A lot happened in AI last week. Here are the 3 updates worth your attention if you run a business or work in one. 1. Perplexity launched "Teammates" These are AI agents that keep working in the background on ongoing jobs, instead of answering one question and stopping. Think "keep an eye on my competitors and report back" instead of "search this once." For now they're only on Perplexity's top paid plan. Why it matters: AI is moving from a tool you ask to a helper you hand work to. 2. ChatGPT can now make GIFs OpenAI's latest image update (Images 2.6) lets you make GIFs right inside ChatGPT. OpenAI also says images now come out faster. Why it matters: you can make simple animated visuals for posts, emails or slides without a designer. 3. Google made AI video cheaper Google's new video model (Gemini Omni 1.2 Flash) makes clips up to 15 seconds long and costs about 30% less than the last version. It's aimed at developers for now, but the tools you already use tend to pick these up. Why it matters: short AI video for marketing keeps getting cheaper and easier. Which one would you actually use? Reply 1, 2 or 3.

A chatbot answers. An agent does the work. Chatbot: "Here are 5 tips for researching your competitors." Agent: goes to their websites, reads them and hands you a comparison table. Most AI tools now have a research or agent mode. Look for "agent" or "research" in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Perplexity. Then try this: "Research [3 competitors / 3 software tools]. For each one, find their pricing, their main offer and who they target. Put it in a table and tell me where the gaps are." Watch what it does. You'll see it search, open pages and pull everything together without you. Tip: double check anything important before you use it. Agents can still get facts wrong. Run a business? Compare 3 competitors. Work for a company? Compare 3 tools your team is considering. Reply with one thing it found that surprised you.

Most people jump straight into Zapier or n8n and get stuck. The tool isn't the problem. The problem is that the task hasn't been mapped out yet. Every automation is the same shape: when THIS happens, do THAT. Example: when someone fills in my contact form, add them to my spreadsheet, then send them a welcome email. Paste this into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini: "I want to automate a task I do every week. Here's how I do it now, step by step: [describe it]. Turn this into a simple automation plan: what starts it (the trigger), each step after that, and which tool I could use (Zapier, Make or n8n). Flag any step where a human should check before it continues." Run a business? Map how you handle a new lead or a new client. Work for a company? Map a weekly report you put together by hand. Reply with the task you mapped. I'll pick a few and show you how to build them.

https://youtu.be/DYLRfLvUSmY