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- Anthropic's AI is getting cheaper and much faster
Anthropic's AI is getting cheaper and much faster
PLUS: Apple's M5 AI boost and Amazon's $100B AI pivot
Good morning, AI enthusiast.
Anthropic just released a new AI model that matches the performance of its top-tier system from only five months ago. The smaller, faster Claude Haiku 4.5 delivers this power at a fraction of the cost.
This launch highlights a major industry trend where the capabilities of frontier models are rapidly distilled into more accessible systems. Does this rapid cycle of improvement mean high-end AI will become a common utility much sooner than expected?
In today’s AI recap:
Anthropic's new AI matches its frontier model
Amazon's $100B pivot from HR to AI
The push for a ‘verifiably human’ internet
8 trending AI Tools
Anthropic's Speed Run

The Recap: Anthropic just launched Claude Haiku 4.5, a smaller, faster AI model that surprisingly matches the performance of its top-tier model from just five months ago at a fraction of the cost.
Unpacked:
Despite its size, the new model matches the coding abilities of May’s much larger Sonnet 4 model, scoring similarly on the SWE-bench benchmark.
Haiku 4.5 delivers this performance at more than twice the speed and for one-third the cost of Sonnet 4, making it ideal for low-latency tasks.
It's already being integrated into major platforms, with availability announced for Amazon Bedrock and a public preview rolling out in GitHub Copilot.
Bottom line: This launch highlights a key industry trend where smaller, distilled models rapidly achieve the power of previous frontier models. This makes high-performance AI more accessible for real-time applications and enables complex, multi-agent workflows.
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Google's Video Upgrade

The Recap: Google just released a major update to its Veo 3.1 video model, equipping creators with more powerful cinematic controls and narrative-building tools.
Unpacked:
The model now generates richer native audio, improves cinematic styles, and allows creators to use existing videos as a reference for new generations.
Video platform HeyGen is already integrating with Veo 3.1 to provide identity consistency, letting creators maintain the same character and voice across different scenes.
The AI community is already putting the new model through its paces, with platforms like Higgsfield AI live-streaming real-time generation tests and comparisons.
Bottom line: Veo 3.1's new features show a clear push from simple clip generation toward comprehensive, AI-assisted filmmaking. The update also escalates the competitive race in the generative video space, directly challenging rivals like OpenAI and Luma AI.
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Amazon's AI Axe

The Recap: Amazon is cutting up to 15% of its HR department as it prepares to redirect over $100 billion into expanding its AI and cloud data center operations. This move signals a major strategic pivot from human-led processes to AI-driven infrastructure.
Unpacked:
The cuts primarily target the People eXperience and Technology (PXT) team, which has more than 10,000 employees globally.
CEO Andy Jassy signaled this shift in a June memo, stating that AI efficiencies would likely "reduce our total corporate workforce."
The corporate layoffs stand in stark contrast to the company's plan to hire 250,000 seasonal warehouse employees for the upcoming holiday rush.
Bottom line: This isn't just a cost-cutting measure; it's a fundamental restructuring around AI's capabilities. Amazon is creating a blueprint for trading administrative overhead for massive investments in technological automation and intelligence.
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The Internet's Ghost Town

The Recap: Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian declared that so much of the internet is now dead, arguing that bots and AI-generated content are paving the way for a new generation of 'verifiably human' social media.
Unpacked:
Data increasingly supports this view, with one cybersecurity report finding that nearly 50% of internet traffic now comes from non-human sources.
Ohanian isn’t alone in this sentiment, as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently noted the significant rise of LLM-run accounts across social platforms.
His proposed solution is a shift toward more intimate platforms like group chats, where interactions are verifiably human and less susceptible to bot infiltration.
Bottom line: The flood of AI-generated content is creating a new premium on authenticity and genuine human interaction online. This trend may drive the next wave of social innovation, prioritizing trusted communities over massive, open platforms.
The Shortlist
Google announced a $15 billion investment to build its largest AI data center hub outside the U.S. in Visakhapatnam, India, in partnership with AdaniConneX and Airtel.
OpenAI announced it will begin allowing erotica on ChatGPT for verified adult users starting in December as part of a broader policy shift to relax content restrictions.
Japan's requested government formally requested that OpenAI refrain from copyright infringement, citing the ability of its Sora 2 model to generate videos featuring protected characters from anime and manga.
Google introduced Veo 3.1 and Veo 3.1 Fast, its latest state-of-the-art video models featuring richer native audio, improved cinematic styles, and new capabilities like video-to-video reference and frame transitions.
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David, Lucas, Mitchell — The Recap editorial team