The Amped Journal

OpenAI said its GPT-5.6 Sol model has been used to solve open problems in mathematics, yet initially struggled on the ARC-AGI-3 benchmark of unfamiliar 2D games because the standard test harness discarded the model's reasoning after every move. Enabling two settings, retained reasoning and context compaction, tripled the model's score and cut output token use sixfold, raising its public benchmark score by 188%. OpenAI separately said it used GPT-5.6 Sol to improve its own production infrastructure, cutting serving costs 20% and boosting token-generation efficiency more than 15%.

xAI announced Grok Voice Think Fast 2.0, a new voice model built for real-world voice agents, with improved intelligence, transcription accuracy and conversational capability. The company said the model hears clearly in noisy conditions and reasons through complex workflows while sounding more natural in conversation.

Cursor, the AI coding assistant, launched an iPad app bringing its coding-agent tools to a larger screen than the existing iPhone app. The release also adds an inbox for managing work and a review experience covering full pull requests, including comments, checks and approvals, across both iPhone and iPad.

Indie developer Pieter Levels, known as @levelsio, said he has already seen popular apps including voice-dictation tool Wispr Flow, meeting-notes app Granola and fitness tracker WHOOP "reverse engineered" and released as free, open-source clones in a single day. He said the open question is whether mainstream users pick up the clones and how the original companies respond.

Telli, a Y Combinator-backed startup, raised a $15 million seed round to build AI agents that handle B2C customer operations, including calls, lead qualification, appointment booking and follow-ups, YC announced. The agents aim to replace the maze of CRMs, call centers and manual work companies currently use to run those functions.

The Federal Reserve's Kevin Warsh pointed to AI capital spending, up nearly 20% year-over-year, as a growth driver after the Fed held interest rates steady for a fifth straight pause this year, according to X News. U.S. stocks jumped $500 billion to $610 billion in value within 15 minutes of his comments, led by tech shares.

Fast-fashion giant Shein released financial details ahead of its long-delayed Hong Kong stock listing, with its valuation sliding to roughly $10 billion, according to Reuters' Breakingviews podcast. The drop reflects a broader pushback against Shein's business model in Western markets.

The Democratic National Committee lost nearly $29,000 to an email scammer posing as chairman Ken Martin, Fox News reported, adding to the committee's financial strain. The party has separately been grappling with a $2 million budget shortfall and calls for Martin to resign.

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying the classified NROL-95 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office and Space Force from Cape Canaveral on Wednesday. The first-stage booster returned to Landing Zone 2 about eight minutes after liftoff, announcing its arrival with a sonic boom.

SpaceX said it will launch 18 additional national security missions for the U.S. Space Force from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base by September 2027.

NASA said it will offer online coverage of a solar eclipse happening Wednesday, Aug. 12, for viewers who are not in the path of totality.

Martin Marietta Materials, a Raleigh-based building materials supplier, has applied to expand its 1,422-acre limestone quarry in Castle Hayne to keep up with regional growth, according to the Greater Wilmington Business Journal. The company, founded in 1939 and operating more than 500 facilities across North America, announced a $13.5 billion deal in June to combine with Belgium-based lime producer Lhoist North America. The quarry supplies crushed limestone used as sub-base material for roads, parking lots and construction foundations.

Wisconsin-based franchisee Dimitro Group LLC has filed plans for the city's first Culver's restaurant, a 4,500-square-foot building with a two-lane drive-thru planned near the corner of Sigmon Road and Van Campen Boulevard, according to the Greater Wilmington Business Journal. The chain, known for frozen custard, Butterburgers and cheese curds, would replace a shuttered Kirkland's Home store on the 1.5-acre site. Culver's already operates 18 locations in North Carolina among its 1,000-plus restaurants nationwide.

Charlotte-area accounting firm Fisher, P.A. will open a Wilmington office in September inside a new 10,000-square-foot flex office building at 2700 Old Wrightsboro Road, according to the Greater Wilmington Business Journal. The firm expects to add 10 to 15 jobs over the next three to five years, including CPA, tax and client-advisory roles, with Nicole Stokes leading the new office. Owner Emily Fisher called it a long-term commitment to the region's growing businesses and entrepreneurs.

Alexandr Wang, the Scale AI founder who now leads Meta's Superintelligence Labs, told Startup School 2026 attendees that his advice to his 18-year-old self would be to develop an internal compass for how the future will unfold and hold conviction in it against the noise, according to Y Combinator.