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GTA Now
00:22:15
Rockstar finally priced GTA VI at $79.99 and set a November 19 release, with preorders tonight. OpenAI and Broadcom unveiled their Jalapeño inference chip. Meta got caught building a prediction-markets app called Arena, and Superhuman snapped up AI-detector GPTZero.
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This summer. Serve up the cookout classics craft mayo and dressing. Toss green salads with delicious ranch dressing or zesty Italian. Serve smooth, craveably creamy potato salads with mayo. We all know it's not a cookout without craft. Welcome to the Tech Brew Ride home for Wednesday, June 24, 2026. I'm Brian McCullough. Today, Rockstar finally priced GTA 6 and named the release date with pre orders starting tonight. OpenAI and Broadcom unveiled their jalapeno inference chip. Meta got caught building a prediction markets app called arena and Superhuman snapped up AI detector GPT0. Here's what you missed today in the world of tech. I'm getting to the age where I might pull a muscle just by thinking about stretching. That's why Blueprint's longevity mix has been such a game changer. Blueprint was started by Brian Johnson, more popularly known known as the Don't Die Guy. His latest endeavor in living longer and aging better led him to create Blueprint. With just one scoop, you'll get support for energy, cognitive performance, mood focus, sleep, cellular resilience and healthy aging. Science backed precision dosed, no BS for a limited time only. Our listeners get 20% off plus free shipping at blueprint bryanjohnson.com by using code TBRH at checkout. That's code TBRH@blueprint.brianjohnson.com for 20 and after you purchase they will ask you where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them our show sent you at long last GTA 6 order day is here. Quoting the Verge we finally have a price for Grand Theft Auto 6, $79.99. That gets you the standard edition of the game, while the Ultimate Edition will set you back $99.99. Pre orders start at midnight tonight local time when you'll be able to reserve a copy on PS5 or Xbox Series XS. You'll be able to order either digital or physical editions of the game, though Rockstar has confirmed that even the physical editions contain a download code inside the box. More on that in a second. The upside is that they'll ship from November 12, allowing buyers of either edition to preload the game ahead of its full release on November 19th. Anyone who pre orders or purchases the game before November 20th will receive the vintage Vice City Pack, a throwback to 2002's GTA Vice City that includes a 55 vapid Stanier sedan and garage outfits and hairstyles and a weapon skin. Digital pre orders also net a free month of Rockstar's GTA subscription. As for the Ultimate Edition that includes digital extras unlocked throughout the game's story, including vehicles, weapons, outfits and tattoos, and exclusive in game stores, there's been a lot of speculation about GTA 6's price leading up to today's announcement. Gaming in general has steadily gotten pricier over the past year, with both console and game prices going up, like Nintendo's move to nudge some Switch 2 game prices up to $69 or even $79. It's been a long wait for GTA 6. It will launch over a decade after GTA 5 came out, and its release date has been bumped back a couple of times. It's expected to be the biggest game of the year, so much so that other games are planning their own launches to avoid GTA 6 entirely, end quote. But back to that story about this being another nail in the coffin for physical media. Quoting Ignoring Rockstar will sell physical copies of Grand Theft Auto vi, though you'll only get a box containing a digital download code. This morning, Rockstar announced that it will finally begin GTA 6 pre orders at midnight tonight, with various options available alongside a digital pre order. Fans will also be able to buy GTA 6 in a box, though no disc will be included inside. On the upside, physical copies will be available from November 12th in advance of the game's actual launch on November 19th. This earlier date is also when GTA 6 preloading will become available, allowing anyone with a physical copy or digital pre order to get the game downloading. While diskless physical copies have become more common in recent years, it is notable that such a big mass market game, likely this console generation's biggest most market game, is ditching physical media altogether. But in a world where even Nintendo is ditching physical media for many of its own exclusives, such as Pokemon Pocopoeia, it is perhaps not too surprising. Notably, the GTA 6 Ultimate Edition will include exclusive vehicles, weapons and outfits, as well as additional locations and activities that it appears will be absent from the base version of the game. A cunning move by Rockstar to offer two entry price points, but Nudge committed fans to spend $100 and that's all before any new version of GTA Online arrives too. According to Rockstar, GTA 6 features a single player experience launching on November 19th to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series XS. Copies of the game purchased before November 20th will at least include an additional vintage Vice City pack with more cosmetics and cars, though physical edition customers should note that this is only guaranteed while supplies last digital pre orders also get you a free month of gta. End quote. OpenAI unveiled its first custom artificial intelligence chip developed in partnership with Broadcom, part of a bid by the ChatGPT maker to gain an edge by tailoring hardware to better run its AI products. Quoting Bloomberg, the company said Wednesday that OpenAI has received the first samples of the chip, called Jalapeno, and is testing how the silicon handles running AI workloads. So far, the accelerator is showing cost savings of roughly 50% compared with typical AI graphics processing units, Broadcom Chief Executive Officer Hock Tan said in an interview. The finalized chips will be integrated into large Data centers from OpenAI backer Microsoft and other partners starting later this year. Tan expects OpenAI and Broadcom should be able to exceed his prior Forecast for deploying 1.33 gigawatts worth of chips next year. We like to think we can do better because there is a lot of demand, he said. Though OpenAI continues to rely heavily on chips from market leader Nvidia, the startup has worked to broaden its mix of suppliers to meet surging demand for its AI services. OpenAI has struck multibillion dollar deals with chip makers such as Advanced Micro Devices and cerebras. In October, OpenAI announced that it would partner with Broadcom to design accelerators tailored to work best with its artificial intelligence models. OpenAI plans to spend tens of billions of dollars on Broadcom chips, Bloomberg News has reported to the unprofitable startup's massive outlays on physical infrastructure to support AI. OpenAI's head of hardware, Richard Ho, declined to say how the company will pay for the chips, noting that financing arrangements would be finalized when the full order of processors is complete. Tan declined to comment, but reiterated that Broadcom has set up a chip financing vehicle with Apollo Global Management and Blackstone that will also aid OpenAI. The new chips were developed from scratch in record time, according to OpenAI and Broadcom. OpenAI said it is still assessing the test versions, but early data showed shows Jalapeno is capable of delivering performance per watt of energy. That's substantially better than current state of the art. The chip was designed for large language models, or LLMs, and guided by the artificial intelligence startup's approach for inference, a stage that involves running AI tasks, Ho said. Still, he said, it is a very general purpose device that will address Future LLM Innovations. OpenAI wants to keep its options open as to whether it would let other model makers use its chips, Ho said. Within the tech industry, some AI chips are more powerful for doing many tasks at once while others are focused on providing a sing single answer to a user as fast as possible. OpenAI said its goal is to combine both the power of leading AI chips with speed that's closer to specialized hardware for running models faster. The chips are meant to perform better by reducing the amount of data that must move around. The hardware is also designed around the usage patterns of computing, memory and networking gear that are most important for top of the line AI models. The two companies have a roadmap for future chips with the next version planned for 2028 and then annually after that, Tan said. While Jalapeno is focus focus on inference, OpenAI may consider other workloads with future chip generations. End quote. Meta is apparently building a standalone prediction markets app internally called arena, which would probably use video game like points instead of actual money wagers. Quoting the times polymarket and Kalshi prediction markets, where users can bet on outcomes as varied as the super bowl and the length of the State of the Union address, have been some of the fastest growing destinations on the Internet. Mark Zuckerberg has noticed, and he wants in on the action. Mr. Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Meta, recently dispatched a small team at his company to create a smartphone app similar to polymarket and Kalshi, to employees with knowledge of the matter said users would not wager money and the app would probably rely on a video game like point system instead, one person said, though the company had not ruled out the eventual use of real money betting. The app is internally referred to as arena and would function independently from Meta's social networking apps, which include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, said the employees, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential plans. Meta aims to grow the app by leveraging its large social networking audiences and directing them toward using it, they said. The effort, which insiders characterized as experimental but a top priority, is part of a broader push by Mr. Zuckerberg to create new types of apps based on emerging social behavior Online. More than 3.56 billion people visit one or more of Meta's apps every day, an amount that has raised questions about whether those platforms have reached a saturation point. Arena is one of a handful of apps that Meta is trying out. Others include one called Meta Photos, another standalone app which would create new types of media using artificial intelligence, the employees said. This is not the first time Meta has experimented with prediction markets. In 2020, it released forecast, a crowdsource prediction market app that prompted people to make guesses about the world. In the early days of the COVID 19 pandemic, the app was positioned as a way to share crowdsourced knowledge. It used a point system to make predictions about the future, and Meta shuttered the app in 20. Since then, prediction markets have exploded into a cultural phenomenon featured during major sports events and in the golden globes telecast. In 2025, Kalshi and Polymarket drew a combined $50 billion in online trades. This year, the total has already surpassed 130 billion. End quote. As a podcast called the Ride Home, we are very much anti crash, but keeping your energy up without coffee or nicotine, that's no small feat. Thankfully. Ultra Pouches Plant powered pouches are designed to sharpen your mind and lift your energy, all without caffeine, nicotine or the crash. Enfinity PX, L, Theanine Alpha GPC and vitamin B6 and B12 help you achieve a calm, steady flow state focus. Plus they come in all sorts of flavors like Cool Mint, Wintergreen, Tropical watermelon. New customers get 15% off with code TBRH@takeultra.com that's takeultra.com code TBRH. When inspiration strikes, you're usually not sitting at your desk ready to take notes. And honestly, some ideas are easier to say out loud than to type into your phone. That's where Plod Notepin S comes in. It's a small, wearable AI powered device about the size of a AA battery that lets you capture ideas and convers completely hands free. So in those in between moments when pulling out your phone just feels like too much, you can just tap once and keep going. Plod automatically turns what you record into searchable notes, summaries and mind maps you can actually use later. Plod's also designed with privacy in mind, with enterprise grade standards including SoC2, HIPAA and GDPR compliance. Check it out at Plod AI TBRH that's P L A U D AI TBRH and use code TBRH for 10% off. Gee, we were just talking about this yesterday, quoting Business Insider. As AI generated content storms, the Internet productivity company Superhuman is acquiring GPT0, an AI detection startup co founded by Edward Tian and Su in 2023. GPT0, which Tian, now 26, built as a senior at Princeton, went viral after its launch and has since evolved to include additional tools to detect hallucinations and AI generated content in social media feeds. Companies declined to share the financial terms of the deal. GPT0 is valued at over $88 million, according to PitchBook, and it's backed by investors like Encore Capital Neo Footwork and Jack Altman. GPT0 has grown rapidly since its launch three years ago, Tian said. He added that it surpassed 19 million registered users and $30 million in annual recurring revenue. As part of the acquisition, Tian and Chu will join Superhuman to lead a team focused on authenticity. GPT0's 30 employees will also join Superhuman. Superhuman CEO Shishir Morod. When you're buying a business like this, the people come first, Morota said of GPT0's co founders. Superhuman was formerly known as Grammarly and changed its name after acquiring Superhuman, an email app popular across Silicon Valley and among venture capitalists. It now offers a variety of productivity tools, and its acquisition of GPT0 aims to strengthen its existing authenticity tools, including its Grammarly AI detector and an authorship product that will help writers verify their work. GPT0 will soon be accessible within Superhuman Go, an AI assistant that operates across websites and apps. GPT0 will also continue to operate as a standalone product. Deciphering which content is and isn't AI generated is especially critical in education, Morota said, and demand is also coming from professional fields such as consulting, recruiting and journalism. Education accounts for roughly a third of the more than $700 million in annual revenue of Superhumans flagship writing assistant, Grammarly, he said, while professional users generate the remainder. GPT0 started with the mission of preserving what's human, tien said. Now we need to preserv preserve critical thinking. GPT0 marks Superhuman's fourth major acquisition, Morota said. Previously, the company acquired the productivity assistant Coda, the email app Superhuman, for which it is now named, and the AI spreadsheet tool rose. End quote. Finally today, what if you could get your AI 28 times cheaper? We've been talking about this possibly happening and the information says it is actively happening. Quote as prices for anthropics and OpenAI's flagship products soar, some large customers are using cheaper AI models from those companies menus as well as from other providers. Ensemble Health Partners, a provider of software for hospitals that plans to spend up to $100 million on AI this year, says it's had success switching to an OpenAI model. Well, that's 1 20th as expensive as the company's more advanced models. The AI powers, a tool for writing appeal letters to insurance firms that won't reimburse Ensemble's hospital clients for care they provide. Ensemble sends about 15,000 such letters every month, according to Grant Vieze, its chief technology officer, so switching to the lower cost model will result in savings of nearly $700,000 per year. Many Anthropic and OpenAI customers are willing to stomach the rising costs of the two companies products, but some are hitting the brakes after blowing through their budgets. Some are developing or buying software known as routers that can automatically pick lower cost models depending on the complexity of the task. Others, such as Meta Platforms and Uber, are limiting how much AI employees can use in a given week or month after previously allowing nearly unlimited use. And some companies are also controlling which types of employees get access to the most advanced and expensive models and which ones don't. Sometimes reducing AI costs can be as simple as telling an AI model to do less thinking. Enterprise software firm UiPath says it's been using prompt engineering to minimize how much models spend warming up or thinking before doing a task, especially tasks they've done before, which led to more than 90% cost savings for some tasks. But nothing saves money quite like finding that an open source or cheap model can handle a company's immediate AI needs. Fin, which sells AI powered customer support agents, began switching from Anthropic's lower cost sonnet models in favor of developing its own custom AI using open weight models more than a year ago and has accelerated that transition in recent months, said Faragal Reid, its chief AI officer. He said the change has saved the startup millions of dollars annually and has helped it improve its profit margins significantly, though he declined to disclose what open source models Fin uses. Salesforce last week agreed to buy Fin for $3.6 billion and also could be interested in reducing its hefty Anthropic and OpenAI bills. It's hugely significant to the point that anyone running an application company should be trying to do something like this, reed said. Since the US Government earlier this month banned foreign access to Anthropic's latest AI model, foreign enterprises and government agencies have been speeding up plans to use models from non US Sources, according to Cohere, a Canadian AI firm that provides access to small and open source models. Since the US Restrictions went in place, Cohere tripled its internal projection for annualized revenue in 2027, said spokesperson Kyle Lastovica, without disclosing the figure. Cohere's annualized revenue, typically a measure based on the prior month's revenue multiplied by 12, was $240 million at the end of 20, according to a person with knowledge of its financials. The surge in serious inbound interest from large buyers and heightened investor interest increased both the probability and pace of deals already in motion, which is what drove the stronger 2027 projection, he said to be sure, usage of the most advanced closed source AI models has been unprecedented this year, and faster improvements to such models could peel away open source model users. Sales of Anthropic's closed source models have increased more than five times in the first half of the year to roughly $4 billion per month, a pace of $50 billion per year. Some of the increase came from large customers such as Meta, Microsoft and Amazon. But open source models, especially those from China, are undoubtedly improving, developers say, even if some of them struggle with follow up questions or deeper lines of reasoning. Data from OpenRouter, a service that compares AI models so developers know which ones should power their apps or handle different tasks within them, show that the share of all tokens processed on open source models, primarily Deep and Mini Max from China, climbed to roughly 65% in the second week of June, up from 34% during the same week in January and 26% the year prior. Scotland plays Brazil tonight and Scotland needs a result or they are going home. Let me tell you my favorite story about Scotland playing Brazil. The two countries faced each other in 1982, and before the game the referee said, good luck, may the best team win to both of the team captains, to which Scotland captain Graham Souness replied, I bloody well hope not. Talk to you tomorrow.
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