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In this newsletter:
- Perplexity’s personal computer is now available to all Mac users
- Gmail’s AI can now write emails in your voice, and it’s available to most users
- Claude now works across Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and Outlook with shared context
Plus, you’ll find new AI tools and this week’s top AI news headlines!
💻 Perplexity's Personal Computer Now Available to All Mac Users
Perplexity opened Personal Computer to all Mac users through its desktop app, removing the waitlist requirement and expanding access beyond Max subscribers.
What's new:
- Available now to all Mac users via the new Perplexity Mac app (requires Pro or Max subscription to use Personal Computer feature)
- Previously limited to Perplexity Max subscribers with a waitlist
- AI agents access local files, native Mac apps, connectors, and the web to handle multi-step workflows
- Works with local files, native Mac apps, and operates on the web
- Orchestrates tools, files, uses over 400 connectors, leverages personal context
- Runs in a secure development environment on Perplexity's servers
- If paired with Perplexity's Comet web browser, it operates web-based tools without direct connectors
How it works:
- Designed to run autonomous agents on an always-on device like a Mac Mini
- Can be accessed remotely from an iPhone to initiate tasks or approve requests
- Can compare two files from different apps or pull notes from one app to create a draft in another
- Works across spreadsheets, documents, and projects with many different materials
Security vs OpenClaw:
- Positioned as a safer alternative to OpenClaw, which presented several security risks due to elevated permissions
- Perplexity claims Personal Computer offers users a safer AI-enabled computing environment
Availability:
- New Mac app available as a direct download only, not in the Mac App Store
- Older Mac apps will be shut down in the coming weeks so that the team can focus on the Personal Computer app
Why it matters:
Perplexity is betting that Mac users will pay for a safer AI agent rather than use free tools like OpenClaw, which have security problems.
The quick rollout from waitlist to everyone suggests Perplexity thinks it can win users before Apple releases its own AI features later this year, though charging a monthly fee tests whether people care enough about security to pay for something they can get free elsewhere.
👀 Read more about Perplexity Personal Computer!
📧 Gmail's AI Now Writes in Your Voice, and It's Available to Most Users
Google expanded Gmail's upgraded "Help me write" AI tool to more Workspace and Google One AI Premium users, with features that adapt to your writing style and pull information from Drive.
What's new:
- Available to Workspace Business (Starter, Standard, Plus), Enterprise, Education, and Frontline users with the Gemini add-on, and Google One AI Premium users
- Could take up to 15 days to appear in accounts
- Topic contextualization lets AI use information from Google Drive and Gmail based on what you ask
- Example: Write "include the budget numbers from last month's deck," AI finds and adds that information without switching tabs
- Tone and style personalization looks at past sent emails and matches your writing style
- If you write short messages to the team or in a formal style for leadership, AI adjusts to fit
- Drafts sound like you instead of using a generic tone
Why it matters:
Gmail is addressing the biggest complaint about AI-written emails - that everyone can tell a robot wrote them - by analyzing your sent folder to copy your actual voice, removing the need to heavily edit every AI draft.
The Drive pull-through means you can stop copying and pasting numbers or facts from documents into emails manually, though giving Google's AI permission to read through your entire sent history and Drive files raises the question of how much access to your work life you're willing to trade for convenience.
👀 Read more about Google Gmail's upgrade!
📊 Claude Now Works Across Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and Outlook With Shared Context
Anthropic made Claude for Microsoft 365 generally available on all paid plans, letting users work across Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and Outlook with conversation context that carries between all four apps.
What's new:
- Claude for Excel, PowerPoint, and Word is generally available on all paid plans
- Claude for Outlook in beta on all paid plans
- One conversation across all apps, with context carried from Outlook to Word to Excel to PowerPoint
- Every edit is reviewable with tracked changes in Word, highlighted cells in Excel, and drafts that wait in Outlook
- Uses your templates and formatting, including heading styles, slide masters, formula conventions, and numbering
- Can drop a PDF or a doc into any sidebar, Claude reads it alongside the open file and references it in other apps
- Turn workflows into Skills that the team can use the same way in all four apps
- Deploy through Microsoft Foundry, Amazon Bedrock, or Google Cloud Vertex AI
- Available as a direct install from Microsoft Marketplace
What it can do:
- Sort through email, open brief in Word, build model in Excel, make PowerPoint deck, draft review invite with context carried across each step
- Ask about any cell, update assumptions without breaking formulas, and build models from scratch in Excel
- Build slides in your template, edit what you've selected, generate native charts and diagrams in PowerPoint
- Edit with tracked changes, respond to comment threads, and update content using company styles in Word
- Sort through inbox in one prompt, draft replies that wait for you to send, find time across calendars in Outlook (beta)
- Pull context from outside sources directly from the sidebar with connectors
Customer feedback:
- Deloitte: "Claude enables seamless transition from rough ideas to polished, branded deliverables across presentation, document, and spreadsheet applications."
- Bain & Co: "Allows my teams to build an initial version of complex models faster, enabling them to focus on refining, pressure testing, and exploring more scenarios."
- ServiceNow: "Claude does the work in Excel itself, instead of asking us to move content between tools, driving step change in productivity."
- BCI: "We can instruct Claude to build a style guide from an executive's prior written communications so our EAs can draft their emails in their voice."
- Citadel: "Analysts are using it to build and update coverage models, separate signal from noise, and pressure-test their work."
Why it matters:
Claude is eliminating the context-switching tax where workers waste hours re-explaining the same information as they move between Office apps, positioning itself as the connective tissue inside Microsoft 365 rather than a separate tool.
The move puts Anthropic in direct competition with Microsoft's own Copilot inside Microsoft's flagship product, betting that superior context memory and template preservation will convince enterprises to pay for Claude subscriptions even when Copilot comes bundled with their Office licenses.
👀 Read more about Claude's Microsoft 365 integration!
My Latest LinkedIn & X/Twitter Posts:
- 3 ways you can use AI in your workflows (view post)
- 10 ChatGPT prompts to replace expensive business consultants (view post)
- 12 prompts that turn ChatGPT into your thinking coach (view post)
- 20 ChatGPT prompts to supercharge your business (view post)
- Prompting cheat sheet for ChatGPT, Perplexity Grok & Gemini (view post)
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New AI Tools to Boost Your Productivity:
- Kairval: Generates videos from text prompts.
- AI Image to Video: Converts images into videos with AI.
- PostMentor: Improves LinkedIn posts and drafts.
- MotionGen: Provides templates for AI motion and animation creation.
- Reloop: Generates video ads with AI avatars.
- Mironik: Builds websites with AI and a visual editor.
- Kinetik: Creative agent for Instagram builders.
- TikTok Transcript Generator: Generates transcripts from TikTok videos.
- Zetane: Automates document processing and analysis.
- ReadingScan: Explains medical reports and scans in plain language.
- EcomBriefs: Identifies issues affecting ecommerce traffic and sales.
- AdKit: Manages Meta ad campaigns with AI agents.
- Vid2Prompt: Turns videos into prompts, transcripts, and scene breakdowns.
- GigForge: Platform for freelancers, hiring, and AI-assisted portfolios.
This Week's Top AI News Headlines:
- OpenAI Launches New Voice Intelligence Features in its API, Giving Developers More Natural Real-Time AI Speech and Conversation Capabilities (View Article)
- Apple’s Camera-Equipped AirPods Reportedly Move Closer to Production, Signaling Push Toward AI-Powered Wearable Vision Features (View Article)
- Anthropic Says its Mythos AI System Has Reshaped Firefox’s Cybersecurity Strategy by Changing How Mozilla Detects and Responds to Vulnerabilities (View Article)
- Sony and TSMC Team Up on Advanced Image Sensors to Power Next-Generation AI Cameras, Smartphones, and Autonomous Systems (View Article)
- OpenAI Launches Codex Extension for Chrome that Lets its AI Coding Agent Work Inside Logged-In Websites and Browser Tabs (View Article)
- Spotify’s AI DJ Now Supports French, German, Italian, and Brazilian Portuguese as the Company Expands Personalized AI Audio Globally (View Article)
- OpenAI Introduces Trusted Contact Safety Feature that Alerts Designated People During Potential Self-Harm or Mental Health Crises (View Article)
- Google Updates AI Search to Include Advice From Reddit and Other Online Forums, Expanding Results Beyond Traditional Websites (View Article)
- Snap Says its $400 Million Partnership Deal With Perplexity Ended Amicably as the Companies Move Away From their Planned AI Collaboration (View Article)
- Meta Employees are Reportedly Struggling With Layoff Fears and Aggressive AI Restructuring as the Company Pushes Deeper into Artificial Intelligence (View Article)
- Perplexity’s Expensive AI Ad Campaign is Raising Questions About Who is Funding the Startup’s Massive Push Against Google and OpenAI (View Article)
- Cloudflare is Laying Off 1,100 Employees as the Company’s Internal AI Usage Surges 600%, Accelerating Automation Across Operations (View Article)
- PlayStation Says AI Will Become a Powerful Tool for Game Development, Helping Studios Build Worlds, Characters, and Gameplay Faster (View Article)
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Have a wonderful week!
Andrew Bolis
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