🗞️In this edition

• •Sponsored: Axios HQ–6 Free tools to communicate better at work

• •Founder Fridays Ep. 9 – John Rush on building MarsX.dev, growing Unicorn Platform, and how ruthless automation lets him run over 20 startups without VC funding, employees, or deadlines.

• •Workflow Wednesday #33 ‘AI Experimentation’

• •Debate grows over consciousness in AI models

• • In other AI news –

  • •Google’s AI Mode expands worldwide with new agentic tools

  • •DeepSeek teases China’s upcoming home-grown AI chips

  • •Musk leans on AI to revive X’s ad business

• • 4 must-try AI tools

This Week in Workflow Wednesday #33: AI Experimentation

 Experiment Smarter: Organizing Workflows with Saner.AI
This week we’re testing how AI can completely reshape your workflow. Saner.AI pulls in your tasks, notes, emails, and calendar, then layers AI on top to keep you focused and moving fast.

Step 1: Start on the Home Screen
Get an AI-generated daily plan that highlights urgent tasks and quick wins.

Step 2: Connect Your Data
Sync Gmail, Drive, or Calendar…We break it all down in this week’s issue, along with 2 other AI workflows……We break it all down in this week’s issue, along with 2 other AI workflows.

Microsoft and Anthropic leaders clash over the future of AI welfare

☕News –   A growing debate is unfolding in the AI world over whether models could one day be conscious. Microsoft’s AI chief Mustafa Suleyman has pushed back hard against the idea of “AI welfare,” while Anthropic, OpenAI, and DeepMind are investing in research around it.

👨‍💻Fast facts –

• Suleyman argues the focus should be on human risks such as unhealthy attachments to chatbots, not on model rights.

• Anthropic has created an AI welfare program and recently gave Claude the ability to cut off abusive conversations.

• Researchers at Eleos, alongside academics from NYU and Oxford, argue it is time to consider AI welfare seriously.

• Google DeepMind is hiring researchers to study issues like cognition and consciousness in machines.

• OpenAI’s Sam Altman estimates fewer than 1% of ChatGPT users form unhealthy ties, but given its scale, that could still affect hundreds of thousands of people.

🤓OpenTools POV – The split between skeptics and advocates shows how unsettled the future of AI really is. Even if models never gain consciousness, the way humans imagine and interact with them could reshape both technology and society.

🙆🏻‍♀️What else is happening?

• Google’s AI Mode expands globally, adds new agentic features // Users can now use AI Mode to find restaurant reservations, and in the future, they’ll be able to find local service appointments and event tickets

• DeepSeek hints China close to unveiling home-grown ‘next generation’ AI chips // The artificial intelligence company mentions ‘home-grown chips to be released soon’ on social media, but provides no further details

• Musk Relies on AI to Breathe Life Into X’s Ad Business // If all goes well, Musk’s AI company could help X’s advertising business meaningfully by using AI to improve X’s direct response advertising — that is, selling more ads that drive product sales instead of brand awareness campaigns

👩🏼‍🚒Discover mind-blowing AI tools

1. i10X: a platform that helps you build, test, and scale AI agents with plug-and-play modules for memory, tools, and workflows. LINK**

2. 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

3.  Shuffle - An online platform offering a range of editors for different CSS frameworks and tools to enhance web development workflows

4. AdCopy.ai - A platform that combines advanced data analytics and AI to help advertisers create, publish, and optimize ad campaigns efficiently