#239 - RIP Sora, Claude Openclaw, HyperAgents

Our 239th episode with a summary and discussion of last week's big AI news! FYI: this one has pretty out of date news, I was traveling last week and failed to upload... apologies. Recorded on 03/25/2026 Hosted by Andrey Kurenkov and Jeremie Harris Feel free to email us your questions and feedback at [email protected] and/or [email protected] Read out our text newsletter and comment on the podcast at https://lastweekin.ai/ In this episode: OpenAI is discontinuing the Sora iPhone app and seemingly shutting down its video generation API, while retaining internal video world-modeling work; the move is framed as a compute- and focus-driven pivot toward coding and productivity agents, alongside a collapsed Disney Sora deal. Anthropic’s Claude Code/Cowork gains full computer control via keyboard/mouse/display, tied to the recent Cept acquisition, and Google’s Gemini rolls out background “task automation” on select phones for limited delivery/ride-share use. Cursor releases the cheaper, benchmark-strong Composer 2 coding model amid controversy over its Kimi-based origins and licensing attribution. Other items include Adobe Firefly custom model training, Luma’s Uni 1 image model, US contracting and legislative proposals affecting AI safeguards and state preemption, major chip/memory developments (Meta ASICs with Broadcom, Micron’s HBM-driven surge, Musk’s “Terra Fab”), robotaxi scaling, and research on monitoring agent misalignment, shutdown resistance, “consciousness cluster” preferences, and self-improving “hyper agents.” A thank you to our current sponsors: Box - visit Box.com/AI to learn more ODSC AI - go to odsc.ai/east and use promo code LWAI for an additional 15% off your pass to ODSC AI East 2026. Factor - head to factormeals.com/lwai50off and use code lwai50off to get 50 percent off and free breakfast for a year Timestamps: (00:00:10) Intro / Banter Tools & Apps (00:01:48) OpenAI Discontinues Sora App, Shuts Down Video Generation Service and API - Bloomberg (00:07:12) Anthropic’s Claude Code and Cowork can control your computer | The Verge (00:13:15) Gemini task automation is slow, clunky, and super impressive | The Verge (00:19:44) Cursor Launches Composer 2 AI Model to Challenge OpenAI & Anthropic (00:28:28) Adobe’s AI image generator can now be trained on your own art | The Verge (00:29:40) Luma AI launches Uni-1, a model that outscores Google and OpenAI while costing up to 30 percent less | VentureBeat Applications & Business (00:32:41) Trump Contracting Clause Would Override AI Safeguards (00:40:00) Meta accelerates AI ASIC roll-out as Broadcom secures four-generation chip design deal (00:47:07) Micron revenue almost triples, tops estimates as demand for memory soars (00:50:54) Elon Musk Unwraps $25 Billion Terafab Chip-Building Project - CNET (00:56:40) Zoox to widen US robotaxi footprint with San Francisco, Vegas expansion (00:57:39) Waymo hits 170 million miles while avoiding serious mayhem | The Verge Policy & Safety (00:58:43) The White House just laid out how it wants to regulate AI | CNN Business (01:06:54) How we monitor internal coding agents for misalignment (01:12:30) Incomplete Tasks Induce Shutdown Resistance in Some Frontier LLMs (01:18:15) Summary: Mechanisms to Verify International Agreements about AI Development (01:23:09) Scoop: Anthropic meets with House Homeland Security behind closed doors Research & Advancements (01:24:24) Consciousness Cluster: Preferences of Models that Claim they are Conscious (01:30:22) HyperAgents See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.