Hello everyone, welcome to Fang Junyu’s Tech Weekly. This is a brand new column that summarizes the tech news from the past week and selects the right stories for coverage.
Hot News
1. Anthropic Launches Claude Sonnet 4.5
Anthropic today launched Claude Sonnet 4.5, which the company calls “the world’s best encoding model,” outperforming GPT-5 and Gemini 2.5 Pro. It’s also the most powerful model for building complex agents and using computers. Furthermore, Anthropic says it demonstrates significant improvements in reasoning and mathematics compared to Opus 4.1.
2. Sora 2 is now available
This week, AI giant OpenAI launched Sora 2, its flagship generative video and audio model. Sora 2 is OpenAI’s response to Google’s Veo 3, widely considered the most advanced generative AI video model to date.
OpenAI’s Sora app soared to the top spot in the App Store, surpassing Gemini and ChatGPT. Although currently invitation-only and available only to users in the US and Canada at launch, Sora was downloaded 56,000 times on its first day, according to the latest data from app intelligence provider Appfigures.
OpenAI Sora project lead Bill Peebles announced the achievement at X on Friday. In a post, he stated that his team is listening to feedback and iterating rapidly, and promised to send out more invite codes soon.
3. The US government shutdown has stalled IT projects.
The US government shutdown began at 12:01 PM ET on October 1st, halting non-essential IT modernization and leaving cybersecurity operations to a lean staff.
Since taking office, President Trump has made government technology reform a priority of his administration—at least in part. DOGE (Department of Government Technology Transformation), a non-government agency created by Trump and previously led by Elon Musk, was given a broad mandate when it was established in January to modernize IT systems. During this process, the government’s technology transformation team, 18F, was reportedly shut down under pressure from DOGE, making IT deals more difficult to secure. Similarly, many IT staff members have been laid off since the Trump administration took office.
4. OpenAI, now valued at $500 billion, could become the world’s most valuable startup.
After a secondary stock sale aimed at retaining employees, OpenAI may now become the world’s most valuable startup, surpassing Elon Musk’s SpaceX and TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance.
According to a source familiar with the matter but not authorized to discuss it publicly, current and former OpenAI employees sold $6.6 billion worth of stock to a group of investors, pushing the privately held artificial intelligence company’s valuation to $500 billion.
5. Video game giant EA is in talks to go private in a massive $50 billion acquisition.
Sources told The Wall Street Journal that Electronic Arts (EA) is in advanced talks to go private through a $50 billion leveraged buyout. The deal, expected to be announced next week, would be the largest of its kind ever if finalized.
Potential investors include Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, private equity firm Silver Lake Capital, and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners. While Saudi Arabia has invested billions in sports and video games in recent years, this acquisition would be its largest single gaming investment to date.
6. The UK announces plans for mandatory digital IDs
The UK is rolling out a nationwide digital ID scheme to combat illegal immigrant workers. A UK government press release on Friday announced that the digital ID will be stored on mobile devices via the GOV.UK wallet app, currently under development, and will become mandatory for adults working in the UK by July 2029.
The digital ID scheme has not yet been finalized and requires parliamentary approval before implementation. According to the press release, the UK government will launch a public consultation later this year to solicit feedback on how to implement the digital ID service.
Switzerland narrowly approves digital IDs. According to The Guardian, “Swiss voters narrowly backed an electronic ID scheme in a second national vote.”
7. Asahi Beer halts production due to cyberattack
Asahi Breweries, Japan’s largest beer company, shut down its distribution system after a cyberattack, leaving local beer consumers struggling to survive on existing stockpiles.
Asahi Group Holdings said in a statement: “Asahi Group Holdings is currently experiencing a system failure caused by a cyberattack, which is impacting operations in Japan.”
8. A data center fire paralyzed 647 government services in South Korea.
On Friday evening, a fire broke out at a data center operated by South Korea’s National Information Resources Service. According to South Korean media reports, technicians accidentally started the blaze while replacing a lithium-ion battery. As is common with battery fires, firefighters struggled to contain the blaze, which had spread to 234 batteries.
On Saturday, the South Korean government used a blog hosted on the local cloud service Naver to publish a list of phone numbers citizens could use to contact government agencies, as the fire also disabled government email. By Sunday, a government account named “X” began posting advice on how to access services.
9. OpenAI is partnering with South Korean giants Samsung and SK Hynix to support its large-scale AI projects.
OpenAI has convinced two South Korean chip giants to support its efforts to build its largest AI engine to date.
ChatGPT Factory: OpenAI confirmed this week that Samsung and SK Hynix will join the Stargate project, pledging to provide a significant number of advanced memory chips and collaborate on local AI data centers. The agreement, announced simultaneously by Seoul officials, solidifies South Korea’s position as a core supplier for the project. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman modestly called the project the largest infrastructure effort since the birth of the internet.
10. Generative AI is trying its hand at Hollywood.
Over the past few months, major players in the AI field, including OpenAI, Google, and Meta, have been meeting with film studios in hopes of establishing close working relationships. Lionsgate, for example, signed a deal with Runway to produce an internal generative AI model that will be trained on the studio’s film adaptations.
In late July, Amazon invested in Showrunner, a company that calls itself the “Netflix of AI” and specializes in clunky, user-generated animations with text prompts. Earlier this month, OpenAI announced plans to produce a feature-length film called Critterz, aimed at convincing studios that they can and should produce projects entirely with AI.
AI Bubble Column
1. Deutsche Bank warns that an AI bubble is the only thing keeping the US economy stable.
A recent Deutsche Bank research note to clients suggests that the AI boom is currently helping the US economy avoid a recession, but this trend cannot continue indefinitely. George Saravelos, Deutsche Bank’s global head of foreign exchange research, said that if large tech companies don’t invest heavily in building new AI data centers, the US will be close to a recession this year.
2. Analysts say Oracle will borrow at least $25 billion annually to support its AI ambitions.
KeyBanc estimates that Oracle may need to borrow approximately $100 billion over the next four years to build the data centers required as part of its $300 billion cloud computing contract with OpenAI.
KeyBanc Capital Markets reportedly estimates that if Big Red intends to build all the necessary additional cloud computing infrastructure as agreed with OpenAI earlier this month, it may need to borrow approximately $25 billion annually over the next four years. The source of these funds remains unknown, but one of the largest deals in AI is increasingly looking like a debt-funded transaction, potentially leaving a significant amount of debt unpaid should the AI bubble burst.
3. Sam Altman on the AI Bubble
In a recent interview, Sam Altman suggested we’re in the midst of an AI bubble. “When bubbles occur, smart people get overexcited about something that’s true,” he explained. “If you look back at most bubbles in history, like the tech bubble, they were all real. Technology was really important. The internet was really important. People got overexcited. Are we in a phase where investors are generally overexcited about AI? I think so. Is AI the most important thing for a long time to come? I think so too.”
4. Is the AI bubble bursting?
In recent years, the debate over the “AI bubble” has intensified. This article attempts to examine whether AI is in a bubble and what this means for us, drawing on investment valuations, infrastructure, market expectations, and historical comparisons.
You’re welcome to search for “方君宇” on WeChat, Zhihu, SubStack, Note, and podcast platforms like Apple Podcasts and Xiaoyuzhou to check out the latest episode of the article/podcast, “Is the AI Bubble Bursting?”
Featured News
Sam Altman predicts the emergence of general artificial intelligence by 2030 and says AI will handle over 40% of tasks;
The British government again attempts to gain access to Apple user data through a backdoor;
Elon Musk makes history by becoming the first person to reach a net worth of $500 billion;
Opera launches a new AI-powered browser called Neon. There are reports that OpenAI may launch an AI-powered browser in 2025.
Stablecoin transaction volume surged by $250 billion in 18 months.
Google will merge Android and ChromeOS in 2026.
A Discord customer service data leak exposed user information and scanned photo IDs.
Unity disclosed a years-old security vulnerability and urged developers to update their games.
More executives left Hyundai’s air taxi startup, Supernal.
ChatGPT announced a new instant checkout feature for purchasing items from Etsy and Shopify merchants.
A Yale University study claims that artificial intelligence has had zero impact on employment so far.
Amazon says its AI will help NBA fans track new data.
AirPods Pro 3 are unrepairable, receiving a 0-point teardown score from iFixit.
Volvo North America confirmed that its IT supplier was attacked by ransomware, resulting in the theft of employee data. 15. The United States plans to implement a 1:1 chip production rule to curb its dependence on overseas suppliers.
YouTube Music is testing AI hosts.
Birmingham faces an IT disaster, with Oracle project costs soaring from £20 million to £170 million.
California Governor Newsom signed SB 53, a bill to boost California’s artificial intelligence industry.
WestJet Airlines confirmed a recent data breach that resulted in the theft of passenger passports.
An Adobe Analytics vulnerability exposed customer tracking data to other tenants.
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