Need to Know News - January 15th, 2025
In this week's Need to Know News edition:
🤖 ChatGPT can now handle reminders and to-dos with new 'Tasks' feature...
🤖 The sneaky way AI marketing bots are taking over Reddit (and no one can spot them)...
🤖 AI is breaking every test we throw at it (and researchers are freaking out)...
And whole lot more!
AI In Action
OpenAI Introduces 'Tasks' for ChatGPT
Read the Full Announcement on X
🚀 Discover the 27 ‘Plug-and-Play’ AI Prompts Every Marketer Needs
>>Access All 27 Prompts Here<<
Microsoft Relaunches Copilot for Business with Free AI Chat and Pay-as-you-go Agents
Microsoft is relaunching its free Copilot for businesses as Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat. And now it includes the ability to use AI agents. These AI helpers can monitor emails and automate tasks like a digital co-worker.
The basic chat service is free, but businesses pay for agent usage. Each AI interaction costs between 1 to 30 cents. For example, an AI answering HR questions might cost $64 per day. The full version, at $30 monthly, puts AI directly inside Microsoft Office apps.
Google's Gemini AI Breaks Visual Barriers with Multi-Stream Processing
Through an experimental app called AnyChat, Gemini can now process live video and static images at the same time. That's something not even ChatGPT can do yet.
"You can now have a real conversation with AI while it processes both your live video feed and any images you want to share," explains Ahsen Khaliq, the creator of AnyChat. This breakthrough opens exciting possibilities. Students can show homework problems while referencing textbooks. Artists can get real-time feedback while comparing their work to reference images.
25 Best Tech I Saw at CES 2025 (Including Lots of AI) - From Skill Leap AI
AI stole the show at CES 2025, where 141,000 people got a glimpse of tomorrow's technology. NVIDIA unveiled Project Digits, a $3,000 desktop AI supercomputer that can run powerful language models locally. The device performs one quadrillion calculations per second – a first for home computing.
AI showed up everywhere: Smart mirrors tracked health stats, robot vacuums grew arms to pick up obstacles, and TVs gained AI features for real-time subtitles and smart home control.
Even everyday items got AI upgrades. From grills that perfect cooking times to paint-shooting security cameras. Holiday's $489 smart glasses impressed crowds with real-time AI translations and displays that look like regular eyewear.
Scammer Uses AI Brad Pitt to Pull Off $850,000 Heist
AI scams are getting smarter and cheaper to run. A French woman lost her life savings to a fake Brad Pitt. The scammer used AI tools that cost just $29 per month.
The scheme mixed several AI technologies. First came AI-generated photos of Brad Pitt. Then came fake love poetry. Finally, the scammer created false medical records showing kidney cancer. This matches how companies now combine different AI tools for maximum impact .
The victim lost $850,000 over two years. She only discovered the truth when she saw the real Brad Pitt on TV. The case shows how AI is changing how criminals work. Even voice cloning could soon make phone scams harder to spot.
AI Gets Too Smart for Its Own Tests: Breaking Every Benchmark in Sight
AI is advancing so fast that experts can't even measure its progress anymore. The latest AI models are acing tests that even PhD students struggle with, scoring above 70% on advanced physics and chemistry exams. OpenAI's newest model, o3, shocked researchers by scoring 88% on a test designed to be extremely difficult.
Three key forces are reshaping AI's impact: decreasing costs (with some tasks dropping below $1,000), better user interfaces, and rapidly increasing intelligence. The challenge? We've run out of human-based benchmarks to test AI's capabilities. When AI masters one test, researchers must create harder ones. This pattern shows no signs of slowing down, despite predictions of AI hitting a progress wall.
This Startup Is Using AI Agents to Flood Reddit With Marketing
A new AI tool is causing a stir in the marketing world. Startup company Astral built AI robots that can write marketing messages on Reddit without getting caught. These smart bots take pictures of web pages and move the mouse just like humans do. They can even solve those tricky "prove you're human" tests.
Astral's founder showed off how the AI finds its way around Reddit and writes sales messages that don't sound too pushy. Not everyone is happy though. Reddit's co-founder responded with a sad Patrick Star gif on X.
Elon Musk's AI Chat Bot Grok Makes Jump from X to iPhone"
Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok is breaking free from X (formerly Twitter) with its own iPhone app. The mobile version runs on the latest Grok-2 model and works in the US, Australia, and India. Users can now get answers to questions, fix their writing, and even create images using AI - all from their phone.
What makes Grok special? It can grab real-time info from both the web and X. It also turns photos into detailed explanations of what your camera sees. While Grok started as a paid feature on X, it now offers a free version. This move puts Grok in direct competition with other AI chat apps like ChatGPT and Google Gemini, showing how the AI chat wars are heating up.
NVIDIA Announces Blueprint for AI Retail Shopping Assistants
NVIDIA just released a guide that helps stores build their own AI shopping assistants. Think of it as a recipe book for making smart helpers that work both online and in real stores. These AI assistants can do some pretty cool things - they can understand pictures and words, help you find multiple items at once, and even show how furniture would look in your home.
SoftServe, a software development company, has already used the blueprint to make an AI helper that lets shoppers try on clothes through chat. The timing is perfect - stores are racing to use AI to help customers shop better. These smart assistants work around the clock, giving every shopper the same great service as a top sales person. They can answer tricky questions about products and suggest items that go well together, helping stores sell more and have fewer returns.
Thanks for reading.
Until next time!
The AI Marketers
P.S. Help shape the future of this newsletter – take a short 2-minute survey so we can deliver even better AI marketing insights, prompts, and tools.
[Take Survey Here]
