Meta's Muse Wonder Ships

By the Orchestra editors · 4 min read

TL;DR

Meta launches Muse Wonder and Wonder Full, its first frontier-tier models, ranking top three on six of ten benchmarks
Microsoft unveils Maia 300 custom AI chip, targeting 40% better token efficiency than GPUs by 2027
Australian startup funding hits a record $4.2B quarter, led by Firmus
Parliamentary inquiry recommends sovereign AI industry policy backed by government procurement

AI · Worldwide

Meta releases Muse Wonder frontier models

Meta's Superintelligence Labs shipped Muse Wonder and Wonder Full, its first frontier-class models. They rank top three on six of ten benchmarks with notable gains on agentic tasks, though cost per task has nearly tripled. Wonder is available via the Meta Model API and to Muse Code subscribers.

Microsoft's Maia 300 chip targets GPU-free inference at scale

Microsoft announced its third-gen in-house AI chip, Maia 300, designed as the primary inference system for all its products from 2027. The company claims 40% more tokens per megawatt than leading GPU systems, a significant step in reducing its dependence on Nvidia.

AlphaProof Nexus solves decades-old math problems, gets peer reviewed

Google DeepMind's AlphaProof Nexus solved dozens of open maths problems including two Erdős conjectures unsolved for 56 years, published in Science with full peer review. The timing draws a contrast with OpenAI, which faced a boycott for posting AI proofs without review.

Fork-and-Flush: clearing agent chat history boosts results 66%

Microsoft researchers found AI agents get trapped in "idea basins" as context grows. Their Fork-and-Flush technique clears the conversation but preserves the workspace, achieving up to 66% better results on the same compute budget. A practical trick for anyone running agentic workflows.

Australian Tech

AU startup funding hits record $4.2B quarter

Australian startups raised $4.2 billion across 78 venture deals last quarter, the largest on record, propelled by AI infrastructure company Firmus. But sentiment data shows founders are souring on the Albanese government's capital gains tax changes, with more looking offshore.

Parliamentary inquiry pushes sovereign AI policy and procurement reform

A parliamentary inquiry has told the government to develop an AI industry policy backed by procurement, require frontier developers to open models to independent testing, report incidents and give security agencies early access. The recommendations feed into Australia's emerging AI standards framework.