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AI Daily Brief — 29 January 2026

StepFun releases Step 3.5 Flash — an Apache-2.0 196B / 11B-active sparse MoE with 256K context, capable of running on a Mac Studio. Benchmark scores within striking distance of GPT-5.2, Claude Opus 4.5 and Gemini 3.0 Pro. Pricing: $0.090 / $0.300 per M tokens (input / output). Available on GitHub, Hugging Face, OpenRouter and NVIDIA Build. Amazon announces ~16,000 corporate layoffs in a shift toward AI-driven automation — primarily middle management and admin roles. Dow Inc. cuts ~4,500 roles citing AI and automated-manufacturing pivot. A former Google software engineer is convicted on multiple counts of trade-secret theft for transferring 500+ confidential files related to Google AI infrastructure.

Top stories

  • StepFun Step 3.5 Flash. Apache 2.0 · 196B / 11B active sparse MoE · 256K context · runs on a Mac Studio · $0.090 / $0.300 per M. via Awesome Agents
  • Amazon — ~16,000 corporate layoffs. AI-driven automation shift, hitting middle management and admin. via Crescendo AI
  • Dow Inc. — ~4,500 cuts. AI and automated-manufacturing pivot. via Crescendo AI
  • Former Google engineer convicted. Trade-secret theft on 500+ AI-infrastructure files. via Crescendo AI

Compiled by AI Feed’s editor from publicly reported announcements on 29 January 2026.