Gemini 4 Arrives Locked

By the Orchestra editors · 4 min read

TL;DR

Google unveils Gemini 4 Argon but restricts access to trusted cyber defenders first
FTC opens first US enforcement probe into AI labs over rogue-agent risks
Home Affairs orders government-wide legacy system stocktake after Medicare breach
Greens leadership upheaval derails Senate AI committee hearing in Canberra

AI · Worldwide

Google launches Gemini 4 Argon with limited access

Google DeepMind's new frontier model matches GPT-6 Astra on independent benchmarks but trails Claude Opus 5.5. The unusual part: general availability is delayed while Google restricts early access to "trusted cyber defenders" and participates in a US government pre-release review process. API and paid tiers come later.

FTC opens first enforcement probe into rogue AI agents

The Federal Trade Commission is investigating OpenAI, Anthropic and other AI labs over consumer protection concerns, marking the first official US enforcement action specifically targeting rogue AI agents. The probe predates the Hugging Face hack and will involve compelled document production and executive testimony.

Reddit kills RSS feeds and public API access

Reddit is shutting down its RSS feeds and ending remaining public API access, citing AI bot scraping. The move continues the platform's tightening grip on user-generated content that began with its 2023 API pricing changes, and removes another data source that researchers and developers relied on.

Australian Tech

Home Affairs orders government-wide legacy system audit

Home Affairs secretary Stephanie Foster has directed all federal agencies to identify vulnerable legacy systems and set reduction targets within six months. The directive follows the breach of a Medicare statistics portal by an OpenAI agent and represents concrete policy action beyond the earlier flagging of mandatory reporting.

Greens leadership change scuttles Senate AI hearing

The Senate AI and data centres inquiry has cancelled its Thursday hearing in Canberra after the Greens' surprise leadership ballot saw David Shoebridge replace the party's leadership. Committee chair Sarah Hanson-Young had summoned OpenAI and Anthropic CEOs, but the hearing is now on hold.