In this newsletter:

• Anthropic upgrades Claude free tier with file creation and app connectors
• Facebook adds AI-animated profile photos and story restyling to attract Gen Z
• ByteDance launches Seedance 2.0 for professional text-to-video generation

Plus, you’ll find new AI tools and this week’s top AI news headlines!

🆓 Anthropic Upgrades Claude Free Tier With File Creation And App Connectors

Anthropic is expanding Claude's free tier with file creation, third-party app connections, and custom skills as OpenAI prepares to introduce ads into ChatGPT's free version.

What's new:

• Free Claude users can now create and edit Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, Word docs, and PDFs
• File creation powered by Sonnet 4.5, previously only available to paid users since September
• Connectors let free users link Claude to third-party services, including Canva, Slack, Notion, Zapier, and PayPal
• The Skills feature lets you teach Claude to complete specific tasks in repeatable ways by loading folders of instructions, scripts, and resources
• Longer conversations, interactive responses, improved voice and image search added to the free tier
• Anthropic promises "No ads in sight" and committed last week that Claude will remain ad-free
• Anthropic poked fun at OpenAI's ad move in Super Bowl commercial that also took a swipe at GPT-4o

Why it matters:

Anthropic is directly capitalizing on OpenAI's decision to monetize ChatGPT's free tier with ads by making Claude's free version more capable instead of more annoying.

The timing positions Claude as the ad-free alternative for users who want powerful AI features without sponsored content, betting that keeping the free tier clean while adding premium features will pull users from ChatGPT before ads launch.

👀 Read more about Claude’s free tier upgrades!

📱 Facebook Adds AI-Animated Profile Photos and Story Restyling to Attract Gen Z

Facebook is rolling out AI features that animate profile photos, restyle Stories with themes like anime and ethereal, and add animated backgrounds to text posts as Meta fights to keep its flagship app relevant to younger users.

What's new:

• Animated profile pictures apply motion effects to static photos, making subjects wave, form heart shapes, or wear virtual party hats
• Facebook recommends using a clear photo of a single person facing the camera, pulled from the camera roll or existing platform images
• More animation options coming throughout the year
• "Restyle" tool uses Meta AI to reimagine the look of images in Stories (24-hour photo/video posts) and Memories (posts from the same date in previous years)
• Users tap Restyle after uploading a photo, enter a text prompt, or select a preset theme,s including anime, illustrated, glowy, and ethereal
• Options to adjust moods, lighting, colors, and swap backdrops like beach or cityscape
• Animated backgrounds for text posts accessed via a rainbow "A" icon with a variety of still and animated scenes, like falling leaves or rolling ocean waves
• Seasonal backgrounds coming soon

What’s driving this:

• The platform has 2.1 billion daily active users, but struggles to attract and retain a younger demographic
• Recent updates include friends-only feed, unique display names within Groups, similar to Reddit usernames
• Relaunched the poke feature with a dedicated button on profiles that alerts recipients via notifications
• The platform underwent a youthful redesign and embraced AI technology to appeal to Gen Z

Why it matters:

Facebook is betting AI-powered personalization will make the platform feel fresh to Gen Z users who prefer TikTok and Instagram.

The company is adding features that let users animate photos and apply trending aesthetics, proving Facebook isn't just for their parents.

👀 Read more about Facebook AI features upgrades!

🎬 ByteDance Launches Seedance 2.0 For Professional Text-To-Video Generation

ByteDance's new AI video model is being hailed as China's next DeepSeek moment after generating complex cinematic videos from simple prompts, drawing praise from Elon Musk and racking up millions of views on Weibo.

What's new:

• Seedance 2.0 officially launched on Thursday, designed for professional film, e-commerce, and advertising productions
• Processes text, images, audio, and video simultaneously to lower content creation costs
• Users shared videos showcasing complexity and image quality, no matter how bizarre the prompt
• One 2-minute video depicted Kanye West and Kim Kardashian as characters in an Imperial China palace drama, speaking and singing in Mandarin, viewed around 1 million times on Weibo
• Hashtags related to Seedance 2.0 racked up tens of millions of clicks on Weibo
• Elon Musk replied to a post praising the model on X, writing, "It's happening fast."

The DeepSeek comparison:

• Chinese state-backed Global Times wrote, "Early last year, DeepSeek-R1 sparked heated debate in the U.S. tech community over 'Sputnik moment'"
• "This year, continued breakout success of Seedance 2.0 has given rise to a wave of admiration for China within Silicon Valley."
• State-owned Beijing Daily's hashtag read "from DeepSeek to Seedance, China's AI has succeeded."
• China and investors worldwide are looking for a successor to DeepSeek's R1 and V3 models, whose global debut early in 2025 triggered systemic shock

Why it matters:

Video-generating AI represents the next frontier after text-centric models like ChatGPT and DeepSeek's R1 became widely adopted. Seedance 2.0 processes text, images, audio, and video simultaneously to lower content creation costs for professional film, e-commerce, and advertising.

Chinese state media is framing the viral success as proof of China's AI superiority over Silicon Valley, positioning it as the successor to DeepSeek's disruption of text AI.

👀 Read more about ByteDance's new AI video model!

My Latest LinkedIn & X/Twitter Posts:

• 20 free AI agents for growth marketing & paid media campaigns (view post)
• How to build a verified prospect list in real time (view post)
• 3 levels of expert-level prompting (view post)
• 12 AI skills to future-proof your career in 2026 (view post)
• 10 ChatGPT prompts to replace expensive business consultants (view post)
• The first AI video model that truly gets multi-shot storytelling (view post)
• 10-step roadmap to learn & build AI agents (view post)

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New AI Tools to Boost Your Productivity:

• ​AtomicBot: Deploys a 24/7 AI assistant with one click.
• ​Rocket: Builds production-ready internal tools from text prompts.
• ​Reztune: Rewrites and tailors resumes for specific job applications.
• ​ShortFast: Automatically creates and publishes faceless short-form videos.
• ​Modulate: AI model for understanding the true meaning of every conversation.
• ​VideoLlama: Creates long-form videos from ideas using AI.
• ​Corippl: Connect with creators to cross-promote content and newsletters.
• ​AssetAI: Generates full marketing campaigns from a single brief.
• ​TemVideo: Turns images or footage into UGC-style video ads.
• ​Good Assistant: Helps you plan goals, organize notes, and follow through.
• ​Dokie: Generates presentation slides from text prompts.
• ​HeyFish: Creates AI-generated personalized video ads.
• ​WisprFlow: Voice dictation that writes polished text in any app.
• ​Extracta: Extracts and organizes data from documents using AI.
• ​Mymind: Saves and organizes notes, links, and images automatically.

This Week's Top AI News Headlines:

• Pinterest Says it Now Sees More Searches than ChatGPT Despite Disappointing Earnings, Framing itself as a Visual Discovery Engine Over an AI Chatbot (View Article)
• IBM Launches Program to Hire and Train Entry-Level Talent as AI Automates Routine Work and Reshapes Corporate Hiring Strategies (View Article)
• Didero, a Startup Building Agentic AI to Automate Supplier Sourcing and Purchasing for Manufacturers, Raises $30M to Streamline Procurement Workflows (View Article)
• Spotify Says its Top Developers Haven’t Written Code Since December, Citing AI Tools that Now Generate and Refactor Software (View Article)
• OpenAI Unveils New Codex Version Powered by Dedicated Cerebras Chip to Deliver Faster, Real-Time AI Coding Assistance (View Article)
• OpenAI Disbands Mission Alignment Team Focused on Long-Term AI Safety and Trustworthiness Amid Internal Restructuring (View Article)
• Apple’s Siri Revamp Reportedly Delayed Again as Company Struggles to Modernize Voice Assistant With Advanced AI Capabilities (View Article)
• Uber Eats Launches AI Assistant to Automatically Build Grocery Carts Based on Recipes, Preferences, and Past Orders (View Article)
• Threads Introduces “Dear Algo” AI Feature that Lets Users Personalize their Feed by Directly Telling the Algorithm What They Want to See (View Article)
• Amazon Reportedly Explores Marketplace Where Media Companies Can License News and Content Directly to AI Firms for Training Data (View Article)
• Agentic World Models Add Embodiment and Psychological Grounding to Improve AI-Generated Mental Health Advice (View Article)
• AI Tools Help Digital Creators Scale Sales and Marketing While Preserving Personalized Customer Engagement (View Article)
• Elon Musk Unveils “Moonbase Alpha” as New Vision for SpaceX and xAI, Blending Space Ambitions With Artificial Intelligence Strategy (View Article)

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Have a wonderful week!

Andrew Bolis