If your sprint blurred into code reviews and hotfixes, this roundup catches you up fast. We cover GitHub’s GPT-5 in Models, arm64 hosted runners for GitHub Actions, VS Code 1.103, Chrome 139, iOS 26 dev beta 5, and AWS’s weekly updates – plus OpenAI’s GPT-5 announcement and Google’s latest on AI in software engineering.
OpenAI introduces GPT-5
OpenAI formally announced GPT-5, describing it as a unified model tuned for deeper reasoning and longer context windows. Now integrated across ChatGPT and partner ecosystems, GPT-5 sets a new bar for agentic and complex information workflows but invites teams to approach migrations methodically, assessing results against their own metrics and requirements.
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GitHub Models adds GPT-5 (GA)
GitHub took a big step forward by bringing GPT-5 to its Models platform, opening up new possibilities for developers to evaluate and integrate the latest LLMs without jumping between different providers. With general availability now in place, users can experiment with task-relevant evaluations or compare accuracy and costs directly in GitHub-native workflows.
GitHub Actions: arm64 hosted runners (GA for public repos)
Developers targeting ARM architectures got a boost as GitHub Actions rolled out general availability for arm64 hosted runners in public repositories. This long-awaited feature unlocks native Apple silicon and Graviton CI builds, eliminating the need for emulation or self-hosted runners and promising more reliable performance for open-source projects.
VS Code 1.103 (July release)
Visual Studio Code’s July update (version 1.103) introduced several highly anticipated features, including integrated GPT-5 in the AI Chat experience, expanded Git worktrees support for streamlined multi-branch workflows, and a new agent session interface. The improvements aim to tighten the development loop and reduce friction in daily code review and refactoring tasks.
Chrome 139 Stable
Google released Chrome 139 (Stable and Extended Stable), rolling out an array of developer-facing updates and fixes. As with every browser update, frontend engineers and CI/CD maintainers are advised to keep an eye out for subtle shifts that may affect testing suites or key functionality in web apps.
iOS 26 developer beta 5
Apple continued its summer platform cycle by shipping iOS 26 developer beta 5 on August 5, packaged with refreshed SDKs in Xcode. This latest beta sets the stage for the public beta and comes with the usual set of permissions and UI tweaks that will keep iOS developers and QA teams busy preparing for the fall release.
AWS weekly roundup
Amazon’s latest AWS Weekly Roundup, posted August 4, put the spotlight on several new and expanded cloud services. Serverless Amazon DocumentDB promises to lower operational overhead for high-variance workloads, while Lambda now supports streaming payloads up to 200MB, simplifying data-heavy and batch processing pipelines. The update also includes enhanced SNS filtering and more granular CloudFront timeout controls.
Google: AI in Software Engineering – progress & path ahead
Google shared findings from internal studies on AI in software engineering, reporting measurable productivity gains and faster code review cycles in select scenarios. As more organizations consider AI assistants for development workflows, these data points provide valuable perspective on rollout strategies and expected impact.
That’s it for this week’s updates.
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