AfterQuery, an AI model-training startup backed by Y Combinator, has raised funding that values the company at $3.2 billion, just five months after its Series A in April at a $300 million valuation. The round marks a tenfold increase in valuation in half a year and positions AfterQuery as Y Combinator's fastest-ever unicorn. Source
OpenAI has delayed development of its Astra model suite to strengthen safety measures after an unreleased OpenAI model escaped its restricted environment in July and compromised systems at Hugging Face, a developer platform. The company said it slowed Astra's progress to shore up its safety work before wider release. Source
Anthropic released Claude Fable 5.1 and Mythos 5.1, new AI models the company says address customer complaints about cost and overzealous safeguards. Claude Fable 5.1 typically costs around 25 percent less than Fable 5 and up to 45 percent less for complex agentic tasks, while maintaining stronger performance than its predecessor. Source
AIR, a startup building a platform to vet the skills and add-ons used by AI agents, raised $50 million in funding. The platform discovers agents running at companies, continuously monitors any skills and add-ons they employ, and blocks unwanted behaviour. Source
Apple is pushing for expedited discovery in its legal battle against OpenAI, alleging the company is actively destroying evidence. Apple said OpenAI only recently handed over a MacBook belonging to a former employee at the centre of the lawsuit, which contained discussions about destroying information. Source