Anthropic Launches Claude Haiku 5.5 with 90% Lower API Prices

Anthropic released Claude Haiku 5.5 on October 7, cutting API prices for requests below 100,000 tokens to $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.50 per million output tokens, down from $1.00 and $5.00 for Haiku 4.5. Anthropic estimates workloads cost about 75% less than on Haiku 4.5 and says about 90% of requests fall in the shorter category. In vendor-reported tests, Haiku 5.5 scored 72.4% on OSWorld 2.1 (offline subset), against 15.7% for Haiku 4.5, and 39.2% on Terminal-Bench 4.0 at maximum effort; its default medium effort scores about 20%. It is available on Anthropic’s platform, AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure.

Microsoft Prices Nvidia RTX Spark Surface PCs and Adds Agent Sandboxing to Windows 11

Microsoft revealed pricing and specifications for new Windows PCs built on Nvidia’s RTX Spark chip at an event in San Francisco during Tech Week. The Surface Laptop Ultra starts at $2,600, or $3,700 for a version with a more powerful chip, and rises to $5,900 with added memory and storage. The Surface RTX Spark Dev Box workstation starts at $6,000. Microsoft says both can run AI models locally and for free. The revamped Windows 11 includes Execution Containers, which make it easier to sandbox AI agents and will be available to all Windows 11 users. Dell’s XPS 16 Creator Edition costs $3,800.

Google Opens SynthID Website So Anyone Can Check Media for AI Watermarks

Google launched a website at synthid.com where anyone can check whether an image, video or audio clip was made with AI. Google first showed the tool at Google I/O last year, offering it to select journalists, media professionals and researchers. It relies on SynthID, a watermarking technology Google introduced in 2023, which Google’s generation tools, including Nano Banana, Veo, Lyria and Gemini, apply to the media they create. OpenAI, Nvidia and Kakao also support SynthID, and Apple is reportedly planning to add support. Google says people currently make 1 million requests to verify content every day. TechCrunch notes that such tools are not infallible.

AI Breakthroughs in Robotics Won’t Change Your Life Soon, MIT Technology Review Reports

MIT Technology Review reports that the AI advances that transformed chatbots have not yet made robots capable of human-like movement. Jonathan Hurst of Agility Robotics estimates it will take about 10 years for robots to do useful work in homes. Marc Raibert is quoted saying “70% success is like it doesn’t work.” Physical Intelligence’s π0.7 appeared to show compositional generalization, but researchers later found related training examples in its data. Many impressive demonstrations are teleoperated or scripted, the article says. Chinese firms made nearly 90% of the roughly 15,000 humanoids shipped in 2025, and Unitree sells a model for under $6,000.

Nous Research Confirms $1.5B Valuation and Launches Hermes for Businesses

Nous Research, the startup behind the open source Hermes Agent, raised a $90 million Series B at a $1.5 billion valuation, confirming earlier TechCrunch reporting. Robot Ventures led the round, with Nvidia, Union Square Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Samsung and 1789 Capital participating, bringing total funding to $158 million. The company estimates Hermes Agent has been cloned more than 24 million times and drives roughly 2.5% of global AI token usage. The Wall Street Journal reported about $36 million in annualized revenue by mid-September, and Nous expects to pass $100 million before the end of 2026. The funds support Hermes for Businesses, which lets companies deploy customized agents for multi-step workflows.

Sereact, Zalando and CEVA Launch Robotic Returns Processing in Germany and Poland

Sereact, Zalando and CEVA Logistics have launched AI-powered automated returns processing at fulfillment sites in Greven, Germany, and Świebodzin, Poland. Dual-arm robots running on Sereact’s Cortex physical AI platform are now in live operation, processing returned fashion items without human handling of each piece. The companies say Cortex identifies, grasps and sorts objects it has never seen, with no training on specific articles. The deployment uses a Robotics-as-a-Service model and is the first phase of a wider plan to scale returns automation across Europe. Zalando joined Sereact’s Series B round in July as a strategic investor.

Mecka AI Raises $60M Series B Led by Sequoia to Gather Human Motion Data for Robots

Robot data startup Mecka AI announced a $60 million Series B led by Sequoia, with Nvidia, Microsoft’s venture fund M12 and other investors participating. Founded in 2024, the company collects and analyzes human motion data to train humanoid and other robots. Mecka pays people to record themselves doing everyday tasks, such as making coffee or fixing cars, while wearing body sensors and using smartphones. The article says Mecka aims to do for robotics what data-labeling companies such as Scale AI, Mercor and Surge have done for large language models. TechCrunch had earlier reported the company was nearing a round at a $500 million valuation.

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