EP42: Summer Model Releases, Desktop Apps, AI Hacking Spree, and Handwriting Transcription

DescriptionCo-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little return from institute season to unpack a summer that reshaped the artificial intelligence landscape, beginning with the new model families from OpenAI and Anthropic and how to choose among them.The hosts then examine desktop artificial intelligence applications, which read and write files directly in a folder on your own computer, followed by Mark’s Tip of the Week on connecting ChatGPT Desktop to Excel to update one of his complex spreadsheets.In RapidFire, the hosts cover the hacking spree that both OpenAI and Anthropic disclosed this summer, models solving mathematical problems that stumped researchers for decades, and handwritten text recognition finally crossing the line into everyday usefulness.The through line in today’s episode is the shrinking list of things artificial intelligence cannot do, and what that might mean for genealogy.This episode is sponsored by the East Coast Genetic Genealogy ConferenceThe East Coast Genetic Genealogy Conference is one of the best places in the world for advanced genetic genealogists to learn how the newest advances in genetic genealogy can improve their family history research. Mark and Steve are both presenting, and the conference begins August 21, 2026, in Boston. In person and online options are both available.https://ecggc.org/TimestampsOpening00:16 East Coast Genetic Genealogy Conference in BostonIn the News03:40 Summer Model Releases: Choosing Between Fast, Cheap, and Good07:54 The Rise of the Desktop Apps: Artificial Intelligence That Reads Your Local FilesTip of the Week16:20 Connecting ChatGPT Desktop to Excel: Rebuilding a Complex SpreadsheetRapidFire25:58 Artificial Intelligence Breaks Out: OpenAI and Anthropic Disclose Sandbox Escapes31:24 Century-Old Math Problems Solved: Why Verifiable Fields Fall First38:03 Handwritten Text Recognition: Transcription Is No Longer the Hard PartFinal Thoughts46:10 Episode Wrap and Boston Send-OffResource LinksEast Coast Genetic Genealogy Conferencehttps://ecggc.org/Summer Model ReleasesUnited States Government Grounds Anthropichttps://www.anthropic.com/news/fable-mythos-accessSol Cheated on Itselfhttps://deploymentsafety.openai.com/gpt-5-6The Rise of the Desktop AppsDownload ChatGPT for Desktophttps://chatgpt.com/download/Install Claude Desktophttps://support.claude.com/en/articles/10065433-install-claude-desktopDownload Google Antigravityhttps://antigravity.google/Artificial Intelligence Solves Century-Old Math ProblemsTen Math Claims, Public Receipts from OpenAIhttps://openai.com/index/ten-advances-in-mathematics/Anthropic Cracked an 87-Year Math Problemhttps://fortune.com/2026/07/21/ai-solves-jacobian-conjecture-levant-alpoge-claude-fable-5/Handwritten Text RecognitionDan Maloney’s Artificial Intelligence Handwriting Transcription Rankingshttps://www.genea.ca/rankings/TagsArtificial Intelligence, Genealogy, Family History, OpenAI, Anthropic, ChatGPT Desktop, Claude Desktop, Google Antigravity, Desktop Applications, Excel, Spreadsheet Automation, Handwriting Recognition, Document Transcription, Gemini, Model Selection, Sandbox Escape, Mathematics, Genetic Genealogy, Dan Maloney, AI Tools