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- Thinking Machines Co-Founder Andrew Tulloch Returns to Meta
Thinking Machines Co-Founder Andrew Tulloch Returns to Meta
PLUS: DeepMind’s Vibe Checker Grades AI Code Like a Real Dev Would, Microsoft Revamps GitHub to Compete with Claude Code and Cursor and more.

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Today:
Thinking Machines Co-Founder Andrew Tulloch Returns to Meta
Rishi Sunak Joins Microsoft and Anthropic as AI Adviser
OpenAI Accused of Targeting AI Watchdogs with Police and Subpoenas
DeepMind’s Vibe Checker Grades AI Code Like a Real Dev Would
Microsoft Revamps GitHub to Compete with Claude Code and Cursor
Andrew Tulloch, a top AI researcher and co-founder of Thinking Machines Lab, has left the startup to rejoin Meta. His departure marks another high-profile hire for Meta, which is focusing its AI efforts on building superintelligent systems with tightly organized research teams.
KEY POINTS:
Andrew Tulloch’s Departure: Tulloch, a respected AI researcher, left Thinking Machines Lab for personal reasons, returning to Meta after co-founding the lab with Mira Murati.
Meta’s AI Push: Meta continues to aggressively recruit AI talent, aiming to build superintelligence by consolidating top researchers into focused teams.
Strategic Talent Shift: The move signals Meta’s serious long-term commitment to advanced AI, even as it slows broader hiring efforts elsewhere.
Why it matters:
This shift highlights how the AI talent war is still intense among top tech companies. Meta’s ability to rehire Tulloch shows its strong pull in the AI space. Where top researchers choose to work often shapes the future of powerful AI tools and their impact on society.
Former U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has joined Microsoft and Anthropic as a senior adviser. He will help guide strategy on AI’s role in society and economics. Sunak will donate all pay to The Richmond Project, his family charity focused on education.
KEY POINTS:
New Roles: Rishi Sunak now advises Microsoft and Anthropic on AI strategy, following a similar appointment at Goldman Sachs.
Focus Areas: His work centers on how AI can benefit economies, security, and society as a whole.
Charity Commitment: Sunak pledged to donate his entire compensation to his education-focused charity, The Richmond Project.
Why it matters:
This move shows how former political leaders are stepping into tech to shape AI’s future. Sunak’s involvement with top firms like Microsoft and Anthropic adds political weight to AI policy discussions. His focus on education signals a long-term vision for AI’s social impact.
OpenAI allegedly sent law enforcement to serve a subpoena to Nathan Calvin, an AI regulation advocate. The company requested private communications amid a lawsuit with Elon Musk. Critics say OpenAI is using legal tactics to intimidate groups pushing for safety rules and transparency in AI.
KEY POINTS:
Subpoenas Delivered: Nathan Calvin and other AI watchdogs claim OpenAI subpoenaed them, seeking personal messages about regulatory efforts and connections to Elon Musk.
Regulation Pushback: Calvin's group, Encode AI, supported California’s landmark AI safety bill and questioned OpenAI’s nonprofit-to-profit shift.
Internal Criticism: Even OpenAI insiders, like Joshua Achiam, publicly criticized the company’s actions, warning of becoming a “frightening power.”
Why it matters:
This story reveals growing tension between AI companies and those advocating for public oversight. If true, OpenAI’s actions could chill open debate and discourage watchdog groups. The situation raises important questions about how tech giants handle criticism and power in a world increasingly shaped by AI.
🧠RESEARCH
Meta researchers propose “early experience”: training agents on their interaction data without reward scores. Two tactics: implicit world modeling (learning how actions change the world) and self-reflection (learning from mistakes). Across eight settings, this improved decision rules (“policies”), worked on new tasks (“generalization”), and prepared agents for later reward-based learning.
Researchers find models that handle text and images struggle with long, many-step thinking that checks and fixes mistakes. They build a 42-task test and a 100k-example training set, then train with a method mixing teacher guidance and exploration. On Qwen2.5-VL-7B, accuracy rises 18.6% and general math/logic improves 5.7% on benchmarks.
MemMamba is a new model for long inputs. It explains why Mamba forgets distant steps and measures that loss. Then it adds two fixes: summarizing states and letting steps look across tokens and layers. Results: significantly better long-range recall than Transformers and Mamba, with linear cost and 48% faster inference.
🛠️TOP TOOLS
Each listing includes a hands-on tutorial so you can get started right away, whether you’re a beginner or a pro.
StealthWriter – AI Text Humanizer / Paraphraser - web-based writing tool that “humanizes” AI‑generated text
Resume Trick – AI Resume Builder - browser‑based suite for creating resumes, CVs, and cover letters with the help of AI.
RestorePhotos IO – AI Photo Restoration - web tool that enhances faces in old or low‑quality images.
📲SOCIAL MEDIA
Introducing NeuroChat: the world’s first neuroadaptive chatbot that adapts its responses to your cognitive engagement.
By reading brain signals in real time, NeuroChat personalizes its teaching style to your attention, curiosity, and focus.
NeuroChat works with your brain, not
— Dünya Baradari (@dunyaverse)
4:40 PM • Oct 8, 2025
🗞️MORE NEWS
Google DeepMind’s new “Vibe Checker” rates AI code not just on whether it works, but on how well it follows instructions like style, documentation, and error handling—better matching what real developers actually care about.
Microsoft plans to overhaul GitHub to fight rivals like Cursor and Claude Code by embedding its AI tools wherever developers work, turning GitHub into a central hub for AI agents, code insights, and faster shipping.
India’s Prime Minister Modi met with Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon to discuss expanding AI and chip innovation. Meanwhile, China launched an antitrust probe into Qualcomm’s acquisition of Israeli chipmaker Autotalks, citing legal disclosure issues.
Chinese customs intensify inspections on Nvidia AI chips to reduce reliance on US technology. Efforts target Nvidia's China-specific chips and advanced semiconductors to curb smuggling and enforce regulations.
Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas warned students not to misuse the free Comet AI browser after it was shown auto-completing assignments. Designed to act, not just advise, Comet raises serious cheating and security concerns.
Meta’s metaverse teams are being pushed to use AI to boost productivity fivefold. Executives demand AI adoption across all roles, aiming for faster prototyping, tighter feedback loops, and AI-written code—even as concerns about quality and comprehension grow.
Wall Street is eyeing Neuralink as brain-computer interfaces move from science fiction to real-world tech. While promising medical breakthroughs, concerns grow over ethics, data privacy, inequality, and a future “neuro-elite” able to enhance cognition.
A new Indeed survey shows 38% of Gen Z tech workers fear AI will replace their jobs. Many report layoffs, reassignments, and lack of training—fueling anxiety that AI is erasing vital career stepping stones.
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