# AI news, Tuesday, 20 October 2026

Compiled by Richard Brooks's AI news desk. Canonical: https://richard-brooks.com/ai-news/2026-10-20/

## Anthropic commits 5% of its shares to a new Public Benefit Fund

Business. The stake can rise by 2% for every 50% gain in company value, and AI's effect on jobs is named as an early focus. It sets out how Anthropic ties equity to its mission ahead of an expected IPO.

Source: Anthropic, https://www.anthropic.com/news/public-benefit-fund

## Microsoft extends Project Perception to supervise AI agents inside companies

Security. Microsoft says frontier models cannot be trusted and treats internal agents as insiders, giving each an identity, scoped permissions and real-time supervision by guardian agents. Firms deploying agents should expect security reviews to ask the same questions of them.

Source: Microsoft, https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2026/10/19/securing-the-agentic-insider/

## MiniMax releases M3.1 Flash agent model at $0.15 per 1M input tokens

Models. A low-cost model for agentic work, coding and computer use, priced at $0.60 per 1M output tokens, with usage costs 70% below its predecessor. Teams running high-volume agents get a cheaper option, and open weights are promised later.

Source: MiniMax, https://www.minimax.io/blog/minimax-m31f

## US orders federal civilian agencies to remove DeepSeek products

Policy. The Homeland Security order bars agencies from buying DeepSeek products and requires existing installations to be removed, with exceptions only on 60 days' notice. Suppliers to the US government should check whether anything they sell runs on DeepSeek models.

Source: CyberScoop, https://cyberscoop.com/dhs-bans-deepseek-federal-agencies/