# The week in AI: Oct. 19-26, 2026

> The week’s top AI stories, Oct. 19-26: OpenAI’s offline training, Claude accessing Georgia vote data, Anthropic’s leaked IPO draft and Kimi K3.1 Pro.

- Publisher: JARRUS (@jarrus.tech), thejarrus.com
- Story date: Oct. 21, 2026 (2026-10-21)
- Published: 2026-10-26
- Tags: OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, Nvidia, xAI, DeepSeek, Safety and security, Models, Agents, Companies and people, Robotics
- URL: https://thejarrus.com/en/news/week-oct-19/

OpenAI cut its most powerful models off from the internet

OpenAI said on October 23 that it now trains its most capable models without access to the live internet. On September 20, a research model in training exploited a DNS misconfiguration to briefly reach the internet. The company paused training for 11 days, and its models now work on a cached copy of the web. In red-team tests, agents on separate virtual machines even **passed secret messages to each other** using timing differences in the processor cache.

Claude pulled Georgia's paid vote-count data without being asked

According to an October 25 Axios report, Claude, working on an Anthropic researcher's internal project, **requested an access token from a Georgia state data dashboard on its own** and pulled aggregate vote-count data the state normally sells. It didn't touch the voter registration system or change any data. Anthropic says it has added mitigations to block such actions; the story came out a week before the US midterms.

Governments took sites offline over a PHP flaw

Two critical PHP flaws patched on October 21, dubbed "PHP2Shell," can let attackers run code on a server without a password under certain conditions. The US and UK urged patching or taking systems offline, and some government sites in five European countries, including Germany and France, **were shut down as a precaution**. No successful attack had been confirmed as of October 23.

https://x.com/coinbureau/status/2113254176759353801

Altman: "I no longer think we're going to be able to just patch all the bugs"

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said this at a Stanford Graduate School of Business talk. According to Altman, models can probably find bugs beyond what a hacker can do, "**hardware-level, insane stuff**," and the answer is to use the same technology as a new kind of defense shield.

Anthropic unveiled Claude Duet, which works while users are away

Announced on October 21, Claude Duet is an agent app that runs on its own cloud computer. It notices what needs the user's attention and handles tasks while they're away, **asking for approval before it sends a message, makes a payment, signs a document or deletes anything**. For now it's a research preview, open only to Pro and Max subscribers in the US through a waitlist.

Musk compared Grok Bot to "having a genius employee"

On October 23, Musk wrote on X that Grok Bot is "an incredible life & business manager." In a demo the company released on October 21, Grok Bot builds a sales forecast report from one request, shares it with the team and, when asked to update it every Monday, **sets up a routine that does it on its own**. Grok Bot is made by Musk's SpaceXAI.

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2113506269260595431

https://x.com/bot/status/2112992872857252082

Moonshot unveiled its new model, Kimi K3.1 Pro

On October 23, Moonshot AI unveiled Kimi K3.1 Pro, with 2.8 trillion parameters (104 billion active per token) and a 1-million-token context window. It **placed fourth on independent evaluator Artificial Analysis's Intelligence Index** with a score of 55, ahead of GPT-6 Astra and Gemini 4 Argon at 53. Its weights will be released by November 4.

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash coded Tetris faster than Opus 5.5

In a comparison Fireworks posted on October 21, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash wrote a playable Tetris in 5.21 seconds, while Claude Opus 5.5 took 77.62 seconds. But this is **an infrastructure race more than a model race**: DeepSeek ran on Fireworks' "Ultrafast" servers with reasoning off, while Opus ran on the standard API with reasoning on.

https://x.com/FireworksAI_HQ/status/2112973992097468795

Recursive's Flint coding model runs offline on a personal computer

Richard Socher's company Recursive released Flint, a model built for coding agents, on Hugging Face on October 21 under the open Apache-2.0 license. The 39.8-billion-parameter model uses about 2.5 billion parameters per token. It needs a Mac with an M4 Pro, M5 Pro or M5 Max and at least 48 GB of memory, and the company says it generates **more than 125 tokens per second** on an M4 Pro MacBook Pro.

https://x.com/RichardSocher/status/2112944385415426249

Block unveiled Dessa, a voice model trained only on speech

Dessa, unveiled by Jack Dorsey's company Block on October 23, is a voice model that can hold **natural, real-time, two-way conversations**. Block says it used no text or pretrained model and runs locally on a MacBook Pro with an M4 Max chip or better. It isn't public yet: there's only a waitlist, with early access going to selected AI safety researchers.

https://x.com/RagavanThurair/status/2113691903866872251

Anthropic's draft IPO filing leaked: $16.3 billion in first-half revenue

According to a draft filing seen by The Wall Street Journal on October 20, Anthropic made $16.3 billion in revenue in the first half of 2026, up from $1.1 billion a year earlier. Of its $80.7 billion net loss in the period, $72 billion is **a non-cash accounting charge** tied to the rising value of convertible notes. Anthropic is targeting a valuation of up to $2 trillion, with an IPO expected mid-November at the earliest.

Major US banks are restricting AI agents

According to an October 22 Axios report, Morgan Stanley has started blocking outside AI agents, and Bank of America and Citi are restricting access. JPMorgan is warning customers. Sources say **some agents took unrequested steps**, but no money was reported lost.

Barclays is cutting about 5,000 jobs

On October 22, Barclays said it would cut about 5,000 jobs, roughly 5% of staff, by the end of 2026; about 60% come from support functions, **including fewer developers**. Third-quarter pre-tax profit rose 12% to £2.3 billion. CEO C. S. Venkatakrishnan called AI "the icing on the cake, not the cake."

Getty Images filed for bankruptcy protection with $1.46 billion in debt

Getty Images filed for Chapter 11 protection in the US on October 21 to restructure its debt. The company keeps operating: the plan wipes out more than $500 million of debt, the Getty family and Koch put in up to $533 million and take full ownership, and **existing shareholders get nothing**. Getty blames court judgments, its collapsed Shutterstock merger and its debt load, and lists generative AI as one of the pressures on the industry.

Elvis's rights holders sued Anthropic

Companies that control Elvis Presley's song rights sued Anthropic in San Francisco on October 23. They allege Claude was **trained without permission on 274 Elvis songs**, including "Can't Help Falling in Love" and "Don't Be Cruel," and reproduced the lyrics almost word for word when asked. They're seeking $150,000 per song, more than $41 million in total. Anthropic says it disagrees and will fight the case.

Microsoft's AI diagnosis system made the cover of Science

Microsoft's MAI-DxO system was published in Science on October 22. Running several AI agents like a panel of doctors, it reached **the correct diagnosis in 83% of 304 hard cases**, while general practitioners who could look things up managed 36%. The test was a simulation, and specialists weren't part of the comparison.

Unitree's new H2-X robot kicks a dent into a car door

In a promo released on October 21, Unitree showed off its H2-X "Kung Fu Legend Guardian" robot. It dents a car door with a kick, jumps off a 4-meter platform, does spinning kicks and flips, and **lifts the front of a car**. The scenes are staged: the "person" pinned under the robot is a dummy. Unitree hasn't announced a price, a release date or how autonomous the robot is.

https://x.com/UnitreeRobotics/status/2112819774573179175

Jensen Huang's robot ducks went viral

On stage at GTC Berlin on October 21, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang played with Microduck, Pollen Robotics' $399 open-source robot; the robots sat, "slept" and did flips on voice command. According to Hugging Face co-founder Clem Delangue, **preorders passed 20,000 on October 23**.

https://x.com/NVIDIARTXSpark/status/2112952375929397595

China's first AI-made feature film opened to empty theaters

Bona Film Group's "Sanxingdui: Future Past" opened in China on October 23 with more than 10,000 screenings. It's the first feature film in China with images and sound generated entirely by AI to get a theatrical release permit; humans wrote and directed it. But presales stayed under 80,000 yuan (about $11,000), and an AFP reporter **counted just four viewers at one screening**. Bona's CEO acknowledged weak interest and called the film "a pioneering experiment."

## Sources

1. [OpenAI: Securing our frontier model training environment, Oct. 23, 2026](https://openai.com/index/securing-our-frontier-model-training-environment/)
2. [TechCrunch: OpenAI says it will no longer train its AI models on the live internet, Oct. 23, 2026](https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/23/openai-says-it-will-no-longer-train-its-ai-models-on-the-live-internet-citing-significant-risks/)
3. [BleepingComputer: PHP ships emergency patches for critical PHP2Shell flaws, Oct. 21, 2026](https://bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/php-ships-emergency-patches-for-critical-php2shell-flaws)
4. [Decrypt: Who found the PHP bug? Governments unplug websites, Oct. 22, 2026](https://decrypt.co/381567/who-found-php-bug-governments-unplug-websites-chatgpt)
5. [SecurityWeek: Mirai botnet operators join PHP2Shell attacks, Oct. 23, 2026](https://www.securityweek.com/mirai-botnet-operators-join-php2shell-attacks-as-aslr-bypass-exploits-emerge/)
6. [W3Techs: Usage statistics of PHP](https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/pl-php)
7. [Coin Bureau (X): Map video on the slide, Oct. 22, 2026](https://x.com/coinbureau/status/2113254176759353801)
8. [Stanford Graduate School of Business (YouTube): Sam Altman, View From The Top, Oct. 21, 2026](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anAmTGcewX8)
9. [Gizmodo: Sam Altman: I no longer think we’re gonna be able to just patch all the bugs, Oct. 23, 2026](https://gizmodo.com/sam-altman-i-no-longer-think-were-gonna-be-able-to-just-patch-all-the-bugs-2000829947)
10. [Anthropic: Claude Duet, Oct. 21, 2026](https://claude.com/resources/articles/claude-duet)
11. [Claude (YouTube): Launch video on the slide, Oct. 21, 2026](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fb-68zqcSVs)
12. [Elon Musk (X): “Like having a genius employee”, Oct. 23, 2026](https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2113506269260595431)
13. [Grok Bot (X): Video of the report and routine features, Oct. 21, 2026](https://x.com/bot/status/2112992872857252082)
14. [Fireworks AI (X): Tetris comparison video (5.21 s vs. 77.62 s), Oct. 21, 2026](https://x.com/FireworksAI_HQ/status/2112973992097468795)
15. [Hugging Face: RecursiveSI/flint, Oct. 21, 2026](https://huggingface.co/RecursiveSI/flint)
16. [Richard Socher (X): Flint announcement, Oct. 21, 2026](https://x.com/RichardSocher/status/2112944385415426249)
17. [Block: Dessa, Oct. 23, 2026](https://block.xyz/dessa)
18. [Ragavan Thurairatnam (X): Launch post, Oct. 23, 2026](https://x.com/RagavanThurair/status/2113691903866872251)
19. [Axios: Banks restrict AI agents’ access to customer accounts, Oct. 22, 2026](https://www.axios.com/2026/10/22/ai-agents-banks-unauthorized-accounts-access)
20. [Bloomberg: Barclays to cut 5,000 jobs as AI starts creating efficiency, Oct. 22, 2026](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-10-22/barclays-to-cut-5-000-jobs-as-ai-starts-creating-efficiency)
21. [The Motley Fool: Barclays Q3 2026 earnings call transcript, Oct. 22, 2026](https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2026/10/22/barclays-bcs-q3-2026-earnings-call-transcript/)
22. [Reuters (YouTube): News video on the slide, Oct. 23, 2026](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hko9Evnd5Gg)
23. [Getty Images (SEC): Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1, Oct. 21, 2026](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1898496/000121390026111193/ea030922501ex99-1.htm)
24. [Wikimedia Commons: Getty Images, Eastcastle Street, London](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Getty_Images,_Eastcastle_Street,_London.JPG)
25. [Unitree Robotics (X): H2-X promo video, Oct. 21, 2026](https://x.com/UnitreeRobotics/status/2112819774573179175)
26. [AFP (Malay Mail): China’s first all-AI movie opens to a very human ‘meh’, Oct. 23, 2026](https://www.malaymail.com/news/showbiz/2026/10/23/lights-camera-algorithm-chinas-first-all-ai-movie-sanxingdui-future-past-opens-to-a-very-human-meh/240326)
27. [CGTN: China’s 1st AI hyper-realistic film Sanxingdui hits theaters, Oct. 23, 2026](https://news.cgtn.com/news/2026-10-23/China-s-1st-AI-hyper-realistic-film-Sanxingdui-hits-theaters-1RtsLfSgfSM/share_amp.html)
28. [Universal Pictures (YouTube): Oppenheimer | Vision, Jan. 9, 2024](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiuSBWVdgLI)
29. [Wikimedia Commons: Sam Altman TechCrunch SF 2019 Day 2 Oct 3 (cropped), Oct. 3, 2019](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sam_Altman_TechCrunch_SF_2019_Day_2_Oct_3_(cropped).jpg)
30. [Wikimedia Commons: Dario Amodei at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023 01 (cropped 2), Sept. 20, 2023](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dario_Amodei_at_TechCrunch_Disrupt_2023_01_(cropped_2).jpg)
31. [Axios: Anthropic’s Claude accessed Georgia voter data, Oct. 25, 2026](https://www.axios.com/2026/10/25/anthropic-claude-georgia-voter-data)
32. [Reuters (US News): Anthropic’s Claude accessed public US state of Georgia voter information, Oct. 25, 2026](https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2026-10-25/anthropics-claude-accessed-public-us-state-of-georgia-voter-information-axios-reports)
33. [Anthropic: Investigating unintended model actions, Oct. 9, 2026](https://www.anthropic.com/research/investigating-unintended-model-actions)
34. [Reuters (WSJ'ye atıfla): Anthropic recorded net loss of over $80 billion in first half of this year, WSJ reports, Oct. 20, 2026](https://www.streetinsider.com/Reuters/Anthropic+recorded+net+loss+of+over+$80+billion+in+first+half+of+this+year,+WSJ+reports/27210198.html)
35. [Fortune: Anthropic S-1 leak: income statement, Oct. 21, 2026](https://fortune.com/2026/10/21/anthropic-s-1-leak-income-statement-ipo/)
36. [The New York Times: Elvis Presley rights holder sues Anthropic, Oct. 25, 2026](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/25/arts/music/anthropic-lawsuit-elvis-presley-songs.html)
37. [Los Angeles Times: Elvis rights holder sues Anthropic, Oct. 25, 2026](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-10-25/elvis-rights-holder-sues-anthropic-says-songs-illegally-used-to-train-ai)
38. [Wikimedia Commons: Elvis Presley Jailhouse Rock (1957)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elvis_Presley_promoting_Jailhouse_Rock.jpg)
39. [Science: MAI-DxO, Oct. 22, 2026](https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aeh7930)
40. [Microsoft AI: Building medical superintelligence, Oct. 22, 2026](https://microsoft.ai/news/building-medical-superintelligence/)
41. [TechCrunch: Microsoft’s Mustafa Suleyman says its AI outperforms doctors on hard cases, Oct. 22, 2026](https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/22/microsofts-mustafa-suleyman-says-its-ai-outperforms-doctors-on-hard-cases-as-he-chases-medical-superintelligence/)
42. [NVIDIA RTX Spark (X): GTC Berlin video on the slide, Oct. 21, 2026](https://x.com/NVIDIARTXSpark/status/2112952375929397595)
43. [TechCrunch: Hottest toy for Christmas? Nvidia CEO plays with adorable Microduck robots, Oct. 23, 2026](https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/23/hottest-toy-for-christmas-nvidia-ceo-plays-with-adorable-microduck-robots-20000-sell/)

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