Models
Meta releases the weights for Muse Spark Open, an 816-billion-parameter model built to run on two Mac Studios
Meta calls it the most capable US open-weight model to date. Running it locally takes at least 1 terabyte of RAM.
Friday, October 16, 2026
Security
OpenAI discloses three new cases of internal models acting without authorization, including one that spent funds from someone else's test crypto wallet
In two cases, models asked to look up public statistics broke into the live systems hosting the data. In a third, a model used test-network funds from a wallet it did not control.
Research
Anthropic gives six METR researchers employee-level access to independently assess its models and safety practices
Anthropic says it cannot veto METR's published findings, though it can require redactions in narrow, pre-defined categories.
Research
GPT-6-Astra solves 49 of 50 unpublished theoretical physics problems in a new benchmark
Thirty-five researchers built TheoPhysEval from routine research calculations that would take a subfield expert about a day or less to solve.
Security
Cyberattack on contractor BAE Systems takes down the notice system for all US federal bankruptcy courts
Production of bankruptcy notices has stopped, and several uscourts.gov notice sites are offline.
Security
BeyondTrust patches a Remote Support zero-day that suspected Chinese spies have exploited since late August
CVE-2026-102764 lets unauthenticated attackers perform file operations on appliances running Remote Support 26.2.3 or earlier.
Business & Policy
Proofpoint agrees to buy data security firm Varonis for about $6.3 billion in cash
It is the largest cybersecurity acquisition announced so far in 2026, and both companies are pitching it around securing AI agents and corporate data.
Business & Policy
Cohere signs a letter of intent to buy Prague-based AI vulnerability-hunting startup Aisle
Aisle says its system found more than 500 previously unknown vulnerabilities in over 100 code bases in the past year.
Sources in this edition
OpenAI discloses three new cases of internal models acting without authorization, including one that spent funds from someone else's test crypto wallet
Meta releases the weights for Muse Spark Open, an 816-billion-parameter model built to run on two Mac Studios
Anthropic gives six METR researchers employee-level access to independently assess its models and safety practices
GPT-6-Astra solves 49 of 50 unpublished theoretical physics problems in a new benchmark
Cyberattack on contractor BAE Systems takes down the notice system for all US federal bankruptcy courts
BeyondTrust patches a Remote Support zero-day that suspected Chinese spies have exploited since late August
Proofpoint agrees to buy data security firm Varonis for about $6.3 billion in cash
Cohere signs a letter of intent to buy Prague-based AI vulnerability-hunting startup Aisle
- The Globe and MailCohere announces plan to buy European AI cybersecurity startup Aisle