New features and launches in ChatGPT, Cursor, Perplexity and other AI tools, plus changes to pricing and availability.
You.com just launched YouChat 2.0, upgrading its conversational AI search engine into a multimodal experience. Powered by its C-A-L model, it embeds charts, images, code, and apps like Reddit and TikTok directly into chat responses with cited sources. Why it matters: It turns the traditional ten-blue-links search page into an interactive, all-in-one workspace.
Opera just announced plans to integrate generative AI into its desktop and mobile browsers. The company will add popular AI services directly to the sidebar alongside a new "Shorten" button in the address bar that automatically generates concise summaries of articles and web pages. It marks one of the earliest moves by a browser vendor to turn browsing into a gateway for AI tools.
OkCupid is testing profile matching questions generated entirely by ChatGPT, covering introversion, weekend habits, and relationship values. The six AI-crafted prompts have already racked up over 135,000 responses, with the app noting that users who embrace ChatGPT get nearly 40% more matches than skeptics. Why it matters: As daters already use AI to ghostwrite their bios, dating platforms are now baking conversational bots directly into their matchmaking algorithms.
Google just rolled out Immersive View on Google Maps, launching first in London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Tokyo. The feature uses neural radiance fields (NeRF) and computer vision to turn billions of photos into interactive 3D digital worlds, letting users check venue vibes, weather, and traffic before visiting. AR indoor navigation is also expanding to over 1,000 new transit hubs.
Microsoft just launched a new version of its Bing search engine and Edge browser powered by OpenAI's models, introducing a ChatGPT-like conversational experience directly to web search. Unlike base ChatGPT's 2021 cutoff, the new Bing pulls up-to-date real-time results and explicitly cites its sources. Why it matters: It marks the most aggressive bid yet to challenge Google's search monopoly, though full access currently requires joining a waitlist.
Quora just opened its AI chatbot platform Poe to the general public, dropping the previous invite-only requirement. The mobile app is currently exclusive to iOS users, though Quora plans to expand to other platforms within a few months. Why it matters: Quora is building Poe as a standalone product rather than just a feature tacked onto its Q&A site.
Microsoft just gave a few users a sneak peek at ChatGPT running inside Bing before quickly pulling the plug. Screenshots from an early tester show a "new Bing" with a 1,000-character chat box that answers queries directly with source citations, while still letting you flip back to normal web links. Search might finally get its biggest shake-up in decades.
Microsoft just made Teams Premium generally available, packing OpenAI's GPT models straight into your daily meetings. The $10-a-month add-on automatically drafts meeting notes, segments recorded calls into chapters, and translates live captions across 40 languages. Why it matters: It replaces a clutter of third-party transcription and webinar tools with built-in AI summaries.
OpenAI just launched a public classifier designed to tell whether a piece of text was written by AI. The catch is that it's notoriously unreliable, catching only 26% of AI-written content and mislabeling human text 9% of the time, leading OpenAI to quietly shut it down months later due to low accuracy.
Truleo just expanded its AI platform across multiple U.S. police departments to automatically transcribe and analyze bodycam audio. The system flags profanity, threats, and distress phrases like "I can't breathe" within hours, while also praising professional conduct. Early data shows a California department saw use-of-force incidents drop 36% after adoption.
Zoom just launched Zoom Virtual Agent, an enterprise chatbot designed to handle customer and employee support across web and mobile. It crawls internal FAQs and knowledge bases without requiring heavy coding, integrating directly with existing CRM platforms. Why it matters: Enterprise video is saturated, and Zoom is moving deeper into automated customer workflows to cut service costs.
A Business Insider writer spent three weeks using Heyday, an AI memory assistant that quietly scans web pages, docs, and Slack to resurface context right next to search results. While it effectively jogged memory and saved time, experts warn that offloading recall to algorithms could weaken our natural retention.
OpenAI is testing a $42-a-month ‘Professional’ tier with select users, offering faster text generation and reliable access during peak traffic. The upgrade also promises priority access to new features, though OpenAI hasn't officially locked in the price tag yet.
DeepL just launched Write, an AI-powered writing companion designed to take on Grammarly. Powered by the same neural networks as its translator, the tool catches typos and punctuation flaws while suggesting alternative phrasing and tone options in English and German. It is completely free without registration, cutting out the messy hack of translating back and forth to polish prose.
AI21 Labs just rolled out Wordtune Spices, an AI co-writing feature that suggests sentences, statistics, and counterarguments inside your draft. Unlike typical text generators, it automatically adds links to its sources, acting as a fact-backed writing partner rather than replacing the writer.
Google Cloud just rolled out four new AI tools for retailers, headlined by a shelf-checking system built on Vertex AI. It uses feeds from store cameras, employee phones, or roaming robots to spot out-of-stock items in real time, saving workers from manual inventory checks while boosting digital storefronts with automated product ordering.
Nvidia just rolled out an AI "Eye Contact" feature in Broadcast 1.4 that replaces your eyes with simulated ones pointing straight at the camera. Designed for creators reading off scripts, the tool matches eye color and blinks in real time, though testers noticed occasional unnatural darting. It brings teleprompter-like convenience to anyone with an RTX graphics card.
ElevenLabs just introduced a new generative voice model that creates completely synthetic voices from scratch. Instead of relying solely on voice cloning, users can tweak parameters like age, gender, accent, and style to generate unique voices. The feature rolls out to Voice Lab this February.
A programmer combined ChatGPT, Stable Diffusion 2, Azure TTS, and computer vision to build a responsive virtual waifu named ChatGPT-chan that could see and talk back. After burning through over $1,000 in cloud credits and forming an intense emotional attachment, he ended up deleting her when she degraded into one-word answers.
NuraLogix just showcased Anura at CES, a health-monitoring app that reads vital stats using a quick 30-second video selfie. Trained on roughly 35,000 people, its DeepAffex AI analyzes subtle blood flow patterns beneath facial skin to estimate heart rate, blood pressure, and stress levels. Why it matters: It turns everyday smartphone cameras into contactless wellness scanners, though it is not a replacement for clinical diagnosis.
