Model Mayhem
Plus: 1X's highly dextrous new robot hands, layoffs at Sonos, long-time Costco employees becoming millionaires
Happy Thursday.
The current things in tech and business are the near simultaneous releases of OpenAI’s GPT 5.6, Meta’s agentic and coding model Muse Spark, and SpaceXAI’s agentic and coding model Grok 4.5.
Today’s Lineup
Mobile Dev Memo Analyst Eric Seufert at 11:30 AM
1X Founder & CEO Bernt Bornich at 11:55 AM
CAA Head of Podcast Department Josh Lindgren at 12:00 PM
Ollama Co-Founder & CEO Jeff Morgan at 12:20 PM
OpenAI Member of Technical Staff Thibault Sottiaux at 12:30 PM
Ridge CEO Sean Frank at 12:45 PM
Run of Show
It’s Model Mayhem Today
Several frontier AI labs have released major new models within the past 24 hours (links to each in the Headlines section below).
xAI unveiled Grok 4.5, its first model built specifically for coding and AI agents, developed in collaboration with Cursor. Meta announced Muse Spark, a new agentic coding model, with Mark Zuckerberg returning to X for the first time in years to post about the launch. OpenAI also released GPT-5.6, a new general-purpose model with expanded coding and agent capabilities, alongside GPT Live, a new real-time interactive voice experience.
We’ll be breaking down all of these launches and what they mean on today’s show.
Clip Spotlight: Ben Thompson thinks Rockstar should charge more than $80 for GTA 6
Ben: "They should be charging like $200 for this game! GTA 6 is like, the last great game."
"It was mostly all made pre-AI. It is the pinnacle of AAA craftsmanship. Years and years and years of blood, sweat, and tears. To the extent where you have the Twitter analysts like, counting cigarette butts outside Rockstar's offices to see how much crunch they're in."
"I feel compelled to buy GTA 6, just in honor of it existing. Even if I don't know if I'm ever going to play it. I'd be happy to pay $200. $80 is ridiculous. They should charge more."
John: "You're going to get canceled for this. This is a nuclear take."
Headlines
OpenAI rolls out GPT 5.6, GPT-Live
Humanoid robot company 1X unveils new highly dextrous robot hands
Bloomberg: Zuckerberg Pledges ‘Aggressive’ Pricing With Meta’s First Pay-to-Use AI
Core Memory interviews TBPN interview, takes studio tour
Prof G Podcast: Why OpenAI Bought a Podcast — with TBPN’s John Coogan and Jordi Hays
Inside Higher Ed: Brown Professor Suspects Majority of His Class Used AI to Cheat
FT: Outspoken Chinese economist who doubted official GDP data dies
WSJ: Federal Regulator Warns Robotaxis Are a ‘Danger’ to the Public
Bloomberg: Sonos Cuts Top Design and Product Executives as Part of Layoffs
Sifted: Exclusive: Lovable in talks to raise $300m at $13.2bn valuation
WSJ: Airbnb Puts Down Roots Behind Enemy Lines by Buying Its First NYC Office
Barron’s: A New Bombshell Has Entered Prediction Markets: Love Island
WSJ: JPMorgan Plans to Target Small-Company Deals as Part of M&A Push
WSJ: He Earns $33 an Hour as a Costco Cashier. Now He’s a Millionaire.
Yahoo! Finance: Cerebras targets Europe with multibillion-dollar AI expansion, challenging Nvidia
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