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"AI won’t take your job. A person using AI will."
The real threat isn’t robots. It’s the people adapting faster than you.
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THIS WEEK IN THE AI & TECH WORLD:
AI actress Tilly Norwood nears talent agency deal
OpenAI launches Sora 2 with social video app
Mira Murati's startup unveils first product
OpenAI brings direct purchasing to ChatGPT
Anthropic launches Claude Sonnet 4.5
Tips, tricks & tutorials
Free resources & other cool updates
Reading time under 8 minutes
LATEST UPDATES
AI actress Tilly Norwood nears talent agency deal
AI talent studio Xicoia just revealed that its AI actress, Tilly Norwood, is in negotiations with multiple Hollywood talent firms, sparking backlash from actors who called for boycotts of any agencies that sign synthetic performers.
Here’s what you need to know:
Norwood debuted in a comedy sketch last month, with Xicoia developing unique backstories, voices, and narrative arcs for the character.
Xicoia is a spin-out of production studio Particle6, with founder Eline Van der Velden wanting Tilly to “be the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman”.
Van der Velden said studios went from dismissing AI to actively pursuing deals in just months, claiming that “the age of synthetic actors isn’t coming, it’s here.”
Several actors spoke out against the potential talent deal, calling for other performers to drop the agency that signs Norwood.
Here’s what I think:
Between Norwood and AI musician Xania Monet, things are getting weird fast — and at least some parts of Hollywood appear to be moving past initial AI hesitations. But given the reactions from actors and previous strikes from unions, ‘synthetic actors’ and public personas are going to be a VERY polarizing topic.
OpenAI just released ‘Sora 2’, its latest video model that now includes synchronized audio and dialogue, alongside a new social app where users can create, remix, and insert themselves into AI videos through a "Cameos" feature.
Here’s what you need to know:
Sora 2 shows huge improvements in physics compared to earlier models, also featuring longer 5-10 second outputs that can handle complex scene changes.
The model can also generate matching audio alongside visuals, creating realistic dialogue and sound effects that synchronize across content styles.
The new Sora social app centers around ‘Cameos’, a feature that lets users record and use their likeness across AI-generated scenes.
The app launches free with usage limits in the U.S. and Canada, with Pro subscribers getting access to a Sora 2 Pro model and API access coming soon.
Here’s what I think:
Sora 2 is jaw-dropping — blurring the line between real and unreal while unlocking bold new ways to tell stories. Cameos, meanwhile, looks like a viral memetic playground in the making. The real question: can an AI-driven social app outgrow the slop and survive once the novelty fades?
Mira Murati's startup unveils first product
Thinking Machines Lab, the AI startup founded by ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati and several prominent researchers, introduced ‘Tinker’ — an API that enables developers to customize frontier models without managing complex infrastructure.
Here’s what you need to know:
Tinker supports fine-tuning both supervised and reinforcement learning methods on models like Meta's Llama and Alibaba's Qwen.
The models can be adapted for specialized applications like solving math problems, analyzing chemistry data, and other tasks with simple code.
Early users including Princeton, Stanford, and Berkeley, have applied Tinker to build custom AI systems for math proofs, scientific reasoning, and research.
The company is accepting applications for early access starting today at no initial cost, with plans to introduce paid tiers in the coming weeks.
Here’s what I think:
Creating AI models from scratch requires significant resources, but customizing existing models could be a better path for most organizations. Murati and co. are betting that the future is not to who builds the biggest all-purpose AI, but to who can make it easiest to create tons of hyper-specialized ones.
OpenAI brings direct purchasing to ChatGPT
OpenAI just rolled out direct purchasing inside ChatGPT for U.S. users, letting shoppers complete transactions without leaving the conversation interface through a new feature called Instant Checkout.
Here’s what you need to know:
The company partnered with Stripe to create the system, initially supporting Etsy sellers with availability for over 1M Shopify merchants coming soon.
Users can click a "Buy" button after ChatGPT suggests products, then review order details and pay in chat.
OpenAI open-sourced the underlying ‘Agentic Commerce Protocol’, enabling any retailer to integrate it — with Stripe merchants needing minimal code changes.
The company collects fees from merchants on completed sales, but the product rankings stay organic, still determined by relevance.
Here’s what I think:
We’ll be curious to see if OpenAI eventually incorporates ads into the flow, but ‘Instant Checkout’ and the ‘Agentic Commerce Protocol’ feel like an inflection point for the shift to the era of agentic AI commerce. The structure is also an interesting new revenue stream for the AI giant, and could seriously add up as shopping shifts to ChatGPT.
Anthropic launches Claude Sonnet 4.5
Anthropic just released ‘Claude Sonnet 4.5’, calling it the “best coding model in the world” and showcasing top-tier performance on development benchmarks while maintaining the same API pricing as its predecessor.
Here’s what you need to know:
Sonnet 4.5 achieves SOTA results on real-world software development (SWE-bench verified), and a nearly 20% upgrade from Opus 4.1 on computer use.
Anthropic claims it is capable of building “production-ready” applications rather than just prototypes. It can also maintain focus on complex, multi-step tasks for more than 30 hours — a dramatic leap in AI’s ability to handle sustained work.
It is Anthropic’s most aligned frontier AI model yet, with lower rates of sycophancy and deception than previous versions, and improved resistance to prompt injection attacks.
Sonnet 4.5 will be available via the Claude API and in the Claude chatbot, with pricing for developers remaining the same as Claude Sonnet 4.
Here’s what I think:
Codex may have grabbed headlines this summer, but Anthropic isn’t out of the spotlight just yet. With a brand-new flagship coding model, platform upgrades, and the jaw-dropping milestone of a 30+ hour agentic run, Claude Code is pushing into territory that hints at something bigger: AI systems capable of tackling long-range, complex projects that once felt impossible.
RESOURCES
Best ChatGPT FREE Course
PROMPT OF THE WEEK
Sales process optimization
Prompt: "You are a sales process optimization expert, leveraging AI to streamline sales workflows and boost revenue. Task: Design an AI-driven sales process management system that optimizes performance and increases revenue. Break down the sales process into key phases with actionable insights: Lead Generation & Qualification Prospect Engagement Sales Presentation Negotiation & Closing Post-Sale Follow-up For each phase, provide: Key Activities (3-5 points) AI Integration Points (AI tools and their purpose) KPIs/Metrics (2-3 points) Priority (1-10) Also include: Implementation Timeline (milestones and deadlines) Success Metrics (targets) Risk Factors (3-5) Best Practices (3-5) Information Needed: Business description Target audience Current sales process Sales optimization goals”.
PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS
📽 Invideo - Turn your ideas into ready-to-share videos. Create ads, explainers, and stories with a simple prompt.
💼 Agent Mode - Microsoft’s ‘vibe working’ capabilities in Office apps
⚙️ Essential - Nothing’s ‘digital playground’ to create apps with text prompts
📽️ Wan 2.5 - Transform text prompts into professional HD videos.
🗣️ Octave 2 - Hume AI’s next-gen multilingual text-to-speech model
☄️ Comet - Perplexity’s AI-first browser, now generally available
AI TIPS, TRICKS & TUTORIALS
How to create talking head videos using your voice
In this tutorial, you will learn how to create professional talking avatar presentations by generating a headshot with Google Gemini and animating it with your voice using Wan Video — no filming required.
Follow these steps:
Go to Gemini and upload a photo with the prompt: "Give me a professional headshot of this person as a talking head, facing the camera, wearing [outfit], with [background]. Close-up shot, professional lighting, high resolution".
Visit create.wan.video, create a new project, and change media type from Video → Avatar.
Upload your headshot and add audio by recording 10-15 seconds of your script or typing up to 300 words to use Wan's built-in voices.
Hit ‘Generate’ to sync lip movements with your audio, then click "Send to Timeline" and add segments using the "+" button to build your complete video.
Pro tip: Write your script before you start and split it into short sections with natural pauses. This makes each clip flow smoothly, making it sound like a real presenter.
How to create an auto-updating slide deck with Manus
Follow these steps:
Go to Manus and sign up
Enter your detailed prompt, select ‘Slides‘ as your option, choose a theme, and click ‘Confirm’ to start the process
Prompt: “Design a pitch deck for a startup seeking funding, outlining the problem, solution, market opportunity, business model, team, and financial projections. The presentation should be compelling and concise, designed to secure investment.”
Manus research gathers data, and builds slides with charts and visuals, while you focus on other tasks.
Once done, you’ll get a complete deck that’s ready to review. You can export it directly to Google Slides for easy edits and customization.
Go back into Manus settings and enable Automatic Updates. Manus will now refresh the data, research, and visuals on your slides whenever you return—keeping your deck always up to date.
AI IMAGE OF THE WEEK
Prompt: “ [upload full body photo] Stylish portrait of the character in a sitting position inside a white 3D [social platform Profile] frame cutout with the logo. Dark background, cinematic lighting, ultra-realistic. [social platform] id : '[enter id]' with blue checkmark. Caption should be ‘Create with prompts #promptwall!’. “
Exploded view
Prompt: “An exploded view of [specific iconic object], disassembled parts floating in the air, detailed, high-resolution, photorealistic, studio lighting, neutral background, product photography, technical drawing elements, knolling layout, rendered 3D objects, floating components, detailed mechanical design.”
VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Sam Altman stealing GPUs
💡 THE LATEST IN AI & TECH
OpenAI is reportedly developing a standalone social platform powered by its upcoming Sora 2 video model, designed to mimic TikTok's vertical scrolling feed but exclusively featuring AI-generated content instead of user uploads.
Lovable launched ‘Lovable Cloud and AI’, enabling users to build full-stack apps through prompts with integrated backend services and Gemini-powered AI features.
Amazon just unveiled a series of new devices designed specifically for its new AI-infused Alexa+, including new Echo home systems, Ring cameras, Fire TVs, Kindle readers, and more.
Elon Musk revealed that xAI is building ‘Grokipedia’, which will be a massive improvement over Wikipedia and a step towards “understanding the universe.”
Microsoft introduced ‘Agent Mode’ in Excel and Word, along with Office Agent in Copilot, enabling the creation of spreadsheets, docs, and presentations with text.
Google unveiled Gemini-powered upgrades to its Home hardware, featuring AI Nest Cams and Doorbells, a redesigned app and Home Speaker, and a new paid plan.
Hume AI launched ‘Octave 2’, a new multilingual text-to-speech model that supports 11 languages and includes new voice conversion and phoneme editing features.
OpenAI just completed a secondary share sale, allowing employees to liquidate $6.6B in stock at a $500B valuation, officially making it the world's most valuable private company and surpassing SpaceX's $456B mark.
Perplexity announced the official open launch of its AI-native Comet web browser, now available for free worldwide after an invite-gated initial rollout in July.
Google rolled out ‘Gemini 2.5 Flash Image’ (Nano Banana) as generally available, with new features including additional aspect ratios and prompt customizations.
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That’s a wrap, my fellow Sapiens. Until next week:
Stay informed, stay adaptable, and keep thriving!
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