OpenAI

Meta Priced Its First Frontier Model at $4 per Million Tokens, Level With Anthropic's Opus 5.5. Its Shares Closed Up 3.4 Per Cent.

Meta released Muse Wonder and Muse Wonder Full on Monday, its first frontier AI models since it rebuilt its AI effort 14 months ago. Muse Wonder costs $4 per million input tokens and $20 per million output tokens on the Meta Model API; Muse Wonder Full is sold only inside Muse Code plans of $50 and $200 a month. Meta's shares closed up 3.4 per cent. The benchmark claims are Meta's, and independent testing has only just begun.

By Alison Acosta October 12, 2026

Blue three-dimensional letters spelling AI against a dark background

OpenAI Wants Another $30 Billion at a $1.4 Trillion Valuation

OpenAI is negotiating a funding round of at least $30 billion at a valuation near $1.4 trillion, with UAE sovereign funds considering up to $10 billion and BlackRock circling. The AI industry is now raising money at nation-state scale.

By Cory Chamberlain October 8, 2026

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OpenAI Cancelled One GPT-6.1 on Monday and Shipped Another on Tuesday. The Second One Costs a Fifth.

OpenAI dropped the planned October release of GPT-6.1 Astra after internal testing, its head of safety systems said, found it did not stay within scope or ask permission before acting. A day later, at DevDay, it launched GPT-6.1 Sol at $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output, a fifth of GPT-6 Astra's standard prices. For buyers, the second announcement matters more than the first.

By Alison Acosta September 30, 2026

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The Money

What Happens When the Advertiser's Own Agent Joins the Conversation?

Sponsored Agents, announced Wednesday, are brand-funded units that open a labelled conversation with an advertiser's own agent inside ChatGPT, wired to commerce systems so the purchase never leaves the window. Wayfair is a pilot partner. The advertising business reached a $1bn annualised run rate in under 200 days.

By Alison Acosta September 17, 2026

The Money

OpenAI Is Sounding Out a $1.5tn Valuation and Putting Off the Listing

Reports put OpenAI in early talks over a share sale valuing it near $1.5tn, roughly double the $730bn of its last round, while the company signals an IPO is not imminent. Staying private is the point: the number is easier to sustain when nobody trades it daily.

By Cory Chamberlain September 16, 2026

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The Long View

Three Rivals Agreed to Slow Down. Only the First Step Needs No One's Permission.

Dario Amodei published an essay on Saturday arguing that frontier AI companies must deliberately slow the rate at which their models improve. Within hours Elon Musk wrote "Dario is right" and Sam Altman said OpenAI would not go public this year. Of the essay's three steps, only one can be taken without a government, a waiver or a treaty.

By Alison Acosta September 13, 2026