Openai – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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OpenAI

OpenAI kicked off an AI revolution with DALL-E and ChatGPT, making the organization the epicenter of the artificial intelligence boom. Led by CEO Sam Altman, OpenAI became a story unto itself when Altman was briefly fired and then brought back after pressure from staff and Microsoft, an investor and close partner.

Lauren Feiner
Lauren Feiner
Sam Altman reportedly talked to the Trump administration about taking a stake in OpenAI.

The CEO pitched the idea as a way to bring economic benefits from AI to the public, according to NOTUS, which added that Altman first pitched the idea to President Donald Trump early last year.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
ChatGPT’s upgraded memory system is rolling out to everyone.

OpenAI is building upon its “dreaming” feature that allows ChatGPT to sort through your conversations and save information in the background. With the update, OpenAI says ChatGPT is better at updating memories and “remembering” your preferences across conversations.

ChatGPT Plus and Pro users can access the update now, while free users will get it in the coming weeks.

Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
ChatGPT reportedly hit 1 billion monthly active users faster than any other app.

According to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, ChatGPT reached the milestone last month, roughly three years after launching, Reuters reports. It apparently passed 1 billion MAUs faster than the other apps that have hit the benchmark, including Google Maps, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.

Microsoft and OpenAI broke up — now they’re ready to fight

‘We have to prove that we can do everything that we need to from the ground up,’ said AI chief Mustafa Suleyman.

Hayden Field and Tom Warren
Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
With 5 million weekly users, OpenAI says Codex isn’t just for programmers.

As Microsoft shows off its AI tools at Build, close frienemy OpenAI is once again promoting Codex as something for all kinds of information and knowledge-based work that goes beyond ChatGPT’s features. It’s launching new plugins, and says that business and enterprise customers have access to a new preview capable of building “interactive, hosted websites and apps” that it can keep updated with new data.

An OpenAI Codex created document for an imaginary Blossom Widgets Enterprise Summit event
Image: OpenAI
Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Florida is suing OpenAI over user safety concerns.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier accuses OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman of promoting ChatGPT even though its use can allegedly lead to “self-harm, cognitive decline, and behavioral addiction,” according to NBC News.

The state is seeking penalties and a court order instead of criminal charges, but its criminal investigation into OpenAI is ongoing.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
OpenAI’s Codex can now control your Windows computer, too.

After launching on Mac, Codex’s computer use feature is headed to Windows, which means the app can “see” your screen and perform tasks on your device. OpenAI says you can also manage and review Codex’s jobs while away from the computer using the ChatGPT app.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
OpenAI is sunsetting ChatGPT’s Canvas interface.

The feature, which let you edit code or text side-by-side with ChatGPT, will no longer be available with GPT-5.5 Instant or GPT-5.5 Thinking, according to OpenAI. ChatGPT subscribers can still access Canvas for a “limited time” through legacy models.

OpenAI is also trying to make GPT-5.5 Instant’s responses easier to read by trimming their length and cutting down on “bullet-heavy” text.

AI warfare is already here

Anthropic’s fight with the Pentagon highlights the risks of autonomous warfare — but obscures just how close it is.

Hayden Field
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
No Cannes for Critterz.

Critterz — AGC Studios’ animated feature that was produced using OpenAI’s tech — was originally scheduled to make its debut at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. But that’s no longer the case following OpenAI’s decision to shut Sora down back in March.

Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
ChatGPT for PowerPoint generates presentations with prompts.

The new ChatGPT integration for Microsoft PowerPoint, like an earlier add-on for Excel and Google Sheets, adds a sidebar where users can create or edit presentations using chatbot prompts along with documents, images, and other source material.

The feature is available now in beta for ChatGPT users with Business, Enterprise, Edu, Teacher, K-12, Free, Go, Pro, and Plus plans.

A screenshot of a ChatGPT add-on running in Microsoft PowerPoint
Image: OpenAI / Microsoft
Hayden Field
Hayden Field
Aleksander Madry is leaving OpenAI.

Madry had been one of the company’s top safety executives (“head of preparedness”) before he was reassigned to a role focused on AI reasoning last summer. On Thursday, he announced he’s leaving OpenAI to work on something new, centered on AI’s impact on the economy.

Aleksander Madry’s post

[X (formerly Twitter)]

Musk v. Altman: Much ado about nothing
Play

We sent Liz Lopatto to Musk v. Altman and all we got was this episode of Decoder

Nilay Patel
Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Former Tesla AI boss Andrej Karpathy is joining Anthropic.

Karpathy, who had also been on the founding team of OpenAI, says he will be working on R&D at Anthropic. Previously, he had been working on “new kind of school that is AI native,” and he says he’s still “deeply passionate about education” and plans to go back to it “in time.”

A screenshot of an X post from Andrej Karpathy. It says: “Personal update: I’ve joined Anthropic. I think the next few years at the frontier of LLMs will be especially formative. I am very excited to join the team here and get back to R&D. I remain deeply passionate about education and plan to resume my work on it in time.”
A screenshot of an X post from Andrej Karpathy.
Image: Andrej Karpathy on X
Musk v. Altman proved that AI is led by the wrong people

Public opinion of the AI industry is already sinking. A parade of untrustworthy executives makes it look worse.

Hayden Field
Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
The jury has delivered a unanimous verdict.

That was quick (about two hours).

Elizabeth Lopatto
Elizabeth Lopatto
An observer has just been ejected from the court by the US marshals.

I assume because he was recording, since the marshal said, “Give me your phone.” There have been several incidents of people attempting to record or take pictures throughout the trial — but I honestly am not sure why you’d record today of all days.

Elizabeth Lopatto
Elizabeth Lopatto
C. Paul Wazzan is the expert called by Musk to determine damages.

Unfortunately he does not have a lot of details YGR is asking for. He doesn’t know how many investments Musk has made (11 to date, according to Pitchbook), or how many were successful. He’s getting some pretty tough questioning from YGR in the direct exam. Among the things she’d asked, he didn’t know how many startups fail in Silicon Valley, or the success rate for assorted VC firms.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
OpenClaw now works better with OpenAI models and Codex.

As part of a new release, “your ChatGPT subscription can now power an OpenClaw agent that feels much closer to the model it is built on,” OpenAI’s Nik Pash says in a blog post.

The OpenClaw team has also been working “really hard on performance, reliability, security, and stability,” according to OpenClaw founder (and OpenAI employee) Peter Steinberger.

Musk v. Altman accomplished nothing but airing dirty laundry

The trial felt less like the fate of OpenAI and more like a window into petty grievances.

Elizabeth Lopatto
Elizabeth Lopatto
Elizabeth Lopatto
“I told you in my opening statement you wouldn’t hear very much from Microsoft, and you haven’t.”

God bless. We are in the Microsoft closing statements. “Microsoft never found a single page of a single document” that referenced Musk’s alleged restrictions on his donations during the due diligence process.

Hayden Field
Hayden Field
“I feel like I’m going to miss you all,” Savitt tells the jury.

He may be laying it on thick, but he did get a big laugh.

Hayden Field
Hayden Field
Savitt calls out the fact that Musk is abroad with President Trump today.

He reminded the jury that Musk isn’t in the courtroom while Altman and Brockman are. (Musk posted yesterday that he was en route to Beijing on Air Force One.) “They are here because they care a lot about this,” Savitt said. “Mr. Musk isn’t here. Mr. Musk came to this court for exactly one witness — Elon Musk — and he hasn’t been seen since. Now he’s in parts unknown.”

Hayden Field
Hayden Field
Savitt says Musk has “selective amnesia.”

“He claims to have heard things high atop a windy hill where no one else can hear,” Savitt told the jury. (Strange phrasing, but after the bridge metaphor from Molo, I wouldn’t expect anything less.) He also says Musk has “unclean hands” due to his “unconscionable conduct” related to the claims he’s bringing. “Only after OpenAI succeeded, against Musk’s prediction, only then did he start threatening litigation,” Savitt said.

Hayden Field
Hayden Field
Savitt is talking about the statute of limitations.

He said that by his calculations, people said things like “I don’t remember” and “I don’t recall” between 150 and 200 times during this trial so far — using this to bolster his argument that Musk had waited too long to bring his claims.

Elizabeth Lopatto
Elizabeth Lopatto
Here’s the jackass trophy that the jury didn’t get to see.

You may remember that yesterday I was completely tickled by the possibility that the jury might get to see this. Even YGR seemed tickled by it. Unfortunately, she ruled that discussing it was fine but unless the Musk team gave them reason to introduce it, the jurors wouldn’t see so much as a photo. But this is the trophy Josh Achiam got for getting yelled at by Elon Musk.

An image of what looks like a little league trophy but is in fact half a jackass (the animal) with the inscription “Never stop being a jackass for safety.”
Elizabeth Lopatto
Elizabeth Lopatto
We are back from our break. William Savitt is taking it home for the OpenAI defense.

There’s one more thing that Savitt is harping on. “Has the OpenAI nonprofit respected its general founding principles?” The question doesn’t matter, legally, since Musk didn’t create a charitable trust, but Savitt is going to spend some time on this because Molo emphasized it.

Elizabeth Lopatto
Elizabeth Lopatto
Tesla AI is evidence of Musk’s failure, Eddy says.

Musk doesn’t want to admit that trying to build an AGI lab in Tesla was a failure — whether that was by acquiring OpenAI or trying to poach all its talent, maybe even putting Altman on the board. Eddy suggests this case is revenge on OpenAI for succeeding.

Elizabeth Lopatto
Elizabeth Lopatto
“The documents tell the truth here,” Eddy says.

That’s kind of where I’ve landed! The idea of the “adjunct” for-profit (Eddy says this is a moving target, and though Musk used it twice in testimony, when Savitt used it, Molo objected and accused him of making up a term) doesn’t show up in any of the brainstorming structure documents. We do see parallel for-profits, and the idea of a conversion to a for-profit and shutting down the nonprofit. Jared Birchall also testified that he filed to register a company for this.

Elizabeth Lopatto
Elizabeth Lopatto
Eddy suggests that Musk’s donated Teslas were, effectively, bribes.

They went to Ilya Sutskever and Greg Brockman, among others, right before he proposed that he get 62.5 percent of a for-profit company. We are now looking at tax forms and letters — neither of which show any specific purpose. Jared Birchall also testified that there was no specific purpose for the donations. Shivon Zilis doesn’t remember it. Sam Teller doesn’t remember it. This is like watching the Warriors play a team of 6-year-olds.

Elizabeth Lopatto
Elizabeth Lopatto
Eddy is, wisely, leaning hard on chronology in explaining their defense.

Chronology and documents. Musk’s performance on the stand does give credence to the suggestion from Eddy that Musk “took his marbles and went home” when he couldn’t get his way.