Subvolts take Anthropic's model updates and new AI tools from Google and China lead this week's AI news. Jul 9, 2026 - Developers
- Learn about improved coding capabilities in Claude Sonnet 5 and new tools like Nano Banana 2 Lite for image generation.
- Business
- Understand Anthropic's strategic moves on safety and model releases, plus hardware and IPO news from Etched and Baidu.
- Everyday users
- Discover new AI features like video summaries from NotebookLM and understand how AI model updates impact everyday tools.
This episode covers significant updates from a major AI lab, Anthropic, and other key industry players.
#251 - Mythos Back, Sonnet 5, Etched, LongCat
Audio streams from Skynet Today. Your place is remembered on this device.
From Subvolts
Summary and analysis by Subvolts editorial, AI-assisted.
This episode of Last Week in AI features hosts Andrey Kurenkov and Jeremie Harris discussing AI news. Topics include Anthropic's redeployment of Claude Fable 5 with new security measures, the launch of Claude Sonnet 5 with discounted pricing and improved coding, Google's NotebookLM video summaries, and new tools like Nano Banana 2 Lite. The discussion also covers hardware advancements from Etched, Baidu's IPO plans, Agility Robotics' SPAC, DeepSeek's hiring, and China's Longcat 2.0 model.
AI labs are updating their smart computer programs. This episode covers new versions with better safety, faster performance, and tools that can summarize videos or create images. It's interesting because these updates affect how we use AI for work and fun.
This episode offers a comprehensive look at recent AI developments, particularly from Anthropic and Google. It's for anyone tracking the rapid evolution of AI models, their safety features, and commercial applications. Listeners will learn about Anthropic's strategic responses to government concerns and their latest model releases, alongside emerging tools and hardware. This connects to frontier labs' ongoing efforts to balance innovation with responsible deployment and market expansion, highlighting competitive pressures and technological advancements across the industry.
- HostAndrey Kurenkov
- HostJeremie Harris
- Episode: #251 - Mythos Back, Sonnet 5, Etched, LongCat
- Show: Last Week in AI
- Length: 90 minutes
- Anthropic redeploys: Claude Fable 5 with new cybersecurity classifiers
- Anthropic launches: Claude Sonnet 5 with discounted pricing
- Google NotebookLM generates: TikTok-style vertical video summaries
Our 251st episode with a summary and discussion of last week's big AI news!
Recorded on 07/01/2026
Hosted by Andrey Kurenkov and Jeremie Harris
Feel free to email us your questions and feedback at andreyvkurenkov@gmail.com and/or hello@gladstone.ai
Read out our text newsletter and comment on the podcast at https://lastweekin.ai/
In this episode:
- Anthropic redeploys Claude Fable 5 after talks with the US government, adding new cybersecurity classifiers, drafting a jailbreak-severity framework with major partners, and expanding model-testing coordination; broader concerns remain about the inevitability of jailbreaks and uneven release constraints versus OpenAI.
- Anthropic launches Claude Sonnet 5 with time-limited discounted pricing, improved agentic coding and benchmark performance, reduced misaligned behavior, and default cyber safeguards despite relatively weaker cybersecurity capability than top-tier models.
- New tools and apps include Google NotebookLM generating TikTok-style vertical video summaries of uploaded research and Google releasing Nano Banana 2 Lite, a faster, cheaper image generator available via API.
- Business and research updates span Etched’s push toward full-stack inference hardware with major funding and contracts, Baidu’s AI chip unit IPO ambitions, Agility Robotics’ SPAC plan, DeepSeek’s hiring expansion, and China’s open-source Longcat 2.0 MoE model with notable large-scale training and efficiency techniques alongside new long-horizon agent benchmarks.
A thank you to our current sponsors:
- Box - visit box.com/LWIAI to learn more
- Notion - visit notion.com/lwai to try Notion’s Developer Platform today.
- ODSC AI - visit odsc.ai/east and use promo code LWAI for an additional 15% off your pass to ODSC AI East 2026.
- Factor - visit factormeals.com/lwai50off and use code lwai50off to get 50 percent off and free breakfast for a year
Timestamps (note - these don't take into account dynamically inserted ads and therefore may be off by a couple of minutes):
- (00:00:10) Intro / Banter
- (00:02:07) News Preview
- Tools & Apps
- (00:02:32) Trump drops restrictions on Anthropic's Mythos and Fable models | TechCrunch
- (00:16:08) Anthropic launches Claude Sonnet 5 as a cheaper way to run agents | TechCrunch
- (00:20:35) Google’s NotebookLM can sum up your research in a TikTok-style clip | The Verge
- (00:22:08) Google introduces a faster, cheaper image generator with Nano Banana 2 Lite | TechCrunch
- Applications & Business
- (00:22:50) Jargon decoded
- agentic coding
- Andrey Kurenkov
- AI that can write code by itself, acting like a programmer.
- MoE model
- Jeremie Harris
- A type of AI that uses multiple specialized networks to handle different tasks more efficiently.
49 minAnthropic's Katelyn Lesse & Angela Jiang: Building an Ecosystem, not a Walled Garden
WithKatelyn Lesse, Angela Jiang
2 h 24Questions people ask
- What is Anthropic doing with Claude Fable 5?
- Anthropic redeployed Claude Fable 5 after talks with the US government, adding new cybersecurity classifiers and a jailbreak-severity framework.
- What are the key features of Claude Sonnet 5?
- Claude Sonnet 5 offers discounted pricing, improved agentic coding and benchmark performance, reduced misaligned behavior, and default cyber safeguards.
Page generated Oct 19, 2026. Summaries are Subvolts' own; the audio, artwork and notes belong to Skynet Today.
