Top News | OpenAI holds back GPT-5.6 series: The AI giant announced a “limited preview” of its new GPT-5.6 family of frontier AI models. That includes Sol, the flagship; Terra, a comparable model to GPT-5.5 that eats up only half the tokens; and Luna, an even lower-cost option. For now, only a few trusted partners have access to these models, as requested/instructed by the US government. The models will apparently open up access to a larger population within the coming weeks. In their post, OpenAI leadership pushes back gently, suggesting that direct government intervention should not become “the long-term default” for new AI model releases, as it “keeps the best tools from users, developers, enterprises, cyber defenders, and global partners who need them.” Former White House AI policy adviser Dean W. Ball was harsher in his criticism, positing that “you should not expect the most powerful people in the world using the most powerful technology ever conceived in a way that is inscrutable to the public to turn out well, and you should see that dynamic as fundamentally inconsistent with a democratic republic.” About that OAI IPO… The New York Times reports that OpenAI leadership is having second thoughts about its IPO plans, at least for the remainder of 2026. According to a trio of unnamed sources, CEO Sam Altman wants the value to exceed $1 trillion as a public company, and it’s unclear if that’s currently possible amid unpredictable global markets, lingering concerns about future AI revenues, and of course the downward slide of SpaceX stock following its own blockbuster debut. No word yet on whether or not Anthropic, the Coca-Cola to OpenAI’s Pepsi (or is it the other way around?), are also having IPO cold feet. RIP Om Malik: The iconic technology writer was among the first trusted online voices in the space, and created one of the original, essential tech blogs, Gigaom. He was also a published author, analyst, and ultimately a partner at early-stage VC firm True Ventures. Everyone today writing about tech, startups, or gadgets online owes a debt to Om, a true pioneer in our field. According to family, he passed away earlier this week at Stanford Hospital following an extended illness. He was 59.
| TWiST 500 | A pair of unrelated stories about two big T500 companies, but it’s our newsletter, we can do what we please. | First, The Information reports that DeepSeek’s recent $7.4 billion mega-round — announced just last week — was directly inspired by Anthropic’s infamous yet brief Mythos preview. Apparently, after getting a look at Mythos during its April rollout (before the US government turned off the tap entirely), CEO Liang Wenfeng grew concerned that his own company’s frontier models would never be able to catch up without a massive influx of fresh cash. | All those billions aren’t just going to compute and infrastructure. DeepSeek is also reportedly going on a hiring spree, adding to its current, conservative base of 300 full time employees. It’s a significant turn for the Chinese giant not just because of the high numbers. Until now, Liang has largely self-funded DeepSeek out of pocket. (He made his fortune in hedge funds.) But remaining competitive in today’s AI race threatens to tap out even his considerable resources. | Speaking of sea change moments, British fintech giant Revolut — which has long enjoyed a recruiting boost from its famous “remote-first” policy — is now calling its recent grads and interns back to the office. The previous rules allowed fresh trainees to decide between working from home or in Revolut HQ; there was even an option to work abroad for 120 days out of the year! | But no more. The company’s 2027 rules note the early career benefits of “in-person collaboration and mentoring.” So new hires have to come in to a Revolut office at least 3 days out of the week. | On the pod, Jason called the Return to Office trend several years ago, and it has been slowly coming more into focus ever since. – Lon | A message from NetSuite | The business landscape is very chaotic right now. That’s why you need NetSuite, by Oracle. Get the free business guide Demystifying AI at Netsuite.com/TWiST. | This Week in Startups | E2304: Jason sits down with Brynn Putnam, CEO and founder of Board, to learn more about her company’s tabletop gaming console. The pair talks about how to raise capital for yet-to-launch hardware projects, the screen-time debate, and how Board is approaching building or buying IP for its family-friendly games. Next, Alex got Heremus’s AJ Piplica on the horn to chat hypersonic, autonomous jets. The startup’s technology bridges the gap between rockets and airplanes, and may represent the future of warfare, yes, but also fast freight! | E2303: Two fascinating new interviews with great founders on this Monday special. First up, Jason and Lon chat with Louis Phillips, the creator of Australia’s white-hot fitness app INTVL. The app gamifies your daily run, turning neighborhoods into “turf wars” that you win just by jogging around the block… until someone else doesn’t retrace your steps. Find out how Louis grew the project to over 1M users with zero paid ads. Then, Alice Zhang of Verge Labs stops by to discuss the startup’s recent name change and pivot, and how they managed to assemble one of the world’s largest proprietary brain tissue data sets. | E2302: Anthropic stabbed Cursor in the back. Then SpaceX swooped in with $60 billion. Today, TWiST connects the dots on the biggest deal in AI since the Microsoft-OpenAI partnership, and why it's a warning sign for every startup building on top of a frontier model. Jason is joined by Bling Capital’s Ben Ling, Banana Capital’s Turner Novak, and co-host Alex to go deep on the future of coding models, the current golden age of venture liquidity, OpenAI’s financials, and the ‘Four Ds’ of venture investing. The show closes with a tribute to Josh Baer, the founder of Capital Factory. | TWiST Partner Offers | Sentry.io: Your team should be focused on shipping features — not chasing down bugs. New users can get $240 in free credits when they go to sentry.io/twist and use the code TWIST. Northwest Registered Agent: Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at northwestregisteredagent.com/twist. DigitalOcean: Want to see what building on a true AI-native platform looks like? Head to do.co/twist to start building on DigitalOcean's AI-Native Cloud today — and cut your AI workload costs by up to 50%.
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