In this newsletter:

• Perplexity expands voice assistant to iPhone users, enabling cross-app tasks
• Grok can now see through your phone camera and answer questions
• Character AI unveils video model that brings AI chatbots to life

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

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🔊 Perplexity Expands Voice Assistant to iPhone Users, Enabling Cross-App Tasks

Perplexity has launched its conversational AI voice assistant on iOS, allowing iPhone users to perform various tasks through voice commands even on older devices that won't support Apple's upcoming AI features.

What's new:

• Voice assistant now available on iOS after earlier Android release
• Works outside the app, allowing continued conversations when in background
• Sets reminders with calendar integration
• Creates and sends text messages (requires contact access)
• Makes restaurant reservations through OpenTable
• Arranges rides by connecting with Uber
• Drafts emails and performs other text-based tasks
• Functions on older iPhones, like the iPhone 13 mini
• No screen sharing capability yet (unlike Android version)
• Cannot access camera for visual context like some competitors
• Cannot set system alarms (still requires Siri)

Why it matters:

This release gives iPhone users access to advanced AI assistant features months or potentially more than a year before Apple's own enhanced Siri capabilities arrive.

By bringing cross-app functionality to iOS devices, Perplexity offers a glimpse of AI's future on Apple products while working within the platform's limitations and privacy controls.

👀 Read more about Perplexity voice assistant!

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📱 Grok Can Now See Through Your Phone Camera and Answer Questions

Elon Musk's xAI has added visual recognition capabilities to its Grok chatbot, allowing users to point their phone cameras at objects and receive real-time information and analysis.

What's new:

• Grok Vision feature now available on iOS app (Android coming later)
• Analyzes real-world objects, signs, and documents through the phone camera
• Expanded multilingual voice capabilities in multiple languages, including Spanish, French, Turkish, Japanese & Hindi
• Real-time search functionality during voice conversations
• Android users can access multilingual audio and real-time search with a $30/month SuperGrok subscription
• Follows recent memory feature that remembers past conversations
• Also added the canvas tool for creating documents and apps

Why it matters:

With Grok Vision, xAI continues its rapid feature expansion to compete with rivals like ChatGPT and Google's Gemini, which already offer similar visual capabilities.

The ability to "see" and analyze the physical world transforms Grok from a text-based assistant into a more versatile tool that can help users identify objects, translate signs, and process visual information on the go.

👀 Read more about Grok's expanding capabilities!

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🎬 Character AI Unveils Video Model That Brings AI Chatbots to Life

Character AI has announced AvatarFX, a new AI video generation model that animates its chatbot characters in various styles from realistic humans to cartoon animals, while also allowing users to generate videos from existing images.

What's new:

• Transforms static characters into animated, talking videos
• Works with different visual styles, including realistic humans and 2D cartoons
• Can animate photos of real people (with safeguards)
• Available now in closed beta testing
• Includes watermarking to identify AI-generated content
• Built-in filters to block videos of minors
• Modifies real people's images to make them less recognizable
• Trained to recognize celebrities and politicians to prevent misuse

Why it matters:

As AI chatbots increasingly become companions for millions of users, this technology takes virtual relationships to a new level by making AI characters visually expressive.

However, the ability to animate photos of real people raises serious concerns about deepfakes and potential abuse.

These concerns are especially significant given Character AI's existing safety challenges, including lawsuits alleging that its chatbots have encouraged harmful behaviors in minors.

👀 Read more about Character AI's video technology!

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My Latest LinkedIn & X/Twitter Posts:

• How to create hyper-realistic UGC ads using AI (view post)
• How to use an AI agent to research, analyze, and execute tasks (view post)
• How to automate lead research and outreach with AI (view post)
• How to track AI search trends and find hidden SEO opportunities (view post)
• How to manage your inbox faster & save 4 hours a week with AI (view post)
• How to simplify project management with real-time tracking (view post)
• How to create interactive how-to videos using AI (view post)
• 6 ways I use AI to build presentations in minutes (view post)
• How to create & customize video clips in minutes with AI (view post)
• Complete hours of manual work in minutes using an AI extension (view post)
• How to turn long videos into viral shorts instantly using AI (view post)
• 10 free AI courses to land high-paying jobs (view post)

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New AI Tools to Boost Your Productivity:

• ​VoiceType: Converts spoken input into text with real-time voice dictation.
• ​Singify: Creates song covers using voice models from uploaded audio or YouTube links.
• ​Cluely AI: Provides real-time prompts, objection handling & doc retrieval during sales calls.
• ​addto.me: Lets you manage tasks, calendar, notes & emails via WhatsApp and Telegram.
• ​mykin.ai: Offers smart journaling, semantic memory, reminders, and local encrypted storage.
• ​scriptmagic.pro: Creates video scripts and visual storyboards with AI.
• ​teabot.net: Provides real-time multilingual meeting translation and transcription.
• ​AI Interview Buddy: Generates real-time interview answers based on your resume.
• ​collate.one: Lets you organize, search, summarize, and chat with PDFs locally on Mac.
• ​Modelify: Converts 2D images into 3D models using AI.
• ​blastable.com: Sends bulk emails with AI deliverability, autoresponders, segmentation, and analytics.
• ​Seedream 3.0: Creates 2 K-resolution images with better text and visual quality.
• ​siyaa.ai: Manages calendar scheduling, resolves conflicts, and coordinates meetings.
• ​outtloud.com: Converts text into audio with playback and language options.
• ​suna.so: Automates web research, data extraction, reporting, and outreach tasks via text commands.
• ​KIVA by Wellows: Automates keyword research, SERP analysis, content briefs, and GSC-based performance tracking.

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This Week's Top AI News Headlines:

• OpenAI Launches Lightweight Deep Research Tool for ChatGPT, Offering Free Users Limited Access to AI-Powered Summarization and Analysis with Reduced Operational Costs (View Article)
• Microsoft Quietly Debuts AI-Generated Surface Ad, Blending Real Footage with Synthetic Scenes to Cut Production Time by 90% Without Viewers Noticing (View Article)
• Chinese AI Startup Manus Raises $75M Led by Benchmark at $500M Valuation to Expand AI Agent Tools into U.S., Japan, and Middle East Markets (View Article)
• Anthropic CEO Sets 2027 Goal to Decode AI 'Black Box' Models, Aiming for Transparent, Safe Systems Through Mechanistic Interpretability and Neural Circuit Analysis (View Article)
• Perplexity CEO Reveals New 'Comet' Browser Will Track Users' Entire Online Activity to Deliver Hyper-Personalized Ads, Drawing Parallels to Google's Data Strategy (View Article)
• OpenAI Reportedly Developing X-Like Social Platform Integrating ChatGPT's Image Generation to Compete with Meta and X, Aiming to Enhance AI Training with Real-Time User Data (View Article)
• Anthropic Launches 'Model Welfare' Program to Explore AI Consciousness, Ethical Treatment, and Potential Signs of Distress in Advanced Systems (View Article)
• AI Data Centers Could Cost $200B and Consume City-Level Power by 2030, Study Warns of Environmental and Economic Strain (View Article)
• Media Giant Ziff Davis, Owner of IGN and PCMag, Sues OpenAI for Allegedly Scraping Millions of Articles to Train ChatGPT Without Consent, Seeks Model Destruction and Damages (View Article)
• Apple Reassigns Secret Robotics Team From AI Chief to Hardware Head, Refocusing Giannandrea's Group on Core AI Technologies Amid Ongoing Leadership Restructuring (View Article)
• Adobe's Fresco App Introduces 'AI-Free' Content Credentials, Letting Artists Label Work as Human-Made Amid Growing Concerns Over Generative AI Use (View Article)

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Work With Me:

• Paid Partnerships: I’ll promote your product on my LinkedIn, X/Twitter or newsletter. Fill out form to get more info.
• Consulting: I’ll help you grow on LinkedIn & X/Twitter or use AI to boost marketing and sales. ​Book consulting call​.

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Have a wonderful week!

Andrew Bolis

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