🤖 Hey botified nation!

Welcome to the relaunch of the botified newsletter!

I haven’t written this in a long while as I have been working on other projects that I think will be really useful for people. I’ll share more details in the coming weeks!

I’ve given a lot of thought to what I want this newsletter to be and who would benefit most.

What this newsletter will be:

• A newsletter for everyday people.

• A newsletter that’ll cut through the AI clutter to give you practical and useful things to help you simplify your life.

• A newsletter that’ll provide examples of real-world problems and how people are using AI tools to solve them.

• A guide for non-technical people to get the most out of AI.

What this newsletter will NOT be:

• A resource exclusively for AI enthusiasts and experts.

• A deep dive into highly technical and complex AI theories.

• A platform focused on cutting-edge AI research and developments.

• About cats or dogs.

• A newsletter that requires a PhD in AI to understand (or a decoder ring).

So that being said!

I personally can’t stand getting irrelevant content in my inbox. This may sound odd, but if the above does NOT interest you - I’d love for you to unsubscribe right now. Go ahead - DO IT! I don’t want to waste your time or clutter your inbox 🙂 

Now, if you’re ready to learn something new - let’s go!

-🤖

In today’s email:

• Microsoft Copilot Tips and Tricks

• 3 Ways to use ChatGPT at Work

• Mark Zuckerberg claims AI rivals think they’re creating God

• How Toys R Us resorted to AI for its first brand film

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AI in everyday life

Microsoft Copilot - Outlook Tips and Tricks

If you’re a Microsoft user, did you know that copilot comes free? It is developed by Microsoft and leverages OpenAI’s GPT-4 models. While you’ll get the best experience on Windows desktop computers, macOS users can access the chatbot as well. Here’s a tutorial on how to install Copilot on your Mac.

If you use Microsoft for work or school, you likely have access to Copilot. It is a huge time saver (that I use daily).

Here are 7 essential Copilot AI tips for Microsoft Outlook.

1. Drafting an email - Copilot is amazing at drafting emails. You click Draft with Copilot, provide the content, and tone (direct, neutral, casual, formal), and set the length. Copilot whips up a draft in no time. Review, tweak, and send - it’s that simple. Emails that would take me 5-10m to write now take 1-2m. The key is giving the proper context to Copilot.

2. Quick email summaries - perhaps my favorite part of Copilot is generating email summaries. If you work in an environment where you are often drowning in threads or many emails, Copilot can help you out here. For example, I was out of the office for a week and I asked Copilot to summarize the emails for the week and surface important emails with action items. It did a decent job of grabbing the important content and summarizing it for me.

3. Seamless email responses - Copilot makes it easy to respond back to people. You can choose from its suggestions (like confirming meeting agendas or appreciating feedback), or you can instruct Copilot to draft a response based on “XYZ”. It is important to give Copilot the basics of what you would like your response to be and let it draft away. Huge time saver.

4. Enhanced email search - the general search on Outlook is typically horrendous. Copilot puts the Outlook search on steroids. You can use natural language to ask Copilot to find something specific (an email from a person, one with a specific attachment, or a topic) and it will do its thing. I’ve used this many times and it is almost flawless at finding what I am seeking.

5. Comprehensive summaries - want to know what someone in your organization is up to? Ask Copilot and it compiles relevant emails, documents, and projects. For example, “Give me the latest on [person’s name]”. Copilot will come up with a summary of documents this person is working on, email threads, Teams chats, and more. This is useful to stay in the loop on what people are working on.

6. Email coaching - a really cool way to use Copilot is to have it coach you on your communication. Copilot can let you know if your email is unclear, too harsh, too formal, too casual, etc. It can also suggest improvements in tone, clarity, and structure. This has helped me bring my communication to the next level.

7. Calendar management - though Copilot isn’t as proficient with calendars (yet), one basic thing it can do is find open time slots on your calendar that you can share with someone. Have you ever played that game of going back and forth with someone trying to find times? Copilot can help. For example, you can ask it to “identify one-hour windows suitable for a meeting ensuring it does not conflict with any times on my calendar”.

Though Copilot isn’t perfect, the above 7 tips can help you harness its power. Copilot is designed to make your life easier and your work more efficient, so be sure to embrace tools like these!

3 ways to use ChatGPT in your work

I use ChatGPT daily in my work. I think of it as my helpful assistant when I get stuck. Below are some ways I use ChatGPT to be more efficient.

#1 To ask questions about Excel

I use Excel on a daily basis. The most common way I use ChatGPT at work is to learn Excel functions. Particularly when I have errors in formulas or generally don’t know how to accomplish something. I even use it to think through the best way to visualize information.

As with any technology, you need to know a bit of the fundamentals, but once you do, ChatGPT can be a helpful assistant.

Pro Tip: When asking ChatGPT for help with Excel, be specific about your problem. Instead of saying, “Help me with Excel,” try something like, “How do I use the VLOOKUP function to find a value in another sheet?” or “Why am I getting an error in this SUMIF formula?”

By providing clear details, you’ll get more precise and useful answers, making it easier to learn and solve problems.

#2 To brainstorm ideas

One of my favorite ways to use ChatGPT is to brainstorm things. If you’re anything like me, my mind can be quite blank at times when I get started with something. I often am not sure where to start. I might be thinking about something to write, a name for something, or ideas for an upcoming trip.

Not all the ideas it produces are good, but it really gets my creative juices flowing.

I’ve found a strong relationship between the amount and quality of context I give ChatGPT with the quality of its brainstorming output.

Pro Tip: Provide as much context as possible. Instead of a vague prompt like, “Give me ideas for an article,” try something more detailed like, “I’m writing an article on sustainable travel. Can you suggest some unique eco-friendly travel tips and destinations?”

By giving clear and specific details, you help ChatGPT generate more targeted and useful ideas.

#3 Proofreading

If you’re not strong in the language you’re writing in, ask ChatGPT to help. Using the newest models of ChatGPT, the context window (the amount of text you can input) is fairly high. This means you can paste quite a bit of content at once and ask ChatGPT to proofread it.

Pro Tip: When asking ChatGPT to proofread your content, don’t just prompt it to “proofread this for me.” To get the best results, provide a more detailed and specific prompt. For example, you could say, “Proofread this article for me, focusing on grammar, punctuation, and overall readability. Please suggest any improvements in word choice and sentence structure to enhance clarity and flow.”

Additionally, if your text has particular sections or elements that need more attention, be sure to mention them. For instance, “Proofread this article and pay special attention to the introduction and conclusion, ensuring they effectively capture the main points and engage the reader.”

By being specific in your request, you help ChatGPT understand exactly what you need, resulting in a more thorough and targeted proofreading process. This approach not only corrects errors but also provides suggestions that can significantly improve the quality of your writing.

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TLDR news highlights

Mark Zuckerberg claims AI rivals think they’re creating God

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, sat down for an interview with a YouTuber to share his vision for AI’s future, where Meta AI is headed, and what he thinks about his competitors pursuing closed-source AI development.

Spoiler alert; Zuckerberg thinks the best outcome for AI is for everyone to have (or build) their own AI tools, which is what he’s training his AI Model Llama for. He’s also hopeful that Meta AI will pioneer AI smart glasses that allow users to see full and real-time holograms of people they’re conversing with digitally.

More than once, the CEO of Meta mentioned that just having one central AI program that can do everything isn’t going to work because people want diversity. But what really topped it all was his take on closed-source AI.

Zuckerberg says he’s a big believer in open-source AI and doesn’t think it’s right for just one company to monopolize the technology or dictate its agenda.

It’s either he’s really passionate about open-source AI or he’s salty about being unable to access closed-sourced AI developments. Whichever it is, it’s nice getting a peek into an undeniable tech genius's visions for the future.

Toys R Us resorted to AI for its first brand film

If you need another proof that AI is being embraced by more and more people and organizations around the world, I got you. Toys R Us recently joined the fray by collaborating with Native Foreign, an Emmy-nominated media and film agency, to generate its first-ever brand film using AI.

We’re not sure if Toys R Us is on a tight budget and doesn’t want to spend tons on funding a whole production (which is maybe why they need a brand film to reboot their marketing) but they’ve used OpenAI's text-to-video tool, Sora.

Quality-wise, can’t complain. The graphics display vivid colors and effectively capture that “nostalgic feeling and deliver it uniquely to Toys 'R' Us kids of all ages,” which is probably the prompt they used.

The 65-second video, which you can watch in full here, shows the origin story of Toys R Us and is apparently beautiful enough to be premiered at the Cannes Lions Festival.

This wasn’t on anybody’s bingo card this 2024, but we’re not complaining. It’s just refreshing to see more brands embrace AI tools that would not have been taken seriously before.

People are going to AI-generated therapy sessions

Individuals who can’t afford conventional therapy sessions with licensed professionals or those who simply don’t have the time on their hands are turning to AI therapy tools like Sonia. This is a chatbot model that works as an AI Therapist and it leverages multiple generative AI models to respond to patients during the therapy sessions. It’s able to apply techniques from cognitive behavioral therapy and even give “homework” to patients. So far, Sonia has been accepted positively as evidenced in its App Store reviews. In fact, several users noted that they find it easier to speak with the chatbot about their issues than with a human therapist.

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videos and media from the AI community

OpenAI’s ChatGPT 4o is giving the visually impaired a new way to "see" the world

If this isn’t AI tech for a good cause, I don’t know what is.

Before AI, apps like Be My Eyes, helped people with visual impairments connect with volunteers via video calls to get virtual help with everyday tasks. But now, the app has leveled up with ChatGPT. OpenAI’s chatbot can now assist users with visual impairments with pretty much anything.

It can describe in great detail what users have in front of them and provide answers to any questions. In fact, if a user snaps a pic of his/her fridge, the ChatGPT-powered app can suggest recipes using the ingredients captured. And since no human volunteers will be needed, users can now get help with anything; any time of the day.

botified bits

other interesting things

• The new and improved Figma

  Figma AI just launched its AI updates and you can now enjoy increased automation for improved creativity. Any project you can think of, you will find something in Figma that will get the job done faster and better. From text-to-image generators, instant design draft creators, prototype makers, and more, you name it.

• Claude 3.5 Sonnet

  If you’re looking to step away from ChatGPT, try Claude AI. It’s a next-generation AI assistant you can use to automate your work or any project. Claude guarantees its API is trained to be safe, accurate, and secure, for worry-free use.

• Vinni.AI

  To improve your email marketing efforts, try Vinni AI. This tool can create unlimited custom videos that are automatically tailored to each recipient. You can embed them into your emails so you can personalize your email marketing efforts for each lead. Vinni also allows you to manage multiple campaigns at once for better conversion.

• Shopify Sidekick

  Shopify merchants can apply for the updated Shopify Sidekick, an AI assistant, that can automate product descriptions, transform product images, and more.

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