The Rundown AI is reporting that Google has introduced three new Gemini models: 3.6 Flash, 3.5 Flash-Lite, and 3.5 Flash Cyber. These models are designed for efficiency, speed, and cybersecurity, respectively. However, the anticipated 3.5 Pro model remains unreleased and is still undergoing testing with partners. The Rundown AI noted that 3.6 Flash showed no intelligence upgrade over its predecessor, 3.5, on Artificial Analysis’ Intelligence Index, and performed below rivals like Grok 4.5 and GPT-5.6 Luna in various tests. Google has also initiated its "most ambitious pre-training run yet" for Gemini 4, but the current releases contribute to a perception that the company is lagging in the AI development race.
Separately, The Rundown AI is reporting that Anthropic has received court approval for a $1.5 billion settlement with book authors. This resolves a 2024 lawsuit where authors alleged Anthropic trained its Claude AI on texts obtained from internet piracy sites. The settlement will provide nearly $3,000 per title across 482,000 works. A judge previously ruled that AI training itself constitutes legal fair use, but Anthropic's use of a 7 million-book pirated collection was deemed a violation. The settlement averted a jury trial where Anthropic faced potential damages in the hundreds of billions of dollars, and The Rundown AI suggests this could establish a new benchmark for resolving AI copyright disputes.
Additionally, The Rundown AI is reporting that Poolside has launched Laguna S 2.1, an open-weights coding model. This model is notable for its ability to run on a single desktop, utilizing only 8 billion of its 118 billion parameters at a time, with its weights freely available on Hugging Face. Poolside said Laguna S 2.1 leads U.S. open systems in coding benchmarks, though it still trails behind Chinese open models such as Kimi K3. This release, following TML's Inkling, expands the limited open-source AI options available in the U.S. Poolside co-CEO Jason Warner stated the company's ambition is to create "the most capable open model in the West."