Google is shutting down its custom Gemini assistants, Gems, and replacing them with a new skills system starting November 17, 2026. The company will automatically migrate user-created setups to the new format, which will be activated by typing a forward slash in task threads instead of chatting with standalone bots.
Tapkit just launched a Mac app that gives AI agents like Claude and Codex eyes and hands on a physical iPhone. It interacts using screenshots, taps, and typing without requiring jailbreaks or mobile installs. Agents connect via MCP or REST APIs, and you can intervene whenever needed.
Manus just rolled out Manus 2.0, powered by its new Cascade framework that cuts token usage and slashes runtime costs by 32%. The update revamps its desktop app into Manus Studio for timeline-based video editing and game creation, while introducing Cue—a standalone app where personal agents get their own phone numbers, emails, and wallets to run tasks collaboratively. Why it matters: Manus is moving beyond chat prompts into full-blown production environments and persistent autonomous agents.
xAI just rolled out Team Bots in public beta, letting coworkers share AI teammates that pool company context, tools, and workflows without exposing private chat histories. Each bot can plug directly into Slack to handle morning briefings, bug triage, and cross-warehouse queries. Why it matters: Instead of every employee building isolated AI assistants, team knowledge finally stays in one persistent place.
Anthropic just gave Claude Code a graceful wrap-up feature when hitting the 5-hour limit mid-task. Instead of abruptly aborting edits, it borrows a small allowance from your weekly quota to package up ongoing work cleanly. Pro plans get it weekly, while Max and Team users get it on every limit trigger.
Microsoft just overhauled Copilot with three major capabilities: Home, Code, and Autopilot. Home unifies chat, delegated tasks, and full Office apps, while Code lets anyone build custom tools and workflows using natural language. Autopilot acts as a persistent digital teammate that works autonomously across Teams and Outlook even while you are away. The features are rolling out via Frontier and private preview.
ElevenLabs just launched a student tier offering college students in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and the EU three months of free access to its creative suite, agents platform, and APIs, alongside a free year of ElevenReader Ultra. The move aims to put professional-grade voice AI into the hands of young builders and researchers, with broader international rollout planned next.
Anthropic just launched a plugin submission portal that lets paid Claude developers publish third-party extensions directly to the Claude directory. Creators can submit standalone MCP connectors or full GitHub-hosted skill bundles, complete with automated safety checks, review tracking, and post-launch analytics. It basically turns Claude and Claude Code into a unified ecosystem for agentic tools.
Alibaba just unveiled an agentic hardware lineup at the 2026 Apsara Conference, headlined by Qwen Book, a computer running an agent-native OS that lets models control apps and cloud tools. The launch also includes eye-tracking Qwen Glasses, Bose-partnered AI earbuds, and the QwenNote A2 voice recorder. It marks a major push to embed autonomous AI agents straight into personal devices.
Google just rolled out its AI-powered virtual closet to all Google Photos users in the U.S., Brazil, and India across iOS and Android. The feature automatically indexes the clothes you wear in photos so you can mix and match outfits, and Google says your style data won't be shared with retailers.
Anthropic just upgraded Claude Tag in Slack to support personal connectors. Individual team members can now have Claude pull from their private Google Drive, calendar, or CRM directly inside a channel thread, with an optional review mode before anything posts. The update is live for Team plans, with Enterprise rolling out next.
Meta just introduced Horizon Create and Horizon Studio, two agentic AI tools that turn plain text prompts into playable 2D and 3D games with multiplayer and progression systems. Projects sync seamlessly between mobile and web, and publish directly into feeds on Facebook and Instagram without extra downloads. Early access waitlists are open now.
Anthropic just introduced cloud sessions for Claude Code, letting developers offload heavy tasks to the cloud with `claude --cloud`. Sessions continue running even if you close your laptop, and you can pull them back to your local terminal anytime with `--teleport`. It is now available across Pro, Max, and Enterprise plans.
Scale AI just added computer use to its Muse app for Mac, letting users queue up tasks and walk away while the system keeps working unattended. Alexandr Wang announced the update, positioning it for long-running workflows. Why it matters: Desktop AI agents are shifting from active chat assistants into background workers that grind through chores on their own.
Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang just announced that its Muse AI assistant is getting its own dedicated email address. Users can now loop Muse directly into email threads or forward messages to let it handle tasks automatically. It shifts the assistant beyond dedicated interfaces straight into daily email workflows.
Spotify just integrated with Meta's Muse personal agent, letting users queue audio, build custom playlists, and discover podcasts purely through conversation. It can also sync with your calendar to automatically trigger playlists for road trips or morning workouts. Why it matters: AI agents are shifting from passive chat interfaces into active background orchestrators for your daily routines.
OpenAI just rolled out a major ChatGPT Voice upgrade worldwide, letting users connect tools like email, calendar, and Slack while running on new GPT-6 models. It also integrates into ChatGPT Work across web and mobile, enabling users to build docs, decks, sites, and spreadsheets purely by speaking.
Google just rolled out a new wave of Connected Apps for Gemini, integrating third-party services across productivity (Airtable, Linear), creativity (Adobe, Webflow), and lifestyle (Peloton). Users can link tools in settings or summon them directly with an @ mention in chat, eliminating the need to tab-switch.
Google just released six creative workflow tools inside Google Flow, built in partnership with professional designers and filmmakers. The lineup includes multi-track sound effect generator Mondo Sónico, real-time 3D texture mapper Surface, and SwissFlow Studio for turning scripts into motion graphics. Creators can test them immediately or describe what they need to build their own tools.
YouTube just rolled out a suite of AI features for creators, bringing Gemini conversational editing straight into Shorts and the YouTube Create app. Creators can now chat with the assistant to trim clips and sync music to the beat, test up to three video cuts to see which hook works best, and lean on expanded voice detection to fight deepfakes. It basically turns YouTube Studio into an on-demand production partner.
YouTube just unveiled Ask Music, an in-app conversational feature that lets listeners explore its massive catalog, customize queues, and dig into artist lore via chat. Subscribers also get a personalized AI audio guide that delivers weekly spoken previews of recommended podcasts hands-free. It basically turns music streaming into an interactive, voice-driven radio tailored to your taste.
Spotify just rolled out Taste Profile in beta to U.S. Premium subscribers aged 18 and older, letting listeners literally tell the app how to fix their Home feed. You can now see how Spotify interprets your taste across music, podcasts, and audiobooks, and type natural language notes to request new genres or purge unwanted topics within hours.
Meta just rolled out a major update to its Meta Ray-Ban Display smart glasses. The glasses now offer landmark-based walking directions—telling you to turn at recognizable spots like a yellow house instead of street names—along with cycling and transit routes. A new Hologram feature creates a photorealistic digital avatar driven entirely by your voice for WhatsApp calls, eliminating awkward angles while cooking or multitasking. The update also brings Dolby Atmos recording and expands to five new countries.
Meta just expanded its smart glasses lineup at Connect, headlined by the camera-free Ray-Ban Meta Audio and the upgraded Ray-Ban Meta Gen 3. The 43-gram Audio frame lasts 12 hours on a charge and starts at $349, while Gen 3 brings 3K video with a 12 MP camera for $449. Meta also introduced designer collabs and an entry-level style starting at $249.
Rabbit just rolled out OS3, an agentic operating system that runs complex tasks across up to five connected machines from a single chat window. Powered by its DLAM tech, the system can autonomously browse, control desktop apps, and execute code on Windows, Mac, or Linux. Best of all, it supports bring-your-own-key flexibility for frontier models.
Meta’s latest AI app, Muse, is racking up early mobile wins against ChatGPT, according to Apptopia estimates. In its first 12 days, Muse hit 1.8M iOS downloads in the U.S. and Canada compared to ChatGPT’s 1.3M at launch, alongside 642,000 U.S. daily active users. Why it matters: Meta's cross-promotion muscle is flexing again, with 95% of Muse users crossing over from Facebook.
ElevenLabs just launched Studio 4.0, turning its editor into an all-in-one AI production suite. Creators can now generate video, images, sound effects, music, and voiceovers across 32+ languages directly on the timeline without switching tools. It also adds Studio Agent, an AI co-editor that drafts rough cuts and syncs audio frame by frame.
ElevenLabs just introduced Studio 4.0, an all-in-one AI audio editor designed for podcasters and video creators. The platform features over 10,000 voices, background music generation, and instant speech correction that regenerates cloned audio simply by editing the script. It also adds Studio Agent, a co-editor that drafts scripts and arranges sound effects from a single prompt.
Anthropic just added support for OpenAI's AGENTS.md standard in Claude Code version 2.1.277. If a project lacks a CLAUDE.md file, Claude Code will now automatically fall back to AGENTS.md, with behavior configurable via /config. Why it matters: Developers juggling multiple coding assistants no longer need messy symlinks or duplicate instruction files across repos.
Alexandr Wang just launched Muse for Mac, an AI agent capable of handling tasks across your files, messages, calendar, and notes directly on your computer. You keep full control over data access, and it requires explicit confirmation before executing any sensitive actions.
OpenAI just launched an official ChatGPT add-in for Microsoft Word, available globally across all free and paid plans. You can now draft, rewrite, and format documents right inside Word, while pulling context directly from connected tools like Outlook, SharePoint, and Google Workspace.
xAI's Grok just added a voice mode, rolling out across desktop and mobile apps over the next couple of days. The update lets users talk back and forth with the chatbot rather than just typing, bringing it in line with competitors like ChatGPT and Gemini that already offer hands-free voice chat.
Google Labs just upgraded CC into a shared household agent that helps up to six family members manage schedules and daily chores. Powered by Gemini and the Antigravity harness, CC gets its own verified account to turn shared emails into a morning brief and fill out activity forms. Why it matters: Google is quietly turning autonomous agents from workplace tools into personal household coordinators.
OpenAI just launched Astra for Law, a specialized AI platform built on GPT-6 Astra designed for law firms and legal tech vendors. It pairs the model with a legal search index spanning over 230 million URLs and 99.9% of US precedential case law, boosting legal research correctness by 40% over standard web search. The offering is initially rolling out to select firms with strict data privacy controls.
Anthropic just overhauled Projects in Claude Code into an agentic coordinator for complex workflows. You describe an objective, and Claude scopes the work, spins up parallel cloud threads across different branches or repositories, runs tests, and opens PRs while maintaining shared project memory. It is currently rolling out in beta to select Claude Pro and Max subscribers.
Muse just expanded its beta to support outbound phone calls to US businesses, rolling out one of its most heavily requested features yet. Early access was prioritized for users who previously told the assistant they wanted phone capabilities. Having AI agents actually dial real-world businesses bridges the gap between digital chats and everyday tasks like making reservations or checking inventory.
Google just rolled out early access to an MCP server for Google Home, letting external AI agents like Claude and ChatGPT control your connected devices and check camera history. It gives everyday LLMs real hands to run your smart home. The catch is that it's currently limited to U.S. users on the $20-a-month Google Home Premium Advanced plan.
Amazon just launched its conversational assistant Alexa+ in India in Early Access, adding full support for Hindi and English. The assistant can smoothly handle mid-sentence language switches and plugs straight into popular local services like Swiggy and MakeMyTrip. After the preview period, Prime subscribers will get it for free, while non-Prime users will pay ₹2,000 per month.
xAI just rolled out persistent memory for its agentic coding tool Grok Build, ending the pain of re-explaining project rules in every new chat. After each turn, Grok quietly reviews the interaction in the background and writes key conventions and architectural decisions into Markdown files. When you start fresh sessions, it reads those topic files before touching related code—and you can inspect or organize everything with simple /memory and /dream commands.
Anthropic just merged Claude Cowork and chat into a single surface, so you no longer have to decide where a task belongs. Alongside the merger, it launched Claude Docs and Claude Slides in beta, allowing Claude to draft documents, build slides, and export them as PowerPoint or PDF directly inside any conversation. The update is rolling out to Pro and Max subscribers first over the next few weeks.
Google just rolled out a major update to Gemini Notebook, adding real-time voice conversations grounded in your uploaded sources across nearly 100 languages on mobile. The update also adds lecture audio recording, customizable quizzes and flashcards, and 60-second animated study videos in 80+ languages—plus free premium plan subscriptions for eligible college students worldwide.
Meta just launched Meta One, a tiered subscription service starting at $2.99 a month across Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Meta AI. The bundle unlocks heavy AI usage like Muse-powered video generation and 24/7 Meta Business Agents, while keeping the core apps free.
Sakana AI just updated its autonomous research platform, Sakana Marlin, with Interactive Reading and editable PowerPoint export. Users can now question an AI agent about generated reports, jump directly to exact source passages behind citations, and download slides fitted to company templates. The update targets the post-research bottleneck: actually digesting dozens of AI-generated pages and communicating them clearly.
Anthropic just launched Salesforce in Claude, a new beta plugin packing 37 sales skills to automate daily CRM chores. Connected with Salesforce and Slack, Claude can prep call briefs, score deals, draft follow-ups, and update CRM records with a single click. The tool is now available across all paid Claude plans.
Anthropic just expanded Claude for Small Business, adding 43 ready-to-run workflows and 27 integrations with apps like Shopify, Stripe, and Zapier. Driven by feedback from 1,000 founders, Claude now tackles lead gen and sales proposals alongside back-office tasks. Why it matters: Small teams can now automate heavy cross-app workflows without needing dedicated technical staff.
Cline just launched Cline Desktop for macOS and Windows, a dedicated environment for running open-weight AI models. Users can tap free models via ClinePass or plug in their own API keys. It also packs scheduled agent runs, an MCP server marketplace, and cross-tool task imports, streamlining developer workflows.
Perplexity just launched Portable Computer on Windows, bringing its multi-step agent to NVIDIA GeForce RTX PCs and RTX PRO workstations with 24GB+ VRAM. It runs models like Qwen 3.8 27B entirely on-device, letting you analyze files and connect to tools like Slack and GitHub without leaking data or burning cloud credits.
ElevenLabs just upgraded its MCP connector to generate voice, music, sound effects, images, and video directly inside Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor. Powered by over 50 models, it requires only a single OAuth login instead of API keys, syncing every asset straight into your ElevenCreative workspace for post-production.
Apple just rolled out Siri AI alongside the next generation of Apple Intelligence, rebuilding its assistant to tap into personal context across messages, mail, and on-screen content. It can now take multi-step actions across third-party apps and sync chats across devices in a dedicated Siri app. The beta is live today in English.
Anthropic just launched Claude for Financial Advisors, plugging straight into custodians like Charles Schwab and BlackRock to automate tedious desk work. Built-in skills draft recap notes, review portfolio drift, and screen text against SEC rules, freeing up hours while leaving human advisors in full control of every recommendation.
ElevenLabs just rolled out Music v2.5, making it the new default engine inside ElevenMusic. The updated model produces noticeably richer arrangements and more authentic instrumentation, coming out on top across 47,885 blind prompt pairs. Even better: every plan now includes lossless downloads and full commercial rights, though tracks referencing existing artists remain blocked from export.
Meta just pushed its new agentic AI app Muse to the No. 2 spot on the U.S. App Store, racking up over 83,000 iOS downloads since Tuesday. While it trails the explosive launch of Threads, Meta is betting big that task-oriented consumer agents are the next frontier, directly challenging rivals like the $2.5B startup Instinct.
Google Labs just expanded Dreambeans to all U.S. users aged 18 and older on Android and iOS. The app synthesizes personal data from Calendar, Gmail, YouTube, and Gemini into customized daily story collections, even weaving in family photos from Google Photos. It essentially turns your daily digital trail into a personalized illustrated magazine.
Google just launched a dedicated Gemini app for Windows 10 and 11, bringing its AI directly to the PC desktop. Users can summon it over active windows with Alt + Space, trigger multi-step agents linked to Gmail and Drive, and generate images or videos without switching tools. It makes Google's flagship AI as accessible as a system shortcut, taking the fight straight to Microsoft's Copilot.
OpenAI just launched the public beta of its Agents API, giving developers access to the exact same harness and infrastructure powering Codex. You can spin up production-ready agents via a single API call with automatic context compaction, parallel subagents, and managed sandboxes at no added fee beyond standard token costs.
OpenAI just launched ChatGPT for Financial Services, a tailored workspace built for investment banking and equity research teams. Powered by GPT-6 Astra, it bakes in data from PitchBook and LSEG, offers granular citation tracing to source filings, and automates valuation models.
OpenAI just launched a Data agent inside ChatGPT Work, letting business teams analyze corporate data and generate interactive dashboards through plain conversation. It plugs into databases like Snowflake, BigQuery, and Redshift without requiring users to write queries. Why it matters: It turns everyday employees into data analysts and can trigger follow-ups across Slack or email.
Apple just confirmed that its delayed Siri AI assistant will launch in beta on September 14 alongside iOS 27, complete with daily server usage caps and plans for future paid tiers. The initial release only supports English, blocks users under 13, and is unavailable in mainland China. Why it matters: Apple's personal assistant overhaul is finally arriving, but cloud compute constraints mean free, unlimited access is officially off the table.
California Governor Gavin Newsom just launched AskCA, an AI-powered state assistant built on Anthropic's Claude model. Designed around real-life events like disaster recovery, starting a business, or finding state jobs, it aims to replace bureaucratic mazes with a single conversational entry point. California residents aged 18 and older can sign up today to test the beta ahead of a broader rollout.
Instacart just launched Clementine, an AI shopping assistant that turns everyday chat, recipes, and even photos of handwritten notes into ready-to-buy carts. It suggests budget-friendly meals, surfaces deals, and tailors picks to dietary needs. The move aims to solve the nightly meal debate inside the app before users turn to ChatGPT.
Apple just unveiled the Apple Watch Series 12 and a redesigned Health app powered by Apple Intelligence. The update introduces high-frequency heart tracking, a 0–10 daily readiness score, and camera-based home movement evaluations. Why it matters: Wearables are shifting from passive tracking to proactive AI coaching that turns raw metrics into daily actions.
