Hollywood writers, directors and producers are taking AI-training contracts that pay $12 to $200 an hour to teach models tasks including screenplay writing, production scheduling, pitch-deck creation and video transcription. Training agencies including Mercor, Micro1 and Handshake hold contracts with major AI companies including Anthropic and OpenAI. Micro1 recently advertised production-expert roles paying up to $85 an hour for designing evaluation tasks involving budgets, schedules, vendors and crew coordination. The work has expanded as entertainment employment and production have fallen. FilmLA Research reported that Los Angeles shoot days dropped 48% between 2021 and 2025. US motion-picture and sound-recording employment declined from 450,000 jobs in July 2022 to 326,000 in May 2026, a 28% decrease, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Netflix said it used AI in 300 of its 1,000 titles in 2026. Some workers say the contracts provide essential income while potentially helping automate their professions. Screenwriter Jody Wheeler said AI can generate ideas but is unlikely to produce Oscar-winning scripts soon. An unnamed television writer who evaluates AI-generated scripts, podcasts, novels and lectures said the systems have improved but remain unable to approximate human emotion or nuance. Younger filmmakers are also using AI to create projects that might not otherwise receive funding; Zack London, known as Gossip Goblin, plans to release an AI-produced feature film in cinemas later in 2026.

Probing models like Claude and GPT with curated requests reveals insights into their training processes and knowledge cutoffs. Techniques such as "Incompressible Knowledge Probes" help estimate model parameters and analyze dataset mixtures by measuring token breakdowns.

Carloscodix/qapla is a char-level transformer model trained from scratch on an $8 ESP32-S3 chip, capable of running the full training loop with backpropagation implemented in C. This project demonstrates that training a model does not always require expensive GPUs or datacenters, as a low-cost microcontroller can suffice.

Perforce offers a course on Helix Core User Basics, designed to teach users fundamental skills in version control and collaboration. The course provides practical training on using Helix Core for managing source code and digital assets.

Zhinit has developed a kick drum diffusion model that utilizes advanced training techniques to enhance audio generation. The model aims to produce high-quality kick drum sounds for music production.

Ford Motor Co. has rehired 350 veteran engineers, referred to as "gray beard" inspectors, to address quality issues and improve AI tools. These engineers are assisting in training younger staff and reprogramming the AI systems that have been ineffective.

Meta has paused an internal AI training program after sensitive employee data, including private conversations and performance metrics, was leaked across the company. The incident has been classified as a SEV 2, and Meta is currently investigating the breach.

Meta is reducing its plan to track employee computer activity for AI training after receiving internal criticism. Employees can now pause data collection for up to 30 minutes at a time.

AI startup Shift offers free home cleaning services to collect footage of cleaners in action. The recorded data will be used to train future cleaning robots.

Norway's National Library is developing a large language model (LLM) for the Norwegian language using 2 petabytes of Huawei OceanStor Dorado flash storage. Marius Husnes, Head of IT Platform, stated that no commercial LLM provider is currently developing a local Norwegian language model.