Sep 11, 2026 · 7 min listen · Last updated September 11, 2026
From storyflo. This is your daily audio brief. Theo here. September 11th, tech desk. Five stories from the last twenty-four hours — here's where I'd start. Let's get into it. First, from The Register. On Call: Boss wrongly claimed IT deleted his files, refused to learn the one-click fix.
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Daily Tech Brief · September 11th
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On Call: Boss wrongly claimed IT deleted his files, refused to learn the one-click fix
ON CALL Friday morning is The Register's home for tech support stories, which we showcase in On Call – the weekly column made possible by readers generously sharing their experience of what it takes to fix things for the furious, fatuous, or feebleminded users that infest every workplace. This week, meet a reader we'll Regomize as "Lucia," who was once ordered to report immediately to a company director's office. "All of my files have gone," the director fumed, before insisting this was all the fault of the IT team, who were all inept, incompetent, and unfit for duty.
iPhone Duo, iPhone 18 Pro, Apple Watch Series 12, and AirPods 5 event
Benjamin and Chance react to the September Apple event in this bumper special episode, featuring our first impressions (and Chance’s initial hands-on from the ground at Apple Park) with iPhone Duo, iPhone 18 Pro, AirPods 5 and the new Apple Watch lineup. And in Happy Hour Plus, even more thoughts on the iPhone Duo, and how Apple presented John Ternus’s first event as CEO. Subscribe at 9to5mac.com/join. - Sponsored by Quince: Find your next fall favorites at Quince. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers, or visit quince.com/happyhour.
🌎 The Future of the World according to Anthropic’s Economic Index
Anthropic just released an economic index suggesting AI will boost GDP without drastically increasing unemployment, which feels a bit optimistic given the potential societal shifts. They’re not addressing the darker implications of AI's growth, and it assumes widespread adoption of their vision, which might not play out as they hope. The real concern lies in how our minds are adapting to this tech saturation. As automation rises, we need to focus on skills that machines can’t replicate—like creativity, deep thinking, and maintaining real human connections.
On the tech front, Astra, OpenAI’s new model, can now interact with software like a person, which is a big leap. It’s not just about generating text; it’s about executing tasks on a computer. For 3D modeling, Astra provides detailed instructions to design software, making it easier to create editable models. This could streamline manufacturing processes, allowing quicker design iterations and potentially saving costs. The rise of open models is also significant, as they’re making advanced AI tools accessible to smaller companies and individuals, leveling the playing field in a landscape often dominated by big players.
OpenAI spent millions to solve this famous math problem — mathematicians are furious
Unlike those earlier AI milestones, however, no one was happy on Tuesday. Not even OpenAI. The night before OpenAI’s announcement, the NYU mathematician Tristan Buckmaster announced that he and collaborator Levent Alpöge had solved three problems closely related to Navier-Stokes. Alongside rough drafts of three papers — some 245 pages in total — Buckmaster released a statement excoriating OpenAI. “I had planned to say on announcing our work that the results are not the important thing.
Oracle says AI will save it from the SaaSpocalypse, not bring it on
Oracle is betting that AI will layer on top of its existing apps instead of replacing them. The idea is to let smart agents follow the company’s own workflows, so people spend time overseeing exceptions rather than stepping through every screen.
They’re gearing up to launch an “agentic AI accelerator” that should shrink a typical SaaS rollout from months to weeks, turning implementation into a more automated, repeatable process. That’s meant to keep the applications business humming while feeding leads into their cloud services.
On the financial side, SaaS still grew about ten percent even as overall software revenue slipped a bit, while the cloud segment jumped sixty percent year‑over‑year. Oracle’s GPU contracts are renewing at a premium, showing customers value the AI compute they’ve built.
The company turned on a massive new data‑center capacity this quarter and nudged its full‑year earnings outlook up a few cents. After the earnings call the stock popped, though it’s still well below its recent highs.
OpenAI weighs hitting the brakes on AI, hoping rivals accept a ceasefire they might just ignore
OpenAI is considering pausing its AI development, hoping that competitors will join in and take a break too. It’s a bit like stopping mid-race, trusting that others will slow down as well. The idea is to create a moment of reflection, allowing everyone to catch their breath and think about the implications of rapid AI advancements.
However, there’s a catch. In a fast-paced tech landscape, rivals might not share the same sentiment. They could see this as an opportunity to push ahead while OpenAI hits the brakes. It’s a delicate balance between responsibility and competition, and the outcome could reshape the future of AI development.
This pause could spark discussions about safety and ethical considerations in AI, but it’s uncertain if others will play along. The dynamics of the industry are tricky, and while OpenAI seeks a collaborative approach, the reality might be more about individual ambition. It’s a fascinating moment to watch, as the choices made now could have lasting effects on the trajectory of AI technology.
This is a column about AI. My fiancé works at Anthropic. See my full ethics disclosure here. On Monday, after a weekend’s worth of concerned blog posts from OpenAI, I wrote about why we ought to take those warnings seriously. For a host of reasons, I wrote, AI companies make for flawed messengers on this subject: they can reasonably be accused of marketing, of blame-shifting, of regulatory capture, and more. And so I can understand why, despite a rising drumbeat of ominous talk over the past several years, the mainstream has largely written off existential risk as a fantasy.
Sam Altman: Please Let OpenAI Into the Energy Grid
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has held meetings with officials from major power companies about electrical grid security—and surprise, surprise, his proposed solution to AI-powered hackers is more AI, Politico reported. The meetings between Altman and industry execs began in late July 2026 and are ongoing, according to Politico, including a discussion at an Edison Electric Institute meetup in Colorado Springs, Colorado this week. The list of companies present to hear Altman pitch OpenAI’s Daybreak security model included Duke Energy, Exelon, Southern Co. and NextEra Energy.
BeOS-Inspired Haiku Now Supports Changing Audio Outputs Live, Other Improvements
In addition to August bringing the long-awaited Haiku R1 Beta 6 release, there was also a lot of development progress on this BeOS-inspired operating system too during the course of the past month. Today the Haiku project published their August 2026 report to highlight recent development efforts, like continued work on Bluetooth HID support as well as Bluetooth audio support. Also landing in the past month was support for live output switching in the Media Kit and media server code. But hot-plugging USB audio devices and the like aren't yet supported without a media server restart.
Listen to a recap of the top stories of the day from 9to5Mac. 9to5Mac Daily is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players. Sponsored by Stuff:Stuff helps you get everything out of your head and into a simple, elegant system—closing open loops and reducing mental stress. A simple to-do list for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with powerful tools that make organizing, tracking, and checking off your tasks a whole lot more satisfying. Get Stuff done.