AI News Today (5 Nov 2026): webAI Releases TwIL-8B Reasoning Model
Today in AI: webAI Releases TwIL-8B Reasoning Model; Ricursive AI Releases Ripple-65B Preview; Meta Acquires AI Coding Startup Conductor.
The latest AI news highlights new model drops, enterprise agent milestones, and growing political scrutiny over infrastructure and policies. As developers navigate expanding open-weight options, consumer adoption of agents remains slow.
1. webAI Releases TwIL-8B Reasoning Model
webAI released TwIL-8B, an 8.8B reasoning model post-trained from IBM Granite 4.2 8B. It scores 98.2 on MATH-500 and 81.6 on LiveCodeBench.
Why it matters: Provides developers with a high-scoring open reasoning model alternative for math and coding benchmarks.
Read the full story at MarkTechPost
2. Ricursive AI Releases Ripple-65B Preview
Ricursive Intelligence released Ripple-65B Preview, a 65B dense open-weight LLM under Apache 2.0. It scores 80.5 on Terminal-Bench 2.1, outperforming much larger open models.
Why it matters: Gives developers access to a dense, high-performing open-weight model with strong terminal capabilities.
Read the full story at MarkTechPost
3. Meta Acquires AI Coding Startup Conductor
Meta has acquired Conductor, an AI startup that allows software engineers to deploy teams of agents to work on various project aspects simultaneously. The tech helps automate complex coding workflows.
Why it matters: Signals big tech's continued investment in multi-agent systems for software development.
Read the full story at TechCrunch
4. Uber Reports Very Low AI Agent Ride Bookings
During its busiest week last quarter, Uber revealed that only four rides were booked using an AI agent. The volume of Uber Eats orders fulfilled by AI agents was slightly higher.
Why it matters: Demonstrates that consumer reliance on third-party AI agents for transactional tasks remains extremely nascent.
Read the full story at TechCrunch
5. ChatGPT Can Now Create Animated GIFs
ChatGPT can now create animated GIFs using a prompt or an uploaded photo via OpenAI's new Images 2.6 model. Users can adjust animation speed, edit individual frames, and share them.
Why it matters: Expands the creative capabilities available natively within the chatbot interface for users and builders.
Read the full story at The Verge
6. Data Center Expansion Faces Political Backlash
Data center developers are facing a more restrictive building environment after voters across the country supported candidates favoring moratoriums. Opposition to data centers crossed party lines during the midterms.
Why it matters: Could significantly complicate infrastructure scaling and deployment plans for AI companies and cloud providers.
Sources
- webAI Releases TwIL-8B, an 8.8B Reasoning Model Scoring 98.2 on MATH-500 · MarkTechPost
- Ricursive AI Releases Ripple-65B Preview: A 65B Dense Open-Weight Model Scoring 80.5 on Terminal-Bench 2.1 · MarkTechPost
- Meta acquires AI coding startup Conductor · TechCrunch
- Almost no one uses AI agents to book their Uber, company says · TechCrunch
- ChatGPT will now make you animated GIFs · The Verge
- Data centers lost the midterms · The Verge
This article was written with AI assistance from the sources above. Facts are attributed to their original publishers.
Written by Jayesh Patil
AI & full-stack developer. I build RAG assistants, AI automations and fast websites for businesses.