The Sequence Radar - Issue 940: Last Week in AI: Opus 5.5 Gets Leaner, Meta Goes Wearable, Washington Talks to Beijing, and Claude Explores DNA

Beyond faster models, the economics of AI deployment are changing. Anthropic's Opus 5.5 cuts costs by 40% and speeds output by 30%. This makes many tasks viable for delegation. For Asian enterprises, this means a lower barrier to entry for complex AI-driven automation. Early adopters will gain efficiency. Those tied to older, more expensive models will lose ground.

Meta's move to embed Muse into AI glasses points to a future where context is king. An agent that sees what you see requires less prompting. This is a direct challenge to companies like Tencent and ByteDance, which rely on app-based ecosystems. The test for them is whether they can replicate this level of integrated, real-world interaction. Otherwise, they risk being outmaneuvered in the next wave of AI interfaces.

The US-China AI talks are a modest step. A communication channel on AI incidents helps distinguish accidents from attacks. This is critical for Asian nations caught between these two tech superpowers. The absence of concrete safeguards means regional players must still plan for a volatile environment. The thing to watch is whether these talks lead to verifiable, actionable protocols by late 2027. Without them, the risk of miscalculation remains high.