While Gemini 4 has performed well on benchmarks widely used to gauge model efficacy, it does less well when employees actually put it to work, according to people with direct access to the effort. Alphabet's Google has begun rolling out Gemini 4 Argon, its long-awaited flagship artificial intelligence model, but the company is grappling with internal skepticism over how well it performs in key areas, such as coding. Google unveiled the model Wednesday to a small group of trusted cybersecurity partners and said it would expand access after additional testing, starting with paid subscribers. The company said Gemini 4 posted leading scores on several benchmark tests, including beating OpenAI's Astra model on one that measures security skills. But some insiders say those metrics don't tell the whole story.

Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Creator Playbook Mashable Selects In My Bag Look Up Say More AI at School Safety Net Versus Trending Now Back to School Good Connection: Uplifting stories for a digital age All Series The voluntary accord lays out four layers of safety controls, while leaving companies to decide how and whether to enforce them. Chance Townsend is the General Assignments Editor at Mashable, covering tech, video games, dating apps, digital culture, and whatever else comes his way. He has a Master's in Journalism from the University of North Texas and is a proud orange cat father. His writing has also appeared in PC Mag and . The White House has a new name for artificial intelligence and a new promise for the future of Super Intelligence.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched an investigation into several major artificial intelligence companies amid a wave of recent rogue artificial intelligence agents -- AI systems that can make decisions and take actions on behalf of users -- from firms and claims by former industry insiders that AI could end humanity within the next decade. The FTC launched the investigation several weeks ago. It was first reported on Wednesday by the New York Post and has since been confirmed by other outlets, including the Washington Post and the Reuters news agency. The probe marks the first enforcement action by a federal agency examining rogue agents. The investigation was launched amid a wave of incidents, first reported in July, of agents going rogue in testing, including when an OpenAI agent broke out of containment during testing, hacking into the AI firm Hugging Face.

How does Trump's White House AI accord work? Share How does Trump's White House AI accord work? on social media Amid calls for regulation, United States President Donald Trump met with artificial intelligence executives at the White House to put in place a voluntary pact, called the White House Accord on Super Intelligence. The agreement, which was signed by executives at Meta, Nvidia, Google, OpenAI, xAI and Anthropic on Tuesday, calls on companies to put in place guardrails internally to help monitor security risks, with four layers of control. The agreement calls for companies to maintain internal controls, establish an internal team to oversee these controls, work with independent outside auditors and create an independent board committee to review the results. The pact, however, is voluntary and not legally binding.

OpenAI's Dots and Meta's Muse are vying to be your AI agent of choice. I've tried both--and I suspect you will too. Yesterday, I spent the morning at OpenAI's annual DevDay, where over 2,500 nerds discussed building software and marveled at the latest artificial intelligence models. The biggest reveal of the day was Dots, the company's new, always-on agents that proactively help complete tasks and make autonomous decisions as they scour the web. After watching the sometimes messy demos on stage and hearing CEO Sam Altman talk about his experiences using the agents, I was curious what it felt like to boss my own Dot around.

The US's main trade regulator is conducting an industry-wide investigation into Anthropic, OpenAI and other AI labs to uncover the potential dangers their technology poses to consumers. The investigation by the Federal Trade Commission is the first official US enforcement action that delves into rogue AI agents, following a surge in incidents first reported in July that have stoked fears among the public that uncontrolled AI could one day harm humans. The FTC plans to issue formal demands for information and compel testimony from executives at top AI developers, including Anthropic, OpenAI and the research group Metr, according to multiple reports . Anthropic and OpenAI have used Metr to conduct independent investigations into security incidents involving their agentic AI technology. Anthropic, OpenAI and Metr did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Download: OpenAI's chief research officer explains its hacking response Plus: Trump and tech executives have agreed to "self-regulate" AI. "We're not going to shoot ourselves in the foot" over hack fallout, says OpenAI's chief research officer Two months after OpenAI's agents hacked into the computers of AI company Hugging Face, the company is still dealing with the fallout. Last week brought news of another hack, this time into Australia's national health-care system, which the government says OpenAI did not report for 84 days. But OpenAI insists it is not on the back foot. "I do kind of reject the premise that OpenAI is a company with visible impacts in the world and therefore OpenAI is not training safe and aligned models," says Mark Chen, the company's chief research officer. In many ways, the buck stops with Chen. I sat down with him to talk about the fallout from the hacks, what his company is doing about it, and why he thinks things are not as bad as they seem.

Two months after the bombshell news that a swarm of its agents had broken their containment and hacked into the computers of the AI company Hugging Face, OpenAI is still putting out fires. A steady drip of disclosures about other hacks in the weeks since has kept OpenAI in the spotlight and raised serious questions about the safety of its technology. Last week brought news of another hack, this time into Australia's national health-care system. The Australian government says that OpenAI did not notify it of the breach until 84 days after it happened. But OpenAI insists it is not on the back foot.

OpenAI launches'dots,' personal AI assistant'built to handle everything' Share OpenAI launches'dots,' personal AI assistant'built to handle everything' on social media OpenAI has launched an "always-on" personal AI assistant designed to manage tasks ranging from restaurant bookings to website design. The AI giant's release of "dots" on Tuesday marked the latest addition to the growing field of virtual assistants billed as a solution for busy people wishing to cut down on their hectic workloads. In its announcement of the release, OpenAI said dots were "built to handle everything", with each personal agent capable of working on a user's goals autonomously around the clock. "The magic of dots is when they bring you work done the way you would do it, sometimes before you even think to ask," the San Francisco-based company said. "With dots alongside you, ambitious ideas and projects you haven't had the time or support to pursue start to feel achievable."

Mashable Selects Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more In My Bag Look Up Creator Playbook Say More AI at School Safety Net Versus Trending Now Back to School Good Connection: Uplifting stories for a digital age All Series Olivia Tauber is the deputy editor of digital culture, covering creators, media, movies, beauty, and more. Based in New York, her work has appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, The Cut, Teen Vogue, Complex, and Interview Magazine. She holds a Master's degree in Journalism from NYU and a Bachelor's from the University of Michigan. She also runs Fan Mail, a weekly pop-culture newsletter. First Meta gave us Jolly.