This morning brings an electoral setback for the AI infrastructure boom: Democratic governors in Texas, Georgia and Ohio won on promises to stop data centre building, the Financial Times reports. OpenAI’s Images 2.6 leads the practical updates, with faster image generation and more consistent edits, while GIF creation begins rolling out in ChatGPT.
New releases
ChatGPT and Codex. Images 2.6 is available worldwide across every ChatGPT and Codex subscription tier on web, desktop and mobile, bringing faster generation and more consistent edits, while ChatGPT adds saved reference photos and begins rolling out looping GIF creation. More
OpenAI API. New GPT-Image-2.6 Flare and Sunburst models add editable SVGs, animated GIFs and markup-guided editing, at Standard API prices per million tokens of US$5 text input (US$1.25 cached), US$8 image input (US$2 cached) and US$30 image output, plus authoring-model charges for SVGs. More
Google AI Studio and Gemini API. Voice remixing has launched in Google AI Studio and the Gemini API, letting users adapt an existing preset or designed voice through written instructions and save the result for reuse with Gemini 3.8 Flash TTS or Gemini 3.8 Flash-Lite TTS. More
GitHub Copilot. Every GitHub Copilot plan can now use Xcode’s built-in coding assistant in public preview, starting with Xcode 27.3 beta on Macs running macOS Tahoe 26.6 or later, alongside the existing separate extension. More
Elsewhere in AI
Democratic governors won in Texas, Georgia and Ohio after promising to stop data centre building, highlighting opposition to Trump-backed infrastructure expansion, the Financial Times reports. Read
China has blocked SoftBank’s US$5.4bn takeover of ABB’s robotics division, whose business focuses on China and includes a major factory in Pudong, the Financial Times reports. Read
OpenAI plans to acquire developer tools startup Pierre Computer and integrate its Code Storage technology into Codex; financial terms remain undisclosed, Axios reports. Read
MPs warned that Britain depends dangerously on China for critical minerals needed for AI and defence, urging coordination and funding, The Guardian reports. Read
Australia’s Centre for Public Integrity urged an audit and public register of government decision-making algorithms, warning of another robodebt scandal, The Guardian reports. Read