Chips, Spies, and a Trillion-Dollar AI Race A few things worth knowing from today's AI news: **NYT Cooking's AI assistant saved a weeknight dinner but almost wrecked a cake.** A reporter leaned on an AI cooking helper and found it great for improvising savory meals but shaky on baking, where exact measurements matter. The lesson for your business: AI is a solid brainstorming partner, but anything precise (pricing, invoices, legal wording) still needs your eyes on it. **OpenAI is now valued at $1.25 trillion, and Anthropic is nearing an IPO.** The companies behind ChatGPT and Claude just raised enormous sums, so expect these tools to keep improving fast. That means it's worth getting comfortable with one of them now rather than waiting for the dust to settle. **Hundreds of Artex AI hacking tools were found sitting exposed on the open web.** Security researchers also warn AI is shaking up cybersecurity in general. Translation: tighten up your basics now (strong passwords, two-factor login) because the bad guys have better tools too. **Jobs & gigs:** Small businesses are quietly hiring for practical AI help right now, mostly folks who can set up simple customer chatbots, write clean prompts for repeat tasks, and turn AI drafts into real marketing content that sounds human. No wizardry required, just people who've actually used the tools. Got questions? Drop them in the comments and I'll jump in.

A few headlines worth your time today: **OpenAI is now valued at $1.25 trillion**, and Anthropic (the folks behind Claude) is getting close to going public. For you, that means the tools you're learning aren't a fad — the money pouring in means they'll keep getting cheaper and better, so the skills you build now will pay off. **Meta launched "Spaces" (Muse AI)** — a way to spin up a custom little version of an app built for exactly what you need right now. Keep an eye on this: the direction is "describe what you want, get a tool for it," which is good news for owners who can't afford custom software. **Hundreds of hacking tools from "Artex AI" were found sitting wide open on the web.** The lesson isn't fear — it's a reminder to never paste customer info, passwords, or private data into any AI tool unless you know where it's going. **Jobs & gigs:** Small businesses are quietly hiring for simple, real stuff right now — people to write prompts that actually work, folks to set up a basic customer-service chatbot, and AI-assisted content helpers for newsletters and social posts. No wizardry required, just someone reliable who's put in the reps. Got a question about any of these? Drop it in the comments — that's what this room is for.

7:30am — the script pulls AI headlines from four RSS feeds, has Claude write a community post, copies it to your clipboard, and buzzes your watch saying "Today's Skool post is on your clipboard" - You open Skool, paste, post. Thirty seconds. - Each post is also saved in skool_posts/ so you have a record. Today's post is already on your clipboard from the test run. Tomorrow morning you'll get the first automated one. We'll see how it goes for the week — if the tone drifts or you want it tweaked, just say so. V'ger +/-10%

A few things worth knowing today. Amazon is finally letting you text your shopping list to Alexa instead of saying it out loud. If you run a shop or a service, this is a reminder that people want to interact however is easiest for them in the moment — text, voice, or click. Offer all three. Ramp's spending data shows businesses are slowing down on AI purchases, even as the big players keep raising money. The takeaway for you: you don't need the newest, priciest tool. The free and cheap ones already do most of what a small business needs. Airbnb and Perplexity are both building AI "agents" that handle whole tasks — booking a trip, doing office work — not just answering questions. Keep an eye on this. Within a year, "AI that does the task" will matter more to you than "AI that gives advice." **Jobs & gigs:** Real paid work right now is still the practical stuff — folks who can set up a simple customer-service chatbot, write prompts that save a team hours, or turn one idea into a week of social posts. Nothing fancy. If you can save a business owner time, you can charge for it. What's got your attention this week? Drop it in the comments.