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- OpenAI Reveals ChatGPT Atlas 😱
OpenAI Reveals ChatGPT Atlas 😱
PLUS: Meta layoffs 600 + GM self-driving cars push
Reading time: 5 minutes
🗞️In this edition
OpenAI introduces ChatGPT Atlas to the world
Meta Axes 600 in AI Shake-Up After $27B Deal
From Google Gemini to “Eyes-Off” Driving: GM’s AI Roadmap to 2028
Workflow Wednesday #41 ‘AI & Human Creativity’
In other AI news –
AI chatbots fail at accurate news reporting, major study reveals
Samsung launches Galaxy XR headset for $1,800, half the price of Vision Pro
DeepSeek launches OCR model that compresses documents 10x using vision tokens
4 must-try AI tools
Hey there,
Welcome back. Thanks for sticking with us through this format shift—we're hearing you love the three-story structure and the new design, so we're keeping it going.
Today we're covering OpenAI's browser play, Meta cutting AI staff after a hiring spree, and GM betting big on Google's AI in your car. Plus quick hits on AI news accuracy, Samsung's Vision Pro competitor, and DeepSeek's document compression breakthrough.
Let's dive in.
What's happening:
OpenAI dropped ChatGPT Atlas on Tuesday - a web browser with ChatGPT baked in. $0 for basic users, Mac only at launch, Windows/iOS/Android coming soon.
The pitch: an "Ask ChatGPT" sidebar on every page, agent mode that handles tasks autonomously, and "browser memories" that remember what you've searched.
Google's stock dropped 4.8% when the news leaked, recovered to -2.2% by close. Atlas costs nothing to compete with Chrome's 3 billion users.
Agent mode (paid users only) lets ChatGPT book flights, order groceries, fill forms. There's a big red "stop" button and warnings about security risks.
Why this is important:
Browsers are infrastructure. Whoever controls how people access the web controls attention, data, and money.
OpenAI's betting the URL bar is dead. They think conversational AI will replace typing web addresses the same way Google replaced Yahoo directories.
Atlas gives OpenAI browsing data—what you click, where you go, how long you stay. Even with opt-out defaults, that's leverage for training better models and selling better ads eventually.
Chrome has 72% market share. OpenAI needs scale to matter. Free helps. Being ChatGPT's default browsing experience helps more.
Our personal take on it at OpenTools:
This isn't about replacing Chrome tomorrow.
It's about OpenAI owning a distribution channel while they're still unprofitable at a $500B valuation. Every user who switches to Atlas is one less person depending on Google for answers.
The browser memories feature is the real play. It's ambient data collection wrapped in personalization. You get better recommendations. They get behavioural patterns that make models smarter.
Agent mode is still clunky—works for simple tasks, breaks on complex ones. But that's not the point. The point is establishing the habit of asking AI to do things for you instead of doing them yourself.
Five years from now, if Atlas succeeds, people won't remember how to manually book a flight.
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What's happening:
Meta laid off 600 people from its AI unit—specifically the Superintelligence Labs division. This includes FAIR (Facebook AI Research), product teams, and infrastructure.
The cuts came four months after Meta lured OpenAI researchers with $100M bonuses and one day after securing a $27B financing deal for data centers.
Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang (Scale AI founder) sent the memo. Affected employees can apply for other roles internally, most expected to stay at Meta.
The new TBD Lab is untouched and still hiring.
Why this is important:
Meta spent $14.3B on Scale AI, gave massive bonuses to poach talent, then cut 600 roles. That's not "year of efficiency." That's a strategy pivot.
They're killing legacy AI projects that became "too bureaucratic" and doubling down on newer efforts. Translation: old research that didn't ship products fast enough got axed.
The timing matters. Right after the $27B deal, Meta trimmed headcount to preserve capital while scaling infrastructure. They're offloading financial risk to investors while cutting internal costs.
60% of IT leaders say they're not ready to manage AI agent threats. 90% lack confidence defending against AI-powered attacks. Meta's cutting staff in the same unit tasked with solving those problems.
Our personal take on it at OpenTools:
This is what happens when AI hype meets reality.
Companies hire aggressively during boom times, then realize most roles don't directly generate revenue. Meta's "leaner is better" mantra isn't about efficiency—it's about profitability pressure at a $500B+ valuation.
The real story: they're moving people from research to product. FAIR was pure research. TBD Lab ships features. Meta's betting on execution over exploration.
Four months from $100M bonuses to layoffs is whiplash. It signals Meta's timeline compressed—they need AI products now, not papers.
The $27B financing deal gives them runway to build data centers without shouldering full risk. Cutting 600 people saves maybe $100M+ annually. That math makes sense if you're prioritizing capital efficiency over talent retention.
OpenAI's unprofitable at $500B. Meta's watching closely.
What's happening:
GM announced Google Gemini integration starting 2026 across all vehicles. Conversational AI that lets you talk to your car like a passenger.
They're also launching "eyes-off" driving by 2028 in the Cadillac Escalade IQ—hands-free, eyes-off highways using LiDAR, radar, cameras.
GM's building a centralized computing platform (powered by Nvidia Thor) that unifies every vehicle system. Rolling out 2028.
Why this is important:
Cars are the next AI platform. Everyone has one. GM has millions on the road.
Current voice assistants suck—they need exact phrasing, miss accents, lack context. Gemini solves that with LLM flexibility and memory.
"Eyes-off" is Level 3 autonomy. Tesla's Full Self-Driving requires eyes on the road. GM's letting you read emails on the highway if sensors say it's safe.
The centralized computing platform is the foundation. Right now, cars have dozens of small computers handling different functions. GM's consolidating into one core that coordinates everything in real-time.
Our personal take on it at OpenTools:
GM's playing catch-up on software. They killed Ultra Cruise, folded Cruise robotaxis, and struggled with ambitious revenue targets.
But the Gemini integration is smart. Let Google handle the AI, focus on hardware and integration. Mercedes did ChatGPT, Stellantis uses Mistral, Tesla runs Grok. It's a race.
"Eyes-off" by 2028 is aggressive. That's three years to nail safety, regulations, and consumer trust. But GM's using Cruise's 5 million driverless miles of training data, so they're not starting from scratch.
The real tell: GM's investing in boring infrastructure (centralized computing, high-speed Ethernet, power grids) while competitors focus on flashy features.
Infrastructure wins long-term. Flashy features get headlines.
If GM executes, they leapfrog traditional automakers stuck on legacy architectures. If they don't, they're just another car company with an AI sticker.
This Week in Workflow Wednesday #42: Sustainable AI – Using AI for long-term growth
This week, I’ll show you how to use Claude to build a full, well-worded newsletter (or blog post) in under an hour. Think of it as the cheat sheet for turning AI into your sustainable writing engine.
Workflow #1: Build a Newsletter Engine with Claude (free).
Step 1: Do more than just train Claude on your style - make sure that it KNOWS who you are, to make sure it absorbs your writing style perfectly, use the following prompt…..We dive into this Claude workflow and 2 more workflows in this week’s Workflow Wednesday.
AI chatbots fail at accurate news reporting, major study reveals – A massive European Broadcasting Union study found 45% of AI chatbot responses contained significant errors when summarizing news. Gemini performed worst with 72% sourcing issues, while all four tested (ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity) struggled with accuracy, context, and distinguishing fact from opinion.
Samsung launches Galaxy XR headset for $1,800, half the price of Vision Pro – Samsung's Android XR headset launched with Google Gemini integration, weighing 545g vs. Vision Pro's 750-800g. It features 27 million pixels (6M more than Vision Pro), runs on Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2, and costs nearly half Apple's price. Available now in the U.S. and Korea.
DeepSeek launches OCR model that compresses documents 10x using vision tokens – DeepSeek released an open-source OCR model that converts text into images for 10x compression with 97% accuracy. The system processes 200,000+ pages daily on a single Nvidia A100 GPU, addressing LLM context window limitations by treating documents as compact optical data instead of raw text tokens.
Learn How to Use AI - Starting January 8, 2025, we’re launching Workflow Wednesday, a series where we teach you how to use AI effectively. Lock in early bird pricing now and secure your spot. Check it out here
Fliki - Offers a script-based editor that allows users to transform their ideas, blogs, presentations, or tweets into stunning videos
FindWise - An AI-powered search assistant that allows users to ask questions and get answers based on the content of a website
Kittl - Helps users create stunning designs with AI-generated images and clipart
That's it for today.
Quick favor: we read every reply. Hit us back with what's working, what's not, or what AI news you think we're missing. Seriously—we respond to everything.
– The OpenTools Team
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