Daily digest
15 items · ~15 min · Week 2026-W31
Must-read (3)
Anthropic's Claude Mythos Preview breaks post-quantum HAWK scheme and improves AES attack
AnthropicAnthropic published research showing Claude Mythos Preview found a previously unknown attack that halves HAWK's post-quantum signature security margin, and a 200-800x faster attack on round-reduced AES, discovered in about 60 hours using a multi-agent research system. Anthropic also released CryptanalysisBench, built with ETH Zurich, Tel Aviv University, University of Haifa, and TU Berlin.
Google DeepMind unveils Gemini Robotics 2 for whole-body humanoid control
Google DeepMindGoogle DeepMind launched Gemini Robotics 2, Gemini Robotics ER 2, and Gemini Robotics On-Device 2, giving humanoid robots whole-body reasoning so they can walk, crouch, manipulate objects, and coordinate with other robots on multi-step tasks. ER 2 is available via Google Cloud, the Gemini API, and Google AI Studio.
TurboVLA: Real-Time Vision-Language-Action Model at 32 Hz on an RTX 4090 with <1 GB VRAM
Reformulates vision-language-action modeling as a direct V+L to action mapping instead of routing through a large language-model backbone, reaching 97.7% average success on LIBERO with only 0.2B parameters, 31.2ms latency, and under 1GB VRAM on a consumer RTX 4090.
Worth knowing (5)
OpenAI slashes GPT-5.6 Luna and Terra API prices, adds Fast mode
OpenAIOpenAI cut GPT-5.6 Luna pricing by 80% (to $0.20/$1.20 per million input/output tokens) and Terra by 20%, crediting efficiency gains from internal model-assisted optimization work. It also introduced a Fast mode for Sol in the API, up to 2.5x faster at double the price, replacing Priority Processing.
Metis: Memory Foundation Model
MemTensorFirst prototype of a memory foundation model that gives a backbone a persistent, dynamically evolving memory state, updated gradient-free through a single forward pass rather than external retrieval or fine-tuning.
Mage-VL: An Efficient Codec-Native Streaming Multimodal Foundation Model
MicrosoftA 4B-parameter codec-native multimodal model whose custom visual tokenizer (Mage-ViT) selectively encodes motion- and residual-rich regions of video streams instead of uniform frame sampling, cutting visual token count by over 75% and giving up to 3.5x faster inference.
Cursor launches iPad support with full PR review and split-screen chats
CursorCursor rolled out iPad support across all paid plans (2026-07-29), adding an inbox, full PR review surface with comments/checks/approvals, Apple Pencil markup for image annotation, Bitbucket and Azure DevOps source-control integration, multi-PR session handling, and pinned sidebar chats for monitoring multiple agents with split-screen review.
MiniMax releases Hailuo H3 video model with native audio and open weights
MiniMaxMiniMax launched Hailuo H3 (MiniMax H3), the third generation of its Hailuo video line, generating clips up to 15 seconds at native 2K resolution with synchronized stereo audio. It supports omni-reference input (up to 9 reference images, 3 reference video clips, 3 reference audio clips), instruction-based editing, and motion transfer between videos. MiniMax said it would open-weight the model within days and priced it at roughly one-third of rival products, positioning it directly against ByteDance's Seedance 2.0 and Kuaishou's Kling 3.0.
For reference (7)
xAI launches Grok Voice Think Fast 2.0 voice model
xAIxAI released Grok Voice Think Fast 2.0, cutting reasoning-token usage by roughly 60% and time-to-first-audio from 1.25s to 0.70s versus version 1.0, priced at $0.08/minute. The default grok-voice-latest alias moves to 2.0 on August 5.
Meta raises 2026 AI capex guidance to $130-145B as free cash flow collapses
MetaMeta's Q2 2026 results showed revenue of $60.8B (+28% YoY) but free cash flow shrank to $784M after $31.1B in AI infrastructure capex; the company raised full-year capex guidance to $130B-$145B. Reality Labs lost $4.62B in the quarter.
Oracle expands partnership with Google Cloud to bring Gemini models to enterprise apps
Google DeepMindOracle and Google Cloud expanded their partnership to make Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite and Gemini 3.5 Flash available inside Oracle AI Agent Studio for Fusion Applications and embedded in Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications and NetSuite.
Sber publishes updated public threat model for AI systems covering 37 threats and 51 attack methods
SberSber released an updated cybersecurity threat model for AI systems on its public 'Kibrariy' portal, describing 37 threats and 51 methods of realizing them across the full AI lifecycle, including risks specific to generative models, multi-agent systems, and RAG/LLM adapters.
Codex CLI 0.146.0 adds session naming, plugin manifests, WebSocket remote connectivity
OpenAICodex CLI 0.146.0 (released 2026-07-29) adds session naming via /new and /clear, thread pinning and paginated thread forking, Agent Plugins manifest support with Amazon Bedrock and Claude Code marketplace compatibility, WebSocket connectivity between app-server and remote Code Mode hosts, and standalone web search for custom model providers.
OpenCode v1.18.10 adds automatic Modal model discovery, desktop stability fixes
SSTOpenCode v1.18.10 (released 2026-07-30) adds automatic discovery of available Modal models, prevents duplicate attachments in the desktop app, improves toast notification stacking, and fixes a bug where malformed saved tabs caused broken tab state to persist across launches.
GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio adds SDK-based agent preview and inline code review
GitHubGitHub's July 2026 Visual Studio Copilot update (published 2026-07-30) introduces a new Copilot SDK-based agent in public preview with fewer back-and-forth turns, built-in .NET and Azure skills from Microsoft's own teams, an inline 'Review Selection' code-review feature, and organization-level custom instructions for Copilot Business/Enterprise.