Brief

A new open-source index called AgentTape ranks AI models based on a blend of benchmark performance, actual usage, cost, and speed. Currently, OpenAI's GPT-5 models dominate the top rankings, with GPT-5.5 specifically excelling in quality benchmarks but lagging in adoption due to its newness and price. The index aims to provide a more holistic view of model performance beyond theoretical benchmarks, reflecting real-world utility. AI

A new benchmark, dubbed 1rok, has been launched to evaluate the stock-picking capabilities of frontier large language models. The benchmark assigns each participating LLM a virtual portfolio of $100,000 and tasks them with selecting stocks weekly, with performance tracked against market outcomes. This initiative aims to provide a more practical, downstream evaluation of LLMs beyond traditional coding and reasoning benchmarks, focusing on decision-making under uncertainty. AI

Modal has developed a system to achieve truly serverless GPUs for AI inference, addressing the challenge of rapidly scaling resources to meet variable demand. Their approach involves maintaining cloud buffers of idle GPUs, a custom filesystem for lazy container image serving, and efficient checkpoint/restore mechanisms for both CPU and GPU processes. This engineering effort, developed over five years, reduces AI inference replica scaling time from tens of minutes to mere seconds, aiming to maximize GPU Allocation Utilization. AI

xAI's Grok chatbot can now access user-uploaded documents, a feature previously available only to paying subscribers. This integration allows Grok to analyze and answer questions based on provided files, enhancing its utility for users who need to process specific information. However, the company has not yet detailed the security measures in place for this new capability. AI

xAI reportedly asked employees to submit their personal tax returns to be used as training data for its Grok chatbot. The company offered a $420 incentive for participation. However, employees who submitted their data have not yet received the promised payment, with the incentive due two months prior. AI

Microsoft has introduced four new AI-related certifications to address the growing demand for AI professionals. Separately, there are reports that Elon Musk's xAI may have failed to pay a $420 fee for tax data. Additionally, Microsoft's M365 Copilot, initially criticized, is reportedly seeing a turnaround, with GPT-5 cited as a potential catalyst for improved performance and a shift away from prompt engineering expertise. AI

xAI is facing a $2 billion lawsuit alleging that its turbines are causing pollution in Memphis. This legal challenge comes as the company plans to invest an additional $2.8 billion in acquiring more turbines. AI

Researchers have developed a new framework to evaluate the use of zero-shot text-to-image models for generating synthetic concept datasets in concept-based Explainable AI (XAI). This approach aims to overcome the limitation of requiring large labeled image sets for concept representation. The study analyzes the faithfulness of these synthetic concepts through various comparisons, including similarity to real concepts and their performance in downstream explanation tasks, ultimately highlighting challenges and open questions regarding synthetic data in model analysis. AI

xAI has launched a new feature called Skills for its Grok chatbot, enabling persistent memory across conversations. Users can now teach Grok preferences, formatting rules, and workflow steps, which the AI will remember and apply automatically. This allows Grok to generate production-ready documents, including Word files, slide decks, spreadsheets, and PDFs, with custom formatting and analysis capabilities. Users can also create and share their own custom skills by describing them in conversation or uploading files. AI

xAI silently retired eight Grok model slugs on May 15, 2026, without requiring code changes from users. This change redirects requests to different, more expensive models and alters reasoning capabilities without explicit error signals. The silent nature of this deprecation means that cost attribution dashboards may become inaccurate, and applications relying on specific model behaviors could experience degraded performance or unexpected cost increases. AI

Several LLM providers have adjusted their pricing and model availability. Qwen saw mixed changes, with some variants increasing in price while others decreased, and new models like Qwen3.7 Max were introduced. Google's Gemini Flash Latest experienced a significant price hike, while Z.ai's GLM 5.1 became free. Additionally, Alibaba's Tongyi DeepResearch 30B A3B model was removed from catalogs, prompting users to seek alternatives. AI

A study involving 418 participants explored how revealing AI model limitations affects user trust in explainable AI (XAI). Researchers found that disclosing specific case-wise limitations, rather than general information, improved trust calibration. However, participants struggled to distinguish between perceived trust, trustworthiness, and accuracy, and short-term experience did not lead to better calibration. AI

xAI has integrated its Grok AI model into Nous Research's open-source Hermes Agent. This allows users to leverage Grok 4.3, its text-to-speech capabilities, and image generation features directly within the self-improving Hermes Agent. The integration aims to enhance information gathering and agent functionality by combining Grok's advanced reasoning with Hermes' persistent memory and learning capabilities. AI

xAI has integrated its Hermes Agent with X, allowing users to leverage X Premium subscriptions within the agent. Additionally, Hermes Agent can now search X posts, enhancing its capabilities for users interacting with the social media platform. AI

xAI has launched an early beta of Grok Build, a command-line interface tool designed for coding, app development, and workflow automation. This agentic tool is currently available to SuperGrok and X Premium+ users, with a specific focus on SuperGrok Heavy subscribers. The company is soliciting user feedback through this beta period to refine the model and the product. AI

xAI has enabled users to integrate its Grok models into two open-source projects: OpenCode and OpenClaw. Subscribers of Grok or X Premium can now leverage Grok Build, the same model powering xAI's coding agent, within OpenCode for enhanced codebase intelligence. Additionally, Grok models can be utilized within OpenClaw, a local-first personal assistant that supports various messaging platforms and runs on diverse hardware. AI

xAI has launched new APIs for its Grok model, offering both Speech to Text (STT) and Text to Speech (TTS) capabilities. These APIs provide instant, multi-speaker transcription in over 25 languages, with features like word-level timestamps and speaker diarization. The STT service is priced at $0.10 per hour for batch processing and $0.20 for streaming, while the TTS service costs $4.20 per million characters. AI