A week in Generative AI: Fallout, GPT-5.4 & Web Search
News for the week ending 8th March 2026
This week has seen the continued fallout of Anthropic vs. ‘DoW’ and a big new model release from OpenAI - GPT-5.4. Both are a big deal - the Anthropic situation because of the future direction it could point to and GPT-5.4 because it feels like OpenAI’s GPT-5 generation models have finally hit their stride.
In Web 4.0 there’s a nice little update on how ChatGPT searches, and some interesting Ethics news for you all too.
Enjoy!
Fallout of Anthropic vs. ‘DoW’ continues
As predicted last week, the impact of Anthropic’s falling out with the Pentagon has spilled over into this week.
Firstly, Sam Altman has admitted that their rushed deal with the Pentagon looked ‘sloppy’ and OpenAI have had to admit that they can’t control the Pentagon’s use of AI and ultimately had to cave in on AI-powered surveillance. This has already led to one high profile resignation from OpenAI, their head of robotics Caitlin Kalinowski quit yesterday.
Unsurprisingly, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called OpenAI’s messaging around their military deal ‘straight up lies’ and the Pentagon officially labeled them a supply-chain risk, which Anthropic has said they will challenge in court. There’s also been a strong consumer reaction to all of this with ChatGPT uninstalls surging by 295% and Claude’s app installs surging.
If you’re interested about learning more or hearing more in-depth analysis and opinions I recommend the podcasts below:
OpenAI launches GPT-5.4 with Pro and Thinking versions
On Thursday OpenAI released their latest model, GPT-5.4 and I have to say that it is a very good model.
This feels like the GPT-5 model we’ve been waiting for and reminds me of how Apple’s operating system versions tend to work - there’s a lot of excitement about the new features for the major model releases, but it’s not until you get to the .3 or .4 releases 6 months later that you really start to see what they’re capable of.
And I think the same is true here. GPT-5.4 feels really good. The auto-switching between thinking modes is really dialled in, it’s fast when it needs to be, and takes its time when it needs to. It’s less error prone and the character of the model feels much nicer - no more of the sycophancy.
OpenAI touts better benchmark scores, lower token usage, and GPT-5.4 is a hybrid model that includes all the coding advancements they’re been building with the codex versions of the previous models. They’re also positioning it as the best model for professional work with improved tool and skill usage and a better foundational model for building agentic workflows.
I’m impressed.
Web 4.0
How AI platforms search is one of the most important areas for marketers to understand as more and more people start using them in their day-to-day digital lives. That’s why whenever one of the major platforms makes some changes I pay attention.
Web Search on AI platforms is VERY different from how traditional search works. For example, consumers usually only perform 1-2 searches to answer their question and usually take the 5th result on average. AI platforms usually run 2-4 search queries in parallel and on average use the 12th result, which wouldn’t even appear on the first results page of a traditional search.
The reasons for these differences aren’t fully researched and understood yet, but I believe that AI platforms are very good at searching and finding results for the intent behind the prompt they’ve been given, whereas traditional search is driven more by the keywords in the search query. So AI platforms prioritise intent and relevance, whereas traditional search prioritises keywords and traffic volumes. Lots more to learn!
News Corp is essentially an AI ‘input company’, chief executive says, after US$150m deal with Meta
Google Search rolls out Gemini’s Canvas in AI Mode to all US users
AI Ethics News
No one has a good plan for how AI companies should work with the government
Google faces lawsuit after Gemini chatbot allegedly instructed man to kill himself
“The future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed.“
William Gibson