Week 36, 2026
Coverage window 28 August – 3 September 2026.
For the interpretation of this week, including why the difference between a setting that warns and a setting that refuses is now the most useful line in an AI policy review, see the companion essay: Weekly AI Tools That Matter to Me: Part 6, Week 36. This page is the record; the essay is the read.
Note on the window: edition #5 ran on Thursday 27 August, so this window opens at 28 August. This edition was compiled on Wednesday 2 September and re-scanned on Thursday 3 September, extending the window to 3 September; only 4 September carries into edition #7. There is no Week 34 edition; that gap is a planned skip.
This week’s record
Administrator settings stopped being advice.
- Edition #5 closed on a vendor describing its organisation-wide instruction setting as “guidance the model follows, not an enforced control.” Six days later two vendors shipped the enforcement column, in release notes rather than announcements.
- Claude Desktop v1.44121.1 (2 September):
isClaudeCodeForDesktopEnabledset to false now prevents Code sessions starting at all, stops Preview scanning for a dev server, and removes the computer from Remote Control; artifact sharing follows the organisation’s sharing policies;managedMcpServerswithisLocalDevMcpEnabledfalse blocks local stdio MCP servers while remote ones connect;disableSideloadFlagsstops all desktop plugins loading;allowedWorkspaceFoldersnow applies to SSH Code sessions. - New
egressProxyUrlandegressProxyPacUrlroute the app’s and the agent’s traffic through a corporate proxy, and are read from device management or the local configuration file only. - Gemini Enterprise (31 August) took Sensitive Data Protection content policies to GA. They inspect and block, both preventing apps presenting sensitive material and preventing users uploading it.
- The write scope kept growing in parallel: Gemini Enterprise added connector write actions in Public Preview (28 August) and Claude Desktop added local scheduled tasks to the Code tab.
- Anthropic released Claude Fable 5.1 and Claude Mythos 5.1 on 1 September, alongside two safety posts.
- OpenAI reported ChatGPT Ads at a $1 billion annualized revenue run rate with self-service Ads Manager launching across Europe (31 August), previewed Astra frontier capabilities and safeguards, and connected ChatGPT to health records and healthcare sources (both 1 September).
What changed this week
| Platform | What changed | Source |
|---|---|---|
| AnthropicReleased (Sep 1)Model release | Claude Fable 5.1 and Claude Mythos 5.1 released, described as the most advanced models for coding and knowledge work. | Anthropic news |
| AnthropicPublished (Sep 1)Safety | Developing Enterprise Frontier Safeguards with our customers. | Anthropic news |
| AnthropicPublished (Aug 31)Safety | Improving our alignment and security efforts. | Anthropic news |
| AnthropicPreview (Aug 27) · late captureSafety | Previewing the Model Hardware Standard. Dated 27 August, one day outside the window. | Anthropic news |
| Claude DesktopShipped (Sep 2, v1.44121.1)Enterprise policy | isClaudeCodeForDesktopEnabled set to false now prevents Code sessions starting even when asked directly, stops Preview scanning for a dev server, and removes the computer from Remote Control, returning “Code sessions are turned off by your organization” instead of a retry prompt. | Claude Desktop changelog |
| Claude DesktopShipped (Sep 2, v1.44121.1)Enterprise policy | Live artifact sharing now follows the organisation’s Artifacts setting and sharing policies; managedMcpServers with isLocalDevMcpEnabled false connects remote MCP servers and blocks local stdio ones; disableSideloadFlags results in no desktop plugins loading; allowedWorkspaceFolders fixed to apply to Code sessions over SSH. | Claude Desktop changelog |
| Claude DesktopShipped (Sep 2, v1.44121.1)Network control | New egressProxyUrl and egressProxyPacUrl route the app’s and the agent’s traffic through a corporate HTTP proxy or a PAC file instead of the operating system’s proxy settings, with the workspace following the pinned proxy on macOS and Windows. Both keys are read from device management or the local configuration file only. | Claude Desktop changelog |
| Claude DesktopShipped (Sep 2, v1.44121.1)Observability | Conversation titles added to the OpenTelemetry export as a desktop_session_title_set event carrying the session title and Claude Code session ID; title text included only when otlpContentCapture includes userPrompts. New inferenceStreamIdleTimeoutSec (300 to 1800). Breaking: Usage page cost estimate now requires inferenceModelPricingEnabled. | Claude Desktop changelog |
| Claude DesktopShipped (Sep 2, v1.44121.1)Product release | Local scheduled tasks added to the Code tab, including the /schedule command and a Scheduled page, matching what Cowork already offered. Claude Code output styles with a /output-style command. Plugin install and update from admin-configured marketplaces on devices without Cowork. | Claude Desktop changelog |
| Claude DesktopShipped (Sep 2, v1.44121.2)Fix / revert | Fixed sessions on Windows unable to run commands or fetch web pages, by reverting the same-day v1.44121.1 fix for sessions failing to start on Windows for accounts with many artifacts, scheduled tasks or connected folders. | Claude Desktop changelog |
| Claude DesktopShipped (Sep 3, v1.44121.4)Enterprise policy | v1.44121.4: Chat gains skills from organization-provided plugins, and Chat-only users can see and manage those plugins under Customize, matching Cowork and Code. Fixes advanced file analysis in Chat failing with “Workspace unavailable” where an organization enables chatAdvancedFileAnalysisEnabled but sets coworkTabEnabled: false; managed OAuth connectors showing a connection error instead of a sign-in prompt when the app starts with no usable sign-in; and organization-configured URL plugin marketplaces failing to install or load plugins. Found at the 3 September re-scan. | Claude Desktop changelog |
| Claude DesktopShipped (Aug 30, v1.40609.1)Product release | Bundled Claude Code CLI updated to version 2.1.255. | Claude Desktop changelog |
| Google AntigravityShipped (Sep 2)Product release | 2.12.0: /boost slash command for paid users, described as enhancing thinking effort by using a multi-agent reasoning pipeline; highlight-to-quote for follow-up prompts; General Settings now shows which projects override a setting with a link to that project’s settings. | Antigravity changelog |
| Gemini EnterpriseGA (Aug 31)Data governance | Sensitive Data Protection content policies generally available for connectors, apps and Notebook Enterprise notebooks. Policies inspect data for violating or unwanted content and block it, both preventing apps presenting sensitive material to users and preventing users uploading files containing it. | Gemini Enterprise release notes |
| Gemini EnterpriseGA (Aug 31)Compliance | Support for federated data stores in Assured Workloads with FedRAMP High compliance, generally available. Google Workspace and third-party federated data stores can be connected to projects inside Assured Workloads folders. | Gemini Enterprise release notes |
| Gemini EnterpriseGA (Aug 31 – Sep 2)Model availability | Gemini 3.5 Flash available in Canada with in-region data residency and machine-learning processing; Gemini 3.1 Flash image generally available in US and EU multi-regions; Gemini 3.8 Flash generally available in global, US and EU regions (2 September). | Gemini Enterprise release notes |
| Gemini EnterpriseShipped (Sep 1)Cost control | Overage controls now available to all projects linked to an invoiced Cloud Billing account, removing a restriction that had blocked customers notified in the 17 August billing update. | Gemini Enterprise release notes |
| Gemini EnterprisePreview (Aug 28) · late captureAgentic AI | New data stores in Public Preview (Campfire, Clay, CourtListener, Daloopa, MSCI) and new write actions in Public Preview: AirOps update knowledge base document metadata, Airtable create records for a table, Zoho Desk update event. Dated 28 August, one day outside the window. | Gemini Enterprise release notes |
| Google WorkspaceRolling out (Sep 1–2)Product release | Google Pics brings AI image creation and editing to Workspace; custom instructions for Gemini in Workspace expand to more apps, rolling out from 2 September; document to video summaries in Google Vids; Meet and Microsoft Teams interoperability on Android (AOSP) devices in Early Preview. | Workspace updates |
| OpenAILaunched (Aug 31)Advertising platform | ChatGPT Ads reaches a $1 billion annualized revenue run rate in under 200 days, is available in over 40 countries, and self-service purchasing via Ads Manager launches across India, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Cross-noted to MarTech Watch, where it is the commercial headline. | OpenAI |
| OpenAIPublished (Sep 1)Safety | Toward Astra: frontier critical capabilities and safeguards. | OpenAI news |
| OpenAILaunched (Sep 1)Product release | ChatGPT can now connect to health records and healthcare sources. | OpenAI news |
| OpenAIPublished (Aug 28 – Aug 31)Company | OpenAI supports a California bill advancing AI youth safety; and publishes its decision on Cursor following the acquisition by SpaceX (28 August). | OpenAI news |
No changes this week (scanned, nothing net-new)
Scanned for the 28 August to 2 September window with no net-new release:
- Microsoft 365 Copilot: most recent release notes entry is 25 August, covering 11 to 25 August. Nothing in window. Route correction: the previously monitored
learn.microsoft.com/en-us/copilot/release-notesnow returns 404; the working path islearn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot/release-notes. Microsoft rows remain relevant-only on this watchlist. - OpenAI help-centre release notes (ChatGPT, ChatGPT Business, ChatGPT Enterprise and Edu):
help.openai.comreturns 403 to the container and was not opened in the browser this edition. Not verified. - Gemini apps release notes:
gemini.google/release-notes/returned no usable dated entries. Not verified. - chiefmartec (Scott Brinker): most recent post is 5 May 2026. Nearly four months without a post, which is more likely a moved feed than a dormant author. Flagged for source discovery.
- Marketing AI Institute and MarTech.org AI topic: publishing daily, editorial only, no product or platform items in window.
- Every, Latent Space, Ben’s Bites: not separately verified this edition; the newsletter tier in Gmail covered the same ground.
Watching next (Week 37)
- Whether Anthropic’s Model Hardware Standard preview (27 August) and Enterprise Frontier Safeguards (1 September) contain enforcement mechanisms or commitments, both unread in full this edition.
- The ChatGPT health records connection: consent model, retention, and EU availability.
- ChatGPT Work signed-in-website session lifetime and revocation, unpublished for a third edition.
- OpenAI Codex service account token scope, lifetime, rotation and audit attribution.
- Anthropic skill and plugin scanning semantics, unpublished for a fourth edition.
- Agent 365 connected agents via Agent2Agent general availability, unmet for a fourth edition, while Google took A2A registration to GA on 17 August.
- Whether Gemini Enterprise connector write actions move from Public Preview to GA, and whether content policies extend to them.
- Morningstar and PitchBook MCP integrations into Gemini Enterprise, reported 31 August and untraced.
- Whether any other vendor follows the enforced-versus-advisory distinction with an explicit statement of which of its settings produce a refusal.
How this is compiled. Each edition is assembled from official release notes, changelogs and corporate newsrooms, with an AI first-pass scan followed by human review and editing. Every item is checked against the primary source; anything that could not be confirmed is flagged inline as not verified. Release notes are read in a browser or by full-text extraction, never by a summarising fetch. Dates and status reflect what was published as of the current-as-of date and can change.
Corrections and method notes. Corrections are welcome and are logged transparently. This edition corrects the monitored path for Microsoft 365 Copilot release notes, which now 404s at its previous URL. Four items dated 27 and 28 August are recorded as dated late captures from the previous window rather than being presented as in-window. Sources that could not be read this edition, including the OpenAI help centre and the Gemini apps release notes, are named rather than silently omitted.
AI Watch is compiled and edited by Andrea Veggiani, Head of Cross-Channel Marketing & MarTech Solutions at BitBang. Its sibling record for the customer-engagement stack is MarTech Watch, Week 36.