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Two Elliott Nominees Set to Join Phillips 66 Board

Two names put forward by Elliott Investment Management LP and another two endorsed by Phillips 66 are expected to have won at the refiner’s directorial election during its annual meeting of shareholders on Wednesday. “Based on the preliminary results, the elected Phillips 66 directors are expected to be Robert W. Pease and Nigel Hearne”, Houston, […]

Two names put forward by Elliott Investment Management LP and another two endorsed by Phillips 66 are expected to have won at the refiner’s directorial election during its annual meeting of shareholders on Wednesday.

“Based on the preliminary results, the elected Phillips 66 directors are expected to be Robert W. Pease and Nigel Hearne”, Houston, Texas-based Phillips 66 said in an online statement. “The Elliott nominees expected to be elected are Sigmund L. Cornelius and Michael A. Heim. Phillips 66 nominees John E. Lowe and Howard Ungerleider were not elected”.

In the build-up to the meeting, West Palm Beach, Florida-based asset manager Elliott, which claims to be a top-five shareholder in Phillips 66, repeatedly called for portfolio simplification, an operational review and stronger oversight. Elliott blamed Phillips 66’s current leadership and structure for “persistent underperformance”. Phillips 66 expressed confidence in its board and pointed to improvements in performance and progress toward targets.

Elliott initially nominated seven names, including an Elliott partner, with the “best-in-class experience in refining and midstream operations”, for election to Phillips 66’s board. It later reduced the pool to four.

“The director nominees announced today will bring the right experience and objective perspectives to the Board as it executes the best path forward for the Company, including by bolstering accountability and improving oversight of management initiatives”, Elliott said in a press release March 4 announcing its seven candidates.

One of the Elliott nominees who is now expected to have secured a seat, Cornelius, formerly served as senior vice president and chief financial officer of ConocoPhillips.

The other Elliott nominee expected to join Phillips 66’s board, Heim, is co-founder and former president and chief operating officer of Targa Resources.

Pease, one of the Phillips 66 nominees expected to win, was appointed to the board last year in coordination with Elliott.

“We welcome our new directors and look forward to working constructively as a Board”, said Phillips 66 chair and chief executive Mark Lashier.

“This vote reflects a belief in our integrated strategy and a recognition that our early results do not yet reflect the full potential of our plan or the value inherent in this business”, Lashier added. “As a Board, we are focused on creating meaningful long-term value for our shareholders”.

In a separate statement, Elliott said, “Today’s vote sends a clear message: Shareholders demand meaningful change at Phillips 66”.

Elliott added, “We are confident Sig and Mike will work collaboratively with the incumbent directors to improve operational execution and share-price performance, enhance corporate governance and help set a strategic course that can unlock Phillips 66’s full value-creation potential”.

Vote estimates also indicated that a management proposal to declassify the board had “received significant support” but fallen short of the required affirmative number, which is 80 percent of the outstanding shares of stock entitled to vote, Phillips 66 said.

Meanwhile Elliott’s proposal to require annual director resignations was rejected “overwhelmingly”, Phillips 66 added.

Elliott’s statement said the investor will “continue to actively engage with the Company while holding management and the Board accountable for delivering on their commitment to improve shareholder value”.

“We are hopeful that these words will translate into actions, and we will remain focused on helping Phillips 66 become a stronger, more valuable company for all shareholders”, it added.

To contact the author, email [email protected]

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Two Elliott Nominees Set to Join Phillips 66 Board

Two names put forward by Elliott Investment Management LP and another two endorsed by Phillips 66 are expected to have won at the refiner’s directorial election during its annual meeting of shareholders on Wednesday. “Based on the preliminary results, the elected Phillips 66 directors are expected to be Robert W.

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Oil Slips as OPEC Eyes Boost

Oil fell to its lowest settling price in almost two weeks as US stockpiles gained and OPEC+ members discussed another major production increase, just as demand faces headwinds from the US-led trade war. West Texas Intermediate slid 0.6% to settle just above $61 a barrel. Brent dropped to settle below $65. If OPEC+ approves the potential increase of 411,000 barrels a day when it meets on June 1, it will mark the third month in a row the cartel has agreed to boost supplies by triple the initially scheduled amount. “The most likely outcome is another headline increase of 411,000 barrels a day from July, which will be primarily Saudi barrels,” said Helima Croft, head of global commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets LLC. Crude is under pressure as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies push barrels back into a market that’s already looking well supplied, amplifying concerns about a glut. The US-led trade war has stirred fears of slower economic growth and weaker energy demand, deepening the price losses. Oil inventories are rising in the US, still the world’s biggest consumer of the commodity. US commercial inventories of crude rose for a second week, according to data on Wednesday, while gauges of gasoline and distillate demand were weak, even as the summer driving season approaches. Oil Prices WTI for July delivery fell 0.6% to settle at $61.20 a barrel in New York. Brent for July settlement fell 0.7% to settle at $64.44 a barrel. What do you think? We’d love to hear from you, join the conversation on the Rigzone Energy Network. The Rigzone Energy Network is a new social experience created for you and all energy professionals to Speak Up about our industry, share knowledge, connect with peers and industry insiders and engage in

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House’s 60-day deadline for IRA eligibility would trigger ‘scramble’: EY experts

Dive Brief: House Republicans passed a budget bill Thursday morning with an amendment that amplifies the impacts of the legislation’s already-steep cuts to Inflation Reduction Act funding by requiring that projects break ground within 60 days of the bill’s signing to qualify for clean electricity production and investment tax credits. If that aspect of the legislation passes through the Senate and becomes law, “it’s going to strain the renewable energy development community and the supply chain,” said Ryan Abraham, a principal with Ernst & Young’s Washington Council advisory practice. “It’s going to trigger a scramble to undertake as much as possible in that 60-day window.” Greg Matlock, EY Americas Tax Leader for Oil & Gas and Chemicals and Metals & Mining, said he didn’t think this degree of changes to the 45Y and 48E tax credits – in particular the 60-day deadline – was anticipated. “From a commercial perspective, it’s not a unilateral decision most of the time on whether you can begin construction,” he said. Dive Insight: Matlock said there was always an expectation that this administration and Congress would seek to make material changes to the clean energy provisions of the IRA, but his sense from talking to clients Thursday morning was that the 60-day clock took them by surprise. Abraham said that he was “personally surprised” by the changes to the 45Y production credit and 48E investment credit as well – the 60-day deadline especially.  “I think there was a general expectation in the sector that the House bill was kind of the bookend of negotiations, and I think that amendment has clearly taken that and moved that goal post a bit,” Abraham said. “That 60 days start-of-construction requirement, if that were to stay, is going to have a significant impact on projects that go forward …

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Trade panel clears path for higher tariffs on some solar imports

Dive Brief: Additional tariffs will be imposed on solar imports from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam after the U.S. International Trade Commission voted that the domestic solar industry is materially injured by them, the ITC announced Tuesday. This finding follows the U.S. Commerce Department’s April final determination in an antidumping and countervailing duty investigation into solar imports from four Southeast Asian countries, which resulted in subsidy rates as high as 3,403.96% for some exporters. “The ITC vote now clears the way for updating those rates and an order that will be issued shortly to address unfair trade more fully,” said Tim Brightbill, attorney for the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee, the alliance of seven U.S. solar manufacturers that petitioned the ITC and Commerce. “We’re very pleased with that … We got some great results today.” Dive Insight: Brightbill, a partner at law firm Wiley Rein, said during a Tuesday press call that the alliance doesn’t yet know if the ITC’s finding will result in additional, retroactive duties under the “critical circumstances” provision, which applies to countries that rush in imports to try to beat duties before they’re applied.  In its own final determination, the Commerce Department did make critical circumstances findings for some exporters in Thailand and Vietnam. “We’ll see shortly if that might occur,” Brightbill said. “But regardless, it’s a very strong win for the domestic industry. Our clients are pleased with the results. It’s taken a year, but we’re happy to be here.” Following the ITC’s finding, the Commerce Department is expected to issue new anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders on June 9, and update the tariff rates for the four countries.  These tariffs will impact crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells, whether or not assembled into modules, imported from the four countries – on top of President Donald Trump’s

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AAIB makes safety recommendations after helicopter loses blades in storm

The Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) has made several safety recommendations in the aftermath of a 2023 incident that saw high winds tear blades from a helicopter parked offshore. The new report into the 2023 incident confirmed that a failed rotor brake allowed the Airbus H175’s rotors to continue spinning in high winds. This caused four of its five blades to snap off, almost striking one of the two workers tying the vehicle down. Storm Otto struck the UK in February 2023, subjecting north-east Scotland to 100 mile per hour winds. Aircraft G-MCSH, an Airbus H175 operated by Offshore Helicopter Services UK (OHS), was parked on the TotalEnergies-operated Elgin-Franklin platform, 130 miles from Aberdeen, when the incident took place. The report added that vertical air flow caused by the ‘cliff edge’ effect of an accommodation block on the platform exacerbated the rotor blade sailing. In addition, changing wind directions meant that the helicopter was no longer facing into the wind, but was increasingly being subjected to wind from its right side. In the aftermath of the event, OHS now requires pilots to record the rotor stop time after brake application on each shutdown. If the stop time is found to exceed 40 seconds, a check of the brake and its adjustment is required. The AAIB report laid out a total of six safety recommendations in its report. These include requiring Airbus Helicopters to expedite the inclusion of improved rotor brake maintenance procedures in the EC175 Aircraft Maintenance Manual. The report also said that Leading Offshore Energy Industry Competitiveness Ltd should incorporate comparative wind speed analysis as part of the Helimet quality control and notification system. In addition, an earlier report found that issues with a flight recorder on board the helicopter meant that images and data on the incident were

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House GOP budget ‘worse than feared’ for clean energy: analysts

Dive Brief: House Republicans on Thursday morning narrowly passed a sweeping budget bill that guts federal support for wind, solar, storage and other clean energy industries. The bill terminates most technology-neutral clean energy tax credits for projects placed in service after 2028 and those that begin construction more than 60 days after the bill’s passage. It also tightens restrictions on foreign entities’ involvement in projects, creating a “truly untenable” situation for developers, Jeffries analysts said Thursday. Nuclear projects have more time to qualify for the credit. The bill advances to the Senate, which is expected to take it up next month. Several Republican senators are calling for significant changes, and questions remain as to how the two houses will reconcile “sharply contrasting versions of the bill,” Jeffries said. Dive Insight: The text that passed the House on a 215-214, party-line vote early Thursday is even less favorable to clean energy interests than a previous draft that industry groups widely panned. The bill terminates the 48E investment and 45Y production tax credits for non-nuclear clean energy projects placed in service after 2028, with no phaseout period. Projects must begin construction within 60 days of the bill’s enactment — likely later this year — to be eligible for the credits. The version the House Ways and Means Committee released on May 12 stepped down the value of the 48E and 45Y credits over three years and did not include the imminent construction-start requirement, giving developers and asset owners more leeway to wait out lengthy waits for grid interconnection. Combined with even tighter restrictions on foreign involvement in U.S. clean energy projects, the truncated eligibility window leaves a “near impossible” pathway for non-nuclear developers to qualify for the 48E and 45Y credits, Jeffries said. The foreign involvement restrictions apply to “foreign entities of

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USA Crude Oil Inventories Rise Week on Week

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), increased by 1.3 million barrels from the week ending May 9 to the week ending May 16, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) highlighted in its latest weekly petroleum status report. That EIA report was released on May 21 and included data for the week ending May 16. It showed that crude oil stocks, not including the SPR, stood at 443.2 million barrels on May 16, 441.8 million barrels on May 9, and 458.8 million barrels on May 17, 2024. The EIA report highlighted that data may not add up to totals due to independent rounding. Crude oil in the SPR stood at 400.5 million barrels on May 16, 399.7 million barrels on May 9, and 368.8 million barrels on May 17, 2024, the report outlined. Total petroleum stocks – including crude oil, total motor gasoline, fuel ethanol, kerosene type jet fuel, distillate fuel oil, residual fuel oil, propane/propylene, and other oils – stood at 1.623 billion barrels on May 16, the report showed. Total petroleum stocks were up 5.8 million barrels week on week and up 4.3 million barrels year on year, the report revealed. “At 443.2 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are about six percent below the five year average for this time of year,” the EIA stated in its latest weekly petroleum status report. “Total motor gasoline inventories increased by 0.8 million barrels from last week and are about two percent below the five year average for this time of year. Both finished gasoline inventories and blending components inventories increased last week,” it added. “Distillate fuel inventories increased by 0.6 million barrels last week and are about 16 percent below the five year average for this time of year. Propane/propylene inventories increased by 2.7

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AWS clamping down on cloud capacity swapping; here’s what IT buyers need to know

As of June 1, AWS will no longer allow sub-account transfers or new commitments to be pooled and reallocated across customers. Barrow says the shift is happening because AWS is investing billions in new data centers to meet demand from AI and hyperscale workloads. “That infrastructure requires long-term planning and capital discipline,” he said. Phil Brunkard, executive counselor at Info-Tech Research Group UK, emphasized that AWS isn’t killing RIs or SPs, “it’s just closing a loophole.” “This stops MSPs from bulk‑buying a giant commitment, carving it up across dozens of tenants, and effectively reselling discounted EC2 hours,” he said. “Basically, AWS just tilted the field toward direct negotiations and cleaner billing.” What IT buyers should do now For enterprises that sourced discounted cloud resources through a broker or value-added reseller (VAR), the arbitrage window shuts, Brunkard noted. Enterprises should expect a “modest price bump” on steady‑state workloads and a “brief scramble” to unwind pooled commitments.  If original discounts were broker‑sourced, “budget for a small uptick,” he said. On the other hand, companies that buy their own RIs or SPs, or negotiate volume deals through AWS’s Enterprise Discount Program (EDP), shouldn’t be impacted, he said. Nothing changes except that pricing is now baselined.

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DriveNets extends AI networking fabric with multi-site capabilities for distributed GPU clusters

“We use the same physical architecture as anyone with top of rack and then leaf and spine switch,” Dudy Cohen, vice president of product marketing at DriveNets, told Network World. “But what happens between our top of rack, which is the switch that connects NICs (network interface cards) into the servers and the rest of the network is not based on Clos Ethernet architecture, rather on a very specific cell-based protocol. [It’s] the same protocol, by the way, that is used in the backplane of the chassis.” Cohen explained that any data packet that comes into an ingress switch from the NIC is cut into evenly sized cells, sprayed across the entire fabric and then reassembled on the other side. This approach distinguishes DriveNets from other solutions that might require specialized components such as Nvidia BlueField DPUs (data processing units) at the endpoints. “The fabric links between the top of rack and the spine are perfectly load balanced,” he said. “We do not use any hashing mechanism… and this is why we can contain all the congestion avoidance within the fabric and do not need any external assistance.” Multi-site implementation for distributed GPU clusters The multi-site capability allows organizations to overcome power constraints in a single data center by spreading GPU clusters across locations. This isn’t designed as a backup or failover mechanism. Lasser-Raab emphasized that it’s a single cluster in two locations that are up to 80 kilometers apart, which allows for connection to different power grids. The physical implementation typically uses high-bandwidth connections between sites. Cohen explained that there is either dark fiber or some DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing) fibre optic connectivity between the sites. Typically the connections are bundles of four 800 gigabit ethernet, acting as a single 3.2 terabit per second connection.

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Intel eyes exit from NEX unit as focus shifts to core chip business

“That’s something we’re going to expand and build on,” Tan said, according to the report, pointing to Intel’s commanding 68% share of the PC chip market and 55% share in data centers. By contrast, the NEX unit — responsible for silicon and software that power telecom gear, 5G infrastructure, and edge computing — has struggled to deliver the kind of strategic advantage Intel needs. According to the report, Tan and his team view it as non-essential to Intel’s turnaround plans. The report described the telecom side of the business as increasingly disconnected from Intel’s long-term objectives, while also pointing to fierce competition from companies like Broadcom that dominate key portions of the networking silicon market and leave little room for Intel to gain a meaningful share. Financial weight, strategic doubts Despite generating $5.8 billion in revenue in 2024, the NEX business was folded into Intel’s broader Data Center and Client Computing groups earlier this year. The move was seen internally as a signal that NEX had lost its independent strategic relevance and also reflects Tan’s ruthless prioritization.  To some in the industry, the review comes as little surprise. Over the past year, Intel has already shed non-core assets. In April, it sold a majority stake in Altera, its FPGA business, to private equity firm Silver Lake for $4.46 billion, shelving earlier plans for a public listing. This followed the 2022 spinoff of Mobileye, its autonomous driving arm. With a $19 billion loss in 2024 and revenue falling to $53.1 billion, the chipmaker also aims to streamline management, cut $10 billion in costs, and bet on AI chips and foundry services, competing with Nvidia, AMD, and TSMC.

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Tariff uncertainty weighs on networking vendors

“Our guide assumes current tariffs and exemptions remain in place through the quarter. These include the following: China at 30%, partially offset by an exemption for semiconductors and certain electronic components; Mexico and Canada at 25% for the components and products that are not eligible for the current exemptions,” Cisco CFO Scott Herron told Wall Street analysts in the company’s quarterly earnings report on May 14. At this time, Cisco expects little impact from tariffs on steel and aluminum and retaliatory tariffs, Herron said. “We’ll continue to leverage our world-class supply chain team to help mitigate the impact,” he said, adding that “the flexibility and agility we have built into our operations over the last few years, the size and scale of our supply chain, provides us some unique advantages as we support our customers globally.” “Once the tariff scenario stabilizes, there [are] steps that we can take to mitigate it, as you’ve seen us do with China from the first Trump administration. And only after that would we consider price [increases],” Herron said. Similarly, Extreme Networks noted the changing tariff conditions during its earnings call on April 30. “The tariff situation is very dynamic, I think, as everybody knows and can appreciate, and it’s kind of hard to call. Yes, there was concern initially given the magnitude of tariffs,” said Extreme Networks CEO Ed Meyercord on the earnings call. “The larger question is, will all of the changes globally in trade and tariff policy have an impact on demand? And that’s hard to call at this point. And we’re going to hold as far as providing guidance or judgment on that until we have finality come July.” Financial news Meanwhile, AI is fueling high expectations and influencing investments in enterprise campus and data center environments.

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Liquid cooling becoming essential as AI servers proliferate

“Facility water loops sometimes have good water quality, sometimes bad,” says My Troung, CTO at ZutaCore, a liquid cooling company. “Sometimes you have organics you don’t want to have inside the technical loop.” So there’s one set of pipes that goes around the data center, collecting the heat from the server racks, and another set of smaller pipes that lives inside individual racks or servers. “That inner loop is some sort of technical fluid, and the two loops exchange heat across a heat exchanger,” says Troung. The most common approach today, he says, is to use a single-phase liquid — one that stays in liquid form and never evaporates into a gas — such as water or propylene glycol. But it’s not the most efficient option. Evaporation is a great way to dissipate heat. That’s what our bodies do when we sweat. When water goes from a liquid to a gas it’s called a phase change, and it uses up energy and makes everything around it slightly cooler. Of course, few servers run hot enough to boil water — but they can boil other liquids. “Two phase is the most efficient cooling technology,” says Xianming (Simon) Dai, a professor at University of Texas at Dallas. And it might be here sooner than you think. In a keynote address in March at Nvidia GTC, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang unveiled the Rubin Ultra NVL576, due in the second half of 2027 — with 600 kilowatts per rack. “With the 600 kilowatt racks that Nvidia is announcing, the industry will have to shift very soon from single-phase approaches to two-phase,” says ZutaCore’s Troung. Another highly-efficient cooling approach is immersion cooling. According to a Castrol survey released in March, 90% of 600 data center industry leaders say that they are considering switching to immersion

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Cisco taps OpenAI’s Codex for AI-driven network coding

“If you want to ask Codex a question about your codebase, click “Ask”. Each task is processed independently in a separate, isolated environment preloaded with your codebase. Codex can read and edit files, as well as run commands including test harnesses, linters, and type checkers. Task completion typically takes between 1 and 30 minutes, depending on complexity, and you can monitor Codex’s progress in real time,” according to OpenAI. “Once Codex completes a task, it commits its changes in its environment. Codex provides verifiable evidence of its actions through citations of terminal logs and test outputs, allowing you to trace each step taken during task completion,” OpenAI wrote. “You can then review the results, request further revisions, open a GitHub pull request, or directly integrate the changes into your local environment. In the product, you can configure the Codex environment to match your real development environment as closely as possible.” OpenAI is releasing Codex as a research preview: “We prioritized security and transparency when designing Codex so users can verify its outputs – a safeguard that grows increasingly more important as AI models handle more complex coding tasks independently and safety considerations evolve. Users can check Codex’s work through citations, terminal logs and test results,” OpenAI wrote.  Internally, technical teams at OpenAI have started using Codex. “It is most often used by OpenAI engineers to offload repetitive, well-scoped tasks, like refactoring, renaming, and writing tests, that would otherwise break focus. It’s equally useful for scaffolding new features, wiring components, fixing bugs, and drafting documentation,” OpenAI stated. Cisco’s view of agentic AI Patel stated that Codex is part of the developing AI agent world, where Cisco envisions billions of AI agents will work together to transform and redefine the architectural assumptions the industry has relied on. Agents will communicate within and

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Microsoft will invest $80B in AI data centers in fiscal 2025

And Microsoft isn’t the only one that is ramping up its investments into AI-enabled data centers. Rival cloud service providers are all investing in either upgrading or opening new data centers to capture a larger chunk of business from developers and users of large language models (LLMs).  In a report published in October 2024, Bloomberg Intelligence estimated that demand for generative AI would push Microsoft, AWS, Google, Oracle, Meta, and Apple would between them devote $200 billion to capex in 2025, up from $110 billion in 2023. Microsoft is one of the biggest spenders, followed closely by Google and AWS, Bloomberg Intelligence said. Its estimate of Microsoft’s capital spending on AI, at $62.4 billion for calendar 2025, is lower than Smith’s claim that the company will invest $80 billion in the fiscal year to June 30, 2025. Both figures, though, are way higher than Microsoft’s 2020 capital expenditure of “just” $17.6 billion. The majority of the increased spending is tied to cloud services and the expansion of AI infrastructure needed to provide compute capacity for OpenAI workloads. Separately, last October Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said his company planned total capex spend of $75 billion in 2024 and even more in 2025, with much of it going to AWS, its cloud computing division.

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John Deere unveils more autonomous farm machines to address skill labor shortage

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More Self-driving tractors might be the path to self-driving cars. John Deere has revealed a new line of autonomous machines and tech across agriculture, construction and commercial landscaping. The Moline, Illinois-based John Deere has been in business for 187 years, yet it’s been a regular as a non-tech company showing off technology at the big tech trade show in Las Vegas and is back at CES 2025 with more autonomous tractors and other vehicles. This is not something we usually cover, but John Deere has a lot of data that is interesting in the big picture of tech. The message from the company is that there aren’t enough skilled farm laborers to do the work that its customers need. It’s been a challenge for most of the last two decades, said Jahmy Hindman, CTO at John Deere, in a briefing. Much of the tech will come this fall and after that. He noted that the average farmer in the U.S. is over 58 and works 12 to 18 hours a day to grow food for us. And he said the American Farm Bureau Federation estimates there are roughly 2.4 million farm jobs that need to be filled annually; and the agricultural work force continues to shrink. (This is my hint to the anti-immigration crowd). John Deere’s autonomous 9RX Tractor. Farmers can oversee it using an app. While each of these industries experiences their own set of challenges, a commonality across all is skilled labor availability. In construction, about 80% percent of contractors struggle to find skilled labor. And in commercial landscaping, 86% of landscaping business owners can’t find labor to fill open positions, he said. “They have to figure out how to do

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2025 playbook for enterprise AI success, from agents to evals

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More 2025 is poised to be a pivotal year for enterprise AI. The past year has seen rapid innovation, and this year will see the same. This has made it more critical than ever to revisit your AI strategy to stay competitive and create value for your customers. From scaling AI agents to optimizing costs, here are the five critical areas enterprises should prioritize for their AI strategy this year. 1. Agents: the next generation of automation AI agents are no longer theoretical. In 2025, they’re indispensable tools for enterprises looking to streamline operations and enhance customer interactions. Unlike traditional software, agents powered by large language models (LLMs) can make nuanced decisions, navigate complex multi-step tasks, and integrate seamlessly with tools and APIs. At the start of 2024, agents were not ready for prime time, making frustrating mistakes like hallucinating URLs. They started getting better as frontier large language models themselves improved. “Let me put it this way,” said Sam Witteveen, cofounder of Red Dragon, a company that develops agents for companies, and that recently reviewed the 48 agents it built last year. “Interestingly, the ones that we built at the start of the year, a lot of those worked way better at the end of the year just because the models got better.” Witteveen shared this in the video podcast we filmed to discuss these five big trends in detail. Models are getting better and hallucinating less, and they’re also being trained to do agentic tasks. Another feature that the model providers are researching is a way to use the LLM as a judge, and as models get cheaper (something we’ll cover below), companies can use three or more models to

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OpenAI’s red teaming innovations define new essentials for security leaders in the AI era

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More OpenAI has taken a more aggressive approach to red teaming than its AI competitors, demonstrating its security teams’ advanced capabilities in two areas: multi-step reinforcement and external red teaming. OpenAI recently released two papers that set a new competitive standard for improving the quality, reliability and safety of AI models in these two techniques and more. The first paper, “OpenAI’s Approach to External Red Teaming for AI Models and Systems,” reports that specialized teams outside the company have proven effective in uncovering vulnerabilities that might otherwise have made it into a released model because in-house testing techniques may have missed them. In the second paper, “Diverse and Effective Red Teaming with Auto-Generated Rewards and Multi-Step Reinforcement Learning,” OpenAI introduces an automated framework that relies on iterative reinforcement learning to generate a broad spectrum of novel, wide-ranging attacks. Going all-in on red teaming pays practical, competitive dividends It’s encouraging to see competitive intensity in red teaming growing among AI companies. When Anthropic released its AI red team guidelines in June of last year, it joined AI providers including Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI, and even the U.S.’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which all had released red teaming frameworks. Investing heavily in red teaming yields tangible benefits for security leaders in any organization. OpenAI’s paper on external red teaming provides a detailed analysis of how the company strives to create specialized external teams that include cybersecurity and subject matter experts. The goal is to see if knowledgeable external teams can defeat models’ security perimeters and find gaps in their security, biases and controls that prompt-based testing couldn’t find. What makes OpenAI’s recent papers noteworthy is how well they define using human-in-the-middle

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