{{first_name | Leader}}, welcome back.
Looks like competition is doing its job. Image workflows inside ChatGPT just got a lot more practical, right as other players push harder on creative AI. Here are today’s updates.
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ChatGPT Images upgraded for real creative workflows
Meta adds Conversation Focus to AI glasses
Databricks raises $4B at $134B valuation
Tools, resources, and a prompt to decide what to finish, freeze, or consciously drop before the year ends. ⬇️
Granola is about more than just meeting notes. It’s a powerful notepad that remembers for me and helps me be better at work. Their team just launched Crunched and it really exemplifies this: because of how Granola seemingly deeply knows me.
Think meeting-notes, Spotify-wrapped edition. From my most commonly used sentences to how I’ve allocated my time in 2025, I enjoyed the insights and reflecting on my work year.
If you haven’t tried Granola yet, get a month for free with this link.
OpenAI refreshed ChatGPT Images with a new image model, GPT-Image-1.5. It is now live inside ChatGPT and available via the API, which signals this is built for real workflows.
Key features and benefits
Better instruction following, especially for multi-step prompts and edits
Faster image generation compared to the previous model
Cleaner image edits like adding, removing, or changing elements while keeping context intact
Much clearer text rendering inside images, including smaller text
A dedicated Images tab in ChatGPT to create, review, and iterate without losing context
Although visual consistency still breaks in very complex scenes or strict brand use cases
This update reduces re-prompting, small fixes, and tool switching, making image generation feel ready for everyday creative work rather than quick experiments.
In Other News
Meta updates Ray-Ban and Oakley AI glasses with “Conversation Focus” to amplify voices in noisy environments.
Databricks raises over $4B at $134B valuation to accelerate data-intelligent application and AI product expansion.
Productivity Tools
💰 Clara - Your 24/7 FinOps agent to decode cloud & SaaS costs instantly. Start Free!*
🔐 Ancher - Secure AI workflows and agents with policy-driven controls and monitoring.
⚡ Build0 - Generate full-stack applications quickly with AI-driven development.
🤖 Agenta - Design, deploy, and manage AI agents from experimentation to production.
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Useful Resources
Designing Gemini-powered self-correcting multi-agent systems with guardrails.
A practical guide to “vibe automation” and lightweight workflow orchestration.
What actually worked after deploying 20 AI agents to replace an SDR team.
How AI is modernizing web scraping and large-scale data extraction.
Five clear signs that reveal AI-generated writing in content today.
💰 Funding
OnCorps AI raised $55M to expand AI-driven workforce and enterprise automation solutions.
Ritten raised $35M to scale its AI-powered learning and enablement platform.
💼 Roles in AI
🐦 Google Owns the Factory
Year-End Closeout Checklist
When to use this? When you need to decide what to finish, freeze, or consciously drop before the year ends.
You are my Chief of Staff helping me close the year strong.
Based on the update below, create a Year-End Closeout Plan that includes:
Must-finish items before year end (high impact, low remaining effort)
Freeze or defer items that should move cleanly into Q1
Work to explicitly stop so it doesn’t create hidden carryover
2 leadership actions I should take this month to set Q1 up well
Keep it practical and under 200 words.
Update: [paste current priorities, open projects, or team focus areas]Correct Input Style:
Update:
Two marketing campaigns mid-flight.
Sales are pushing to close three enterprise deals.
AI pilot delivered mixed results.
Budget planning for next year is still open.
Teams are feeling stretched.
P.S. Get more such prompts in the Prompting Playbook (free for you)
Q. When you hear AI, what’s the first company that comes to mind?
Stay curious, {{first_name | leaders}}
PS. If you missed yesterday’s issue, you can find it here.