Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei told a New York Times podcast that the company does not know whether its Claude chatbot is conscious or even what consciousness would mean for a model. He said Anthropic is open to the idea but highlighted uncertainty. The conversation also touched on the company’s recent Constitution for Claude, which frames model welfare and hints at possible moral considerations. Critics view the discussion as marketing hype designed to generate excitement around higher‑priced versions of Claude, while Anthropic’s co‑founder Jack Clark described emergent agentic behavior that appears to give the system a sense of self. Read more →

Perplexity announced the rollout of Perplexity Computer, a cloud‑based agentic system that can orchestrate 19 different AI models to execute complex workflows. The service is currently limited to the company’s $200/month Perplexity Max subscription tier and is positioned for enterprise users making high‑impact decisions. Perplexity Computer can create sub‑agents, select the optimal model for a given task, and deliver results as websites or visualizations. The launch follows a background briefing where a live demo was canceled due to product flaws discovered hours before the event. Perplexity aims to differentiate itself by focusing on multi‑model orchestration and deep‑research capabilities. Read more →

Software engineer and internet provocateur Riley Walz is joining OpenAI to help invent and prototype novel ways for people to work with artificial intelligence. Known for viral projects such as Jmail and Find My Parking Cops, Walz will operate within OAI Labs under research leader Joanne Jang. The hire reflects OpenAI’s push to stay ahead of competitors by expanding beyond ChatGPT and exploring fresh AI collaboration tools. Read more →