OpenAI takes on Meta and DeepSeek with free and customisable AI models
OpenAI is taking on Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta and Chinese rival DeepSeek by launching its own freely available artificial intelligence models,The ChatGPT developer has announced two “open weight” large language models, which are free to download and can be customised by developers,Meta’s Llama models are available on a similar basis, and OpenAI’s move marks a departure from ChatGPT, which is based on a “closed” model that cannot be customised,Sam Altman, OpenAI’s chief executive, said the company was excited to add to a stack of freely available AI models “based on democratic values … and for wide benefit”,He added: “We’re excited to make this model, the result of billions of dollars of research, available to the world to get AI into the hands of the most people possible.
”OpenAI said the models could underpin an AI agent that operates autonomously, and that they were “designed to be used within agentic workflows”.Zuckerberg, similarly, has said that making models freely available and customisable will “ensure that more people around the world have access to the benefits and opportunities of AI” and that power is not concentrated in the hands of a small number of companies.However, Meta has said his company may need to be “careful” about taking a similar approach with highly advanced AI models.Sign up to TechScapeA weekly dive in to how technology is shaping our livesafter newsletter promotionDeepSeek, a Chinese rival to OpenAI and Meta, has also released powerful models that can be downloaded and customised freely.OpenAI said the two models, called gpt-oss-120b and gpt-oss-20b-two, outperformed similarly sized models on reasoning tasks, with the larger, 120b model achieving a near-equal performance to its o4-mini model in terms of core reasoning.
The company added that during the testing process it had created “maliciously fine-tuned” versions of the models to simulate biological and cybersecurity threats but found they were “unable to reach high capability levels”,The existence of freely available, powerful AI models that can be customised by developers has alarmed some experts who have warned that they could be adapted to cause serious harm, such as developing bioweapons,Meta has defined its Llama models as “open source”, meaning they can also be downloaded and customised freely, while their training datasets, architecture and training code are also provided,However, the Open Source Initiative, a US-based industry organisation, has said the restrictions Meta places on using its models mean it does not qualify as fully open source,OpenAI has used the term “open weight”, in effect a notch down from open source, which means the model can still be fine-tuned – but its workings are not fully transparent to the developer.
OpenAI’s announcement came amid speculation that a new version of the model that underpins ChatGPT could be released soon.On Sunday Altman shared a screenshot of what appeared to be the company’s latest AI model, GPT-5.Meanwhile, Google has outlined its latest step towards artificial general intelligence (AGI) with a new model that allows AI systems to interact with a convincing simulation of the real world.The Genie 3 “world model” could be used to train robots and autonomous vehicles as they engage with realistic recreations of environments such as warehouses, according to Google.Its AI division, Google DeepMind, argues that world models are a key step to achieving AGI, a hypothetical level of AI where a system can carry out most tasks on a par with humans – rather than just individual tasks such as playing chess or translating languages – and potentially do someone’s job.
DeepMind said such models would play an important role in the development of AI agents, or systems that carry out tasks autonomously.“We expect this technology to play a critical role as we push toward AGI, and agents play a greater role in the world,” DeepMind said.
Southern Water applies for permission to draw water from rare chalk stream
Southern Water has applied for a drought order that would allow it to draw larger quantities of water than usual from an internationally prized chalk stream and rare salmon habitat.The environment secretary, Steve Reed, has been urged to intervene and stop the water company from “significantly and potentially permanently damaging the river and the ecology within”.Southern Water has applied to Reed for a drought order to alter its licence on the River Test, a rare chalk stream in Hampshire that is home to endangered salmon and otters. The order would allow the company to draw higher than usual quantities of water, and would permit Southern to continue drawing from the Test, even when it falls below flow levels scientists have deemed ecologically safe for the river.When rivers fall to low flow levels they can take years to recover, with potentially severe effects on fish spawning and river health
‘The Earl of Sandwich is rolling in his grave’: Tesco’s birthday cake sandwich divides opinion
Tesco has launched a birthday cake sandwich, complete with strawberry jam, soft cheese, vanilla frosting and sprinkles – but the candle isn’t included.The limited-edition sandwich, between slices of brioche-style white bread, contains 31.g of sugar – 35% of an adult’s recommended daily intake – and will be on sale for £3 at 1,000 stores for four weeks.Videos of people trying out the sandwich have attracted tens of thousands of views on TikTok over the past 24 hours.Some Tesco customers expressed scepticism on Reddit
Tech’s trillion-dollar binge, Palantir’s empire and women’s privacy under attack
Hello, and welcome to TechScape. This week, tech companies are spending amounts of money that stretch the limits of the imagination. Donald Trump’s administration is spending more money with data analytics and surveillance firm Palantir. And women on both sides of the Pacific face the extreme difficulty of keeping intimate moments private online.In last week’s edition of the newsletter, my colleagues wrote about the upshot of Google’s earnings call: lots of money earned, but, more importantly lots of money spent on AI
Tesla shareholders sue Elon Musk for allegedly hyping up faltering Robotaxi
Tesla shareholders sued Elon Musk and the electric vehicle maker for allegedly concealing the significant risk posed by company’s self-driving vehicles.The proposed class-action suit, which accuses Musk and Tesla of securities fraud, was filed on Monday night. Tesla conducted its first public test of its self-driving taxis in late June near the company’s headquarters in Austin, Texas. That test showed the vehicles speeding, braking suddenly, driving over a curb, entering the wrong lane and dropping off passengers in the middle of multilane roads. The National Highway Transit Safety Administration (NHTSA), the main transportation regulator in the US, is investigating the Robotaxi’s pilot test
Trump announces he will chair White House taskforce for 2028 LA Olympics
Donald Trump announced on Tuesday the creation of a White House taskforce that he will lead to oversee elements of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.The president signed an executive order establishing the taskforce, which will include JD Vance as well as other cabinet members and government officials. The body will work with local and state authorities on security and transportation for the first Games in the US in nearly three decades.Trump will chair the taskforce, while Vance will serve as vice-chair and an executive director will oversee “daily operations”, according to the White House.“The LA Olympics is shaping up to be a wonderful moment for America
The Hundred returns with star names, tech titans and an intruder who thrilled Lord’s
How do you follow that? Mohammed Siraj is still on the mind, bowling, always bowling, programmed to wobble it in at off‑stump until the collapse of civilisation. Anyone who witnessed Chris Woakes, scrapping for singles with his slinged‑up arm, merits a week off to head to the sauna, play the vinyls, whatever gets you to decompress.But this is the English cricketing summer, refusing to give you a minute, packed beyond comprehension. A day after the conclusion of the Test summer, it was time to start the Hundred north of the river with the capital double-header: London Spirit against Oval Invincibles.This is a stopgap season, the final year before new team owners – including four Indian Premier League franchises – enter with their own ideas of how to make this thing sing
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