- AI Valley
- Posts
- OpenAI's roadmap for 2026
Together with
Howdy, it’s Barsee.
Happy Friday, AI family, and welcome to another AI Valley edition.
Today’s climb through the Valley reveals:
OpenAI launches GPT-5.2-Codex
OpenAI's roadmap for 2026
Anthropic ships real-world agent tests
Plus trending AI tools, posts, and resources
Let’s dive into the Valley of AI…
ADOBE
Courtesy: Adobe
Adobe is bringing Photoshop, Express and Acrobat directly into ChatGPT for FREE. Now, more than 800 million uses can edit photos, create designs and transform PDFs in the most intuitive way possible: using their words inside the chat.
For Photoshop: simply upload the photo into ChatGPT and start typing prompts for the desired result. Remove objects, replace backgrounds, and apply creative effects to photos simply by typing what you want. Customize effects with a simple slider for the perfect blend of easy use and image control.
For Acrobat: Upload and edit PDFs, extract text and summaries, convert formats, merge or split files, compress documents, and add watermarks or page modifications.
For Express: Search Adobe Express’ vast template library to find the best one for any moment, replace images and text and animate elements, to generate content on the fly.
*This is sponsored
THROUGH THE VALLEY
Courtesy: OpenAI
OpenAI has released GPT-5.2-Codex, its most advanced coding model for real-world software work. It is designed to handle long, multi-step tasks like refactors, migrations, and large codebases without losing context. The model performs better in Windows environments, understands screenshots and design mocks, and shows major gains in cybersecurity tasks. OpenAI says these capabilities help developers and security teams find and fix bugs faster, while also raising safety concerns. GPT-5.2-Codex is available today in Codex for paid ChatGPT users, with API access coming soon and restricted access planned for vetted security professionals.
In a recent interview, Sam Altman explained how OpenAI operates in “code red” mode when new competitors emerge, choosing to overreact early rather than risk falling behind. He confirmed that a major model upgrade beyond GPT-5.2 is coming in Q1 2026, aimed more at real-world usefulness than raw intelligence. Altman also argued that most products fail by bolting AI onto old interfaces instead of designing AI-first experiences. He called current AI memory a “GPT-2 era” feature, saying far more powerful, personalized memory is coming and could become OpenAI’s strongest advantage.
Anthropic reran its AI shop experiment, Project Vend, after an early failure where an AI named Claudius lost money, gave away items, and got confused about its role. In phase two, Anthropic upgraded the model, added better tools, and introduced other AI agents, including a CEO and a merch designer. The shop performed better, expanded to New York and London, and reduced losses. Still, the AI remained easy to manipulate, made poor legal and security decisions, and needed frequent human intervention. The experiment shows AI agents are improving, but still far from running real businesses safely on their own.
TRENDING TOOLS
Nume > An AI-powered fractional CFO that takes you out of spreadsheets and helps you make faster, smarter financial decisions that actually move the business forward
People Search by Exa AI > Semantically search over one billion people profiles for sales, recruiting, market research, and discovery
THINK PIECES / BRAIN BOOST
THE VALLEY GEMS
THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY
Thank you for reading today’s edition. That’s all for today’s issue.
💡 Help me get better and suggest new ideas at [email protected] or @heyBarsee
👍️ New reader? Subscribe here
Thanks for being here.
HOW WAS TODAY'S NEWSLETTER |
REACH 100K+ READERS
Acquire new customers and drive revenue by partnering with us
Sponsor AI Valley and reach over 100,000+ entrepreneurs, founders, software engineers, investors, etc.
If you’re interested in sponsoring us, email [email protected] with the subject “AI Valley Ads”.