The week across the frontier labs — new defaults, previews and open-weight releases — plus where the coding benchmarks stand.
ChatGPT — (6 Aug) OpenAI is bringing unlimited text chats to free and Go users of ChatGPT. The company also introduced a new thinking button for complex queries on the free tier. · 6 Aug
Read → TechCrunchGPT-5.6 Sol — (6 Aug) OpenAI has improved GPT-5.6 Sol for better accuracy and consistency within ChatGPT. The company also expanded free user access to GPT-5.6 Luna, offering unlimited everyday chats. · 6 Aug
Read → OpenAIGoogle Maps — (6 Aug) Google is adding agentic capabilities to Google Maps, including food ordering and hotel bookings. The update aims to transform the navigation tool into an assistant capable of completing real-world tasks. · 6 Aug
Read → TechCrunchMuse Code — (5 Aug) Meta has launched Muse Code, its first AI coding agent designed to handle complex tasks across large software code bases. The release marks an expansion of the company's AI model and service offerings to compete with Anthropic and OpenAI. · 5 Aug
Read → TechCrunchThe full AI Models Comparison dashboard — every category, factor weights, best-for and sources. Benchmark-anchored; ✅ verified · ⚠️ partial · ❓ released, not yet independently benchmarked. Wide tables scroll sideways.
| # | Model | Score | Business use | Web research | Presentation | Low halluc. | Coding | Tool use | Docs | Cost (in/out $) | Open? | Conf. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Claude Fable 5 | 93 | ● 95 | ● 90 | ● 93 | ● 96 | ● 97 | ● 95 | ● 94 | $10 / $50 | No | ✅ |
| 2 | Claude Opus 4.8 | 90 | ● 93 | ● 82 | ● 91 | ● 92 | ● 93 | ● 92 | ● 93 | $5 / $25 | No | ✅ |
| 3 | GPT-5.6 Sol | 89 | ● 90 | ● 90 | ● 88 | ● 82 | ● 92 | ● 92 | ● 90 | $5 / $30 | No | ✅ |
| 4 | Claude Sonnet 5 | 86 | ● 90 | ● 80 | ● 88 | ● 89 | ● 89 | ● 90 | ● 90 | $3 / $15* | No | ✅ |
| 5 | Kimi K2.6 | 86 | ● 88 | ● 92 | ● 88 | ● 95 | ● 90 | ● 94 | ● 88 | $0.95 / $4.00 | Yes | ✅ |
| 6 | GLM-5.2 | 83 | ● 78 | ● 78 | ● 76 | ● 80 | ● 88 | ● 86 | ● 76 | $1.40 / $4.40 | Yes | ✅ |
| 7 | Qwen 3.7-Max | 83 | ● 80 | ● 74 | ● 78 | ● 78 | ● 86 | ● 88 | ● 76 | $1.25 / $3.75* | No | ✅ |
| 8 | GPT-5.6 Terra | 82 | ● 84 | ● 84 | ● 80 | ● 80 | ● 86 | ● 85 | ● 84 | $2.50 / $15.00 | No | ✅ |
| 9 | Grok 4.5 | 82 | ● 78 | ● 82 | ● 76 | ● 78 | ● 86 | ● 84 | ● 76 | $2 / $6 | No | ✅ |
| 10 | Kimi K2.7-Code | 82 | ● 78 | ● 80 | ● 76 | ● 90 | ● 93 | ● 90 | ● 78 | $0.95 / $4.00 | Yes | ⚠️ |
| 11 | GLM-5V-Turbo (vision) | 81 | ● 78 | ● 76 | ● 82 | ● 76 | ● 90 | ● 86 | ● 82 | $1.20 / $4.00 | No | ⚠️ |
| 12 | Gemini 3.5 Flash | 81 | ● 76 | ● 88 | ● 78 | ● 80 | ● 85 | ● 82 | ● 76 | $1.50 / $9.00 | No | ✅ |
| 13 | DeepSeek V4-Pro | 81 | ● 78 | ● 75 | ● 76 | ● 82 | ● 86 | ● 80 | ● 78 | $0.44 / $0.87 | Yes | ⚠️ |
| 14 | MiniMax M3 | 78 | ● 75 | ● 88 | ● 76 | ● 75 | ● 82 | ● 80 | ● 78 | $0.30 / $1.20 | Yes | ⚠️ |
| 15 | DeepSeek V4-Flash | 75 | ● 70 | ● 68 | ● 68 | ● 74 | ● 82 | ● 74 | ● 70 | $0.14 / $0.28 | Yes | ✅ |
| 16 | MiMo-V2.5-Pro | 73 | ● 72 | ● 70 | ● 72 | ● 74 | ● 80 | ● 76 | ● 74 | $0.44 / $0.87 | No | ✅ |
| 17 | GPT-5.6 Luna | 72 | ● 72 | ● 74 | ● 70 | ● 76 | ● 74 | ● 74 | ● 72 | $1 / $6 | No | ✅ |
| 18 | ERNIE 5.1 | 72 | ● 74 | ● 72 | ● 72 | ● 74 | ● 74 | ● 72 | ● 74 | $0.59 / $2.65 | No | ✅ |
| 19 | Qwen 3.7-Plus | 72 | ● 74 | ● 72 | ● 74 | ● 76 | ● 82 | ● 76 | ● 74 | $0.32 / $1.28 | No | ⚠️ |
| # | Model | Score | Egyptian quality | Naturalness | Emotion | Cloning | Real-time | $/min audio | Conf. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | gpt-realtime-1.5 | 90 | ● 95 | ● 92 | ● 85 | ● 70 | ● 85 | ~$0.18–0.46/min | ⚠️ |
| 2 | Grok Voice Agent | 88 | ● 95 | ● 90 | ● 85 | ● 88 | ● 95 | $0.05/min · 2-min clone | ✅ |
| 3 | gpt-realtime-mini | 80 | ● 92 | ● 85 | ● 85 | ● 60 | ● 90 | $0.063–0.146/min | ❓ |
| 4 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Live | 78 | ● 82 | ● 86 | ● 78 | ● 0 | ● 92 | ~$0.008/min | ⚠️ |
| 5 | GLM-4-Voice | 55 | ● 30 | ● 80 | ● 75 | ● 60 | ● 90 | Open · CN/EN only | ⚠️ |
| # | Model | Score | Egyptian quality | Naturalness | Emotion | Cloning | Latency | $/min audio | Conf. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ElevenLabs v3 Multilingual | 88 | ● 92 | ● 95 | ● 95 | ● 95 | ● 80 | $0.10–0.30/1K chars · Egyptian ✅ | ✅ |
| 2 | Grok TTS | 86 | ● 90 | ● 88 | ● 80 | ● 85 | ● 92 | $4.20/1M chars · 120s clone | ✅ |
| 3 | ElevenLabs Flash / Turbo | 78 | ● 85 | ● 88 | ● 80 | ● 90 | ● 95 | $0.05/1K chars · ~75ms | ✅ |
| 4 | Microsoft MAI-Voice-2 | 70 | ● 60 | ● 85 | ● 78 | ● 0 | ● 80 | $22/1M chars · Arabic ⚠️ | ⚠️ |
| 5 | GLM-TTS | 68 | ● 55 | ● 85 | ● 80 | ● 88 | ● 85 | Open · 3s clone | ⚠️ |
| 6 | Mistral Voxtral TTS | 66 | ● 55 | ● 82 | ● 72 | ● 0 | ● 80 | $0.016/1K chars | ⚠️ |
| # | Model | Score | Egyptian / Arabic | Languages | Real-time | Accuracy | $/min audio | Conf. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grok STT | 82 | ● 85 | 25 | ● 90 | ● 92 | $0.10/hr batch · diarization | ✅ |
| 2 | GLM-ASR-2512 | 76 | ● 80 | 30 | ● 90 | ● 88 | Open · Arabic ✅ | ⚠️ |
| 3 | ElevenLabs Scribe v2 | 76 | ● 78 | 90 | ● 90 | ● 91 | $0.39/hr · 150ms | ❓ |
| 4 | OpenAI gpt-4o-transcribe | 74 | ● 70 | 99 | ● 85 | ● 90 | $0.003/min mini | ⚠️ |
| 5 | gpt-realtime-whisper | 72 | ● 70 | 99 | ● 92 | ● 88 | $0.017/min streaming | ⚠️ |
| 6 | Gemini 3.1 Flash STT | 70 | ● 68 | 90 | ● 88 | ● 86 | ~$0.005–0.01/min | ⚠️ |
| # | Model | Maker | Score | Arena Elo | Text in image | Arabic text | Prompt adh. | Speed | $/image | Open? | Conf. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GPT Image 2 (high) | OpenAI | 93 | 1339 | ● 99 | ● 95 | ● 92 | ● 75 | $0.211 (high) · $0.053 (med) | No | ✅ |
| 2 | Reve 2.0 | Reve | 84 | 1281 | ● 88 | ● 60 | ● 88 | ● 82 | $0.024 · $0.04 edit | No | ⚠️ |
| 3 | MAI-Image-2.5 | Microsoft | 83 | 1271 | ● 85 | ● 60 | ● 86 | ● 80 | ~$0.02–0.06 (token) | No | ⚠️ |
| 4 | GPT Image 1.5 (high) | OpenAI | 82 | 1260 | ● 90 | ● 82 | ● 86 | ● 75 | $0.16 (high) | No | ✅ |
| 5 | Qwen-Image 2.0 | Alibaba | 82 | 1180 | ● 92 | ● 88 | ● 88 | ● 78 | ~$0.05 (varies) | Yes | ✅ |
| 6 | HiDream-O1-Image 1.5 | HiDream | 81 | 1265 | ● 84 | ● 58 | ● 88 | ● 80 | credit-based | Yes | ⚠️ |
| 7 | Cosmos3-Super | NVIDIA | 80 | 1227 | ● 78 | ● 55 | ● 80 | ● 78 | Free (open, self-host) | Yes | ⚠️ |
| 8 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Image | 80 | 1170 | ● 85 | ● 70 | ● 86 | ● 90 | $0.067 (1K) · $0.101 (2K) | No | ✅ | |
| 9 | HunyuanImage 3.0 | Tencent | 80 | 1152 | ● 88 | ● 85 | ● 88 | ● 80 | Free (open 80B MoE) | Yes | ✅ |
| 10 | Ideogram 4.0 | Ideogram | 79 | 1200 | ● 96 | ● 60 | ● 90 | ● 82 | $0.03 · $0.06 · $0.10 | Partial | ⚠️ |
| 11 | Imagen 4 Ultra | 79 | 1150 | ● 80 | ● 68 | ● 88 | ● 60 | $0.06 · $0.02 Fast | No | ⚠️ | |
| 12 | Seedream 5.0 Lite | ByteDance | 78 | 1150 | ● 80 | ● 58 | ● 84 | ● 88 | $0.031 + $0.007 web | No | ⚠️ |
| 13 | CogView-4 | Zhipu | 78 | 1180 | ● 82 | ● 45 | ● 88 | ● 80 | $0.03 · Apache 2.0 | Yes | ⚠️ |
| 14 | FLUX.2 Pro | Black Forest Labs | 77 | 1140 | ● 80 | ● 55 | ● 86 | ● 85 | $0.03–0.073 | Partial | ✅ |
| 15 | Grok Imagine 1.5 | xAI | 72 | 1173 | ● 70 | ● 55 | ● 78 | ● 85 | $0.02 | No | ❓ |
| 16 | Luma Photon | Luma Labs | 70 | 1100 | ● 72 | ● 50 | ● 82 | ● 92 | $0.015 · $0.002 Flash | No | ❓ |
| # | Model | Maker | Score | Max resolution | Max duration | $/clip | Open? | Conf. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CogVideoX-1.5 | Zhipu | 72 | 768×1360 | ~10s @ 16fps | Open (self-host) | Yes | ⚠️ |
| 2 | CogVideoX | Zhipu | 70 | 1440×960 | ~30s | Open (self-host) | Yes | ✅ |
| 3 | Ying (Qingying) | Zhipu | 68 | 1440×960 | ~6s clips | CN market · n/a | No | ⚠️ |
| Factor | Weight % | Tier |
|---|---|---|
| Hallucination level (low = better) | 16 | critical |
| Following instructions exactly | 11 | high |
| Document generation quality | 9 | high |
| Long task stamina | 9 | high |
| Tool use / agent reliability | 8 | high |
| Coding quality — real software | 7 | medium |
| Skills / tools per conversation | 7 | medium |
| Research & web browsing | 7 | medium |
| Hard reasoning / problem solving | 5 | medium |
| Image / chart understanding | 5 | medium |
| Cost — input + output | 4 | lower |
| Knowledge depth (PhD-level) | 4 | lower |
| Frontend / web design | 3 | lower |
| Coding — long projects | 3 | lower |
| Math accuracy | 1 | lower |
| Memory — claimed max | 1 | lower |
| Factor | Weight % | Tier |
|---|---|---|
| How natural it sounds (Egyptian) | 22 | critical |
| Pronunciation accuracy (Egyptian) | 18 | critical |
| Emotion & expressiveness | 12 | high |
| Voice cloning quality | 12 | high |
| Real-time conversation (S2S) | 10 | high |
| Steerability (tone control) | 8 | medium |
| Speed to first word | 7 | medium |
| Speech-to-text included | 5 | medium |
| Cost | 4 | lower |
| Voice variety | 2 | lower |
AI leaders and their capital cycle — capex commitments alongside the month’s market moves.
(6 Aug) AMD has acquired Taalas, a startup that hardwires AI models directly into its silicon. Taalas currently runs a small version of Meta's Llama 3.1 and is developing chips for larger models.
Read full article → CNBC(6 Aug) Asian technology stocks declined, led by a sharp drop in memory chipmaker SK Hynix following a broader sell-off in Wall Street AI names. Despite the volatility, analysts maintain an optimistic outlook for the sector's AI investment cycle.
Read full article → CNBC(6 Aug) Mirendil has signed a partnership with Google Cloud to expand its compute infrastructure. The deal will power research into self-improving AI systems designed to accelerate scientific discovery.
Read full article → TechCrunch(6 Aug) Customer support platform Omilia has raised $67 million in a Series B funding round. This marks the company's second fundraise since 2020, during which it increased its annual recurring revenue tenfold.
Read full article → TechCrunch(6 Aug) Startup Naïve has secured $28.5 million to further develop its infrastructure automation platform. The company claims its technology can automate most of the operational work required to set up and run a business.
Read full article → TechCrunch(5 Aug) Anthropic is building a dedicated team to design its own custom AI chips. The company plans to co-design hardware and models to improve the speed and efficiency of its technology.
Read full article → TechCrunch(5 Aug) SpaceX is utilizing Tesla's Megapack backup batteries to supply power to its Colossus AI data centers in Greater Memphis. The move highlights the growing energy infrastructure requirements for large-scale AI compute.
Read full article → CNBC