In Case You Missed It: Last Week in AI | September 28 to October 4, 2026
OpenAI's DevDay on September 29 brought Dots agents, Codex in the cloud, and GPT-6.1 Sol with a wider agent platform. Anthropic released Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Google released Gemini 4 Argon, while OpenAI shelved GPT-6.1 Astra after safety testing. Policy covered an FTC probe, a White House accord, California's worker bills, and a warning about self-improving AI. Challenger's September data shows AI as the leading cited reason for layoffs this year, and AMD agreed to buy World Labs for $8.2 billion. In this episode: DevDay: OpenAI launches Dots, always-on agents with their own cloud computers DevDay: OpenAI brings Codex to the cloud for coding, review and security work DevDay: OpenAI expands its agent platform with a cheaper model, new APIs and plugins Anthropic releases Claude Sonnet 5.5 with a fallback for higher-risk cyber tasks Google DeepMind releases Gemini 4 Argon to trusted cyber defenders Anthropic report finds open-weight GLM-5.3 comparable to Claude Mythos Preview on an exploit benchmark OpenAI shelves GPT-6.1 Astra after safety testing FTC opens a probe of OpenAI and Anthropic over agent risks White House accord sets voluntary audit commitments for six AI companies California signs seven AI worker-protection bills Researchers from rival labs warn policymakers about an intelligence explosion Challenger: AI is the leading cited reason for layoffs year to date Draup: AI builder roles reach 27% of tech job postings AMD agrees to buy Fei-Fei Li's World Labs for $8.2 billion Shopify opens checkout to browser-based AI agents Epoch AI estimates chip supply could outrun revenue Quick hits: Barclays scaling Claude, Nvidia's open agent safety platform, OpenAI's notices to more than 100 organizations, Wall Street demand for agent orchestration, the Claude Frontier Academy, and Ontario's investment in the Vector Institute ODSC updates: ODSC AI West 2026 (October 27 to 29) and ODSC AI NYC, the AI for Work Summit (December 2 to 3) This episode was sponsored by: ODSC AI West 2026 – The Leading AI Builders Conference Join us in San Francisco from October 27th–29th for expert-led sessions on Agentic AI, AI Engineering, Data Science, Machine Learning, LLMOps, and AI-driven automation. Learn more: odsc.ai/west ODSC AI Engineering Accelerator – From Using AI to Building It Seven weeks of live, cohort-based training in LLMs, AI assistants, agents, and AI engineering. Ship a working AI agent or assistant by the end. Summer and Fall cohorts available. Group pricing for teams of 3+. Learn more: https://odsc.ai/accelerator/ ODSC AI NYC – AI for Work A hands-on event taking place December 2–3 in Manhattan. Through practical sessions and workshops, attendees will learn how to build and apply AI agents, automation, and AI-powered workflows to real workplace challenges. Learn more: summit.ai To watch more videos like this, visit https://aiplus.training Sign up for the newsletter to stay up to date with the latest trends in data science: https://opendatascience.com/newsletter/ Follow us online! • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OPENDATASCI • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/odsc/ • Blog: https://opendatascience.com/ • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/open-data-science/ • X (twitter): https://x.com/_odsc