Exploring how AI works and how it's changing our world.
| Platform |  | Pricing | Freemium | Publishes | Twice weekly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Issues | 190 | Founded | 3 years ago | Last Issue | 6 days ago |
| Active | |||||
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7 charts that show why you should advertise on Understanding AI
Over the last year, this newsletter has grown by nearly 200,000 readers — from 78,000 in June 2025 to 273,000 today. Our paid readership has also grown, but not nearly as fast. Today, fewer than 1% of you are paying subscribers. So in the c...
The US now has a de facto model licensing system
OpenAI’s latest model, GPT-5.6, is waiting for government approval.
Ever since the Trump Administration forced Anthropic to pull its two most powerful models from the market on June 12, a big question has been whether Anthropic was being s...
The MAGA power struggle that could decide the fate of Anthropic
It may not be easy for Anthropic to escape the Trump export ban.
Anthropic stunned the AI world on Friday by announcing it was revoking access to Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5, the powerful new models it released just three days earlier.
Anthropic’s Fable is the most locked-down public model we’ve ever seen
How Anthropic decides which questions are too dangerous for Claude to answer.
When Anthropic announced its latest model, Claude Fable 5, on Tuesday, a statement tucked away on page 13 of the system card attracted an immediate outcry. AI re...
DC-area happy hour on June 23!
We’re hosting a happy hour for DC-area readers of Understanding AI (and listeners to my podcast, AI Summer) on June 23 at The Crown & Crow. We’ll start at 5:30pm, and expect to stay until 8:00pm. We’d love to see you.
We will both be there...
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Authors
The writers behind this newsletter.
I write the newsletter Understanding AI. Previously I was a reporter at Ars Technica, Vox, and the Washington Post. https://twitter.com/binarybits
I'm a reporter at Understanding AI. Previously, I did AI safety research through the MATS program. I graduated from Swarthmore College with a degree in math and music. Signal: kai_williams.48
Freelance writer in San Francisco.
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