OpenAI keeps non-profit & launches Codex
OpenAI has announced it no longer intends to change to being a fully for-profit entity that is no longer controlled by a non-profit board. In the revised plan, OpenAI will remain under the control of its non-profit board while transitioning into a public benefit corporation. Their announcement states: “Our for-profit LLC, which has been under the nonprofit since 2019, will transition to a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC)–a purpose-driven company structure that has to consider the interests of both shareholders and the mission… We made the decision for the nonprofit to retain control of OpenAI after hearing from civic leaders and engaging in constructive dialogue with the offices of the Attorney General of Delaware and the Attorney General of California.”
OpenAI launches Codex
OpenAI has launched Codex, a highly capable AI coding agent that uses the company's codex-1 model, optimized for software engineering tasks. Codex operates in a cloud-based virtual computer and can interact with GitHub to preload user code repositories. It can write simple features, fix bugs, answer questions about a codebase, and run tests in one to 30 minutes. The tool is available to ChatGPT Pro, Enterprise, and Team subscribers, with plans to expand access to ChatGPT Plus and Edu users. OpenAI aims for Codex to act as a "virtual teammate," autonomously completing tasks that would take human engineers significant time.
DeepMind introduces AlphaEvolve
DeepMind, Google's AI R&D lab, has developed a new AI system named AlphaEvolve, designed to tackle problems with machine-gradable solutions. The system uses models to generate, critique, and evaluate a pool of possible answers to a question, thereby reducing the tendency of AI models to 'hallucinate' or make things up. AlphaEvolve uses state-of-the-art Gemini models, making it more capable than previous AI systems. However, it has limitations, such as only being able to solve problems it can self-evaluate and only describing solutions as algorithms, making it unsuitable for non-numerical problems. Despite these limitations, DeepMind claims that AlphaEvolve has been successful in rediscovering the best-known answers to a set of math problems 75% of the time and finding improved solutions in 20% of cases.
U.S. Tech Giants agreements with Saudi Arabia and UAE
The Trump administration is advancing agreements with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to expand their access to cutting-edge AI chips from U.S. tech giants like Nvidia and AMD, marking a major geopolitical and commercial shift in AI policy. This move, part of Trump’s broader Middle East business diplomacy, coincides with a rollback of Biden-era restrictions on AI chip exports and is attracting billions in tech investments from U.S. firms. Nvidia will supply advanced processors to Saudi AI firm Humain, while AMD will support a $10 billion regional data center initiative. Tech heavyweights including Amazon, Cisco, Super Micro, Qualcomm, and OpenAI are also launching or expanding projects in the Gulf, ranging from AI zones and cloud services to new data centers and chip infrastructure. Despite the commercial optimism, the initiatives have sparked national security concerns in Washington over potential Chinese access to American AI hardware via Gulf intermediaries, particularly involving UAE’s G42 and Huawei.
