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Todd Bishop / GeekWire: At AWS Summit, AWS announced Continuum, which uses AI to find and fix code vulnerabilities, Context, which organizes company data for AI agents, and more  —  Amazon Web Services is announcing a new set of AI agents for businesses, developers, and individual users, capable of everything …

<p>Chinese AI lab <a href="https://z.ai/">Z.ai</a> released GLM-5.2 <a href="https://x.com/Zai_org/status/2065704919299235870">to their coding plan subscribers</a> on June 13th, and then yesterday (June 16th) released the full open weights under an MIT license. Similar in size to their previous GLM-5 and GLM-5.1 releases, this is 753B parameter, <a href="https://huggingface.co/zai-org/GLM-5.2">1.51TB</a> monster - with 40 active parameters (Mixture of Experts). GLM-5.2 is a text input only model - Z.ai have a separate vision family most recently represented by <a href="https://x.com/Zai_org/status/2039371126984360085">GLM-5V-Turbo</a>, but that one isn't open weights. GLM-5.2 has a 1 million token context window, up from GLM-5.1's 200,000.</p> <p>The buzz around this model is strong.</p> <p>Artificial Analysis, who run one of the most widely respected independent benchmarks: <a href="https://artificialanalysis.ai/articles/glm-5-2-is-the-new-leading-open-weights-model-on-the-artificial-analysis-intelligence-index">GLM-5.2 is the new leading open weights model on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index</a>.</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>GLM-5.2 is the leading open weights model on the Intelligence Index v4.1.</strong> At 51, it leads MiniMax-M3 (44), DeepSeek V4 Pro (max, 44) and Kimi K2.6 (43)</p> </blockquote> <p>They did however find it to be quite token-hungry:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>GLM-5.2 uses more output tokens per task than other leading open weights models:</strong> the model uses 43k output tokens per Intelligence Index task, up from GLM-5.1 (26k) and above MiniMax-M3 (24k), Kimi K2.6 (35k) and DeepSeek V4 Pro (max, 37k)</p> </blockquote> <p>The model is also now ranked 2nd on the <a href="https://arena.ai/leaderboard/code/webdev">Code Arena WebDev leaderboard</a>, behind only Claude Fable 5. That leaderboard measures "front-end web development tasks, including agentic coding workflows". I'm impressed to see it rank so highly given the lack of image input, which I had incorrectly assumed was a key part of building a truly great frontend coding model.</p> <p>I've been trying it out <a href="https://openrouter.ai/z-ai/glm-5.2">via OpenRouter</a>, which has it from 9 different providers, almost all of which are charging $1.40/million for input and $4.40/million for output. For comparison, GPT-5.5 is $5/$30 and Claude Opus 4.5-4.8 is $5/$25.</p> <h4 id="excellent-pelican-disappointing-opossum">Excellent pelican, disappointing opossum</h4> <p>GLM-5.1 gave me <a href="https://simonwillison.net/2026/Apr/7/glm-51/">one of my favorite pelicans</a> and my <a href="https://simonwillison.net/2026/Apr/7/glm-51/#opossum">all time favorite opossum</a> (for the prompt "Generate an SVG of a NORTH VIRGINIA OPOSSUM ON AN E-SCOOTER".) Interestingly, in both of those cases the model chose to return SVG wrapped in an HTML document that added additional animations using CSS.</p> <p>Let's try GLM-5.2. For "Generate an SVG of a pelican riding a bicycle" I <a href="https://gist.github.com/simonw/5c989366b796f054d9ae1ad7e38dc03a">got this</a>:</p> <p><img src="https://static.simonwillison.net/static/2026/glm-5.2-pelican.svg" alt="It's a really good bicycle - all the right bits, spokes on the wheels, wheels and pedals rotating - and a very good pelican, red scarf, good beak, bobbing up and down. The feet don't stay on the pedals though." style="max-width: 100%;" /></p> <p>It's a self-contained fully animated SVG, and the animations aren't broken! Often I'll see eyes falling off or wheels rotating independently of the bicycle but here everything works great. It's a very nice vector illustration of a pelican too. Very impressive.</p> <p>Sadly, the NORTH VIRGINIA OPOSSUM ON AN E-SCOOTER did not come out <a href="https://gist.github.com/simonw/5913b56e3d0ba9a2ece75ce1471f87bb">nearly as well</a>:</p> <p><img src="https://static.simonwillison.net/static/2026/glm-5.2-opossum.svg" alt="Weird background gridlines, scooter is green and not very scooter like, possum is wearing a red safety helmet and has a hairy tail but is hardly recognizable as a possum. It's just bad." style="max-width: 100%;" /></p> <p>This is such a step down from GLM-5.1! As a reminder, that possum looked like this:</p> <p><img alt="This is so great. It's dark, the possum is clearly a possum, it's riding an escooter, lovely animation, tail bobbing up and down, caption says NORTH VIRGINIA OPOSSUM, CRUISING THE COMMONWEALTH SINCE DUSK - only glitch is that it occasionally blinks and the eyes fall off the face" src="https://static.simonwillison.net/static/2026/glm-possum-escooter.gif.gif" style="max-width: 100%;" /></p> <p>5.2 didn't even <em>try</em> to animate it.</p> <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/ai">ai</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/generative-ai">generative-ai</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/llms">llms</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/pelican-riding-a-bicycle">pelican-riding-a-bicycle</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/llm-release">llm-release</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/openrouter">openrouter</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/ai-in-china">ai-in-china</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/glm">glm</a></p>

At this week’s Data + AI Summit, Databricks unveiled Lake Transactional Analytics Processing (LTAP), a new architecture designed to unify operational and analytical workloads on a single copy of data. […] The post AI Is Breaking Traditional Data Architectures. Databricks Thinks LTAP Is the Fix appeared first on BigDATAwire.

Yusuf Khan / Wall Street Journal: Frontier, a group including Stripe, Google, Salesforce, and newly joined Anthropic, commits $915M to buy carbon-removal credits, on top of $1B already pledged  —  The commitment comes through buying group Frontier, which aims to scale up the carbon removal sector

CEO Tim Cook said in a recent interview that the situation is "unsustainable."

Apple CEO Tim Cook warned of price hikes due to a global memory chip shortage. Bloomberg/Getty Images Apple's Tim Cook warned of price hikes due to a global memory chip shortage, which is spiking costs. Rising demand for memory chips for AI models is squeezing supplies for everyday gadgets like phones. MacBook prices rose earlier this year, and more increases are expected as memory costs climb. If you've been eyeing a new iPhone, MacBook, or iPad, waiting to buy one could get more expensive. The culprit isn't tariffs or flashy new features. It's memory. CEO Tim Cook told The Wall Street Journal in an exclusive interview published on Wednesday that Apple could raise prices on some of its products as a global shortage of memory chips drives up costs across the consumer electronics industry, "Unfortunately, price increases are unavoidable," Cook said. "We're doing our best to mitigate the huge increases that are being passed to us, and we've been trying to shield our customers from the increases, but the situation has become unsustainable." "There's less supply at a time when consumers want devices and the memory guys are passing along huge price increases," Cook added. "We definitely need memory pricing and supply to return to reasonable levels for consumer products. That's the bottom line." Cook, who called the price fluctuation in memory "a hundred-year flood," did not specify when the increases would arrive, how large they would be, or which products would be affected. The warning comes as AI companies race to build ever-larger models and snap up huge quantities of memory chips used in data centers. That surge in demand is squeezing supplies of the DRAM and NAND chips that power everyday gadgets, from laptops to smartphones. Apple raised prices on its latest MacBook lineup earlier this year. The 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M5 Pro chip jumped to $2,199 from $1,999, and the 16-inch model rose to $2,699 from $2,499. Other tech companies, including Microsoft, have also increased prices as memory costs soar. Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan recently predicted the industry could see "no relief until 2028." For shoppers, that means the laptop or phone sitting in your online cart today could cost noticeably more tomorrow. Read the original article on Business Insider

Hugo Lowell / Wired: Trump administration officials say Anthropic must ensure Fable 5's guardrails can't be circumvented before rerelease; experts say that may not be possible  —  Trump administration officials tell WIRED that if Anthropic wants to rerelease Fable 5, it will need to ensure the model's guardrails can't be circumvented.

Days before Anthropic took its most advanced AI models offline, the White House ordered the company to revoke SK Telecom’s access to Claude Mythos over claims of alleged ties to China.

Maggot therapy lacks robust data, but it has fans and a fail-safe "bacon therapy."

Arseniy Shestakov: Apple's planned move of Hide My Email aliases to private.icloud.com will let services easily distinguish them from normal iCloud email addresses and block them  —  a small and unimportant announcement appeared in Apple developer news: New domain for Sign in with Apple and iCloud+ Hide My Email.

An AI agent harness is the software infrastructure that wraps around a large language...

Jeff Bezos said AI will create more job opportunities, not eliminate them, at VivaTech in Paris. JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP via Getty Images Jeff Bezos said AI will create job opportunities, not eliminate them, at VivaTech in Paris. Bezos said AI would unlock innovation and create "endless" demand for builders and entrepreneurs. Bezos AI's potential to advance space exploration and move heavy industries off Earth. Jeff Bezos predicts AI will do the opposite of what most people fear. Speaking at the VivaTech conference in Paris on Wednesday, the Amazon founder pushed back on growing fears that AI will eliminate large numbers of jobs. Instead, he said that the technology will unlock new opportunities and increase demand for people capable of turning ideas into reality. "I know there's a lot of concern that many people have, including many smart people, that AI is going to make humans redundant," Bezos said. "I totally disagree with this point of view, and I think, in fact, AI is going to create a labor shortage." "We have an endless set of things to invent," Bezos added. "We are limited not by our imaginations but by what we can actually do." Many workers and economists have warned that advances in AI could automate a wide range of tasks and displace employees. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released in early June found that about half of Americans worry that AI could threaten jobs and household incomes. In Bezos' view, however, AI could make it easier to turn concepts into reality, which in turn could create demand for more builders, creators, and entrepreneurs. "I promise you every single person in this audience has had an idea for a new business or a new product or a new device that they wish they could manufacture, and that idea stayed in your head and went nowhere," Bezos said, "And the reason it stayed in your head and went nowhere is because it's too hard to do, and it wasn't worth it." "If we can accelerate the dream build loop, all of the ideas will then become possible," Bezos continued, "And then we end up being limited not by our capabilities, but by our imaginations." One such example, said Bezos, is what AI could do for space exploration, potentially moving heavy industry off Earth. "If space travel gets reliable enough and inexpensive enough, and we can get materials from ⁠asteroids and near-Earth objects and the moon, then this garden planet can be returned to its pre-Industrial Revolution state," Bezos said. Bezos isn't the only billionaire imagining a future beyond Earth. Ahead of SpaceX's IPO last week, Elon Musk described a world where humans live in lunar and Martian cities, AI data centers operate in space, and moon vacations become commonplace. Read the original article on Business Insider

Chi-Hua Chien has spent more than two decades as a venture capitalist, but he thinks like a cultural anthropologist.

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: Mastodon adds email newsletters, letting writers send their posts directly to subscribers' inboxes, even to readers without a Mastodon account  —  Mastodon, the open, decentralized alternative to Big Tech apps like X and Threads, is betting that email could help solve the open social web's biggest problem: audience growth.

Rachel Dratch gave a commencement speech. She brought back one of her most famous, sourpuss characters. Dana Edelson/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images Comedian and actress Rachel Dratch gave the commencement speech at Dartmouth on Sunday. The "SNL" alum talked about AI and data centers — but got the audience laughing by reviving her fan-favorite Debbie Downer. "The most useful college majors now are foraging and hand-to-hand combat," she joked. Womp, womp. Debbie Downer is back. And she's talking about AI. On Sunday, Rachel Dratch — the "SNL" alum currently starring in Broadway's "Rocky Horror Show" revival— gave a commencement speech to graduates at Dartmouth College. Like many commencement speakers this season, Dratch brought up the impact of AI on careers. Unlike business leaders including former Google CEO Eric Schmidt who were booed after making optimistic remarks about the technology, Dratch got her audience laughing. She did it with help from one of her most famous "SNL" characters. "Quite an achievement graduating from Dartmouth," Dratch said as Debbie Downer, before launching into one of the persona's standard depressing non sequiturs. "Of course, thanks to AI, there won't be any jobs left, so congrats to all on your mandatory gap years." She deadpanned into the camera and shrugged. A trombone played two descending, burbling notes — the musical equivalent of: "Womp, womp." View this post on Instagram A post shared by USA TODAY Entertainment (@usatodayentertainment) "It's inspiring to see all your fresh minds ready to take on our world," she said. "Sadly, due to the construction of data centers and the impending water wars, the most useful college majors now are foraging and hand-to-hand combat." The trombone warbled into an even more discordant sound. "There you go," Dratch said as the gloomy musical cue landed. AI has become a recurring character at commencement ceremonies this year, arriving as graduates enter a job market already shadowed by questions about the technology. That tension is also contributing to AI's popularity problem in the US. A Pew Research Center poll, released on Wednesday, found that only 16% of Americans surveyed were "very or somewhat positive" about AI's impact on daily life, while 40% said they were "very or somewhat negative." Moments before the speech, Dratch — who graduated from Dartmouth in 1988 — received an honorary doctorate from the university. She got the degree in the same amount of time it would take to prompt an LLM. "Not to brag, but I am also earning a degree here today," she said. "For most of you, that's a bachelor of arts. For me, it's a doctorate. For you, it took four long years. And for me, less than a minute. I guess I'm just a quick study." Read the original article on Business Insider

Kerry Feeney and her friends watcher the "Summer House" reunion from the show's Hamptons home. Kerry Feeney Kerry Feeney bid $3,500 to watch the "Summer House" reunion at the house where the show films. Feeney split the cost with her longtime friends, who also watch Bravo. She also claimed the biggest bed. "We did a lot of laughing, reminiscing, dancing, and staying up late," she said. "It's a chance to relive our youth." This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kerry Feeney, a 44-year-old director of hospital administration from Rockaway, New York. Feeney won one of three nights auctioned off by real estate rental platform StayMarquis. It's been edited for length and clarity. I've been watching Bravo for years. I think it started with "The Real Housewives of New York" back in the day. Every new one gets better and better. I've watched "Summer House" from the beginning. I love it. When I was first out of college, I had a house in the Hamptons for the summer. It brought me back to my own Hamptons experience: the drama, the partying. It made me feel like I was in my 20s again. I knew my friends were just as big Bravo fans as I was. We all grew up in Rockaway, for the most part, and have been friends since we were kids. Everybody went their separate ways, and now everyone's back in the neighborhood again as adults. I'd have no problem getting 15 other people to come with me to the house. The week prior, we couldn't be at the house, but one of our friends owns a bar. We met up there and had a watch party. We had a private room in the back area, ordered food, and watched the show. We stayed for drinks and discussion afterward. We bid $3,500. I knew that wouldn't be too big a deal to split up the cost among friends and family. Feeney and her friends brought drinks and snacks to the house. Kerry Feeney We carpooled in multiple cars. One of my friends was in Long Island, so we picked her up along the way. The drive was two hours, during which we talked about the show. (Pretty much everyone is very anti-Amanda.) When we arrived, we first made sure the door didn't stick. On the show, they have a very hard time getting in and out of that. We all arrived at different times, but my group arrived first. We put our bags down, brought in all the alcohol and food that we had for the night, and we went on a little tour by ourselves. We went through the house like little kids, going through every inch. Kyle and Amanda's bedroom is 10x bigger than it appears on TV. The bathroom has a heated toilet seat. I know! Every time anybody came in after us, we made sure that they went and tested out the toilet. Feeney claimed Kyle and Amanda's room. "It had the biggest bed," she said. Kerry Feeney We brought some chips and appetizers. My one friend made baked ziti. We all brought wine or Surfsides, and the place was stocked with a cooler full of Loverboy. I think we drank every single one. Because I was the one who did the bidding, I got to pick first. I obviously picked Kyle and Amanda's room because of the bathroom, and because it had the biggest bed. It opened right up into the backyard. People picked rooms as they showed up. Everyone was so happy to be there, so nobody was fighting over accommodations. Then, we made some drinks and hung out by the pool. Another surprising thing about the house that you don't see on the show is that there's a movie theater room. It had recliner seats and a huge TV. There were 16 of us, so we thought it would be better to watch it in the living room. It started at 8 p.m., and nobody was allowed to talk until there was a commercial. There was a lot of shushing. We didn't want to miss anything. During the commercials, it was heated, but it wasn't a debate. It was: "We can't believe what's happening or what they're saying." There were reactions to some of the one-liners from Ciara and Lindsay, and Amanda and West were insufferable. Feeney set a no-talking rule during the reunion. "There was a lot of shushing," she said. Kerry Feeney We discussed it for the rest of the night. Then, we put on some music, went outside, had some drinks, and hung out. It was a beautiful night. There were staggering bedtimes. I think the latest group stayed up 'til around 4 a.m. We were joking that we could have our own version with a cast of 40-something-year-old women. The following day, some people had to get back to work, but a couple of us went to lunch in Sag Harbor. It was absolutely worth it. It was even better in person, just because of the memories attached to it. It's easy to understand how the cast has so much fun there every summer. We did a lot of laughing, reminiscing, dancing, and staying up late. It's a chance to relive our youth. The best part was being able to share it with my friends, who are also such big Bravo fans. We've watched it together over the years and have spoken about it so much that celebrating it in the house made it feel that much more special. Read the original article on Business Insider

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