Anthropic says its newest AI models, Fable 5.1 and Mythos 5.1, address criticisms from customers about price, data retention, and overzealous safeguards. The company claims Claude Fable 5.1 offers stronger performance than Fable 5, but costs around 25 percent less typically and up to 45 percent less for complex agentic tasks, thanks to reduced pricing on cached data that was already processed and stored.

Along with the announcement, a slew of early impressions popped up, including from Every CEO Dan Shipper, who claims, “It’s the strongest coding model we’ve used, but now it’s fast, token-efficient, and crucially actually speaks like a normal person.” 

Box CEO Aaron Levie is another early access believer, saying that his company’s agent with Fable 5.1 picked up on subtleties and ambiguities in data that Fable 5 missed in the same test. Meanwhile, Lisan al Gaib points out that on benchmarks, Mythos 5.1 with low reasoning scores the same as its predecessor set to Max reasoning.

Fable 5.1 also has “more precise safeguards” that Anthropic says are less likely to block basic biology questions than Fable 5, but Mythos 5.1 has the same biology restrictions as the previous model.  Anthropic also explained its progress on data retention, saying that  Enterprise Frontier Safeguards offer “complete privacy” by storing data on the customer’s cloud servers instead of its own, and will start rolling out later this fall.

Anthropic says it’s “now allowing Fable 5.1 to be used for identifying software vulnerabilities,” but it will still redirect some cybersecurity tasks to Opus models, like “penetration testing, exploit generation, and binary-based vulnerability scanning.” Claude Fable 5.1 is now available on all platforms, while Mythos 5.1 is available to Project Glasswing participants only.

New Apple CEO John Ternus sent out his first staff memo, thanking his predecessor Tim Cook, and quickly turning to what the company will do next, reports Bloomberg. 

“We have a huge launch next week that’s going to be phenomenal. Thanks for everything you’ve all done to make it possible,” writes Ternus, referring to the September 9th event where Apple’s expected to unveil new iPhones including the rumored foldable iPhone Ultra and iPhone 18 Pro models. Ternus also hints at “incredible products already in the works and the ones we haven’t even imagined yet,” presumably moving beyond camera-equipped AirPods, home robots, and even more OLED displays.

Team,

Today, on my first day as CEO, I just wanted to send a quick note to thank everyone for the warm wishes. I also want to extend my deep appreciation to Tim for sharing so much of his knowledge and experience during this transition, and more importantly, for everything he contributed to Apple over the years. We’re so lucky to have had a CEO who led with his values and with such decency and humanity. We are all better for it and I’m so grateful he’ll be our executive chairman.

I’m honored to be stepping into this role at what is truly the greatest company in the world, and I am so excited about everything we have in store. We have a huge launch next week that’s going to be phenomenal. Thanks for everything you’ve all done to make it possible.

I’m just as excited about what lies beyond that, including the incredible products already in the works and the ones we haven’t even imagined yet that we’ll dream up and create together. There’s no team in the world I’d rather build the future with.

More to come. In the meantime, thanks for your excellent work!

John

John Deere is testing a new  “JD” AI assistant that it says can help farmers make more money, with answers about best practices and historical trends that are based on their own data. It uses their “field, machine and operational data” to answer questions on topics like equipment settings, fuel usage, or harvest timing. 

The press release didn’t mention which AI technology is behind this platform. But after fighting with farmers and the FTC for years over the right to repair, the news of Early Access Program testing for this bot comes with a mention of its 10-point Farmer Data Commitment saying it won’t sell the data, and lets farmers control third-party sharing:

1. You control your farm data.

2. John Deere does not sell your farm data.

3. John Deere uses your farm data only as described in its agreements and policies and will
communicate changes clearly before they take effect.

4. John Deere will require dealers and connected partners to maintain transparent data practices.

5. John Deere uses your farm data and aggregated, anonymized data to deliver measurable value to you through improved machine performance and decision-making insights.

6. You can choose which third parties to share, and not share, your farm data with.

7. You have the freedom to turn off the flow of your farm data to third parties at any time.

8. John Deere does not use your farm data for agriculture commodity trading or speculation.

9. You should receive clear value from your farm data.

10. John Deere will continue to listen to farmers, strengthen its data practices, and develop new solutions that help you receive value from your farm data.

This AI bot is popping up for “select” US customers in the John Deere Operations Center, with plans to roll out more broadly on the web, mobile, and eventually to in-cab displays on tractors and other farm equipment. The company also says it plans to expand the AI assistant with “capabilities tailored to customers across turf, construction, roadbuilding, and forestry.”