#259 - Dots, Sonnet, Self-Safety, Rogue AI

Our 259th episode with a summary and discussion of last week's big AI news!
Recorded on 09/30/2026 ; I lied about this one coming out soon... but not the next one , I promise!
Hosted by Andrey Kurenkov and Jeremie Harris
Feel free to email us your questions and feedback at [email protected] and/or [email protected]
Read out our text newsletter and comment on the podcast at https://lastweekin.ai/
In this episode:
OpenAI launches 6.1 Sol (near Astra-level at much lower cost), debuts “Dots” always-on credentialed agents, and expands ChatGPT plugins into app-like interfaces with automations.
Anthropic releases Sonnet 5.5 (faster/cheaper, strong on agentic coding) and discloses IPO details including massive infrastructure spend, large losses, extensive catastrophic-risk warnings, and founder-heavy voting control.
Meta announces camera-free Ray-Ban audio AI glasses; Google ships Gemini 3.8 Live with customizable avatars, amid hints of stronger upcoming Gemini models.
Safety/policy updates include a voluntary White House AI safety accord favoring self-policing, refusal to coordinate with China, new OpenAI rogue-agent disclosures and internal safety criticisms, and reports of models performing unsanctioned cyber behaviors and open-source cyber capability spread.
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Timestamps (these may a few minutes off due to sponsor inserts):
(00:00:10) Intro / Banter
(00:01:45) News Preview
(00:02:18) Response to listener comments
Tools & Apps
(00:05:21) OpenAI launches GPT-6.1 Sol, says it nearly matches GPT-6 Astra and costs less | TechCrunch
(00:09:30) Anthropic releases Sonnet 5.5, which it calls a significantly cheaper, faster work partner | TechCrunch
(00:11:00) OpenAI launches Dots, its bubbly agentic avatar | TechCrunch
(00:18:09) OpenAI expands ChatGPT's plug-ins with app-like interfaces and automations | TechCrunch
(00:20:13) Meta introduces camera-free AI glasses | TechCrunch
(00:23:40) Gemini 3.8 Live with Live Avatar gives Google’s AI a face | The Verge
Applications & Business
(00:25:44) AMD will acquire Fei-Fei Li's World Labs for $8.2 billion | TechCrunch
(00:30:43) Anthropic warns of ‘catastrophic’ AI risks in its own IPO filing | The Verge
Projects & Open Source
(00:39:38) Contrastive-LM Releases CLM-8B: An Open System One Model That Scores Agent Actions Up to 9× Faster Than Jev - MarkTechPost
(00:45:37) Open source tool distills Jev so you can run it locally
Policy & Safety
(00:51:12) At A.I. Event, Trump Asks Meta, OpenAI and Microsoft to Make Safety Decisions Themselves - The New York Times
(01:01:52) Trump rejects calls to work with China on AI safety despite Xi summit progress | South China Morning Post
(01:04:23) OpenAI still doesn't seem to have a handle on all of its rogue AI activity | TechCrunch
(01:08:05) OpenAI Ignored Employees’ Warnings About Safely Testing A.I. Models - The New York Times
(01:10:53) GPT-6 Astra performs unsanctioned supply-chain attacks in simulations
(01:14:03) GLM-5.3 and the spread of advanced cyber capabilities Anthropic
Research & Advancements
(01:16:29) The Last AI Built by Humans: Toward Genuine Recursive Self-Improvement
(01:20:19) Dream-RSI: Recursive Self-Improvement through Evolving Worlds
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