A drone strike that killed three civilians near a gas station in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, was guided not by a human pilot but by an experimental artificial intelligence system operating entirely on its own, according to Ukrainian military commanders, drone experts and forensic investigators who examined wreckage from the attack, a finding that underscores a significant and troubling shift in how modern warfare is being waged.

The July strike killed 19-year-old student Tetiana Bubynets and two others when a small Russian drone swooped toward a gas station and exploded, according to reporting on the incident. Investigators said the drone had been dispatched by human operators toward the general vicinity of the gas station, but that the aircraft then independently identified and selected its precise target once it arrived near the site, most likely propane tanks positioned at the location, based on the system’s prior training to recognize and strike such objects on its own.

Analysis of debris from that attack and from other strikes in the Zaporizhzhia region found that the drones contained onboard minicomputers, sold commercially by Nvidia, that were responsible for making the aircraft’s targeting decisions, according to the drone experts and military officials who examined the wreckage. Nvidia produces the majority of chips currently powering the world’s most advanced artificial intelligence systems. Investigators said the presence of the Nvidia modules, combined with a notable absence of communication antennas on the recovered drones, led Ukrainian air defense commanders to initially suspect the weapons were operating under fully autonomous AI guidance, a theory subsequently confirmed through further forensic investigation.

The underlying technology behind such systems relies on a form of machine learning commonly referred to as computer vision. Autonomous AI systems used in this category of weapon are typically trained on thousands of images to recognize broad categories of objects, such as “military truck,” “person” or specific infrastructure like fuel storage tanks. Once deployed, self-targeting drones use their onboard cameras to search for and identify these pre-trained categories with a level of precision that developers argue can exceed what a human remote pilot is capable of achieving under battlefield conditions.

The Zaporizhzhia strike is not the first documented instance of AI-guided weaponry appearing on the Ukrainian battlefield. Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence Agency previously disclosed the existence of a Russian attack drone model, designated V2U, that similarly relies on an Nvidia Jetson Orin chip to enable autonomous flight and target selection, according to reporting from Cybernews. That agency noted the V2U drone incorporates a mix of Western-made components, including an Intel wireless adapter, a Sony light sensor and a Swiss microcontroller, alongside numerous Chinese-manufactured parts covering everything from motors to batteries, illustrating how such systems can be assembled from a global supply chain of largely commercially available components rather than specialized military-grade hardware. Ukrainian intelligence assessed that the drone’s reliance on computer vision for navigation, comparing live camera images against pre-loaded terrain photos, likely reflects Russia’s effort to reduce dependence on GPS satellite navigation, given how effectively Ukrainian electronic warfare systems have disrupted GPS-guided weapons throughout the conflict.

A separate autonomous drone platform, designated MS001 and powered by an Nvidia Jetson Orin module capable of performing 67 trillion operations per second, was intercepted by Ukrainian air defense units in the Sumy region, according to Ukrainian Major General Vladyslav Klochkov. Klochkov described the significance of that platform’s capabilities in stark terms in a post on LinkedIn. “This is a digital predator,” he wrote. “It doesn’t carry coordinates, it thinks.” According to reporting on that platform, the drone was found equipped with thermal imaging for night operations, spoof-resistant navigation systems, and communication hardware enabling it to coordinate with other drones as part of a broader swarm, adjusting flight paths dynamically and compensating for the loss of other units within the group.

The shift toward AI-guided targeting reflects a broader tactical response to the escalating electronic warfare battle that has come to define much of the drone conflict in Ukraine. Viktoria Kovalchuk, a spokeswoman for Brave1, a Ukrainian government organization involved in developing AI weapons and other military technology, explained the strategic logic behind reducing a drone’s reliance on continuous operator control. “Drones equipped with AI-assisted targeting modules do not require a connection to the operator during the engagement phase,” Kovalchuk said. “The operator locks onto the target, then the AI takes over the targeting process independently, making it immune to enemy electronic warfare interference.” That resistance to jamming has become an increasingly significant tactical advantage as both sides have deployed extensive radio-frequency jamming systems designed to sever the connection between remotely piloted drones and their human operators, a battle in which Ukrainian pilots have reportedly lost thousands of drones per month to Russian jamming.

Ukraine has also employed autonomous AI-guided targeting in some of its own offensive operations. According to Ukraine’s Security Service, drones used in the country’s large-scale Operation Spiderweb attack on Russian airbases were designed to switch to AI-guided navigation along a pre-planned route if they lost signal connectivity, automatically activating their warheads upon reaching and identifying a designated target. The security service described the approach as combining “artificial intelligence algorithms and manual operator intervention,” reflecting a hybrid model in which human control remains present during most of a mission but can be superseded by autonomous targeting logic under specific circumstances.

Critics and arms-control advocates have raised significant concerns about weapons systems that make lethal targeting decisions without direct human intervention at the final moment of engagement. Opponents of such systems argue that removing human judgment from the final targeting decision increases the risk of mistakes or violations of the laws of armed conflict, including failures to adequately distinguish civilian individuals or infrastructure from legitimate military targets, a concern directly reflected in the circumstances of the fatal July strike that killed Bubynets and two others near the Zaporizhzhia gas station.

As both Russia and Ukraine continue rapidly iterating on drone technology throughout the ongoing conflict, the increasing integration of commercially available AI hardware into weapons systems capable of independently selecting and engaging targets represents what military analysts and drone experts increasingly describe as a significant and largely unregulated turning point in the conduct of modern warfare, one in which the boundary between human-directed and autonomous lethal decision-making continues to blur with limited international legal framework currently in place to govern its use.

The Los Angeles Lakers will open the 2026-27 NBA season without LeBron James for the first time since 2018-19, closing out an eight-year run that included the franchise’s 2020 championship, after James informed the team on June 30 that he intended to sign elsewhere before ultimately joining the Philadelphia 76ers. In his absence, the Lakers have been fully handed over to Luka Doncic, and the question of whether the franchise is genuinely better positioned without its longtime superstar has become one of the most closely debated storylines heading into the coming season.

Rather than attempting to replace James with a single comparable talent, the Lakers’ front office spent the summer rebuilding the roster specifically around Doncic and Austin Reaves, prioritizing size, defense and secondary ball handling over a traditional co-star. According to LakersDaily.com, the Lakers acquired 7-foot-2 center Walker Kessler from the Utah Jazz in a sign-and-trade, sending unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033, along with first-round swap rights in 2028 and 2030, before signing him to a four-year, $130 million extension. The Lakers also added guard Quentin Grimes on a four-year, $60 million deal and forward Sandro Mamukelashvili on a four-year, $52 million contract, while Collin Sexton and Matisse Thybulle joined as further depth pieces.

In exchange, the roster lost significant experience beyond James alone. According to a July analysis from Kyle Mucerino, Marcus Smart, Luke Kennard and Jaxson Hayes all departed, while Rui Hachimura, the team’s most efficient postseason scorer last spring, signed a two-year, $28 million deal with the crosstown Los Angeles Clippers after the Lakers declined to route his exit through a sign-and-trade.

The case for the overhaul centers primarily on structural coherence rather than star power. LakersDaily.com framed the argument directly: “For the first time in the Doncic era, the roster is built around him rather than stapled to an aging co-star.” Kessler gives Doncic the rim-running, rim-protecting center he had reportedly requested, while Grimes and Reaves provide shooting and secondary shot creation, and a deeper bench gives the Lakers defined roles they lacked the previous season. The resulting roster is younger, more athletic, and, in theory, better equipped to withstand the grind of an 82-game season without leaning as heavily on aging, higher-mileage players.

The case against the rebuild is equally direct. As the same analysis put it, “No single addition replaces what James provided in shot creation, gravity and late-game shot-making, and losing Hachimura’s playoff shooting stings more the longer Kuminga stays unsigned.” National analysts have reportedly expressed open skepticism about the overhaul, characterizing the summer’s moves as a talent downgrade dressed up as a youth movement, according to Lakers Daily’s coverage of the offseason reshaping.

Doncic himself enters the season as the unquestioned centerpiece for the first time in his Lakers tenure, after splitting the offensive workload with James for roughly 18 months following his midseason trade to Los Angeles. According to Yardbarker’s NBA Analysis Network, the Lakers no longer have a “big three” structure following James’ departure, leaving Doncic and Reaves to carry the bulk of the offensive burden. Doncic averaged 33.5 points per game last season while Reaves scored 23.3 points per game, and both players may need to produce even more this coming season for the Lakers to remain competitive, with Yardbarker suggesting Doncic could push above a career-high 35 points per game, a mark that would put him firmly in the MVP conversation.

The Lakers’ projected starting lineup, according to Lakers Daily’s most recent depth chart analysis, features Doncic, Reaves, Grimes, Kessler and a fifth spot still being contested in training camp between incumbent forward Jake LaRavia and newer perimeter defenders Thybulle and Ziaire Williams, both signed specifically to address the team’s point-of-attack defense, a role neither Doncic nor Reaves is well-suited to fill for the other.

Kessler’s individual production last season offers a data point supporting optimism about the fit. According to Lakers Daily, Kessler averaged 11.1 points, 12.2 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game while leading the league in a defensive category during his time with Utah, statistics that suggest he could meaningfully address the interior defensive and rebounding deficiencies that had periodically plagued the Lakers during the Doncic-James era.

From a fantasy basketball and individual production standpoint, at least, the shift toward a Doncic-centered roster has been broadly framed as a positive development. Athlon Sports described Doncic as “one of the safest picks in fantasy basketball” heading into the new season, while projecting that Reaves “should take another step forward as the unquestioned second option.” The outlet characterized the broader roster shift bluntly: “This isn’t LeBron’s team anymore.”

Whether that shift translates into genuine team-level improvement remains an open and unresolved question that will only be answered once games begin. LakersNation.com framed the central variables shaping the Lakers’ outlook as Doncic’s individual workload, Kessler’s defensive impact, and whether Reaves can thrive in his expanded role, alongside the projected win total for a reshaped roster that head coach JJ Redick must now turn into a team with what the outlet described as “a repeatable identity.” As Lakers Daily summarized the situation heading into training camp, “What it is, unquestionably, is a different one” — leaving the more consequential question, whether different ultimately means better, as one Lakers fans and NBA analysts alike will spend the coming season debating in real time, with genuine, well-supported arguments existing on both sides of the discussion heading into 2027.

Mumbai: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has dropped proceedings against Max Financial Services, Max Life Insurance Company, Axis Bank and other Axis group entities, concluding that allegations of disclosure lapses and a fraudulent scheme that allegedly caused a ₹3,912-crore loss to Max Financial and its shareholders couldn’t be proved. The market regulator has also cleared Max Financial founder Analjit Singh, besides former and current senior executives named in the proceedings.

The case stems from Sebi’s probe into a series of transactions between Max Financial, Max Life, and Axis entities between FY10 and FY22. The regulator had examined three sets of arrangements-in 2010, 2015 and 2020-relating to the issue, sale and subsequent acquisition of shares in Max Life.

Read more: SoftBank pares nearly 2.6% stake in Lenskart for Rs 2,888 crore
Following the investigation, Sebi issued a show cause notice on October 24, 2024 alleging that the transactions were structured to provide Axis Bank benefits beyond permissible commission limits for its role as a corporate agent. It had also alleged that Max Financial made inadequate and delayed disclosures and that the arrangements formed part of a fraudulent scheme that benefited Axis entities at the expense of Max Financial and its shareholders.
“… the disclosures made by MFSL (Max Financial Services) could undoubtedly have been more comprehensive and, in certain instances, a more cautious and consistent approach to disclosure may have been desirable,” said Sebi whole time member Amarjeet Singh.

SYDNEY — The S&P/ASX 200 closed up 44.2 points, or 0.49%, at 9,103 on Monday, following Wall Street’s lead higher as major mining stocks pushed to record highs, even as banks and insurers weighed on the index by weighting throughout the session.

The benchmark tracked a steady upward path across Monday’s trading day. According to ABC News’ live market coverage, the ASX 200 had climbed 0.6% to 9,110 points by 11 a.m. AEST, extending to 9,118 points, a 0.6% gain, by 12:48 p.m., before settling into its final 0.49% gain at the 4:37 p.m. close. The broader All Ordinaries index posted a similar advance for the session.

Big miners in the materials sector led Monday’s rally, with several names pushing to fresh all-time highs. According to ABC News, BHP gained 3.6% during the session, while Rio Tinto rose 1.5% and Fortescue advanced 1.8%. Uranium miners proved particularly popular with investors, with most major players in that subsector climbing more than 10% on the day. Paladin Energy emerged as the session’s standout performer, according to Investing.com, surging 10.68% to close at $11.71, while IperionX added 10.03% to finish at $3.18 and Ansell rose 9.74% to $38.30.

Banks and insurers served as the primary counterweight to the miners’ strength throughout the session. NIB Holdings suffered the steepest decline among major names, falling 9.12% to close at $6.73, according to Investing.com. Telecommunications infrastructure company Chorus dropped 5.27% to $7.55, while data center operator Megaport shed 5.06% to finish at $17.45.

Ampol delivered one of the day’s most closely watched earnings results, part of a heavy reporting-season calendar that dominated much of Monday’s market commentary. According to Market Index’s live coverage, Ampol reported a record first half driven by global supply disruption, with the company’s replacement cost operating profit EBIT of $1.4 billion up 245% year over year, while its Lytton refinery margin averaged $28.26 a barrel through a period of severe global supply disruption. Ampol chief executive Matt Halliday pointed to drawn-down product stocks across Russia and the Middle East as a key factor shaping the company’s outlook, noting that market tightness is “hard to rebuild quickly” given limited spare global refinery capacity.

Beyond Ampol, several other significant names reported results Monday. According to The Motley Fool Australia, Dan Murphy’s owner Endeavour Group, regional lender Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, lithium producer Pilbara Minerals, and health insurer NIB Holdings all released their latest financial results during the session, with NIB’s sharp decline standing out as the clearest negative market reaction among that group.

Ahead of the session, analysts at Bell Potter had flagged fast-food chain Guzman y Gomez as trading around fair value following its recent rally, downgrading the stock to a hold rating while lifting its price target to $27.30. “While we think GYG is a clear leader in the QSR space after displaying strong comp sales growth, margin expansion, and further network growth opportunities, we see near-term cost headwinds and a consumer slow-down as a risk to FY27 guidance and view the current multiple as fairly valued,” the broker said in its note.

Energy stocks also featured prominently in Monday’s session, buoyed by overnight gains in crude oil prices. According to The Motley Fool Australia, West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.25% to $87.06 a barrel Friday night, while Brent crude climbed 0.65% to $94.39 a barrel, despite reports suggesting the Iranian government was seeking to bring the broader conflict with the United States to an end.

Monday’s advance followed a difficult end to the prior trading week for Australian equities. According to Reuters, cited by Business Recorder, the ASX 200 had closed down 0.3% Friday at 9,058.90 points, with the benchmark shedding 0.6% over the course of that week, extending losses from the previous week amid growing concerns over major banks’ growth prospects following revelations of declining mortgage application volumes. Healthcare stocks paused a strong rally during Friday’s session, falling 1.8% after having posted a 9.2% weekly gain, while Goodman Group led real estate stocks lower.

Regional markets showed a mixed picture Monday alongside the ASX’s gains. According to CNBC, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 0.74% lower at 65,528.09, while South Korea’s KOSPI tumbled sharply, falling 3.12% to 6,696.96 amid investor disappointment over Samsung Electronics’ newly disclosed shareholder return plan. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 1.84% in late trading Monday, and mainland China’s CSI 300 closed 1.21% lower at 4,563.13.

The Canadian dollar’s decline against the U.S. dollar Monday, following the collapse of trade talks between Ottawa and Washington, added to a broader backdrop of geopolitical and trade-related uncertainty shaping global markets during the session, even as those developments had limited direct impact on Australian trading.

With reporting season continuing through the remainder of the week, investors are likely to remain closely focused on additional earnings releases from major consumer, retail and travel-sector companies, alongside continued monitoring of commodity prices and the ongoing standoff in the Middle East, as the ASX 200 works to build on Monday’s gains heading into the final stretch of August trading.

Thailand’s Department of Business Development (DBD) has introduced new registration requirements aimed at closing loopholes that allow foreigners to control Thai companies through nominee shareholders. Order No. 2/2026 of the Office of the Central Company and Partnership Registration took effect on August 1, 2026, and marks the latest step in a regulatory push that has been building steadily since the beginning of the year.

DBD director-general Poonpong Naiyanapakorn announced the order on July 31, explaining that it sets stricter criteria and documentation requirements for both incorporating partnerships and limited companies and for amending their registrations. The stated goal is to verify that Thai investors genuinely fund and control the shares they hold, rather than acting as fronts for undisclosed foreign owners.

Why the DBD moved again

The department had already rolled out capital-verification checks for high-risk registrations earlier in the year, requiring Thai shareholders to demonstrate traceable sources of funds when foreign nationals held minority stakes or signing authority. According to the DBD, that earlier measure cut nominee registration attempts by roughly two-thirds. But officials say the pattern has simply shifted rather than disappeared: applicants increasingly register companies under structures that fall outside the flagged criteria, clear the initial screening, and only later file amendments to bring in foreign shareholders or directors with signing power.

Order No. 2/2026 is designed to close that sequencing gap. Its central change is to extend scrutiny across the entire lifecycle of a company rather than concentrating it at the point of incorporation, so that later amendments affecting shareholder or director structures face the same level of documentary review as the original registration.

What applicants must now submit

Where a foreign national is a co-investor or holds signing authority, applicants must now provide an investment explanation letter along with three months of bank statements, covering both the Thai investor who supplied the capital and the party receiving the funds. The intent is to let officials assess whether the money behind a Thai shareholding is real and independently sourced, rather than round-tripped from a foreign partner.

The DBD has said it does not expect the added paperwork to burden legitimate operators, framing the order as targeted at concealment rather than foreign investment itself. Thailand continues to welcome foreign capital through its existing ownership and licensing frameworks; the order is aimed specifically at arrangements where a Thai name is used to disguise what is, in substance, foreign ownership or control.

The scale of the exposure

The numbers help explain the department’s urgency. Thailand currently has just over one million active juristic persons on its registry, the large majority of them limited companies. Of these, more than 119,000 have foreign ownership stakes between 0.01 and 49.99 percent, putting them just inside the threshold that preserves Thai juristic-person status while still carrying the DBD’s designated nominee-risk profile.

That population has been under mounting scrutiny for months. Since March, the department has run joint operations with the police, the Department of Special Investigation, and the Anti-Money Laundering Office, and it has increasingly leaned on the Intelligence Business Analytic System, an AI-driven platform launched in October 2025 that cross-references corporate registry filings against other government databases in real time to flag suspected nominee arrangements. Provinces named as ongoing priorities under the new order include Chon Buri, Rayong, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Surat Thani, Phuket, and Krabi, several of which have already seen high-profile nominee cases surface this year, including one linked to a fatal building collapse in Bangkok.

Penalties remain steep

Nominee arrangements are prosecuted under the Foreign Business Act of 1999. Section 36 provides for up to three years’ imprisonment and fines of between 100,000 and one million baht, or both, for Thai nationals who allow their names to be used as nominees. Foreign nationals who operate a business without proper authorisation face the same penalties under Section 37, with courts also empowered to order the business to cease operating. The DBD says it will pursue firm legal action wherever irregular registrations or evasion attempts are identified, working alongside the Royal Thai Police and other agencies as it has in previous enforcement waves.

What it means for foreign investors

For genuine joint ventures, the practical effect of Order No. 2/2026 is more paperwork rather than a change in the underlying ownership rules: the 49 percent foreign equity ceiling under the Foreign Business Act is unchanged, and legitimate structures with real Thai capital contributions remain unaffected. The bigger shift is procedural. Businesses that plan to bring in a foreign co-investor or signatory after incorporation, rather than at the outset, can no longer treat that as a lighter-touch amendment; it will now draw the same financial scrutiny as registering the company in the first place. Foreign investors working through Thai holding structures, particularly in the tourism, real estate, and hospitality sectors that have drawn the heaviest enforcement attention this year, should expect registration and amendment timelines to lengthen as banks statements and investment letters become standard requirements rather than exceptions.

Operator

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the hummgroup Limited FY ’26 Results.

[Operator Instructions]

I would now like to hand the conference over to Angelo Demasi, Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead.

Angelo Demasi
Group CEO, MD & Director

Thank you, and good morning. Thank you everybody for joining us today as we release hummgroup’s full year results for the FY ’26 year. I’m Angelo Demasi, Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, and joining me today is Anthony Taylor, hummgroup’s Interim Chief Financial Officer.

I’ll start by drawing your attention to the disclaimer on Slide 2. As always, this presentation contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. This include underlying and other non-IFRS measures which are unaudited. It should be read alongside our other periodic and continuous disclosures lodged with the ASX. All figures are in Australian dollars, unless otherwise stated. Turning to Slide 3, you will see the agenda for today’s presentation. Today, Tony and I will walk you through the slides included in the investor presentation. I’ll start with the highlights of the group’s performance and the year in review.

Tony will then take you through the financials in more detail. I’ll then close with a summary and outlook for FY ’27. We’ll open for questions at the end. With that, let’s move to Slide 5, where we have summarized the year in review. Against the backdrop of macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, hummgroup has successfully navigated an extraordinary level of corporate activity. This included 2 successive non-binding indicative offers and the associated due diligence processes, an activist shareholder campaign culminating in board renewal, extensive Takeovers Panel proceedings and voluntary

Anthropic’s most powerful and expensive AI model, Fable 5, has struggled to gain significant traction among corporate customers in the United States, with businesses increasingly opting for cheaper alternatives even as the company prepares for what investors expect to be the largest initial public offering in history, according to the Financial Times.

Spending on Fable 5, Anthropic’s largest and priciest model, has plateaued at only about 11% of the company’s overall business spending on its tools, more than two months after its release, according to spending data from 70,000 companies collected by payments company Ramp. That figure represents a notable break from an earlier pattern in which corporate users had generally defaulted to whichever model a given AI lab positioned as its most powerful offering.

Analysts and investors in Anthropic attributed the shift primarily to Fable’s high price combined with the reality that older, less expensive models remain capable of handling the bulk of everyday business demands. Miles Clements, a partner at venture capital firm Accel, which has invested close to $1 billion in Anthropic, offered a broader assessment of the trend reshaping how companies choose which AI models to use. “Most people don’t need to operate at the frontier,” Clements said, adding that the earlier period in which customers tended to gravitate exclusively toward the most advanced available models “was not a durable era.”

Clements suggested that breakthroughs in raw model intelligence remain important for AI labs primarily as a way to fulfill ambitious long-term goals, such as advancing disease research, and to continue attracting top research talent, but that such flagship models will increasingly function as showcases rather than as the primary products driving day-to-day corporate revenue.

Fable 5’s launch in early June was disrupted almost immediately by the Trump administration, which forced Anthropic to temporarily withdraw the model over national security concerns tied to export control regulations, a suspension the company has previously confirmed publicly. According to the Financial Times, concerns about further restrictions on Fable’s availability have eased since the administration approved its relaunch on July 1, and political uncertainty has since become a secondary factor compared with price and performance in shaping how corporate clients choose among competing AI models.

The comparatively slow adoption of Fable adds a layer of uncertainty for Anthropic as it approaches its anticipated initial public offering, which investors expect could value the company at $2 trillion or more and could occur as soon as next month. Anthropic’s July revenue reportedly fell short of the most bullish projections from investors, who had anticipated annualized sales crossing $80 billion. According to people familiar with the matter, Anthropic told shareholders last week that its revenue for the month hit $65 billion on an annualized basis, up from $47 billion in May.

Despite falling short of those more optimistic projections, Anthropic has continued growing at a rapid pace, with revenue increasing nearly sevenfold since the beginning of the year. The company recorded its first adjusted operating profit during the second quarter of the year and has guided investors that it expects to be profitable again in the third quarter, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Anthropic separately told investors it now counts 6,000 customers that each spend $100,000 or more annually on its products. Anthropic declined to comment on the Financial Times’ reporting.

The broader dynamic reflected in Fable’s slower adoption curve points to businesses increasingly focused on containing overall AI spending by deploying models more efficiently, rather than automatically defaulting to whichever option represents the most technically sophisticated choice available. That shift has been reinforced by a growing supply of inexpensive, open-weight AI models originating from China and other countries, giving corporate customers a wider range of lower-cost alternatives to the leading U.S. AI labs.

Competitive pressure has also intensified from within the U.S. market specifically. OpenAI, led by chief executive Sam Altman, has reportedly regained momentum in recent months after slipping back for much of the year. According to people familiar with the matter, OpenAI’s annualized revenue jumped 35% during the current quarter and now exceeds $40 billion, with the July launch of GPT 5.6 credited with reinvigorating the company’s performance following a sluggish start to 2026. GPT 5.6 is priced significantly lower than Fable 5, according to the Financial Times.

Notably, Anthropic’s own smaller and less expensive model, Opus 5, has already surpassed Fable 5 in terms of overall business spending since its late-July launch, according to Ramp’s data, suggesting the pricing dynamics reshaping customer behavior are affecting Anthropic’s internal product lineup as much as its competitive standing relative to OpenAI and other rivals.

Anthropic’s revenue growth took a measurable hit in June, largely attributable to the U.S. government’s temporary restriction on Fable’s rollout, though revenue has since rebounded. Data retention rules imposed by the Trump administration have also continued to complicate Fable’s broader adoption, according to Ara Kharazian, chief economist at Ramp. Kharazian described the inherent difficulty of forecasting Anthropic’s trajectory even a few months into the future given how quickly competitive dynamics in the AI sector have shifted. “If you impute previous trends you expect Anthropic to own the market. But because [OpenAI’s newest model] was so good and Fable underperformed, it’s been the reverse,” Kharazian said.

As Anthropic continues preparing for its anticipated public offering, the company’s ability to demonstrate sustainable revenue growth and profitability, even as its most advanced and expensive model struggles to gain the same traction as its lower-cost offerings and rivals’ competing products, is likely to remain a closely watched factor among prospective investors evaluating the company’s business model heading into what is expected to be one of the largest and most closely scrutinized technology IPOs in history.

NEW YORK — Two independently developed mobile apps that deliver digital messages at the simulated speed of carrier pigeons have attracted hundreds of thousands of users since their April launches, reflecting a growing appetite for deliberately slower forms of online communication.

Roost Social, created by Logan Mendelsohn, and Carrier Pidge, developed by Noah Iarrobino, function similarly at their core. Users enter their location, compose a message and dispatch it to another app user. The message then travels in real time at a pace approximating how long a bird would take to cover the geographic distance between the two people. There is no instant delivery, no constant notifications and no endless scroll.

As of Aug. 18, Mendelsohn reported that Roost had more than 700,000 users. Iarrobino said Carrier Pidge had reached 76,000 users. Both apps remain free to download and rely on in-app purchases for additional features. Roost is available on both the Apple App Store and Google Play. Carrier Pidge is currently limited to Apple’s store.

Mendelsohn, 31, a senior product manager at Ticketmaster who lives in New York, first joked about the concept more than a decade ago. “We were backpacking Europe and I made a joke about, ‘Hey, we should make an app to send carrier pigeons to our friends back home and it would be so funny if it took a super long time to get there,’” he told USA TODAY. “I guess since then, it’s always been a joke.”

He began developing the idea in earnest in May 2025 after posting about it on TikTok, where early reactions were enthusiastic. One commenter wrote, “As a person who loves silly apps but also does the occasional birding, I need this app bad.” Mendelsohn released Roost on the Apple App Store on April 30. The app lets users select from a range of birds and other animals, each with speeds based on real-world capabilities. Options include a mallard at 51 mph, a rock dove at 49.5 mph and a red-eared slider turtle at 1 mph. Users start with four animals and can purchase more for between 99 cents and $9.99. The platform also includes mini-games to level up animals and a pen-pal feature that randomly pairs users worldwide.

Iarrobino, 29, a software engineer in Brooklyn, arrived at a nearly identical concept independently and more rapidly. “I was just sitting on my couch one night and the idea just came to me,” he said. “I just couldn’t get the idea out of my head and that night, I just starting building the project. I just had a big smile on, just laughing the whole time while developing it.” He had a working version on the App Store by April 18. Carrier Pidge focuses solely on pigeons, which travel at 110 mph within the app — faster than the 50-60 mph typical of real racing pigeons. Each conversation begins with one pigeon that travels back and forth. There is a 0.2 percent chance the bird dies en route, requiring a 99-cent replacement.

Both developers used artificial intelligence tools extensively. Iarrobino said he first brainstormed with an AI chatbot and then relied on Claude Code, an AI coding assistant released in February 2025, which “wrote a lot” of the app. Mendelsohn wrote the initial code himself but has used Claude Code to resolve issues since launch. He initially incorporated AI-generated artwork, which drew criticism upon release. He has since launched an in-app artist challenge allowing users to submit and vote on original illustrations to replace the AI images.

The two creators were unaware of each other’s projects at launch. They have since spoken and agreed that the apps offer distinct experiences despite the shared premise. Running the platforms has proven expensive. Mendelsohn shared Google Cloud billing statements showing more than $10,000 in costs for Roost in July alone and more than $7,600 by Aug. 18.

The apps’ appeal aligns with broader trends among younger users seeking less instantaneous digital interactions. Gen Z consumers have shown interest in “dumb phones,” some millennials have installed rotary landlines, and companies have marketed tools designed to reduce screen time. Eventbrite previously labeled the warmer months “The Offline Summer.” Mendelsohn said conversations with Roost users often center on intentional communication and the absence of noisy feeds or constant alerts. Iarrobino offered a similar observation: “I think people are getting tired of technology being so integrated into our lives, especially a couple years past COVID. People want to get outside, people want to get off of their phones. I think slow messaging kind of helps with that.”

Users can track their messages’ progress on a map in real time, watching the selected animal make its journey. Delivery times range from minutes for nearby contacts to many hours or even days for longer distances. The deliberate friction is the point. Messages arrive only when the virtual courier does, encouraging users to compose more thoughtfully and to wait without the pressure of immediate replies.

Neither app has affiliation with traditional messaging platforms or major tech companies. Their growth has occurred largely through word of mouth, social media posts and organic interest in slower digital experiences. Mendelsohn continues to manage Roost alongside his full-time role while exploring ways to sustain the service through purchases and potential expansion. Iarrobino has indicated plans to bring Carrier Pidge to Android eventually.

The simultaneous emergence of two nearly identical concepts underscores a shared cultural moment. After years of platforms optimized for speed and constant engagement, a segment of users is actively choosing tools that reintroduce waiting, distance and a measure of unpredictability into everyday communication. Whether the novelty sustains long-term engagement remains to be seen, but the early numbers show that the idea of digital carrier pigeons has clearly taken flight.