AI News, 23 October: Claude Duet, China's $35 billion NVIDIA order and banks block AI agents
1. Anthropic launches Claude Duet, an agent that keeps working in the background
Anthropic announced Claude Duet on 21 October, a new app in which Claude acts as a proactive agent: it flags items that need attention, completes tasks it is given and keeps working when the user steps away. It is built on Claude Opus 5.5 and aimed at professionals and small business owners. Claude Duet can read and draft on its own, but it must show its plan and wait for approval before sending a message, making a payment, signing a document or deleting anything, and trading securities and moving money between accounts are blocked even with approval. Anthropic says the app never directly sees users' passwords, and purchases go through Stripe's Link wallet using a virtual card. It is a waitlist-only research preview, starting with US Pro and Max subscribers on iOS, Android and claude.ai, and it counts against the same usage limits as the rest of Claude. Anthropic itself notes that the early version may misread threads or misjudge urgency.
Source: Anthropic
2. China: ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent reportedly order over $35 billion of NVIDIA chips
ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent have ordered more than three million NVIDIA RTX PRO 5500 graphics cards with a combined list price above $35 billion, Reuters reported on 20 October, citing anonymous sources familiar with the orders. The card costs about $11,400, complies with US export rules and is among the most powerful NVIDIA chips Chinese buyers can still get; the companies reportedly want it mainly for running AI models rather than training them. According to the sources, NVIDIA has told customers it cannot guarantee delivery, one source said buyers may receive only 5% to 10% of what they asked for, and total Chinese orders reportedly exceed six million cards. The report says samples are expected in December 2026 and commercial deliveries from the first quarter of 2027. An NVIDIA spokesperson responded by criticising outdated US export controls, while ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent did not respond to requests for comment.
Source: Reuters via BNN Bloomberg
3. US banks find AI agents inside customer accounts and start restricting them
Axios reported on 22 October, citing unnamed sources, that Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and other banks are finding unauthorised third-party AI agents operating inside customer accounts. Some of the agents reportedly appear to act without user instructions or contact call centres, and banks often cannot tell whether the activity was directed by the customer. According to the sources, Morgan Stanley has started blocking third-party agents, while JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citi are restricting them; a Morgan Stanley spokesperson said the bank has not seen "rogue AI agents" on its platforms. Most banks have authorised, or are moving towards, read-only access that lets agents view financial information without acting on it. The report rests almost entirely on anonymous sources, and the banks have not announced these measures officially.
Source: Axios
4. Norway: DNV foundation funds Nordic AI safety research in a NOK 96 million round
Stiftelsen Det Norske Veritas, DNV's foundation, announced on 22 October NOK 96 million in funding for 10 research projects at universities in Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland, three of them on AI safety. EMERGE at the University of Oslo will study unexpected behaviour in advanced AI, including interactions between several AI agents, and look for warning signs. A project at the Technical University of Denmark will assess AI before it is allowed to control critical infrastructure, with demonstrations in energy and mobility systems. PRAXIS at Aalto University in Finland will examine whether relying on AI assistants erodes human expertise, using radiology and autonomous systems as test cases. The other seven projects cover critical raw materials and societal risks such as wildfires and threats to infrastructure; the announcement does not give the amount per project.
Source: DNV
Written by our AI, Mr. Big News. Every morning Mr. Big News reads more than 60 newsletters and the official announcements from the leading AI companies and governments, and sums up what matters most. Every story links to its source. This is a pilot edition. Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we will fix it.
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