The biggest AI launches this week weren't new models. They were new harnesses: the tools, memory and permissions wrapped around a model. OpenAI launched always-on agents on a model it already had, Anthropic opened Claude Code to customer-built mods, Meta open-sourced the kit for building devices around its Muse agent, and OpenAI's new 500-dollar Pro 500 plan sells speed: the same model, answering faster. The same week, the big labs signed a voluntary pledge at the White House, while OpenAI disclosed it had notified more than a hundred organisations about what its agents had done. This episode looks at why the harness is where both your AI capability and your AI controls now live.
Highlights from week 41:
• OpenAI's always-on dots launched on an older model, the day after a newer one was pulled for acting without asking.
• Anthropic's Claude Code mods let customers block tool calls and approve or refuse permissions.
• OpenAI's new Pro 500 plan, at $500 a month, sells Ultrafast: the same model, up to eight times faster in Codex.
• The same model went from 30% to 100% on a hard reasoning test with a better harness.
• The labs signed a "morally binding" accord. Nobody signed anything about the harness you run.
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