January 7, 2026 News
OpenAI Launches ChatGPT Health for Medical Conversations Despite AI Limitations
OpenAI announced ChatGPT Health, a dedicated space for health-related conversations that keeps medical discussions separate from other chats and can integrate with wellness apps like Apple Health. The company reports 230 million weekly users ask health questions on ChatGPT, though it acknowledges the platform is not intended for medical diagnosis or treatment and that LLMs are prone to hallucinations and don't understand truth. The feature will not use health conversations for model training and is expected to roll out in coming weeks.
Skynet Chance (+0.04%): Deployment of AI systems for critical health decisions without true understanding of correctness increases risk of cascading failures and erosion of human oversight in sensitive domains. The large-scale adoption (230 million weekly users) in healthcare despite acknowledged limitations shows concerning normalization of AI in high-stakes contexts.
Skynet Date (+0 days): The rapid commercial deployment of AI in critical domains like healthcare, despite known limitations, suggests an accelerating trend toward AI integration in high-stakes systems. However, the impact on overall timeline is modest as this represents application-layer deployment rather than fundamental capability advancement.
AGI Progress (+0.01%): This represents incremental progress in contextual awareness and domain-specific application rather than fundamental AGI advancement. The system's acknowledged inability to understand truth and tendency to hallucinate highlights persistent gaps in reasoning capabilities essential for AGI.
AGI Date (+0 days): This is primarily a product packaging and user interface change rather than a fundamental capability breakthrough, thus having negligible impact on the pace toward AGI development. The underlying technology remains the same LLM architecture already deployed.
Anthropic Pursuing $10B Funding Round at $350B Valuation, Nearly Doubling Company Value in Three Months
Anthropic is reportedly raising $10 billion at a $350 billion valuation, nearly doubling its worth from $183 billion just three months prior. The round, led by Coatue Management and Singapore's GIC, comes as Anthropic gains developer adoption with Claude Code and prepares for a potential IPO, while rival OpenAI seeks funding at a $750 billion valuation.
Skynet Chance (+0.04%): Massive capital influx enables Anthropic to rapidly scale AI capabilities and compete more aggressively in the AGI race, potentially accelerating development of powerful systems before adequate safety measures are established. The competitive dynamics with OpenAI's even larger valuation may incentivize faster deployment over caution.
Skynet Date (-1 days): The substantial funding and competitive pressure from OpenAI's $750B valuation race significantly accelerates the pace of AI capability development and deployment. This capital enables faster compute acquisition, talent recruitment, and research cycles that could compress timelines for reaching dangerous capability thresholds.
AGI Progress (+0.04%): The doubling of Anthropic's valuation to $350B in three months reflects strong market confidence in their progress toward AGI, particularly with Claude Code showing practical automation capabilities. The massive capital enables scaling compute, research, and development infrastructure critical for AGI advancement.
AGI Date (-1 days): The $10B raise combined with the separate $15B compute deal from Nvidia/Microsoft dramatically accelerates AGI timeline by removing capital constraints and enabling massive scaling of training runs. The competitive funding race between Anthropic and OpenAI creates strong incentives to accelerate development timelines toward AGI capabilities.