The most important developments in AI, explained simply. Updated regularly.
Last updated: 2026-02-21
Google DeepMind releases Gemini 3.1 Pro with a 2x+ reasoning improvement over 3 Pro, scoring 77.1% on ARC-AGI-2. Features dynamic thinking with adjustable depth, a 1M-token context window, and 64K-token output.
GoogleAnthropic releases Claude Sonnet 4.6, now the default across free and paid plans. Delivers near-Opus-level performance in coding, computer use, and long-context reasoning with a 1M-token context window at Sonnet-tier pricing ($3/$15 per million tokens).
AnthropicOpenAI releases GPT-5.3-Codex, combining GPT-5.2-Codex coding performance with GPT-5.2 reasoning at 25% faster speeds. Sets new highs on SWE-Bench Pro and Terminal-Bench. First model rated high for cybersecurity on OpenAI's preparedness framework.
OpenAIAnthropic releases Claude Opus 4.6, their most capable model yet, featuring a 1M-token context window, agent teams for multi-agent collaboration, conversation compaction, and improved reasoning and coding across benchmarks.
AnthropicThe second International AI Safety Report provides an updated science-based assessment of general-purpose AI risks and safeguards. Notes that companies publishing Frontier AI Safety Frameworks have more than doubled since the 2025 edition.
International AI Safety ReportMistral AI releases the Mistral 3 family including Mistral Large 3, a 675B-parameter mixture-of-experts model with a 256K context window, fully open-source under Apache 2.0. The model rivals proprietary frontier models on key benchmarks.
Mistral AIAnthropic donates the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to the Agentic AI Foundation under the Linux Foundation. With 97M+ monthly SDK downloads and backing from OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft, MCP has become the universal standard for connecting AI to external tools.
MCP / Linux FoundationGoogle DeepMind releases Gemini 3 Pro, their latest flagship multimodal model, with state-of-the-art reasoning, agentic coding capabilities, and availability across AI Studio, Vertex AI, and third-party platforms like Cursor and GitHub.
Google DeepMindOpenAI releases GPT-5, a unified system with a built-in reasoning router that automatically selects between a fast model and deeper thinking mode. Hallucinations reduced ~80% vs. o3 in thinking mode. Succeeds GPT-4.5 as the flagship model.
OpenAIThe second wave of EU AI Act obligations takes effect, covering general-purpose AI model requirements, notification obligations, governance structures, and penalties. Full high-risk AI system requirements follow in August 2026.
EU AI ActThe OECD and European Commission jointly publish the review draft of their AI Literacy Framework for Primary and Secondary Education, with input from Code.org and educators across 20+ countries. Final version expected first half of 2026.
OECD / European CommissionChinese AI lab DeepSeek releases R1, a 671B-parameter open-source reasoning model developed for under $6M that matches or exceeds OpenAI o1 on math and coding benchmarks, reshaping assumptions about the cost of frontier AI development.
DeepSeek