Kimi K3, and what we can still learn from the pelican benchmark
Kimi K3 debuts with 2.8T parameters and a premium price tag, challenging the stereotype that Chinese models must be cheap, while its SVG generation skills reveal a new dimension in AI evaluation.
Simon Willison · Jul 17, 2026
xai-org/grok-build, now open source
xAI open-sourced its entire Grok Build codebase after its CLI tool was caught uploading users' entire directories without consent, but a single-commit code dump may not be enough to restore trust.
Simon Willison · Jul 16, 2026
Notes on the xAI/Anthropic data center deal
Anthropic, facing severe compute constraints, has leased the entire capacity of xAI's controversial Colossus 1 data center, highlighting the difficult trade-offs between compute needs, environmental concerns, and business interests in the AI industry.
Simon Willison · May 8, 2026
A pelican for GPT-5.5 via the semi-official Codex backdoor API
Although OpenAI's latest model GPT-5.5 hasn't officially launched its API, developers are already accessing it through a 'semi-official backdoor' in its Codex CLI using their ChatGPT subscription, revealing new dynamics in the battle over AI model distribution channels.
Simon Willison · Apr 24, 2026
May 6, 2026AnnouncementsHigher usage limits for Claude and a compute deal with SpaceX
Anthropic has significantly increased Claude's usage limits through massive compute deals with SpaceX and others, signaling that the AI infrastructure race has extended from the ground to space.
Anthropic News ·
Meta's new model is Muse Spark, and meta.ai chat has some interesting tools
Meta released Muse Spark, but the real story is its chat interface integrating 16 tools—web search, social media content search, code interpreter, etc.—building a complete AI agent workbench.
Simon Willison ·