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OpenAI has released an Admin plugin for ChatGPT Work and Codex that lets workspace administrators manage users, permissions and spending limits through a chat interface rather than a separate dashboard. The tool can generate usage reports, flag credit thresholds, and handle onboarding or offboarding tasks on request. A company demo showed an admin querying adoption trends and requesting visual breakdowns for a monthly review.
Chris Malone, who led OpenAI's data center operations, has exited the company. His departure adds to a growing list of senior executives leaving OpenAI as it accelerates infrastructure spending and moves toward a possible IPO.
TechCrunch has pushed back the cutoff for discounted TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 tickets to 11:59 pm PT on Tuesday, August 25, after attendees asked for more time. After the deadline, prices rise, with savings of up to $300 on individual passes and larger discounts for group registrations disappearing. Disrupt 2026 will run October 13-15 at Moscone West in San Francisco, featuring speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, Replit, Amazon and Databricks.
Reports indicate OpenAI and Google are both losing key AI researchers to competitors and startups, though the departures are affecting each company differently in terms of scale and strategic impact. Separately, Nvidia has committed an additional $6 billion to support open-weight AI models, while rare-book dealers report a surge in sales tied to AI-era demand, alongside mixed feelings about that trend.
At the Hot Chips conference, OpenAI released the first benchmark results for Jalapeño, its custom AI inference chip built with Broadcom. On SemiAnalysis' InferenceX test, the chip beat current Nvidia Blackwell systems in tokens served per user and throughput per kilowatt of power. OpenAI plans small-scale deployment by late 2026, with broader rollout in 2027.
OpenAI has revealed details of Jalapeño, a custom inference chip developed with Broadcom over roughly 16 months, at the Hot Chips conference. SemiAnalysis tested the chip using its InferenceX benchmark suite and found it outperforms Nvidia, AMD, and Google chips across multiple open-source models, despite being OpenAI's first hardware effort.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a podcast interview that AI has not yet had a transformative breakthrough moment comparable to the iPhone's impact on smartphones, despite having the underlying technology in place. He also acknowledged struggling with a lesson from Steve Jobs' Apple playbook: saying no to good ideas to focus resources on great ones, and admitted he was too optimistic about how fast AI would reshape the economy.
A public showcase event in Shanghai let visitors interact directly with humanoid robots, part of China's broader effort to promote and accelerate its robotics industry. Organizers say such events matter because hands-on exposure builds public familiarity, even as humanoid robot development globally remains slow and uneven.
In an interview, OpenAI product lead Thibault Sottiaux explained that ChatGPT Work is meant to extend the capabilities of its Codex coding agent to non-technical, white-collar users. He said the product was bundled into the existing $20 Plus plan to make AI agent tools accessible to as broad an audience as possible, framing the effort as repackaging technical agent infrastructure into something safer and simpler for everyday use on mobile and web.
Taiwanese prosecutors have charged nine individuals in connection with an alleged scheme to illegally smuggle AI servers, according to reporting on the case. The same roundup notes the U.S. has sanctioned suspected Iranian hackers on what officials called 'economic D-Day,' and Alabama has issued a subpoena to OpenAI over a cyberattack tied to its systems.
OpenAI removed a network of ChatGPT accounts traced to Russia after investigating AI-generated social media posts that led to a wider covert influence operation. The campaign centered on a website featuring plagiarized academic content and a 'sovereignty index' favorable to Russia, with operators using VPNs to mask their location since OpenAI blocks access within Russia.
OpenAI detailed benchmark results for its Jalapeño chip, an inference-focused ASIC built with Broadcom, claiming it outperforms Nvidia's GB200 and GB300 chips on efficiency and response speed. Using its InferenceX benchmark across models like GPT-OSS 120B, DeepSeek R1, and Kimi K2.5, OpenAI reported 1.5-1.9x more work per watt and up to 3.6x lower latency. Small-scale deployment is planned by year-end, with volume scaling into 2027.