Hello AI Enthusiast,
For three years, every Wednesday, the AI Academy team has gathered over coffee to discuss the week's biggest AI news. We test benchmarks, debate regulations, and share honest takes from different perspectives. This time, we opened it up for the first time to people outside the core team, starting with our AI coaches. You’ll see their comments below the news. We're considering doing something even more open and we'll tell you about it soon.
This week brought us three stories that perfectly capture where AI is heading. OpenAI finally admitted it needs ad revenue to stay afloat, Google is asking for access to your entire Gmail inbox, and at Davos, tech CEOs spent their time pitching for more investment while philosophers warned about superintelligence. Each story reveals something about how AI companies are trying to make this technology work, financially and practically.
The Big Picture 🔊
ChatGPT Introduces Ads
OpenAI is testing ads in ChatGPT, starting with US users on the free tier and a new $8/month "ChatGPT Go" subscription. Ads will appear after prompts as banners. OpenAI says ads won't influence responses or share conversation data with advertisers.
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With 96% of ChatGPT's 800 million users on the free tier, ads were inevitable. Sam Altman calling them a "last resort" was setting himself up for failure. You can't make big ethical claims when your business model demands the opposite. What matters now is whether ads will quietly influence ChatGPT's responses. |
"There might be a danger that I'm not sure anymore about why ChatGPT is giving me a certain answer. Is it because I wrote a good prompt or because this answer was sponsored by a company?
Google Tests Personal Intelligence Feature in Gemini
Google is testing "Personal Intelligence" in Gemini, an AI feature that connects data across Gmail, Google Photos, and other apps to provide personalized answers. Available to AI Pro and Ultra subscribers in the US, the feature is off by default. Google says it can now "reason across your data".
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People want AI that understands their full context without manually feeding it information every time. The issue is trust and transparency. Google says the feature is off by default, but how many people will actually understand what they're turning on when they enable it? |
"It's hard to know which data should be shared with AI and what shouldn't and who should give consent... If somebody sent me an email, I don't know if that person is comfortable with AI reading their message"
At Davos 2026, tech leaders shared contrasting views on AI's future. Microsoft's Nadella emphasized making AI useful, while Anthropic's Amodei warned that restricting chip sales to China is critical for AI safety. Google DeepMind's Hassabis predicted new meaningful jobs, though he acknowledged uncharted territory after AGI arrives. Philosopher Yuval Harari cautioned against AI superintelligence comparisons to humans.
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Everyone at Davos is pushing their agenda. Tech CEOs want more investment and infrastructure. Researchers warn about superintelligence but never offer solutions. Meanwhile, the real conversation should be about helping people adapt to these changes, not debating whether AI will take jobs. It already is, and we need practical responses. |
"Yes AI it's taking some jobs but people need to understand that this is like the industrial revolution... We have better tools that are making repetitive tasks easier and faster... And you can be doing something else."
Tech CEOs at Davos want more AI investment, but investment without strategy is just expensive confusion. We help companies figure out what actually makes sense for their business and their teams.
Bits and Bobs 🗞️
OpenAI's Education for Countries program is introducing AI tools like ChatGPT Edu in multiple nations’ schools to enhance learning outcomes and promote safe, widespread AI use in education.
Anthropic is partnering with Teach For All to equip over 100,000 educators in 63 countries with AI tools and training, enabling them to co-create and adapt the AI assistant Claude for real classroom needs.
ChatGPT is launching an AI-driven age prediction model to identify users under 18 and apply tailored safety measures to protect teens from sensitive content.
Anthropic's latest report introduces new economic metrics revealing Claude AI's usage patterns vary globally, with higher productivity gains on complex tasks requiring more education, and highlights how AI adoption impacts job tasks and labor markets.
Elon Musk is suing OpenAI and Microsoft for up to $134 billion, claiming he deserves a huge share of OpenAI's $500 billion valuation due to his early contributions as a co-founder.
Open AI explains Elon Musk agreed in 2017 that OpenAI should transition from a nonprofit to a hybrid model with both nonprofit and for-profit entities, which is the current structure that he is now suing over.
On the Podcast 🎧
In the latest mini-series episode, our host Helin Yontar talks about AI in the Context of Intergenerational Fairness: Effects of Long-Term Thinking in Short-Term Decision Making Listen here
From Our Founder’s Channels 🤳
In his recent TikTok, Gianluca Mauro argues that AI books are outdated the moment they’re printed, and that fast-moving tech is better learned through up-to-date videos, blogs, and courses from people actively building AI — not paper books.
@gianluca.mauro Don’t buy books if you want to learn AI #Ai #learnontiktok #business #booktok
LOLgorithms 😂
They couldn’t resist anymore.
That's a wrap on our newsletter! Before you go, here’s a quick recap of our offerings:
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Catch you next week! 👋
