What changed in AI today

• MIT study by Neil Thompson's lab says AI may soon transform probability, statistics, economic theory, cosmology and quantum physics.
• Share of theory problems solved by top models rose from about 2 percent in mid-2024 to about 35 percent by mid-2026.
• Models tested were OpenAI's o1, o3, GPT-5 through GPT-5.5; they had no internet access and had to solve problems unaided.
• Researchers say experts will still be needed to verify solutions, since models can produce errors on complex problems.

Why it matters for marketers: Content teams covering science should expect rapid AI progress in theory-heavy fields, and fact-checking AI-generated technical claims will remain necessary.

• Lantern Production Consultants reportedly received around $20 million since last year from Think Big, per federal filings reviewed by WIRED.
• Summit Ridge Media Group got about $13 million from American Mission between December 2025 and September 2026, per the same records.
• Campaign Legal Center filed an FEC complaint in May alleging the super PACs failed to disclose actual payment recipients.
• Nevada's secretary of state reportedly could not locate records for the businesses; the FEC lacks the quorum needed to rule on complaints.

Why it matters for marketers: Content and ad teams working with political clients should expect tighter scrutiny of vendor disclosures, since undisclosed payees now face complaints even without FEC enforcement.

• Google launched Playground this week as a Google Labs experiment, not yet an app or official service.
• Users describe a game in a chatbot-style interface, and Playground builds a working in-browser version to tweak.
• Users can upload photos, videos, or models as references; otherwise visuals and designs are AI-generated.
• Google throttles usage after a point, and a reviewer said more usage credits are required for further changes.

Why it matters for marketers: Content teams can prototype interactive game concepts quickly, but usage limits and a noted sameness across generated games limit production use.

• At least three Big Five publishers, including HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Hachette, reportedly use AI tools without public disclosure or author consent.
• Staff report LLMs like Claude and ChatGPT drafting agent emails, publicity and back-cover copy, and cover art, often at executives' direction.
• Simon & Schuster employees opposed a trial of Skan AI, and CEO Greg Greeley's memo said no decision had been made on it.

Why it matters for marketers: Content teams at major publishers may face undisclosed AI-written pitches and copy, so verifying authorship and disclosure in publisher-facing work matters more.