Anthropic has replaced Claude Sonnet 4.6 with Sonnet 5 as its default medium-sized model for free and Pro users, emphasizing stronger agentic performance at lower cost than larger models. The update narrows the gap to Opus 4.8 while introducing introductory pricing through August 31, 2026, and expanded rate limits.
According to Anthropic, the model can formulate plans, operate tools including browsers and terminals, and function independently in ways that reportedly demanded bigger, costlier systems only months earlier.
Fable 5 represents a more cautious alternative that appeared for customers only briefly before U.S. government intervention halted distribution; Anthropic states it is pursuing renewed availability going forward.
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Tesla and SpaceX have confirmed Grimes County, Texas as the site for their Terafab semiconductor megafactory, with the first phase costing roughly $16.8 billion. The project targets the largest chip manufacturing facility on the planet to supply over 1 terawatt of compute per year that exceeds current and future global production capacity.
OpenAI has filed a motion asking a federal judge to dismiss Apple's trade secrets lawsuit, describing the claims as meritless. The dispute, which follows a July suit and this week's injunction request from Apple, highlights tensions after their prior partnership on Siri and OpenAI's hardware push.
Meta has released an early beta of Muse Code, a terminal-based coding agent driven by the updated Muse Spark 1.2 model and positioned against Anthropic's Claude Code and OpenAI's Codex. Substantially lower rates, including a contributor plan at $0.10 for every million tokens received, may encourage migration away from higher-priced options such as Anthropic's Sonnet 5.
