IKEA just launched an official AI assistant exclusively in OpenAI's GPT Store to help users design their living spaces. You can tell it your room dimensions, style, and budget, and it will browse the catalog to suggest matching furniture and check local stock. It is currently limited to ChatGPT Plus subscribers in the U.S., with plans to expand globally.
Adobe just launched a purpose-built Firefly app for the Apple Vision Pro, bringing its generative AI directly into spatial computing. Wearers can generate four images from a prompt and pull them straight into their physical room to hang on walls like posters. Access is free until March, with 360-degree panoramas on the roadmap.
Hugging Face just launched Hugging Chat Assistants, a free open-source alternative to OpenAI's custom GPTs. Users can build tailored chatbots in two clicks and swap in underlying open models like Llama 2 or Mixtral. Why it matters: It completely breaks the $20 monthly paywall for custom bots, though it currently lacks native web search and RAG support.
Amazon just launched Rufus, a generative AI shopping assistant built directly into its mobile app. Powered by an internal LLM trained on Amazon's product catalog and web data, it handles product comparisons, recommendations, and buying queries via voice or text. It is rolling out to select U.S. beta users first with no ads at launch.
The Browser Company just revealed its AI-driven roadmap for the Arc desktop browser. Features like Instant Links skip search engines entirely by opening relevant tabs directly from your query, while Live Folders automatically pulls in live feeds. It is also prepping Arc Explore, bringing automated AI web research to the desktop.
Google is bringing generative AI to Google Maps, letting users discover places using natural conversational queries like "places with a vintage vibe in SF." The feature analyzes data across 250 million locations and 300 million Local Guides contributors. It is rolling out first to select Local Guides in the US before expanding.
Google just added AI image generation to its Bard chatbot, letting users create pictures for free using its Imagen 2 model. Unlike ChatGPT Plus, which locks DALL-E 3 behind a paid subscription, Bard offers it at no cost, complete with invisible SynthID watermarks. Why it matters: Google is making top-tier image gen accessible to everyone, though image prompts are currently limited to English.
Shopify just added a generative AI image editor and semantic search to its Shopify Magic suite. Merchants can swap photo backgrounds with simple text prompts without touching Photoshop, and shoppers can search using natural conversational language. It rolls out for free this spring—a huge lift for solo sellers without a studio budget.
Google just rolled out its "Circle to Search" AI feature to Pixel 8 and 8 Pro phones, following its debut on the Galaxy S24. Users can long-press the home button or navigation bar within any app, circle or highlight anything on screen, and refine their search with text prompts without jumping between apps.
OpenAI just rolled out a feature allowing paid ChatGPT users to tag in custom GPTs into any conversation by simply typing "@". The summoned GPT inherits the full chat context, making it easy to seamlessly chain different tools together. OpenAI is looking to boost adoption for its GPT Store, where custom GPTs currently drive under 3% of web traffic.
Yelp just rolled out an AI-powered review summary feature on iOS that sits right near the top of business pages. Using LLMs, it parses customer feedback to highlight popular dishes, vibe, and pricing, saving you from scrolling through hundreds of comments. Why it matters: It cuts down decision fatigue when dining out, though it is currently limited to food and nightlife spots.
The Browser Company just launched Arc Search on iOS, combining mobile browsing, web search, and generative AI into one clean app. Tapping its "Browse for me" button has the AI crawl half a dozen sources and build a custom, neatly formatted webpage answering your query instead of returning blue links. Why it matters: It rethinks the browser from the ground up, though questions around publisher sourcing and accuracy remain.
Apple is rolling out automated transcripts across Apple Podcasts in the iOS 17.4 beta, powered by its machine learning models. Beta testers report that nearly all shows in Apple's network now display full text. Episodes added via external URLs are currently excluded, with a general release expected in March.
Brave just upgraded its built-in browser assistant Leo, making Mistral's open-source Mixtral 8x7B the default model for all users. The upgrade brings sharper coding, larger context handling, and fewer hallucinations, all while maintaining Brave's strict privacy setup that discards chats immediately without requiring a login. Free users get access with rate limits, while Premium subscribers get higher usage caps.
Google just launched Art Selfie 2, upgrading its classic museum feature with generative AI. Instead of just finding existing portrait lookalikes, the tool blends your selfie into over 25 historical and artistic styles—from Monet's garden to medieval armor—while serving up bite-sized cultural history lessons as it generates.
Google just introduced three experimental generative AI features in Chrome M121 for Mac and Windows. The browser can now automatically organize and label chaotic tabs, generate custom browser themes via text-to-image prompts, and soon assist with writing across web text fields. Why it matters: Google is steadily turning the world's most dominant browser into a native AI workstation for everyday tasks.
Google just integrated its Gemini model into Google Ads, letting marketers build Search campaigns through a chat interface. Simply drop in a landing page URL, and the conversational assistant generates relevant keywords, headlines, and ad copy. Google says small advertisers using the tool are 42% more likely to build campaigns with top ad ratings. It's now in open beta for English advertisers in the US and UK.
ElevenLabs just secured an $80M Series B round co-led by Andreessen Horowitz, officially crossing into unicorn territory. Alongside the cash infusion, the voice AI leader unveiled Dubbing Studio for full-length films, a marketplace that lets creators monetize their verified AI voices, and an upcoming mobile reader app.
Researchers at the University of Chicago just released Nightshade v1.0, a free desktop tool designed to fight unauthorized AI training. It subtly alters pixels so that while images look normal to human eyes, an AI scraping them sees something totally different—like a cow morphing into a handbag. The goal is to make scraping uncorrupted data too costly to ignore.
Microsoft just rolled out a batch of AI updates for education, led by a revamped Reading Coach that creates dynamic, choose-your-own-adventure style practice stories using generative AI. It is free for anyone with a Microsoft account across the web and Windows. The company also removed the 300-seat minimum for Copilot for Microsoft 365 for qualifying educators.
Amazon just rolled out a generative AI feature in its mobile app that answers questions about specific products in seconds. Instead of making you scroll through hundreds of reviews, it summarizes the listing and customer feedback directly. It won't chat with you or answer random trivia, keeping the focus strictly on shopping.
Adobe just introduced new AI-powered audio editing features to the Premiere Pro public beta, including smart category tagging and interactive fade handles on the timeline. Its popular Enhanced Speech tool, which automatically scrubs background noise from dialogue, will roll out to all users in February.
Microsoft just launched Copilot Pro, a $20 monthly subscription that brings generative AI features into Office apps for everyday consumers. The tier grants priority access to OpenAI's GPT-4 Turbo during peak hours and custom Copilot GPT creation. The catch: unlocking it inside Word, Excel, or PowerPoint still requires a separate Microsoft 365 subscription.
