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# Model Mania, Checkout Wars & Courtroom Drama, Power, Water, and Money
- URL: https://adjacent.media/scan/2026-09-23-am/
- Published: 2026-09-23T10:10:15.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-23T10:10:15.000Z
- Description: GPT-6 Sol, Opus 5.5, Xiaomi’s MiMo, Tencent’s image model, and Alibaba’s mega-model plans all landed within a 72-hour window. The more consequential fight is over pipes and permissions: who controls checkout, water, chips, and the courts.
- Author: Jonathan Greene
- Tags: #scan-am, #scan

GPT-6 Sol, Opus 5.5, Xiaomi's MiMo, Tencent's image model, and Alibaba's mega-model plans all landed within a 72-hour window. The more consequential fight is over pipes and permissions: who controls checkout, water, chips, and the courts.

> **10T parameters** — Alibaba's Eddie Wu says that's the ceiling on the model the company plans to train next, alongside a chip that scales to 500K-unit clusters. *(Reuters)*

---

### Machines & Minds

#### [Vibe Check: GPT-6 Sol vs. Opus 5.5](https://every.to/vibe-check/vibe-check-gpt-6-sol-vs-opus-5-5?utm%5Fcta%5Fsource=onboarding%5Fchecklist&ref=adjacent.media)

Two flagship launches, same day — the frontier lab release calendar has officially become a demolition derby. *(Every)*

#### [Alibaba unveils Zhenwu V900 chip, plans 5T-10T parameter model](https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/alibaba-plans-ai-model-with-5-trillion-10-trillion-parameters-unveils-new-chip-2026-09-22/?ref=adjacent.media)

China's answer to the compute shortage is building more compute — vertically, aggressively, on its own silicon. *(Reuters)*

#### [Tencent launches Hy Image 3.5 to catch ByteDance, Alibaba](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-22/tencent-releases-ai-image-model-to-catch-bytedance-alibaba?ref=adjacent.media) (paywall)

Third horse in China's image-model race in as many weeks — the domestic competition is doing Beijing's export-model bragging rights for free. *(Bloomberg)*

#### [OpenAI and Anthropic were close to a mutual stress-testing pact](https://www.theinformation.com/articles/openai-anthropic-neared-deal-stress-test-others-ai?ref=adjacent.media)

Reportedly scuttled by the Hugging Face incident — a reminder that lab "cooperation" is one bad headline from collapsing. *(The Information)*

### Connected World

#### [Amazon blocks Meta's Muse, Stratechery says there's still a deal to be made](https://stratechery.com/2026/amazon-blocks-muse-amazons-moat-aggregator-v-aggregator/?ref=adjacent.media)

Ben Thompson's take: Amazon's warehouses and logistics are the moat agentic AI can't route around. *(Stratechery)*

#### [Shopify will let Muse complete checkout via Shop Pay](https://www.wsj.com/tech/shopify-to-use-metas-muse-for-agentic-checkout-d23947c0?st=eNbeXX&reflink=desktopwebshare%5Fpermalink&ref=adjacent.media) (paywall)

While Amazon slams the door, Shopify opens it wide — agentic commerce is splitting the retail world into walled and unwalled gardens. *(WSJ)*

#### [Meta's Muse is outpacing ChatGPT's early mobile launch](https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/21/metas-muse-is-outpacing-chatgpts-early-mobile-launch/?ref=adjacent.media)

Downloads and DAUs ahead of ChatGPT's comparable window — distribution via Instagram and WhatsApp is doing real work here. *(TechCrunch)*

#### [Apple asks court for access to OpenAI's hardware R&D docs](https://9to5mac.com/2026/09/21/apple-challenges-openais-forensic-analysis-in-trade-secrets-case-seeks-access-to-hardware-rd/?ref=adjacent.media)

The trade-secrets fight is getting discovery-heavy, which usually means both sides think they've got something to find. *(9to5Mac)*

#### [British Columbia sues OpenAI over Tumbler Ridge shooting](https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/british-columbia-sues-openai-alleging-chatgpt-aided-mass-school-shooting-aac66568?ref=adjacent.media) (paywall)

A government, not a plaintiff's firm, bringing the suit — that's a different kind of legal exposure for OpenAI to manage. *(WSJ)*

### Connected World

#### [California signs seven bills regulating AI data centers](https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/998453/california-ai-data-center-bills?ref=adjacent.media)

Aimed squarely at stopping utilities from passing data-center power costs onto regular ratepayers — the political backlash is now law. *(The Verge)*

#### [SoftBank's SB Energy delays IPO amid valuation pushback](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/21/business/ai-data-center-ipos.html?unlocked%5Farticle%5Fcode=1.C1E.5N5l.BVtYXR1eDBNX&smid=nytcore-ios-share&ref=adjacent.media)

Investors balking at a $50B+ ask — first real sign that AI-infrastructure IPO enthusiasm has a ceiling. *(NYT)*

#### [Amazon pledges $20M for Colorado River water conservation](https://www.theverge.com/tech/998539/amazon-data-center-water-conservation-colorado-river?ref=adjacent.media)

Generous-sounding number, except Amazon still won't disclose how much water its data centers actually use. *(The Verge)*