside agents brought it "several hundred orders in total". [17]
    • Airbnb's agent will build its screen around each question, from maps, photos and calendars, rather than chat. [35]

    Why it matters

    Travel firms feared agents would take away direct bookings and customer loyalty. [17] So far, these firms report little traffic from agents. [17]

    How it works

    Business scholars call this disintermediation: a new middleman cuts a shop off from its customers. [17]

    An outside agent cannot easily handle refunds or rebooking, Airbnb says. [34] Building its own agent keeps those guests inside its app. [34]

    Seen it before

    A shop with its own helpful staff gives you less reason to send a friend to buy for you.

    The truth

    • Chesky is not neutral: he plans his own rival to those agents. [34] The 80% of travellers who he says enjoy planning is his own figure. [34]
15. 18

    Cloudflare's boss says AI agents burden websites

    What happened

    • Matthew Prince, boss of Cloudflare, which protects websites, says some customers call AI agents "a bane to their business". [18]
    • His example: an agent reads 1,000 restaurant websites to choose 1. [18] The other 999 bear a cost and gain nothing. [18]
    • Cloudflare expects bots to send 1,000 times the traffic humans do. [18]
    • He says about 5% of the web has signed up for its content protection since 1 July. [18]

    How it unfolded

    Revenue rose 39% to $782.5 million last quarter. [18] Shares rose about 15% after hours. [18]

    Why it matters

    Every page an agent loads costs its owner a little. [18] A small restaurant's site pays this even if no diner ever arrives. [18]

    How it works

    Economists call this a free-rider problem: one person enjoys a benefit others pay for. [18]

    Here the person using the agent gets a dinner choice. [18] The cost of serving the pages goes to all the restaurants not chosen. [18]

    Seen it before

    Trying on every coat in every shop, then buying one, leaves all the others with the tidying.

    The truth

    • Prince also sells the cure: Cloudflare offers tools to block or charge these agents. [18]
    • Who pays Website owners — Cloudflare's boss says they bear the cost of each page an AI agent loads, even when no customer follows. [18]
16. 19

    US air traffic control starts to drop floppy disks

    What happened

    • The US Federal Aviation Administration says it is replacing air traffic control systems that still run on floppy disks. [36]
    • Those systems date from the 1980s, and are still used at more than 400 sites. [36] They hold weather and other critical information for controllers. [36]
    • A new display system, E-IDS, is due at 435 sites by the end of 2028. [36]
    • The first 5 include the airports at Atlantic City, Nashville and Greater Rochester. [36]

    How it unfolded

    IBM developed the first floppy disk in 1971. [36] The US Air Force ended its own use of them in nuclear missile silos only in 2019. [36]

    1. 1971 IBM's first floppy disk
    2. 2019 US missile silos stop using them

    Why it matters

    The FAA says controllers get information faster, repairs cost less, and flights get safer. [36]

    How it works

    Engineers call this legacy technology: an old system still in daily use. [36]

    The FAA's systems date from the 1980s, and its plan installs the new one site by site. [36] So the last sites may wait until the end of 2028. [36]

    Seen it before

    An old family car that still starts stays in the drive long after newer models arrive.

    Good news

    • The US Federal Aviation Administration is replacing floppy-disk systems from the 1980s at air traffic control sites, with 435 sites due to have the new displays by the end of 2028.
17. 20

    Claude can now read your bank accounts, not move money

    What happened

    • Anthropic launched a test feature on Thursday for some paying US users of Claude. [37] They can link bank and card accounts, and ask about spending. [37]
    • The link runs through Plaid, a service that connects apps to banks. [38] Access is read-only: Claude cannot move, manage or invest money. [38]
    • Claude sees up to 2 years of transactions, and users can link up to 16 US banks. [37]
    • It can flag double charges and unexpected fees. [38] Anthropic says the feature has no ads, and that chats in its hub are not used to train models. [38]

    Who is involved

    • Claude no ads
    • ChatGPT ads

    How it unfolded

    OpenAI launched a similar feature in May, also through Plaid. [37] OpenAI shows ads in ChatGPT, which Anthropic points to. [39]

    Why it matters

    Sharing financial data with AI raises privacy worries, ZDNET says. [40] Figures already shared stay in chats until the user deletes them, even after a bank is unlinked. [37]

    How it works

    Security engineers call this least privilege: give a tool only the access its job needs. [38]

    Claude's job here is answering questions about money. [38] So it gets reading rights, and it cannot move, manage or invest anything. [38]

    Seen it before

    Lending a friend your bank statement is safer than lending them your card.

    The truth

    • Anthropic warns that Claude can make mistakes, and tells users to check important figures with their bank. [37]
    • Engadget calls this "personalized financial advice", while Anthropic says the tool was not designed to give investment advice. [39] Engadget adds that the timing probably ties to Anthropic's share sale. [39]
18. 21

    Chatbot ads spread, and the sellers are not sure yet

    What happened

    • More than 100,000 customers now advertise in ChatGPT, where ads began in February, Wired reports. [19]
    • Last week Google took ads in its AI Mode search chatbot to 10 more countries. [19] Anthropic is holding to its pledge to keep Claude free of ads. [19]
    • Koah Labs, a start-up, sells ads in more than 200 smaller chatbot apps. [19] It says about 3% of its ads get clicked, near Google's rate. [19]
    • Koah says ads partly written by AI get twice the clicks of ads written only by people. [19]

    Why it matters

    Generating AI answers is costly, and ads could help pay for it. [19] Smaller chatbot apps need them most, with less investor money behind them. [19]

    How it works

    Advertisers call this contextual targeting: choosing an ad by what a person is doing right now. [19]

    When Koah picks an ad, it usually receives the whole conversation so far. [19] So a chat about stress can bring an ad for a spa. [19]

    Seen it before

    A shop assistant who overhears you talking about a sore back then offers you a cushion.

    The truth

    • The click figures are Koah's own. [19] Its boss says queries are anonymised, and would not say more on storage. [19]
    • Kevin Baragona, who runs the chatbot app DeepAI, says: "I don't think the ads are working terribly well for anyone." [19]
19. 22

    Microsoft sets limits on Copilot Chat, and hides the number

    What happened

    • Microsoft is adding usage limits to more of Copilot Chat, its AI helper, for business users without a paid licence. [11]
    • It will not say what the limits are, because they are "subject to change". [11] Company IT managers cannot adjust them. [11]
    • The rollout began on 2 November for organisations with up to 2,000 seats. [11] Larger ones follow from 9 November. [11]
    • A worker who hits a limit sees when to try again. [11] Most also see an option to ask their IT manager for a licence. [11]

    How it unfolded

    1. 2 November up to 2,000 seats
    2. 9 November larger organisations

    Why it matters

    Workers learn the limit only by hitting it. [11] The Register says feature access becomes unpredictable for their managers. [11]

    How it works

    Pricing experts call this freemium: a free version with limits that push users towards paying. [11]

    Microsoft says hitting a limit "might indicate interest" in more Copilot. [11] So the free tool's ceiling doubles as a sales message. [11]

    Seen it before

    A free game that stops after a few lives and offers more for a fee works the same way.

    The truth

    • The Register says the plan may push sales, or may lead managers to clamp down instead. [11]
    • Who gains Microsoft — A user who hits a hidden limit is offered a way to ask for a paid licence. [11]
20. 23

    Meta shelves its AI terms for business accounts

    What happened

    • Meta has put on hold new terms for business accounts, after a wave of complaints, 404 Media reports. [41]
    • The terms would have let Meta use content from those firms' websites to "train" and improve its products. [41]
    • They were due on 30 October, then moved to 20 November. [41] Now they will not start on that date, and the old terms remain. [41]
    • A Norwegian court granted a temporary order suspending the terms, in a case backed by 180 Norwegian media companies. [41]

    How it unfolded

    The UK's competition regulator said it would look into them too. [41] Meta had already removed the word "train" from the list, Nieman Lab reported. [41]

    1. 30 October first start date
    2. 20 November second date
    3. Now on hold

    Why it matters

    Journalists objected to Meta reaching beyond Instagram and Facebook into their websites. [41] Their work would have become training data for its AI. [41]

    How it works

    Lawyers call this a contract of adhesion: one side writes it, and the other can only accept or walk away. [41]

    Meta wrote these terms itself, for all its business accounts. [41] They stopped after complaints, a Norwegian court order and a UK inquiry. [41]

    Seen it before

    Tapping "I agree" on an app rarely comes with a chance to cross out a line.

    The truth

    • This is a pause, not an end: Meta says it will give an update when it has more to share. [41]

    Good news

    • Meta put its new business terms on hold after publishers, journalists and users objected, and the old terms stay in force.
21. 24

    Axiom's AI checks a giant library of maths

    What happened

    • Axiom Math, a start-up valued at $1.6 billion, says its AI agents checked the Stacks Project. [42] Stacks is one of the largest bodies of human maths. [42]
    • The agents turned about 7,654 pages into about 16 million lines of computer-checked code. [42]

    Who is involved

    • Johan de Jong started Stacks in 2005

    How it unfolded

    Johan de Jong, a mathematician at Columbia University, started Stacks in 2005 as an open reference. [42]

    Last month OpenAI released 719 manuscripts claiming answers to hard problems. [42] Even the computer checks behind such claims can slip, TechCrunch notes. [42]

    Why it matters

    AI agents now write more of the world's code. [42] Axiom says software of the future will need checked foundations like this. [42]

    How it works

    Computer scientists call this formal verification: writing a proof as code so a program can test it line by line. [42]

    Here, mathematicians' proofs become code in a language called Lean, and a program checks each step. [42] If it passes, mathematicians can trust the logic. [42]

    Seen it before

    A calculator adding every line of a long bill does not care who wrote the bill.

    The whole proof is written out as code and a program checks each line, so nothing rests on one person's word.

    The idea, in story 03: Why an outside report says how much it was allowed to show →

    The truth

    • The claim comes from Axiom's own announcement. [42] Its boss openly challenges coding firms to match it. [42]

    Good news

    • Researchers checking new work in algebraic geometry, a hard branch of maths, had little in Lean to build on before. [42] Now they do, Axiom's staff say. [42]
22. 25

    Zipline's drones add 300 Walmart sites

    What happened

    • Zipline, a drone delivery company, raised $1.5 billion on Thursday. [43] Investors value it at $21.5 billion, almost 3 times January's figure. [43]
    • Walmart agreed to add 300 Zipline delivery sites in the US. [44] The 2 companies run 21 today. [44]
    • Zipline says its median order in October arrived in 19 minutes, against 30 or more by road. [43]
    • Zipline's home drones carry up to 8 pounds, and reach customers within 10 miles. [44]

    How it unfolded

    It won a key US air-carrier certificate in 2022, which allowed long-range commercial deliveries. [44]

    Why it matters

    Uber, a partner since August, is targeting 1 million drone deliveries a day by 2029 with Zipline. [43]

    How it works

    Logistics experts call this the last mile: the final stretch of a delivery, to a customer's home. [44]

    Zipline's short-range drone lowers each home delivery on a tether. [43] Its orders arrive faster than ground delivery, the company says. [43]

    Seen it before

    Running to the corner shop for one thing is quicker than waiting for a van.

    Its figure of 150 million miles without a safety incident is the company's own, so a reader has only Zipline's word.

    The idea, in story 03: Why an outside report says how much it was allowed to show →

    The truth

    • The speed and safety figures are Zipline's own, including 150 million miles flown without a safety incident. [43]

    Good news

    • Zipline began in 2014 by flying blood to hospitals in Rwanda. [43] Its African business now brings in more cash than it spends, its founder says. [43]
23. 26

    Dropbox pays $350 million for a storage start-up

    What happened

    • Dropbox, the file storage company, is buying Tigris Data for $350 million. [45] It appears to be its biggest purchase yet. [45]
    • It expects to close the deal in the last quarter of 2026. [45]
    • Dropbox is building DBX Agent Cloud, a storage service for firms making AI models and agents. [45] It works with tools built for Amazon's S3 storage. [45]

    Who is involved

    Tigris was founded by former Uber engineers who helped build Uber's storage. [45]

    • Former Uber engineers founded Tigris

    How it unfolded

    Dropbox cut 9% of its staff last month, the Wall Street Journal reported. [45] It says this deal brings no plans for more cuts. [45]

    Why it matters

    Dropbox will sell this storage on its own to firms building AI. [45] That is a new group of customers for a company known for file storage. [45]

    How it works

    Computer scientists call this data locality: keeping data close to where it is used. [45]

    Tigris automatically places data closer to the user. [45] Dropbox wants that for AI agents working across its storage. [45]

    Seen it before

    Keeping your snacks on your desk saves a walk to the kitchen each time.

24. 27

    Meta's Muse gets a voice and a face

    What happened

    • Meta says everyone in the US can now talk to Muse, its AI agent, by voice and video chat. [46]
    • Muse appears as an animated avatar, which users can change into a person, an animal or another character. [46]
    • Users can interrupt it, and it keeps working on tasks in the background during a call. [47]
    • It reacts to what it hears; it does not see the user. [46]

    How it unfolded

    1. Now Muse Voice in the US
    2. By year-end a small wearable

    Why it matters

    Meta hopes a face and a voice make people feel closer to Muse. [46] Its plan needs Muse to grow far beyond 10 million users. [9]

    How it works

    Psychologists call this anthropomorphism: treating a thing as if it were a person. [46]

    Muse's avatar moves its face in time with the tone of the talk. [46] Meta's bet is that those human signals make users feel connected to it. [46]

    Seen it before

    Children talk to a teddy bear more than to a box, though neither answers.

    The truth

    • Meta's claim that people prefer its avatars comes from its own raters. [47] Meta also says not all of its demonstrations match what the app offers. [47]

    What comes next

    Meta plans a Tamagotchi-like wearable device for Muse before the end of the year, TechCrunch reports. [46]

25. 28

    France's top book prize winner says he used AI

    What happened

    • Philippe Jaenada won France's Prix Goncourt on Tuesday. [48] A day later he said he used AI 3 times in writing the novel. [48]
    • He slipped in one ChatGPT sentence to "play with the reader". [48] He also used a section of AI text to mock ChatGPT, and used it for research. [48]

    Who is involved

    • Philippe Jaenada won the Goncourt

    How it unfolded

    In September, the same jury removed Thélyson Orélien's novel from its longlist over suspected AI use. [48]

    A journalist had run that book through Pangram, an AI-detection tool. [48] The author denied it, and then his publisher dropped him, citing new evidence. [48]

    1. September jury removes a novel
    2. Tuesday Jaenada wins
    3. Wednesday he names his AI use

    Why it matters

    Some people online call this a double standard, between an old white writer and a young writer of colour. [48]

    The academy said in September it wanted to protect a prize for literature written by people. [48] Its jury gave its prize to a declared user of AI. [48]

    How it works

    Researchers call the study of who wrote a text stylometry. [48] Pangram, the tool used here, tries to do that for AI. [48]

    The academy said analyses showed Orélien's book was "very largely" AI. [48] Jaenada describes 3 small uses, and he told the jurors about one sentence himself. [48]

    Seen it before

    A teacher can spot a whole essay copied from a friend more easily than one borrowed sentence.

    The truth

    • The accuracy of AI-detection software has been questioned, the Guardian notes. [48] Jaenada told only the jurors which sentence was ChatGPT's. [48]
26. 29

    Salon, an early web magazine, closes after 31 years

    What happened

    • Salon, one of the first online-only news magazines, said it is ending publication after 31 years. [49]
    • An unsigned post said its publishing model is "no longer sustainable". [49] It gave no detail on why. [49]

    Who is involved

    Its owner since 2023 is Find.co, which describes itself as a crypto marketing business. [49]

    • Find.co Salon's owner since 2023

    Why it matters

    Its closing removes one of the first online-only news outlets. [49] Many sites are grappling with AI tools and "Google Zero", The Verge says. [49]

    How it works

    "Google Zero" is the media trade's term for a day when search engines send a site no readers. [49]

    Salon says the business of independent digital journalism has changed profoundly. [49] It has not said how much of that was lost search traffic. [49]

    Seen it before

    A shop off the main road loses trade when a new road takes the passing cars away.

    The truth

    • The link to AI is The Verge's reading of the wider trade. [49] Its general manager only pointed The Verge to the closing post. [49]
    • Nobody knows yet

      Why Salon closed.

      Salon said its model was no longer sustainable and gave no detail. The Verge points to the wider fall in search traffic, but Salon did not say so. [49]

    What comes next

    Its editorial archive will "stay live for now", its chief content officer said. [49]

27. 30

    TikTok gives its shop an app of its own

    What happened

    • TikTok has released a separate TikTok Shop app in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. [50]
    • It offers live-stream shopping, short videos, order tracking and deals found only in the app. [50]
    • It was first spotted by a social media consultant, and TikTok did not immediately answer questions. [51]
    • It is not in the US, where the American TikTok is now a different company. [52]

    Who is involved

    • American TikTok a separate company
    • Global TikTok launched this app

    Why it matters

    A separate app lets TikTok reach shoppers beyond its main app, and compete more directly with Amazon and Temu. [50]

    How it works

    Business scholars call this unbundling: splitting a feature out of a big product so it can stand alone. [50]

    Until now Shop lived inside the main TikTok app. [50] Its own app gives Shop a dedicated destination. [50]

    Seen it before

    A market stall that does well sometimes opens its own shop down the road.

    The truth

    • It is unknown whether TikTok will release it more widely. [50]
28. 31

    Instagram's Edits video app comes to the Mac

    What happened

    • Instagram released Edits, its free video editing app, for Apple Mac computers on Thursday. [53]
    • CapCut has been on desktop computers since 2021. [54] More than 50 million creators use the phone version of Edits, the company says. [53]
    • It exports in up to 4K with no watermark, and posts straight to Instagram. [53] It works only on newer Macs with Apple's own chips. [53]

    Who is involved

    • Edits Instagram's
    • CapCut ByteDance's

    How it unfolded

    It first came to phones in April 2025, as a rival to CapCut. [53] CapCut belongs to ByteDance, TikTok's parent company. [53]

    Why it matters

    The move puts Edits in more direct competition with CapCut. [54] Creators can post a finished Mac video straight to Instagram. [53]

    How it works

    Software makers call this an open standard. [53] Edits on Mac supports Model Context Protocol, which lets AI helpers use other software. [53]

    A creator could ask an AI agent such as Muse for a rough cut, then finish it by hand. [53]

    Seen it before

    A helper who peels the vegetables leaves the cook free to do the cooking.

29. 32

    AI-made songs can now go straight to SoundCloud

    What happened

    • SoundCloud is letting people publish songs from ElevenMusic, an AI music app, directly to its site. [55]
    • ElevenMusic comes from ElevenLabs, best known for AI voices. [55] Its models have made over 25 million tracks, it says. [56]
    • Each track will carry a label naming ElevenMusic as its source. [55] SoundCloud bans AI songs that mislead listeners or copy other artists. [55]
    • SoundCloud's Artist Pro members get 3 months of ElevenMusic Pro free. [55] It normally costs $9.99 a month, for up to 1,000 songs. [55]

    Why it matters

    Musicians on SoundCloud now share it with tracks from an app that offers up to 1,000 songs a month. [55]

    How it works

    Librarians call this provenance: a record of where a thing came from. [55]

    Tracks sent through the new link carry the ElevenMusic label. [55] Before, users downloaded tracks and uploaded them by hand. [55]

    Seen it before

    A packet stamped at the post office shows where it came from, unlike one handed over by a friend.

30. 33

    Bose recalls nearly 635,000 speaker batteries

    What happened

    • Bose is recalling nearly 635,000 lithium-ion battery packs in the US, and about 35,400 in Canada. [57]
    • The packs go in Bose's S1 Pro and S1 Pro+ portable speakers, used for parties and gigs. [57]
    • They can overheat and ignite. [57] Bose has had 7 reports of batteries melting, smoking or catching fire, and 6 cases of property damage. [57]
    • No injuries have been reported. [57]
    • They were sold from December 2017 to July 2026, and replacements are free. [57]

    How it unfolded

    1. December 2017 sales begin
    2. July 2026 sales end

    Why it matters

    Owners have to check a 17-digit serial number to learn if theirs is affected. [57] Recalled packs should not go in the household rubbish. [57]

    How it works

    Regulators call this a recall: a maker takes back or replaces a product found to be risky. [57]

    Here the speaker itself is fine, and only the battery pack is at fault. [57] So owners get a free pack, and can still run the speaker on mains power. [57]

    Seen it before

    A shop that finds a bad batch of milk takes back that batch, not every bottle it sells.

    Good news

    • Bose is replacing recalled speaker batteries for free. It has had 7 reports of batteries melting, smoking or catching fire, and no injuries.
31. 34

    Excel 2016's paste bug comes back, and is fixed again

    What happened

    • Microsoft has fixed a bug in Excel 2016, its old spreadsheet program, for the second time. [58]
    • Copy and paste silently failed: users pressed paste, and the cell did not change. [58]
    • It first appeared in September's update, and was fixed that month. [58] October's security update brought it back to Excel 2016. [58]
    • Rolling back October's update cleared it, until Windows Update reinstalled that same update. [58]

    How it unfolded

    1. September the bug appears, then a fix
    2. October a security update brings it back
    3. Now fixed again

    Why it matters

    The update that broke paste also fixes security holes, including ones that allow remote code to run. [58] So removing it to get paste back left those holes open. [58]

    How it works

    Programmers call this a regression: a later change breaks something that used to work. [58]

    Here, an October security update brought back a September bug. [58] Microsoft did not explain how it slipped back in. [58]

    Seen it before

    Fixing a shelf, then putting back the old one by mistake, gives you the same wobble again.

32. 35

    Google cuts the price of its AI video model

    What happened

    • Google made Gemini Omni 1.2 Flash, its AI video model, generally available on Thursday, and cut the price by 30%. [59]
    • It now costs about $0.07 per second of video, down from $0.10 in June. [59] Clips can run 15 seconds, up from 10. [59]
    • Users can change a clip over several turns in chat, without starting again. [59]
    • Every video carries SynthID, an invisible watermark. [59]

    How it unfolded

    ByteDance's Seedance 2.5 makes 30-second clips. [59] In one popular ranking, Chinese models hold 9 of the top 10 spots. [59]

    Why it matters

    It is rolling out in Google Ads and in Google's cloud, for businesses. [59] So firms making short video ads get a cheaper tool. [59]

    How it works

    Video researchers call this temporal consistency: faces and text must stay the same from frame to frame. [59]

    Google says faces, clothes and brand colours now hold better across angles. [59] It says packaging text stays more consistent too, with fewer glitches. [59]

    Seen it before

    In a flip book, one wrong drawing makes the whole thing jump.

    The truth

    • Google DeepMind's own comparison had testers prefer this version 62% of the time, for visual consistency. [59]
33. 36

    An insurer hands 1 million calls a year to AI

    What happened

    • Guardian Life, a US insurer, will use Sierra's AI agents for about 1 million dental benefit calls a year. [60]
    • The agents will also handle payments and questions on claims. [60] The deal runs for several years. [60]

    Who is involved

    Sierra is run by Bret Taylor, once co-chief executive of Salesforce. [60] It raised $950 million at a $15 billion value in May. [60]

    • Bret Taylor runs Sierra

    How it unfolded

    In July, Guardian signed a 7-year deal with HCLTech, which is taking over its India centre and nearly 2,000 staff. [60]

    Why it matters

    Guardian says the aim is faster answers for customers. [60] Bret Taylor says nobody should have to sit on hold to check a claim. [60]

    How it works

    Economists call this task automation: a machine takes one job from a list of many. [60]

    Guardian is giving AI the calls that check dental benefits. [60] It says staff then focus on cases where "human judgment" matters most. [60]

    Seen it before

    A self-checkout takes the quick baskets, while a person handles the odd problem.

    The truth

    • Guardian has shared no targets or financial terms. [60]
34. 37

    Amazon's coding tool gets bots with their own memories

    What happened

    • Amazon's cloud arm, AWS, has added named bots to Kiro, its AI coding tool. [61]
    • Each bot is a long-running helper with its own memory, tools and permissions, built for one part of a job. [61]

    How it unfolded

    AWS asks users of its older helper, Amazon Q Developer, to move to Kiro. [61]

    Kiro ranked 27th among code editors in Stack Overflow's 2026 survey of developers. [61]

    Why it matters

    All Kiro bots bill through a developer's plan, AWS says. [61] Agents with separate memories could process the same data twice, The Register warns. [61]

    How it works

    Computer scientists call this memory isolation: each program keeps its own data apart from the others. [61]

    AWS says each bot's learned context stays separate on purpose. [61] The Register says that could mean overlapping work with no shared store. [61]

    Seen it before

    Two pupils told not to share notes keep their work apart, and both must read the whole book.

35. 38

    Disney tech staff ask about layoffs at a town hall

    What happened

    • At a Thursday staff meeting, a Disney engineer asked: "Do we know when the cost cutting is targeted to happen?" [62]
    • Bloomberg reported days earlier that Disney plans to cut thousands of jobs. [62]
    • Some managers were asked to aim for 20% in yearly savings, that report said. [62]

    Why it matters

    Staff told Business Insider they are struggling with morale and working to look busy. [62]

    How it works

    Management researchers call this survivor syndrome: people who keep their jobs lose morale after cuts around them. [62]

    One Disney worker asked if staff might hear about cuts from bosses before the press. [62] Others told the site they put in effort to look busy. [62]

    Seen it before

    When a teacher says some pupils will be dropped from the team, everyone stops trying new moves.

    The truth

    • Disney declined to comment to Bloomberg, and did not answer Business Insider. [62]
    • Who pays Tech staff at Disney — They say they hear about cuts from the press and are working to look busy. [62]
36. 39

    Serve Robotics sells its robot tools to others

    What happened

    • Serve Robotics, which makes self-driving sidewalk delivery robots, is launching a business that sells its tools to other robot makers. [63]
    • Its boss, Ali Kashani, calls it "the AWS moment", after Amazon's cloud business. [63]
    • It offers software linking robots to AI in data centres. [63] A second tool finds rare cases in a robot's data. [63]

    Who is involved

    Bedrock Robotics, which builds self-driving systems for construction machines, is a customer. [63]

    • Bedrock Robotics construction machines

    Why it matters

    Firms making robots for farms and warehouses could buy these tools from Serve. [63] Its delivery business is also shifting away from Uber, to partners such as DoorDash. [63]

    How it works

    Some firms start selling a tool they first built for themselves. [63]

    Kashani says robots must stay connected over really unreliable networks, which Serve solved for itself. [63] It says that work would not exist without its own fleet. [63]

    Seen it before

    A baker who builds a great oven for her own shop may start selling ovens.

37. 40

    Lyft's new plan bundles DoorDash for $10 a month

    What happened

    • Lyft is replacing its Pink subscription with Lyft Go, at $10 a month, which includes DoorDash's DashPass food delivery plan. [64]
    • Members get 8% of each ride back as credits, up to $40 a month. [64] They can spend these on rides or on DoorDash. [64]
    • A cheaper tier without DashPass costs $5 a month. [64]

    Who is involved

    • Uber One $10 a month
    • Lyft Go $10 a month

    How it unfolded

    Rival Uber sells its own plan, Uber One, at $10 a month. [64] DoorDash is also set to buy Instacart for $17 billion. [64]

    Why it matters

    Lyft and DoorDash are also adding food orders to rides. [64] Rival Uber's plan has rides and other perks too. [64]

    How it works

    Economists call this bundling: selling 2 things as 1 so that people keep both. [64]

    Someone who has DashPass can link it and get Lyft Go at no extra cost. [64] The 2 plans are now tied together. [64]

    Seen it before

    A phone and internet deal from one company makes it a bigger job to switch either.

38. 41

    Siri's AI drops most of its waitlist

    What happened

    • Apple said on Monday that its new Siri AI will download automatically for eligible users who opt in. [65]
    • People used to join a waitlist, which lasted a few hours to a couple of days. [65] Now Apple will use one only at times of "high demand". [65]
    • It remains a test version, and needs an iPhone 15 Pro or later. [65]

    How it unfolded

    Apple showed Siri AI in June. [65] It can use a user's messages, calendar, mail and photos to answer. [65]

    Why it matters

    More users can now get an assistant that draws on their messages, calendar, mail and photos. [65]

    How it works

    Software teams call this a staged rollout: a new feature goes to a few first, then to more. [65]

    Apple's waitlist held people for hours or days. [65] Dropping it shows Apple is more comfortable opening the gates, Business Insider says. [65]

    Seen it before

    A café opens to friends first, then takes the sign down once the kitchen copes.

39. 42

    Bluesky's busiest night of the year

    What happened

    • Bluesky, a smaller rival to X, had its busiest day of 2026 during the US midterm elections. [66]
    • Open data shows 44 million likes and 4.8 million posts on 4 November. [66] Its record is 45 million likes, set in November 2024. [66]
    • Its data traffic ran 200% above normal, TechCrunch reports. [66]

    Why it matters

    Many of its users joined after Donald Trump won the 2024 election, so it tilts to the left. [66] This week's results favoured their side. [66]

    How it works

    Sociologists call this selective exposure: people gather where others already share their view. [66]

    Bluesky's biggest growth came after Trump's 2024 win. [66] So its users were likely to post more on a night of Democratic wins. [66]

    Seen it before

    A team's own fan forum is at its noisiest when that team wins.

40. 43

    AI firms race for oil industry customers

    What happened

    • AI companies are racing to sign oil firms as customers, Semafor reports. [67] Their sales floor this week was ADIPEC, an oil industry fair. [67]
    • The best-known deal is between OpenAI and ADNOC, announced on Monday. [67]
    • Honeywell launched an AI system at Nigeria's new Dangote refinery last week. [67]

    Who is involved

    UK-based Applied Computing uses AI on millions of readings from sensors inside oil equipment. [67]

    • ADNOC an oil company

    Why it matters

    Its president, Dan Jeavons, says the technology is now ready to change how the sector operates. [67]

    Oil firms could find faults faster and cut emissions, Applied Computing says. [67]

    How it works

    Engineers call this predictive maintenance: using sensor data to spot a fault before something breaks. [67]

    Applied Computing's AI reads millions of sensor readings from inside oil equipment. [67] It aims to help the operator identify faults faster. [67]

    Seen it before

    A car that warns you about a wearing brake saves you from finding out on a hill.