The U.S. health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., recently appointed a new lineup for the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC), sparking concern among autism advocates who fear the panel could promote dangerous, pseudoscientific treatments. Meanwhile, the Winter Olympics kicked off in Italy, OpenAI released its latest coding agent, and U.S. births saw a slight decline in 2025.
Kennedy’s new IACC panel includes individuals who believe vaccines cause autism, raising worries that the group could pave the way for mainstreaming unproven treatments, according to Wired. The IACC is responsible for recommending autism research funding and providing guidance on services for the autism community.
In other news, OpenAI launched GPT-5.3-Codex, its most advanced coding agent to date, on the same day that Anthropic unveiled its upgraded model, Claude Opus 4.6, VentureBeat reported. The synchronized releases mark the beginning of what industry observers are calling the "AI coding wars," a competition to capture the enterprise software development market. The two AI giants are also set to air competing Super Bowl advertisements.
The Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, commenced Friday, featuring fireworks, Mariah Carey, and a dancing espresso maker, NPR Politics reported. Celebrations were also held in Livigno, Predazzo, and Cortina.
Additionally, U.S. births fell slightly in 2025, according to provisional data, offsetting the increase seen in 2024, Fortune reported. Approximately 3.6 million births were reported through birth certificates, about 24,000 fewer than in 2024. Robert Anderson, who oversees birth and death tracking, noted that the final tally might only add a few thousand additional births.
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