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Anthropic is out with a new model called Claude Opus 4.6, an upgrade to its top-of-the-line Opus 4.5 model that launched in November. The new release could add new capabilities to Anthropics Claude Code coding assistant, which is facing growing competitive pressure from OpenAIs Codex. Anthropic says Opus 4.6 improves on its predecessors coding skills, planning, and, perhaps most importantly, its ability to reason more clearly when handling large amounts of information. When Opus 4.6 powers Claude Code, the coding agent can comprehend larger codebases and make more thoughtful decisions about how and where to add new code, the company says. More long-term memory AI labs have been racing to build models with longer context windows, meaning the amount of information a model can consider for a given task. But models have often struggled to use that information effectively in their outputs, a limitation Anthropic acknowledges. Previously, we would see things like, maybe the model gets lost in the middle, or it might forget details, Opus product manager Dianne Penn tells Fast Company. I wouldnt say Opus 4.6 is perfecthumans or other past models arent perfectbut we think that the quality improvement is pretty significant. Opuss longer memory also allows it to work on complicated tasks for extended periods, enabling Claude Code users to assemble teams of agents that collaborate on tasks. Anthropic also says the tool offers improved code review and debugging capabilities, helping it catch its own mistakes. Opus 4.6 arrives as the use of AI coding tools continues to surge, and as competition between Anthropic and OpenAI for software developers intensifies. OpenAIs Codex coding tool recently launched as a standalone app, powered by the GPT-5.2 model, and has received largely enthusiastic reviews from developers. A model for everyday work tasks Beyond coding, the new Anthropic model is designed to improve performance on everyday work tasks such as running financial analyses, conducting research, and creating or using documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Opus 4.6 will also power Anthropics general-purpose work tool, CoWork, enabling it to multitask with minimal human supervision. Anthropic says Opus 4.6 achieved top scores across several industry benchmark tests, reaching the highest results so far on multiple evaluations. These include Humanitys Last Exam, a complex multidisciplinary reasoning test; Terminal-Bench 2.0, an agentic coding evaluation; and GDPval-AA, which measures performance on economically valuable knowledge-work tasks in finance, legal, and other domains. Anthropic also says Opus 4.6 outperforms all other models on OpenAI’s BrowseComp, which measures a models ability to locate difficult-to-find information online. Anthropic says the Opus 4.6 model is available to developers using Claude Code for the same price per million tokens as Opus 4.5. The new model is now the default for Claude Code Pro subscribers, and is available as an option for all other subscribers.
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E-Commerce
Visa announced a new platform designed to stimulate small businesses through a variety of tools and network opportunities on Thursday in advance of major sporting events this year. The program, Visa & Main, identifies and is built around helping address what Visa calls the most pressing challenges that entrepreneurs face: access to capital, reaching customers, and adopting modern business tools. That starts with a $100 million partnership with small business lender Lendistry, with Visa saying it would continue to provide additional grants and financial support programs as part of Visa & Main. Additionally, Visa & Main connects Visas small business members with its corporate sponsors, identifying opportunities through major events like Super Bowl LX and this summers FIFA World Cup. It launched the Square Stops Here hop-on, hop-off bus tour in San Francisco during Super Bowl week designed to support and spotlight local businesses. The company is using its platform to help direct potential customers to its small business members, also hosting workshops for entrepreneurs to help them convert a short-term gain into long-term sustainability. “Heartbeat of local communities” Visa & Main also intends to make it easier for small businesses to adopt AI in the workplace, noting that small businesses have adopted the new technology at a rate less than half that of bigger businesses. The program attempts to close that gap by making tools such as expense management and fraud protection easier to access. Small businesses are the heartbeat of local communities and represent nearly half of our countrys economic activity, Kim Lawrence, Visas North America regional president, said in a release. With Visa & Main, were connecting Visas products and in-house knowledge with the expertise of our clients and partners to provide small businesses with flexible financing opportunities and customer acquisition and technology support.” The move expands Visa’s investment into small businesses, an area where credit card companies have long competed for marketshare. For example, Small Business Saturdays was launched 15 years ago as a marketing push from American Express, and it has since become an annual Thanksgiving weekend event. Visa held a launch event in Atlanta on January 21 for Visa & Main, where members worked directly with the Visa team to get hands-on experience with the product.
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E-Commerce
With community opposition growing, data center backers are going on a full-scale public relations blitz. Around Christmas in Virginia, which boasts the highest concentration of data centers in the country, one advertisement seemed to air nonstop. Virginias data centers are investing billions in clean energy, a voiceover intoned over sweeping shots of shiny solar panels. Creating good-paying jobs cue men in yellow safety vests and hard hats and building a better energy future. The ad was sponsored by Virginia Connects, an industry-affiliated group that spent at least $700,000 on digital marketing in the state in fiscal year 2024. The spot emphasized that data centers are paying their own energy costs framing this as a buffer that might help lower residential bills and portrayed the facilities as engines of local job creation. The reality is murkier. Although industry groups claim that each new data center creates dozens to hundreds of high-wage, high-skill jobs, some researchers say data centers generate far fewer jobs than other industries, such as manufacturing and warehousing. Greg LeRoy, the founder of the research and advocacy group Good Jobs First, said that in his first major study of data center jobs nine years ago, he found that developers pocketed well over a million dollars in state subsidies for every permanent job they created. With the rise of hyperscalers, LeRoy said, that number is still very much in the ballpark. Other experts reflect that finding. A 2025 brief from University of Michigan researchers put it bluntly: Data centers do not bring high-paying tech jobs to local communities. A recent analysis from Food & Water Watch, a nonprofit tracking corporate overreach, found that in Virginia, the investment required to create a permanent data center job was nearly 100 times higher than what was required to create comparable jobs in other industries. Data centers are the extreme of hyper-capital intensity in manufacturing, LeRoy said. Once theyre built, the number of people monitoring them is really small. Contractors may be called in if something breaks, and equipment is replaced every few years. But thats not permanent labor, he said. Jon Hukill, a spokesperson for the Data Center Coalition, the industry lobbying group that established Virginia Connects in 2024, said that the industry is committed to paying its full cost of service for the energy it uses and is trying to meet this moment in a way that supports both data center development and an affordable, reliable electricity grid for all customers. Nationally, Hukill said, the industry supported 4.7 million jobs and contributed $162 billion in federal, state, and local taxes in 2023. Dozens of community groups across the country have mobilized against data center buildout, citing fears that the facilities will drain water supplies, overwhelm electric grids, and pollute the air around them. According to Data Center Watch, a project run by AI security company 10a Labs, nearly 200 community groups are currently active and blocked or delayed 20 data center projects representing $98 billion of potential investment between April and June 2025 alone. The backlash has exposed a growing image problem for the AI industry. Too often, were portrayed as energy-hungry, water-intensive, and environmentally damaging, data center marketer Steve Lim recently wrote. That narrative, he argued, misrepresents our role in society and potentially hinders our ability to grow. In response, the industry is stepping up its messaging. Some developers, like Starwood Digital Ventures in Delaware, are turning to Facebook ads to appeal to residents. Its ads make the case that data center development might help keep property taxes low, bring jobs to Delaware, and protect the integrity of nearby wetlands. According to reporting from Spotlight Delaware, the company has also boasted that it will create three times as many jobs as it initially told local officials. Nationally, Meta has spent months running TV spots showcasing data center work as a viable replacement for lost industrial and farming jobs. One advertisement spotlights the small city of Altoona, Iowa. I grew up in Altoona, and I wanted my kids to be able to do the same, a voice narrates over softly-lit scenes of small-town Americana: a Route 66 diner, a farm, and a water tower. So, when work started to slow down, we looked for new opportunities and we welcomed Meta, which opened a data center in our town. Now, were bringing jobs here for us, and for our next generation. The advertisement ends with a promise superimposed over images of a football game: Meta is investing $600 billion in American infrastructure and jobs. In reality, Altoonas data center is a hulking, windowless, warehouse complex that broke ground in 2013, long before the current data center boom. Altoona is not quite the beleaguered farm town Metas advertisements portray, but a suburb of 19,000, roughly 16 minutes from downtown Des Moines, the most populous city in Iowa. Meta says it has supported 400+ operational jobs in Altoona. In comparison, the local casino employs nearly 1,000 residents, according to the local economic development agency. Ultimately, those details may not matter much to the ads intended audience. As Politico reported, the advertisement may have been targeted at policymakers on the coasts more than the residents of towns like Altoona. Meta has spent at least $5 million airing the spot in places like Sacramento and Wahington, D.C. The community backlash has also made data centers a political flashpoint. In Virginia, Abigail Spanberger won Novembers gubernatorial election in part on promises to regulate the industry and make developers pay their fair share of the electricity they use. State lawmakers also considered 30 bills attempting to regulate data centers. In response to concerns about rising electricity prices, Virginia regulators approved a new rate structure for AI data centers and other large electricity users. The changes, which will take effect in 2027, are designed to protect household customers from costs associated with data center expansion. These developments may only encourage companies to spend more on image-building. In Virginias Data Center Alley, the ads show no sign of stopping. Elena Schlossberg, an anti-data-center activist based in Prince William County, says her mailbox has been flooded with fliers from Virginia Connects for the past eight months. The promises of lower electric bills, good jobs, and climate responsibility, she said, remind her of cigarette ads she saw decades ago touting the health benefits of smoking. But Schlossberg isnt sure the marketing is going to work. One recent poll showed that 73 percent of Virginians blame data centers for their rising electricity costs. Theres no putting the toothpaste back in the tube, she said. People already know were still covering their costs. People know that. This article originally appeared in Grist. Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Learn more at Grist.org
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E-Commerce
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