🤓 This Week in AI
PLUS: The AI Tool That Makes Research a Breeze
Happy Friday!
Research can be a grind, especially when you’re juggling endless tabs and battling information overload.
This week, I’ll show you how my favorite AI-driven search tool, Perplexity AI, turns hours of research into a few clicks—delivering concise, reliable answers with real-time data.
But first, here’s what you need to know about AI this week (clickable links appear in orange in emails and underlined in the Substack app)::
The New York Times has sent a cease-and-desist to AI search engine Perplexity, accusing it of using its content for AI-generated summaries without permission. This follows similar plagiarism claims from Forbes and Condé Nast.
Perplexity has recently started a revenue-sharing program with publishers like Time and Der Spiegel, offering compensation through ad revenues.
Google Shopping is launching a “for you” feed that recommends products based on your recent searches and YouTube history, similar to the personalized feeds on TikTok or Instagram. It includes suggested items, in-line videos, personalized deals, and AI-generated summaries offering tips and top recommendations from online reviews.
This is what it might look like, say, if you’re looking for tea kettles for matcha.
Imagine getting dumped via an AI-generated text summary on your phone like ‘No longer in a relationship; wants belongings from the apartment. That’s exactly what happened to an NYC man when his iPhone’s AI coldly summarized a series of breakup texts from his girlfriend.
We’re in for some eye-opening moments as Apple Intelligence’s text summary feature rolls out more broadly this fall.
OpenAI quietly dropped its ban on military use and is now positioning itself to land defense contracts with the Pentagon. By partnering with government contractor Carahsoft, OpenAI can now provide AI tools to the Department of Defense with minimal red tape. With Carahsoft facing legal scrutiny for overcharging the Pentagon and price fixing, OpenAI’s involvement adds new weight to the ongoing debate about the ethical implications of AI in warfare.
Mo' money, mo' power and mo' controversy for OpenAI.
This Austin restaurant has 74k followers on IG... but not a single dish on the menu.
Why? Because it’s 100% AI generated.
What is real? The merch store—and the💰 (Check out image 2👇).
The money is very real.
Blumhouse and Meta are partnering on "Meta Movie Gen," an AI tool that lets users create and edit videos and sounds from text inputs.
Filmmakers are sharing their feedback so Meta can improve the tool before it launches publicly, with a focus on aligning AI capabilities with industry needs.
This is what director Aneesh Chaganty made with it. After watching this, I would hire him to direct anything…
AI might help with creative workflows, but there’s no replacing talented storytellers.
Adobe has launched its Firefly Video Model and new AI tools in Premiere Pro and on the web. Users can extend video clips or generate short clips from text and image prompts. While the tools are limited to 5-second videos, the model is “commercially safe”—trained on legally approved content—offering businesses copyright protections that could give it an edge over competitors like OpenAI’s Sora.
Character.AI allows users to create chatbots mimicking real people, often without consent. While this violates the platform’s Terms of Service, enforcement is slow and reactive, leaving bots active until reported. This slow response puts people and brands at risk of reputational damage as false or misleading information can spread.
AI just helped someone sue their landlord—without a lawyer or any legal fees.
The AI identified a legal breach in the user’s lease, guided them to the relevant laws, and provided court preparation tips, allowing them to file a $4,000 claim while avoiding hefty legal fees. All of this possible with just a $20/month subscription to ChatGPT and a basic knowledge of how to interact with AI models to get good results.
The rise of AI job application bots is transforming how people apply for jobs. Using tools like AI Hawk, users can automatically submit hundreds of job applications in minutes, generating resumes and cover letters tailored to each role.
I don’t want to go on a rant here, but I can’t help myself, especially since I have so many brilliant friends looking for work.
But the consequences are big, and the impact real:
For job seekers, automation strips away personalization, making it harder for candidates to stand out in a crowded field of generic applications.
For companies, the flood of AI-generated applications can cause application overwhelm, lead to longer hiring times, and a reliance on automated screening tools, potentially overlooking qualified candidates.
Both sides see reduced human interaction, increasing the risk of mismatches in hiring.
Automation may help job seekers scale their efforts, but it shifts the process toward quantity over quality.
As AI takes over, companies could struggle to assess soft skills and cultural fit, potentially leading to higher turnover and less job satisfaction.
The reality is, we’re all figuring this out as we go.
Google rolled out its new and improved image generator, Imagen 3, to all Gemini users. But only Advanced Subscribers ($20/month) can generate images of people, which is super annoying. Still, you get unlimited, high-quality images for free.
The parents of a Massachusetts student are suing his school after he was penalized for using AI to research a history paper. They argue that the lack of clear AI policies led to unfair punishment, affecting his grade and excluding him from the National Honor Society, which could harm his chances at top universities.
If schools don’t figure out clear AI rules soon, they’ll end up punishing students for learning the skills they’ll actually need to shape their future careers.
Anthropic has launched a new look for its Claude app on iOS and Android, introducing mobile support for projects. Users can now search chats, add project-specific knowledge, and customize instructions per project. The new iPad app also features a split-screen view, displaying chats and projects side-by-side for easier navigation.
OpenAI is expanding its partnership with Bain & Co., a global consulting firm, to sell custom AI tools like ChatGPT to businesses. Bain’s 13,000 consultants use ChatGPT Enterprise, and the companies are building AI solutions tailored to industries like retail and life sciences.
TOOL YOU’LL LOVE
Perplexity AI: Your Go-To Research Assistant 🔎
If you’ve ever struggled with sifting through mountains of data and resources or juggling endless tabs during research, Perplexity AI is here to make life easier.
Built from the ground up as an AI-powered search engine and Q&A tool, it combines the best of a traditional search engine with AI-powered insights to help you perform in-depth research, get up to speed on a topic or explore your curiosities.
💙 Why I love it:
1️⃣ Real Answers, Not Just Links: Unlike traditional search engines, Perplexity provides direct answers with context, helping you cut through information overload in seconds.
2️⃣ Concise, Wiki-Style Summaries: Perplexity organizes content from multiple sources into well-organized easy-to-digest summaries. It’s like getting a custom Wikipedia page on any topic.
3️⃣ Search Across Formats: Articles, videos, images—everything is pulled together in one place, so you don’t have to jump between tabs or platforms.
4️⃣ Cited and Verified Sources: Each response comes with citations and links to sources, so you can double-check fact and verify the info without the extra legwork. This feature reduces the chance of hallucinations (incorrect or false info that some AI tools struggle with).
5️⃣ Follows the Conversation: Perplexity remembers your previous questions and answers, allowing you to ask follow-up questions and build on past searches without losing context or starting over—ideal for deep dives into complex topics.
6️⃣ Save and Share Your Searches: You can save, title and share your searches with others for easy collaboration, or come back to dig deeper. Plus, you can organize related searches into a “collection” for quick reference later.
The user interface is simple, clean and intuitive. Just type in your question and click on the blue button.
I asked about the major phases in Pablo Picasso’s artistic development and it quickly pulled together articles, related images and videos, while citing sources and creating a comprehensive summary from all available knowledge.
You can also ask about industry trends, explore historical archives, research and compare companies’ financial performances, get updates on laws and policies, or dive into any other topic you’re curious about.
And this week, they launched Perplexity Finance, so you can get real time stock quotes, historical earning reports, and detailed analysis of company financials.
Important Limitations
1️⃣ Accuracy: While Perplexity uses citations and other techniques to reduce errors, it’s not flawless. Always verify the information before using it for work.
2️⃣ Real-time information: Perplexity isn’t the best source for up-to-the-minute information. When it comes to breaking news, it can be a few hours behind. For real-time updates, stick to trusted news sources.
3️⃣ Document analysis limitations: The file size limit is 50MB. For larger files, try converting them to text. It also works best with PDFs that have clear text. Hard-to-read handwritten pages or poorly scanned documents might cause issues.
4️⃣ Not Built for Heavy Analysis: If you need up-to-the-minute updates, like stock prices or breaking news, Perplexity may not be your best source. The information was often a few hours behind. For real-time updates, stick to trusted news sources.
Pro Features for Power Users:
While the free version of Perplexity AI is powerful, upgrading to the Pro Plan ($20/month or $200/year) unlocks advanced features like:
Access to Advanced AI Models: Use models like GPT-4o and Claude for more comprehensive answers and deeper insights.
Unlimited File Uploads: Perfect for handling large data sets or multiple documents for deeper analysis.
Priority Access: Get faster response times and better support.
But if you're just getting started, the free version is more than enough for your everyday research needs.
I hope you’ll find this tool as useful as I do.
That's all for this week.
I’ll see you next Friday. Thoughts, feedback and questions are welcome and much appreciated. Shoot me a note at avi@joinsavvyavi.com.
Stay curious,
Avi
💙💙💙 P.S. A huge thank you to my paid subscribers and those of you who share this newsletter with curious friends. It takes me about 7+ hours each week to curate, simplify the complex, and write this newsletter. So, your support means the world to me, as it helps me make this process sustainable.