A dumber ChatGPT

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What’s up, everyone? Welcome to Next in Dev. In this issue, I share news about new Payload CMS features, OpenAI drama, and surprise acquisitions.

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Of course, as soon as I schedule last week's newsletter, Payload releases version 3.63. Their timing is always the worst for me.

Version 3.63 gave us two new features. The first is polymorphic uploads. This means that you can use one upload field to manage many types of media from various collections. It has no problems working with bulk upload, and the hasMany option is available.

The Payload team seems to be working on Next.js 16 support, but Next.js isn't playing well. I expect full support soon.

Besides version 3.63, they released version 3.64. This version adds support for the UTC time zone in date fields. The feature also fixes a bug that auto-selected your timezone if only one was available.

Turbopack is the default builder for Next.js 16 projects. Payload now supports Turbopack builds. This brings it one step closer to Next.js supporting it.

There are two new features for the MCP plugin. The first allows you to detect when API calls come from the MCP context. This enables you to use conditional logic for when you're talking to your API through an MCP server.

The second allows you to override the default API key authentication included with the MCP plugin.

The last new feature enables translations for the redirect plugin. You can do this directly through the i18n config option.

By popular demand, I'm creating a Payload CMS course. The course will walk you through the entire process, from installation to deployment. It’ll still feature my unique, comprehensive teaching style that you’re used to. To get in on the pre-launch, visit this website to sign up.

I'm starting with a course on all the basics. But I already have an outline for intermediate and advanced Payload CMS topics.

Want a quick primer on what Payload CMS is? I had a good time putting this one together. Let me know what you think!

Figma has been quiet in releases. It seems they have opened a new office in Bengaluru, though, and will be expanding business in India.

The Next.js team released version 16.0.3. It's a stability release that:

Why this matters: 

These fixes make builds more reliable, caching more predictable, and logs more readable. That means fewer surprises and smoother upgrades for anyone running Next.js apps.

So far, it appears the AI news section is helpful to most people. I’ll run this poll for one more week.

OpenAI released GPT-5.1 Instant and GPT-5.1 Thinking. They claim this brings a "warmer, more conversational" response and better instruction-following. They also say it adapts its reasoning to spend more “thinking time” on harder problems. I have had nothing but troubles with GPT-5.1, though. It seems slower, less efficient, and unable to do much of what its predecessor could do.

It's been downhill for ChatGPT since GPT-5 replaced 4. Each release of a new GPT seems to reduce its capabilities.

What a shame.

A judge has ordered OpenAI to hand over 20 million de-identified ChatGPT logs to The New York Times. OpenAI claims that the demand threatens user privacy. The ruling held that existing orders and OpenAI’s own processes protect users. The Times argues they need the logs to examine ChatGPT’s behavior in its copyright case.

For web developers, this highlights the legal exposure surrounding model training data. This case also shows that courts may compel access. Even when companies object on privacy grounds, courts may still ask them to comply.

Meanwhile, Anthropic is moving toward profitability.

Railway now delivers real-time dashboard notifications for build failures and other issues. All issues are filterable by project and environment with customizable delivery settings. This feature is in beta, but it matters to devs because it places operational insight where you work. This helps you catch problems faster without relying on an email notification.

You can now package Buckets into Railway templates. I'll roll out my own template soon, but in the meantime, know that this is available now. This enables automatic provisioning and credential wiring. Now, storage-backed apps deploy in one click. This matters because it removes manual setup steps. It also makes it easier to share production-ready templates that include object storage. This feature excites me.

Railway expanded its RBAC system. It now has clearer roles that are each designed with scoped permissions. Why this matters: it improves security and collaboration by preventing users from having the improper permissions.

Supabase acquired Triplit, which is an offline-first, sync-focused database and client framework. Triplit’s codebase will remain open-sourced, and Supabase will explore offline-mode options.

This matters to web developers because Supabase is leaning into an open ecosystem. The expanded open-source release of Triplit offers valuable patterns for designing sync-heavy, offline-capable applications.

What did I miss? There’s so much happening in modern web dev that I’m sure I have missed something. Please share your thoughts in the comments or reply to this email. I want to address your suggestions and may include them in future newsletters.

Thanks for reading. See you next time.

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