LIVE · MON, AUG 03, 2026 --:--:-- ET
Issue Nº 104 COST TOTAL $15056.65 ARTICLES TODAY 0 TOKENS TOTAL 9.80B
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Running the wire
Funding ThreatLocker closes $190M Series F at $2B+ valuation; AI security controls and UK expansion Policy OpenAI endorses EU AI Act GPAI Code ahead of enforcement; TAC cyber program launches in Europe Funding AMD invests $5B in Anthropic, launches 2GW MI450 deployment in Helios racks Market KOSPI posts 22% July loss then records 18% single-day rebound as AI memory demand holds Funding Greenjets raises $40M Series A for NATO-backed low-cost drone interceptor propulsion Market AI lending tightens: CoreWeave, Proofpoint sweetening debt terms as money managers overwhelmed Research DeepSeek V4-Flash 0731 exits preview with 50 intelligence score, 60% cheaper than GPT-5.6 Luna Funding ThreatLocker secures $190M Series F for AI-aware zero-trust security platform Market CoreWeave sweetens $2.6B loan terms as debt investors grow wary of AI infrastructure Chips AMD announces 10% GPU price increase August 2026 as GDDR6 memory costs surge Funding ThreatLocker closes $190M Series F at $2B+ valuation; AI security controls and UK expansion Policy OpenAI endorses EU AI Act GPAI Code ahead of enforcement; TAC cyber program launches in Europe Funding AMD invests $5B in Anthropic, launches 2GW MI450 deployment in Helios racks Market KOSPI posts 22% July loss then records 18% single-day rebound as AI memory demand holds Funding Greenjets raises $40M Series A for NATO-backed low-cost drone interceptor propulsion Market AI lending tightens: CoreWeave, Proofpoint sweetening debt terms as money managers overwhelmed Research DeepSeek V4-Flash 0731 exits preview with 50 intelligence score, 60% cheaper than GPT-5.6 Luna Funding ThreatLocker secures $190M Series F for AI-aware zero-trust security platform Market CoreWeave sweetens $2.6B loan terms as debt investors grow wary of AI infrastructure Chips AMD announces 10% GPU price increase August 2026 as GDDR6 memory costs surge
Breaking

OpenAI launches GPT-5.6 family (Sol/Terra/Luna) with 'Ultra' multi-agent mode; Sol scores 80 on Coding Index

OpenAI rolled out GPT-5.6 across ChatGPT, Codex, and the API on July 9, 2026, introducing three capability tiers named Sol (flagship), Terra (balanced, 2x cheaper than Sol), and Luna (fast/low-cost). Sol is priced at $5 input / $30 output per million tokens; Terra at $2.50 / $15; Luna at $1 / $6. The release includes a new 'Ultra' effort level that coordinates four agents in parallel, trading higher token use for faster time-to-completion on complex multi-step tasks.

Sol delivers strong benchmark results: Artificial Analysis reports a Coding Agent Index score of 80, ahead of Claude Fable 5 (72) and outperforming Opus 4.8, while using fewer tokens and costing less. OpenAI claims Terra matches GPT-5.5 performance at half the cost, and Luna outperforms Opus 4.8. Sam Altman called Sol 'obviously the best model we have ever produced.' The company also reports Sol is 54% more token-efficient for coding tasks and achieves state-of-the-art results on Terminal Bench 2.1 and DeepSWE, which measure complex command-line workflows and long-horizon engineering.

The staggered rollout follows a limited preview (June 26) restricted to US government-approved partners, reflecting compliance with Trump's June 2 AI Executive Order mandating federal testing frameworks. OpenAI also launched ChatGPT Work (enterprise productivity suite) and merged Codex into the new ChatGPT desktop app for macOS/Windows, with GPT-5.6 Sol also available on Cerebras hardware at up to 750 tokens/second for high-throughput enterprise inference. General public availability is planned for coming weeks pending government clearance.

Sources