New AI Company Launches Competitive Model, Beam, Challenging Market Leaders

Reflection, a New York City-based AI company, has launched its first model, called Beam, entering the competitive AI market on October 5, 2026. The company stated that Beam achieves scores comparable to GLM-5.2, an open model from Z.ai, and is three to four times more efficient than many rival open models from Western companies. Reflection has secured contracts including one to supply models to the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of War. The company also announced a $6.3 billion compute deal with SpaceX for access to Nvidia GB300 chips at its Colossus 2 data center.

The launch of Beam introduces a new, highly efficient open-source contender into the global AI landscape. This development adds to the intense competition already underway between major proprietary models and open-source alternatives. Reflection is positioning Beam as a potential workhorse for enterprises and the public sector.