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1.	OpenAI Unveils Claude Cowork Competitor, Desktop ‘Superapp’ By Kevin McLaughlin Source: The Information

OpenAI, as part of its effort to attract more business customers, announced a new agent—called ChatGPT Work—which taps into corporate data to automate the creation of spreadsheets and presentations, and can also handle more complex tasks like updating financial forecasts and conducting research.

ChatGPT Work is OpenAI’s answer to Anthropic’s popular Claude Cowork product, which that startup has used to expand the market for AI coding to non-technical users. ChatGPT Work shows how OpenAI is branching out from consumer-focused AI products as it tries to compete with Anthropic for corporate AI spending.

OpenAI also unveiled a desktop “superapp” that marries ChatGPT with Codex and the new ChatGPT Work offering. This reflects OpenAI’s recent realization that Codex is better than ChatGPT in handling long-running tasks that involve multiple steps and require the use of external tools, as we reported last month.

2.	Meta Courts Developers With New Muse Spark 1.1 Model By Rocket Drew Source: The Information

Meta Platforms said it is making its newest AI model available to developers through an application programming interface, looking to sell access to its AI for the first time after pivoting away from open source AI.

Meta on Thursday said the new model, Muse Spark 1.1, improves on the previous version of Spark, which Meta released in April, and outperforms Gemini 3.1, Opus 4.8 and GPT-5.5 on benchmarks for using software tools, answering multidisciplinary academic questions and performing financial analysis.

Spark 1.1 will be available in a chatbot format in the Meta AI app and on the Meta AI website. Meta’s decision to also release the model to developers through an API is a first for the company, which had previously targeted its AI releases at individual consumers or released its models open-source for developers to freely download and modify.

The cost of the model on the API is similar to the cost of Claude Haiku 4.5 or GPT-5.4-mini, a level that Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said is designed to draw developers. “The pricing is going to be very aggressive and attractive,” Zuckerberg told Bloomberg, adding that the new release marks the first time Meta’s models are better than Google’s. Meta is already working on a better model, codenamed Watermelon, he said.

To support its AI ambitions, Meta plans to add 7 gigawatts of computing power this year and double that amount in 2027, Reuters reported separately on Thursday, citing an internal memo.

3.	SK Hynix Raises $26.5 Billion in Record Nasdaq Debut By Henry Siu Source: The Information

South Korean memory chipmaker SK Hynix raised $26.5 billion in the largest initial public offering by a foreign company in the U.S., surpassing the record set by Alibaba’s 2014 IPO that raised $25 billion.

The company, already listed in Seoul, said it intends to use the proceeds for the construction of chipmaking facilities in South Korea. Its American depository receipts will begin trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange on Friday.

4.	Anthropic’s Trust Names Former Fed Chair Bernanke as New Member By Cory Weinberg Source: The Information

Anthropic’s Long-Term Benefit Trust, the group charged with appointing new board members for the company, named former chair of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke as its fourth member on Thursday.

Bernanke’s naming fills a key opening on the trust, which still has one of five seats vacant. The trustees, who don’t own shares in the company, “advise the board and Anthropic’s leadership on critical decisions, particularly those involving the potential risks and societal impacts of AI,” according to the company.

Bernanke, who is a distinguished fellow at the Brookings Institution, led the Fed during the 2008 global financial crisis. He said in a blog post that the “range of outcomes” for AI “will depend, in part, on the institutions we build around it.”

5.	OpenAI Leader Fidji Simo Stepping Down Amid Illness By Jason Dean Source: The Information

Fidji Simo is stepping down from her role as CEO of AGI deployment for OpenAI amid her battle with a chronic illness, the longtime tech executive said on Thursday.

Simo said in a post on X that she will transition to being a part-time advisor to OpenAI. Her announcement extends a vacancy in the leadership of the AI pioneer at a time when it is dealing with intensifying competition from Anthropic and other rivals and preparing for a possible initial public offering.

The decision comes just over three months after Simo went on a medical leave that an internal memo at the time said was supposed to last several weeks. “During that time, it became clear that the road to recovery would be much longer and more complex than I had anticipated—and that I needed to focus on it fully,” she wrote in Thursday’s post.

A former senior executive at Meta Platforms and CEO of Instacart, Simo joined OpenAI last August and had been making significant changes at the company before her leave. Earlier this year, for example, she declared to staffers that OpenAI could no longer chase “side quests” that distract it from its priorities.

OpenAI in May announced a combination of its teams working on ChatGPT, its Codex coding product and its API to press ahead with a more streamlined strategy that Simo helped develop. At the time, the company said it was still looking forward to her return.