Meta Won? Alibaba's "Seedance Killer" & AI Audio Levels Up!

A blockbuster week for AI — and not just for the frontier labs. Anthropic and OpenAI dropped Opus 5.5 and GPT-6 Sol (and Luna) on the same day, Meta brought Muse storming into hardware at Meta Connect — including the Muse Charm, which is basically an AI Tamagotchi with its own 5G — and OpenAI has Dev Day next week with the Aeon rumors swirling. The battleground is pretty clear: everyone wants to be your AI best friend. Then, on our side of the fence: Alibaba teased a November video model that, in bootleg phone footage at least, looks Seedance-class. Kling 4.0 is back on the menu. Traces of Nano Banana 2.5 Flash turned up in Google Flow. Odyssey's Agora-2 lets you play Diablo II alongside AI agents. And PixVerse R2 is a real-time world you can actually talk to — the closest thing to a holodeck I've felt yet (minus the holograms). Plus audio: Seed Audio 1.5, Fish Audio's Drama 3, and my pal Jordan Rudess's jam_bot. SPONSOR ▶ Try Artlist Flows over on Artlist, who were kind enough to sponsor today's video: https://artlist.io/?artlist_aid=TheoreticallyMedia_4024&utm_source=affiliate_p&utm_medium=TheoreticallyMedia_4024&utm_campaign=TheoreticallyMedia_4024 WHAT'S IN THIS ONE - Opus 5.5 vs GPT-6 Sol: the same-day drop, why the vibe is "Anthropic is so back," and my take after a week with 5.5. - GPT-6 Sol is cheap and it ships — but does it tap out early and feel a little bland? - ChatGPT Voice finally works with your connected apps (mail, calendar, Slack) — plus a very short Siri review. - Meta Connect: Muse overtaking ChatGPT in the App Store, the $1,299 Meta VR Glasses, new Ray-Ban Metas, and the Muse Charm — an AI Tamagotchi with real-time voice, no phone required. - Dev Day next week: the Aeon rumors, and how OpenAI answers Muse and Grok Bot. - Alibaba's next video model (November): longer, consistent, more controllable, "smarter" — the standard new-model bingo card, but the footage looks very good. - Kling 4.0 (reportedly): an updated Omni model and much longer generations — and that's about all I can say right now. - Nano Banana 2.5 Flash traces in Google Flow — not 2 Pro, not 3. Google is stuck in Flash land. - Odyssey Agora-2: up to 20 humans and AI agents in one AI-simulated Diablo II world. - PixVerse R2: prompt inside a live world, chat with a character in it, and how far real-time has come since January. - Seed Audio 1.5 (briefly announced as 2.0) is landing on Pippit — and audio is exactly where Seedance needs the help. - Fish Audio Drama 3 (preview) — "the most controllable TTS model ever" — is already in the model dropdown. - Jordan Rudess and jam_bot: an MIT Media Lab model trained to improvise like Jordan (note-level, not diffusion), live at MIT on October 3. LINKS MENTIONED Opus 5.5: https://www.anthropic.com/claude-opus-5-5 GPT-6 Sol & Luna: https://openai.com/index/introducing-gpt-6-sol-and-luna/ Meta Connect recap: https://www.meta.com/blog/meta-connect-2026-everything-we-announced/ OpenAI DevDay (Sept 29): https://devday.openai.com/ Odyssey Agora-2: https://agora.odyssey.systems/ PixVerse R2: https://world.pixverse.video/ Seed Audio 1.5 (Pippit): https://www.pippit.ai/models/seedance/seedaudio-1-5 Fish Audio: https://fish.audio/ Rudess + jam_bot at MIT, Oct 3 (tickets): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/jordan-rudess-jam-bot-a-human-ai-musical-dialogue-performances-tickets-1999625268005 Theoretically News — the weekly newsletter: https://theoreticallymedia.com/newsletter/ CHAPTERS 00:00 A blockbuster week for AI 00:23 Battle of the Titans: Opus 5.5 & GPT-6 Sol drop the same day 01:31 GPT-6 Sol: cheap and it ships — but is it bland? 02:11 ChatGPT Voice finally connects to your apps (plus a mini Siri review) 02:52 Meta Connect: Muse & the $1,299 Meta VR Glasses 03:36 Ray-Ban Meta & the Muse Charm (Meta's AI Tamagotchi) 04:00 OpenAI Dev Day next week: Aeon rumors & the race to be your AI best friend 04:42 Alibaba's next video model is coming in November 06:11 Kling is back on the menu (4.0?) 06:41 Nano Banana 2.5 Flash spotted in Google Flow 07:23 Odyssey Agora-2: play Diablo II with AI agents 08:32 PixVerse R2: a real-time AI world you can talk to 10:17 Sponsor: Artlist Flows 12:56 Seed Audio 1.5 is landing on Pippit 14:12 Fish Audio Drama 3 (preview): usable today 15:02 Jordan Rudess & jam_bot: an AI trained to improvise like him