Howdy. It’s Barsee again.

Happy Tuesday, AI family, and welcome back to AI Valley.

In today’s edition:

• OpenAI introduces GPT-4.5 (Orion)

• Anthropic valued at $61.5 billion after latest round

• Amazon releases Gen AI-powered Alexa+

• The latest AI generated 3D game made with Grok 3

• Plus trending AI tools, posts, and resources

Ready, set, go…

OPENAI

OpenAI Introduces GPT-4.5 (Orion)

OpenAI has introduced GPT-4.5, also called Orion, its most advanced AI model yet, as a research previw, designed for more natural interactions and better emotional intelligence.

Here’s what you need to know:

• GPT-4.5 is OpenAI’s final model trained without chain-of-thought reasoning. Unlike O1 and O3 Mini, it doesn’t "think" before responding but answers directly like traditional AI models.

• It’s not optimized for reasoning but excels in natural conversation and pattern recognition. It has a lower hallucination rate (37.1%) compared to GPT-4o (61.8%) and O1 (44%).

• Supports file and image uploads and integrates ChatGPT's canvas tool for writing and coding. No voice, video, or screen sharing support yet.

• Strong in factual questions (62.5% on SimpleQA) but weaker in advanced reasoning (AIME, GPQA), trailing models like DeepSeek R1 and Claude 3.7 Sonnet.

• ChatGPT Pro users and developers can access it now. Plus and Team users will get it soon.

• GPT-4.5 ranks #1 on the Arena leaderboard in categories like Multi-Turn and Style Control, based on 3,000+ votes.

Why it matters: 

GPT-4.5 represents a step up in AI's ability to understand and interact more naturally with humans. Still, its high pricing and incremental improvements suggest we might be approaching a critical inflection point in the evolution of large language models.

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SIDE UPDATES

🎬 OpenAI to bring Sora video generation capabilities to ChatGPT

OpenAI announced plans to integrate its AI video generator, Sora, into ChatGPT during a recent Discord office hours session. Rohan Sahai, OpenAI's product lead for Sora, explained that the integration aims to expand Sora’s reach, even though the ChatGPT version may offer less editing control than its standalone web app. This move is expected to attract more users by enabling video generation directly within the chatbot.

💰 Amazon-backed AI firm Anthropic valued at $61.5 billion after latest round

Anthropic has secured $3.5 billion in new funding, bringing its valuation to $61.5 billion. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round, with backing from Salesforce, Cisco, and Fidelity. The AI firm plans to use the funds to scale its computing power, push AI safety research, and expand into Asia and Europe. With this boost, Anthropic aims to advance next-generation AI models and compete more aggressively with OpenAI and Google DeepMind.

🕵️‍♂️ Chinese buyers are getting Nvidia Blackwell chips despite US export controls

Despite strict U.S. export bans, Chinese buyers are getting their hands on Nvidia’s latest and most powerful Blackwell GPUs. Brokers in China are reportedly ordering servers with Blackwell H200 GPUs via third-party sellers in neighboring countries like Vietnam, Taiwan, and Malaysia, and reselling them at markups of up to $600,000. NVIDIA has said it will look into any reports of possible diversion and take action accordingly.

🦾 Amazon releases Gen AI-powered Alexa+

Amazon has unveiled Alexa+, a smarter and more capable AI assistant. Combining large language models with expert systems, it can handle more complex tasks, such as booking appointments without user supervision. Alexa+ will cost $19.99/month but is free for Prime members. Available across Echo devices, mobile apps, and browsers, it ensures conversations continue seamlessly between platforms. This move positions Amazon as a serious competitor in the AI assistant race.

🐢 Apple may not launch fully revamped Siri until 2027

Apple's plans to significantly modernize Siri have been delayed, due to equipment shortages, developmental hurdles, and internal challenges like leadership issues and staff departures. While the company is set to introduce an LLM-powered Siri enhancement in iOS 18.5 and plans further improvements in iOS 19 in 2026, a fully competitive AI system for Siri may not be ready until 2027 or later.

🌐 Opera's new Al-powered Operator browser can surf the web for you

Opera has launched an AI feature called Browser Operator to automate online tasks. Users can ask the AI agent to perform actions like purchasing items or checking hotel prices, and it will navigate websites to complete these tasks without constant user input. Currently in preview, Opera plans to roll out the full version later this year as part of its AI Feature Drop program.

TRENDING TOOLS

• Currents > AI agents that retrieve, understand, and reason about what people discuss online.

• Hume Octave > Create AI voices that understand emotional expression.

• Pig > Automates tasks on Windows computers using AI by mimicking human interaction.

• Deep Review > Finds the most relevant academic papers with researcher-like critical thinking.

• Platus YC F24 > Your AI legal agent.

THINK PIECES / RESOURCES

• Are AIs People?

• On GPT-4.5.

• A new survey reveals that 70% of people are polite to AI chatbots.

• Analysts warn that if AI agents succeed, the "internet will go dark."

• At 3 a.m., I turned to AI for comfort. That was my first mistake

• In last 5 months, I’ve built 16 SaaS products for clients using Cursor. Now, I’ve cracked the best AI coding workflow for Cursor.

• People are building incredible things with v0, lovable, bolt, & replit agent. Here are some of the coolest things I saw people build this week.

• AI versus the brain and the race for general intelligence.

TRENDING ON AI TWITTER

1/ The latest AI generated 3D game made with Grok 3.

2/ AI can now generate high-quality classical sheet music and it sounds absolutely insanely good.

3/ Unitree Robotics, the Hangzhou based firm behind the viral G1 robot, has open-sourced its algorithms and hardware designs.

4/ Things we had no idea about a year ago.

5/ Retro schematics infused with futuristic energy. You can create similar designs/images in Midjourney using the —sref provided by the creator.

6/ You now can transform character from real life video to 3D model with motion and expressions.

TRENDING ON AI YOUTUBE

1/ How I use LLMs.

2/ Must watch 45min video shows what Claude can build.

TRENDING ON AI REDDIT

1/ Introduction to GPT-4.5 discussion.

2/ GPT 4.5 is dogshit compared to 3.7 sonnet.

3/ Claude gets stuck while playing Pokemon and tries a new strategy - writing a formal letter to Anthropic employees asking to reset the game.

4/ Google’s Sergey Brin says engineers should work 60-hour weeks in office to build AI that could replace them.

SUNSET IN THE VALLEY 🌅

That’s a wrap for today. See you in the next edition with more AI gold.

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