Flash News

TREE NEWS update: OpenAI released GPT-6 Astra, a new model positioned as a key milestone in its decade-long quest for artificial general intelligence. President Greg Brockman said the model marks a true shift in the types of work people can delegate to AI, excelling at operating computers on users’ behalf. The release includes added cybersecurity protections.

TREE NEWS reports: Thinking Machines Lab is in talks to raise approximately $1 billion at a valuation of around $40 billion. The deal, if completed, would mark one of the largest funding rounds for an AI startup. The information was first reported by The Information.

TREE NEWS update: OpenAI announced that its systems have fully resumed normal operations. The company did not provide details on the duration or cause of the outage.

TREE NEWS update: Anthropic has resolved an issue that was impacting multiple models. The company announced the fix, restoring normal operations for affected users. Details of the problem were not disclosed.

TREE NEWS reports: Humain, an AI company backed by Saudi Arabia’s PIF, plans to raise $2.5 billion for its first fund dedicated to data center investments. The fund will finance 250 MW of data center capacity built with Al Moammar Information Systems, potentially expanding to 1 GW. The move supports growing AI computing demand in the region.

TREE NEWS update: Anthropic reported that several of its models have returned to baseline performance levels. However, Opus 4.8 and Opus 5 continue to be affected by the ongoing outage.

TREE NEWS update: OpenAI released a video on X teasing its upcoming Astra model, with visuals switching between ‘ASTRA’ and ‘A6TRA’. The model is likely named GPT-6-Astra. No release date or further details were provided.

TREE NEWS update: White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks praised an agreement between Nvidia and Hugging Face, calling it a positive step for AI development. The deal, announced this week, aims to boost AI infrastructure and accessibility. Sacks highlighted the collaboration as a model for public-private partnership, emphasizing its potential to accelerate innovation while maintaining safety standards.

TREE NEWS update: OpenAI has teased an upcoming model named Astra, with a video showing a switch between ‘ASTRA’ and ‘A6TRA’, suggesting the model could be called GPT-6-Astra. The announcement hints at a major release in the AI space, though no specific date or details have been provided.

TREE NEWS reports: Multiple AI companies are experiencing service disruptions. OpenAI said ChatGPT and Codex are currently facing issues, while Anthropic is investigating errors with Claude and xAI is looking into a Grok outage. Downdetector shows over 12,000 reports for OpenAI, about 1,200 for Claude, and roughly 1,000 for Grok.

TREE NEWS update: OpenAI announced that ChatGPT and Codex are currently experiencing outages. The company has not provided further details on the cause or expected resolution time. Users have reported issues accessing both services.

TREE NEWS update: Anthropic announced it is investigating an outage affecting its Claude AI assistant and is working to resolve the issue. The company said it is taking steps to fix the problem but provided no further details or timeline for restoration.

TREE NEWS reports: A user reported that OpenAI is experiencing numerous outages. The reports come from DownDetector, a service that tracks service disruptions. The specific services affected and the scope of the outage have not yet been detailed.

TREE NEWS update: Saudi Arabia’s Humain, backed by the Public Investment Fund, launched humain-m3 on Thursday, an Arabic-language model built on MiniMax M3. The company claims it outperforms all other frontier models in seven public Arabic benchmarks. The model is available via Humain Node, a platform for developers and enterprises.

TREE NEWS update: The SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee will hold a public meeting at SEC Headquarters in Washington D.C. on Sept. 10 at 10 a.m. ET to discuss artificial intelligence technologies in public markets and the SEC’s related initiatives. The meeting is open to the public, with agenda details to be announced.

TREE NEWS update: Quantinuum has signed a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Aramco, the Saudi state-owned oil giant. The agreement outlines potential collaboration in quantum computing applications for the energy sector. Specific terms or a timeline were not disclosed.

TREE NEWS update: Zhejiang Governor Liu Jie conducted a special research visit in Hangzhou on AI industry development, emphasizing deeper integration of innovation and industrial chains. He called for advancing the ‘AI+’ initiative to accelerate high-quality growth and build Hangzhou into a leading AI innovation hub.

TREE NEWS update: OpenAI will host 300 security leaders at its headquarters on Thursday. The meeting aims to engage with influential figures in the security community, though further details were not disclosed.

TREE NEWS update: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced Thursday that the company will acquire Hugging Face, calling it the “perfect home” for the AI platform. Hugging Face CEO Clément Delangue said his team initiated talks with Huang this summer, and a deal was reached within weeks. The platform will continue operating as an open ecosystem for AI developers and institutions.

TREE NEWS update: Nscale and Figure signed a multi-year strategic agreement to deploy NVIDIA Vera Rubin GPUs, up to 100,000 units, with initial deployment targeted for H2 2027 in Barstow, Texas. Initial compute commitment is $3.5 billion, potentially exceeding $6 billion. Nscale will become a Figure shareholder, preferred compute provider, and make a strategic investment.