Weekly AI Highlights: October 3-9, 2026
What Small Business Owners Need to Know Right Now
Hey Reader,
Your AI answers just stopped being plain text.
ChatGPT now answers with charts, buttons, and tools you can use right in the chat. And Claude now works inside Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides.
Also this week: Claude can now build live dashboards and animated explainers, and Perplexity added Automations to Computer.
Let's go...
1. ChatGPT Now Answers With Interactive Visuals
OpenAI released GPT-6 in ChatGPT with a new feature called Intelligent UI. Instead of only text, ChatGPT can now answer with diagrams, charts, forms, and tappable buttons.
OpenAI says it trained GPT-6 to decide when a visual explains something better than words. Ask for a dinner party plan when you’re still not sure how many people are coming. You get a menu with photos, a shopping list that updates when you change the guest count, and a cooking timeline you can check off.
You can also ask ChatGPT to build a small tool for a task. OpenAI's examples include a personal savings calculator, and the tool shows up right inside the answer.
What you can do
- Learn faster: Ask ChatGPT to explain a topic, and it can add interactive diagrams you click through.
- Build a quick tool: Ask for a calculator, like a savings calculator, and ChatGPT builds it inside the chat.
- Work with charts and forms: Answers can include interactive charts, editable graphs, and forms.
Who gets it
- Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise: GPT-6 with Intelligent UI started rolling out globally on Wednesday, October 7.
- Free and Go: Rolling out since Thursday, October 8.
- Which model: Paid plans get GPT-6 Sol. Free and Go get the lighter GPT-6 Luna.
Source Link: https://openai.com/index/gpt-6-for-everyone
MY TAKE
Try asking for a tool instead of an answer, like a pricing calculator for your packages or a tracker for your next launch. If it builds something useful, hit reply and show me.
2. Claude Now Works Inside Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides
Anthropic released Claude for Google Workspace, a sidebar that opens next to your Doc, Sheet, or Slides deck. Claude can read your file, see what you have selected, and make changes right in it.
It is in public beta on all paid Claude plans. You no longer need to copy and paste between tabs.
What it does
- Docs: Claude can fix a sentence or restyle a heading in place. For bigger rewrites, it proposes edits as suggestion cards you apply or dismiss.
- Sheets: It can write formulas, build pivot tables and charts, and add new tabs.
- Slides: It can build new slides that match your deck's layouts and themes, then flag anything that overlaps or runs off the slide.
- You stay in control: In the default Ask before edits mode, Claude waits for your approval on each change.
How to get started
- Install it: Get it from the Google Workspace Marketplace. Then open a file and go to Extensions > Claude > Open Claude.
- Or start in Claude: Turn on the Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides connectors (beta), then paste a Google file link into a chat. On Team and Enterprise plans, an owner has to enable the connectors first.
Source Link: https://claude.com/resources/articles/claude-now-works-in-google-docs-sheets-and-slides
MY TAKE
If you already pay for Claude, install it and open one real doc. Ask it to tighten one page of your sales copy, and keep Ask before edits on until you trust it.
3. Claude Can Now Build Live Dashboards and Animated Explainers
Anthropic released Claude Dashboards and Claude Motion in beta. Dashboards turns your data into a live dashboard, and Motion turns a report or chart into a short animation.
Docs, Slides, and Design are also out of beta and now on every Claude plan, including Free.
What it does
- Dashboards: Connect a tool like Airtable. Ask a question in plain language, and Claude builds a dashboard that updates as your data changes.
- See the query: Every chart shows the query behind it, so you can check where a number came from.
- Motion: Turn a report, a chart, or a product walkthrough into a short animation. Claude writes it as code, so you can change any word, number, or timing, then export an MP4.
- No generated video: Motion does not use a video model, so there is no generated footage and no AI-generated people.
Who gets it
- Dashboards: In beta on paid plans.
- Motion: In beta on Team and Enterprise plans.
- Enterprise admins: Dashboards and Motion are off by default. Turn them on in Organization settings > Artifacts.
Source Link: https://claude.com/resources/articles/dashboards-and-motion
MY TAKE
If you are on a paid plan, connect one data source and ask Dashboards a question you would normally wait on someone else to answer. Check one number against its query before you share it.
4. Perplexity Computer Can Now Run Tasks on a Schedule
Perplexity added Automations to Computer, its agent for multi-step work. You describe a recurring task once, and Computer runs it on a schedule or when something happens in a connected app.
Automations can use Memory, Skills, and connectors. They pause for your review before consequential actions.
What you can do
- Monitor changes: Perplexity's example: every morning, check new homes and price cuts against your budget and commute, then update your shortlist.
- Respond to disruptions: When a supplier emails about a delay, find the affected orders and draft a recovery plan.
- Follow up: If a priority customer has not replied in four days, summarize the account and draft the next step.
Also new in Computer
- Inline visualizations: Interactive charts and 3D explanations show up right in your thread.
- Video generation: Pro and Max subscribers on personal accounts can make videos with MiniMax H3 and Seedance 2.5.
- American Express Skills: Eligible U.S. Amex Small Business Card Members on Enterprise Pro or Max get 10 Skills for finance, marketing, operations, and hiring.
Source Link: https://www.perplexity.ai/changelog/automations-inline-visualizations-and-gpt-6-1-sol
MY TAKE
The follow-up example is the one I'd copy first. Write one rule for your best leads, like: if a lead has not replied in four days, draft my next message.
Read each draft before it goes out. Automations pause for approval on big actions, so leave that step on.
PROMPT OF THE WEEK
Try this: put a new AI agent to work this week
As I do every week, I thought long and hard about what helpful prompt to give you this week. Rather than a specific prompt, where I think you are going to find the biggest reward is in experimenting with one of the new agents, if you haven’t already.
I would suggest for you to access one of these agents and try some of the suggested tasks below.
Instinct
Instinct is not an app. You text message with it the same way you would text message anybody else in your life.
I have a limited number of invitations, so if you click on this and can’t access it, send me a message and I’ll try to round up another one. I have no affiliation with this company.
A good starting question for Instinct is to simply ask it what it can do for you: “What can you help me with?”. From there, you’ll be off to the races.
Muse
It’s owned by Meta. It seems like there’s nothing it can’t do. I won’t give you a starting prompt here because it has such a good built-in onboarding process.
Manus
Right off the bat, you should know Manus is a Chinese-owned company. I do use it for some tasks because it is truly amazing. You can create all sorts of agents and even give the agents their own phone number, so they can make calls for you, schedule doctor’s appointments, and even receive calls on your behalf. You just have to see it to believe it.
Hit reply and tell me which one you tried and what you had it do.
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Comments
If any of this made you think differently about how you want to work with AI, hit reply and let me know. I read every message. Your questions shape what I cover next.
Have a great weekend,
Founder, Front Row AI Club
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