Innovation

Meta released Muse Spark Open on Thursday, October 15, calling it the most capable United States open-weight model to date. Unlike a closed system that stays behind a company API, an open-weight release lets developers download the trained parameters, adapt the model, and run it on their own hardware. Meta is aiming this one squarely at coding and agentic work: long, multi-step software tasks that require reasoning, tool use, and sustained context rather than a single quick answer.

The company that makes the machines behind the world's most advanced chips just posted its strongest quarter on record, and its message to customers was blunt: even a faster buildout may not be enough to keep up with artificial intelligence demand.

Quantum computing company IonQ announced on Monday, October 12 that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Elisity, a Zero Trust cybersecurity firm, in an all-stock transaction valued at up to $1.3 billion. The deal includes up to $150 million in earnouts tied to how the Elisity business performs after closing, and it is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approval and other customary conditions.

Jeff Bezos thinks AI could hand workers something no union has ever secured: a three-day workweek.

Waymo is borrowing money for the first time — a sign that robotaxis are growing up.

On October 8, the Alphabet self-driving unit announced it had closed a $5 billion term loan, marking its first debt financing. In a company blog post, CFO Steve Fieler said the capital would support the expansion of Waymo's fully autonomous ride-hailing service across the U.S. and internationally, calling the loan "an important step in our evolution into a scaling commercial enterprise."

OpenAI's biggest model upgrade of the year is not just a model upgrade — it is a redesign of what a chatbot answer looks like.

On October 7, OpenAI began rolling out GPT-6 across ChatGPT, starting with Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise users and expanding to Free and Go tiers the next day. The audience is enormous: OpenAI says more than 1.2 billion people use ChatGPT each week. Paid tiers run GPT-6 Sol; free users get GPT-6 Luna, both tuned for everyday conversation.

Apple's big smart-home moment arrives Tuesday — and this time the company is going all in.

At its "Welcome home" experience in New York on October 13, Apple is expected to unveil HomeView, its first dedicated smart-home hub, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The name surfaced in a trademark filing discovered by MacRumors, and Gurman has now fleshed out the details in his Power On newsletter.

The era of the chatbot that forgets you the moment you close the tab may be ending. At its DevDay developer conference last month, OpenAI unveiled "dots" — always-on AI agents in ChatGPT designed to keep working toward a user's goals without being told every step. "Dots are remarkably capable, always-on agents built to handle really anything you can think of," CEO Sam Altman said during the keynote.

The AI industry's fight over Washington's attention has a new front. Anthropic is building a formal "presidential engagement" program to work directly with both parties' 2028 presidential candidates on AI policy — a dedicated in-house political operation that experts say they have never quite seen from a technology company.

British quantum computing company Universal Quantum has raised more than $100 million in a Series A round the company describes as the largest ever secured by a UK-headquartered quantum firm. The round was co-led by Silicon Valley's DCVC and the quantum-focused Firgun Ventures, with participation from EDBI, Main Sequence, Hostplus, Integral GlobalTech, and Roblox founder Dave Baszucki, among other investors.