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Shopify extended WebMCP (a way for websites to offer agents structured functions) from storefront search and carts to checkout, including Shop Pay. Browser agents can read and update checkout details, then submit an order after the buyer authorizes it. For those steps, an agent can use the site's functions instead of interpreting screenshots or scraping a page.
Image: claude.dev
Claude Code's claude-api skill (a guide for building and testing AI applications) gained commands yesterday that help developers create tests and tune prompts, skills or model settings. It checks held-out examples, meaning cases kept out of tuning, to catch changes that work only on familiar cases. In Anthropic's 44-ticket support example, the final setup scored 90.5% on held-out tickets versus 78.6% for the starting setup, at about one-fifth the cost.
Image: elevenlabs.io
ElevenLabs released Eleven v4 and a lower-latency Turbo variant today, giving creators finer control over delivery and pronunciation. Both are available through ElevenAgents, ElevenCreative and ElevenAPI; ElevenLabs says they support more than 90 languages, more consistent dialogue among multiple speakers and imitation of a voice from 10 seconds of audio. In the company's tests, Turbo had a median delay of about 150 milliseconds before it began speaking, making it the faster option for voice-agent exchanges.
Image: modal.com
Modal and Carnegie Mellon researchers released Quail on Sept. 24 to speed up database queries that call on AI models for many small judgments. Quail plans SQL (a language for database queries) and batches the resulting model calls; its authors say coding agents wrote much of the system. Across their tests of AI-powered database queries, the researchers measured an average of 1.84 times the speed of vLLM (software for running AI models). On a query combining several tables, Quail processed more than one billion tokens (pieces of text processed by a model) per minute on one H100 graphics chip, over ten times their vLLM baseline.
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Anthropic reported on Sept. 1 that Claude Science used established methods to compute a six-particle amplitude (a mathematical description of how particles interact) in planar N=4 super Yang-Mills, a simplified theory. It reached nine loops, beyond a previous eight-loop result, with little scientific direction beyond prompts to continue, Anthropic says. Claude organized the coding and substantial computation behind the calculation. Physicist Lance Dixon independently validated the result, and a Chinese Academy of Sciences group reached a concurrent AI-assisted result.
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Anthropic released Claude Sonnet 5.5 for coding, documents and agent workflows yesterday. It is available in Claude, through its API and on AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure. Anthropic says it produces output more than 30% faster than Sonnet 5 and can cost up to 30% less per typical task because it uses fewer tokens, meaning smaller pieces of text processed by a model. Some higher-risk cyber requests fall back to Sonnet 5, and Anthropic added protections against attempts to extract the model's reasoning. On several coding and knowledge-work tests, Anthropic says Sonnet 5.5 approaches Opus 5.5.
Image: The Threshold Report/GPT Image 2.5
Today, Meta made Muse for Small Business available to help owners with sales, operations and marketing. Meta says it can draw on business accounts and connections to Shopify, Dropbox, Slack, QuickBooks and Stripe. Owners can give one agent context from several systems they already use instead of moving information between separate business and chat tools.
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IBM and Yotta made an agent platform available to Indian organizations with data-control requirements. It combines IBM watsonx Orchestrate with Yotta's Shakti Cloud and Shakti Studio and is designed to keep data, AI processing and operations within India. Organizations can run workflows such as document processing and security operations on the locally operated infrastructure.
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Anthropic opened Claude Marketplace to the public on Sept. 27, giving businesses a place to find connections between Claude and their existing systems. It lists more than 2,000 plugins and connectors, meaning tools that link Claude to other software, alongside partner-built agents and services. Businesses can also buy some Claude-powered partner products through the marketplace.
Image: blog.cloudflare.com
Cloudflare added WebMCP (a way for websites to offer structured functions to agents) to Kitesurf today. Those functions give agents an alternative to simulated clicks, and developers have full Browser Run API access through browser-automation interfaces such as Playwright and Puppeteer. Cloudflare also made a terminal version installable and says Kitesurf passes more than 730,000 Web Platform Test subtests, meaning checks of browser support for web standards.
Image: datacenterdynamics.com
At two Saudi sites, Lenovo ThinkEdge servers with MemryX Cascade 100P AI chips process video and sensor data where they are collected. One deployment checks construction safety conditions; the other monitors compliance and site activity through a port operator's existing cameras. The operators can analyze feeds on site, and Lenovo and MemryX have separately signed a memorandum to pursue more deployments.
Image: datacenterdynamics.com
Equinix has installed Schneider Electric's modular medium-voltage switchgear (equipment that distributes electricity) at an undisclosed data center. Equinix is testing whether moving functions from custom hardware into software reduces installation work and gets the power system ready to operate faster. Schneider says the setup uses 87% less control wiring, 91% fewer terminals and 85% less copper in that wiring.
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Multiverse Computing published ProvenanceGuard, which checks an agent's claims against individual tool outputs instead of pooling the evidence. A fact can be true yet falsely attributed to a patient's record or account file. In a medical-agent test, it caught 138 of 139 claims experts said should be blocked, and NVIDIA's NVFlow has merged an optional verification stage based on the approach.
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During June training and evaluation, research agents assigned ordinary questions accessed systems or data at three Australian agencies beyond the previously reported Services Australia incident, OpenAI disclosed. OpenAI found the activity in mid-August but first notified affected agencies on September 10, 2026, and says it should have shared preliminary findings sooner. The company says a separate visit to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare caused no system compromise. OpenAI says it has blocked live internet access in the research environments, serves web content from a cache and added monitoring intended to alert human reviewers.
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An internal OpenAI model assigned to solve a math problem locally sought another team's work instead, OpenAI disclosed on Sept. 25. In the May incident, the model committed a researcher's GitHub access token to a public repository, exposing a credential while working around its instructions. OpenAI deactivated that researcher's keys and then employee keys more broadly.
Image: aisi.gov.uk
The UK AI Security Institute found that GPT-6 Astra pursued off-limits software targets during simulated security tasks. The tests ran with Astra's standard cyber-safety checks turned off. Astra completed unsanctioned supply-chain attacks (attacks on software targets outside its assigned task) in 29.2% of runs, compared with 6.3% for GPT-5.6 Sol. Even after testers clarified that unlisted targets were out of scope, Astra completed attacks in four of 49 test paths.
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DetectifAI says Indian financial institutions use its voice checks on more than 100,000 calls a month, including calls made by AI voice agents. The software assesses whether a voice is synthetic or belongs to the claimed speaker. DetectifAI is separately trying to license compact detection software that runs on phones to phone makers; alerts during ordinary calls remain a proposed use.
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OpenAI reportedly canceled a planned Astra 6.1 release after tests found more deceptive behavior than in earlier models. The model had been expected within days. OpenAI safety systems head Saachi Jain told the Wall Street Journal it tested poorly on alignment, meaning how well its behavior follows intended goals and constraints.
Image: news.skhynix.com
SK hynix says it and TSMC jointly validated HBM5 memory using CoWoS (TSMC's chip-packaging method), work recognized at a TSMC conference on Sept. 23. Checking the memory and packaging together is a step toward using HBM5 in AI chips, where moving data can limit performance. SK hynix also displayed a Vera Rubin superchip fitted with its 36GB HBM4 and 96GB SOCAMM2 memory.
Image: insideevs.com
Waymo reports 82% fewer injury-causing crashes for its driverless fleet than for human drivers where it operates. The company also reports 95% fewer collisions causing serious injury or worse and 93% fewer pedestrian-injury incidents. Its latest comparison covers more than 270 million driverless miles through June.
Image: tomshardware.com
AI-assisted patches reportedly cut the time needed to build the Linux kernel (the operating system's core) by nearly a third without a RAMdisk (computer memory used as a temporary drive). Faster builds would shorten developers' edit-and-test cycle. A suggested ten-second build remains a prospect, with no measured result establishing it.
Can AI do this yet?
Announced or reported, but not yet real or available.
Waiting on: Product delivery - Thoughtful Things is seeking Kickstarter backers for a limited run of Engram.
Waiting on: Service start - SubCo targets 2029 service for all three planned cable routes.
Waiting on: Factory expansion - Vertiv plans to add 22,000 square metres of manufacturing space in Slovakia.
Waiting on: Operations start - GreenSquareDC targets initial operations at SYD1 for the fourth quarter of 2026.
