Weekly AI Highlights: September 26-October 3, 2026
What Small Business Owners Need to Know Right Now
Hey Reader,
Your AI does not have to wait for you to ask anymore.
OpenAI launched Dots this week, an agent that keeps working in the background. And Meta's agent Muse is now built for small businesses.
Also this week: Anthropic released Claude Sonnet 5.5, OpenAI shipped GPT-6.1 Sol, and Google is retiring Gems.
Let's go...
1. OpenAI Launched Dots, an AI Agent That Works in the Background
OpenAI launched dots this week. A dot is a personal AI agent: you give it a goal, and it goes and does the work.
Each dot runs on GPT-6 Astra, OpenAI's most powerful model. It has its own computer and browser in the cloud, so it keeps working after you close your laptop. It can connect to more than 4,000 apps.
OpenAI shared an example from an early tester. His dot noticed he had forgotten to invoice a publication. It prepared the invoice and sent it once he approved.
How it works
- Make it yours: You start with one dot, give it a name, and connect the apps you want it to use.
- Talk to it where you work: You can message or call it in ChatGPT, or message it in Slack and Teams. Texting is coming soon.
- It looks for ways to help: When you're not working with it, your dot looks through your connected apps for things to help with. In this mode it can only read. It can't send messages or change anything.
- You set the rules: You decide what it can do on its own, what needs your approval, and what it can't do at all. Sensitive tasks, like changing a password, always stay with you.
Who can use it
- ChatGPT Pro and Business Premium: It's rolling out now in eligible countries, and your first dot is included at no extra cost.
- Enterprise: These accounts get a beta once their admin turns it on.
- Setup: You create your dot in the ChatGPT desktop app or in ChatGPT on your computer's browser. After that, you can message it from your phone.
Source Link: https://openai.com/index/introducing-dots
MY TAKE
Unfortunately I have ChatGPT Business but not Business Premium, so I don't have it yet. Do you? I’d love to hear how you are using it. Hit reply and let me know.
2. Meta's Muse Is Now Built for Small Businesses
Meta is expanding its AI agent Muse to small businesses. It also added new integrations, which are connections to the software you already use.
What it connects to
- Sales and operations tools: Shopify, Dropbox, Slack, Asana, Box, Notion, and Zoom.
- Money and marketing tools: Intuit QuickBooks, Stripe, Klaviyo, HighLevel, and Canva.
- Meta's own tools: Instagram professional account analytics, Facebook Pages, and Meta ad accounts.
- It knows your business: Meta says Muse learns what you sell, how your brand sounds, and what customers ask about most.
What it costs
- Free with usage limits: A paid plan gets you more usage.
Source Link: https://about.fb.com/news/2026/09/introducing-muse-small-business/
MY TAKE
As much as I have never cared for Meta, I have to say, Muse is incredible. Last week I shared screenshots of my early use cases, but I’ll be talking about it live next week on our
Front Row AI Club strategy call.
3. Claude Sonnet 5.5 Is Here, and It's Faster and Cheaper
Anthropic released Claude Sonnet 5.5. Sonnet is the middle Claude model, the one built for everyday work.
Anthropic calls it a work partner for everyday tasks, including coding and creating office documents.
What's different
- Faster: Anthropic says it runs about 30% faster than Sonnet 5.
- Cheaper: It burns through usage more slowly, and Anthropic says it costs up to 30% less per task than Sonnet 5.
- Tighter safeguards: It is the first Sonnet model under the same cyber safeguards as Opus and Fable, Anthropic's bigger models.
- A smaller one is coming: A new Haiku, Anthropic's smallest model, is due in the coming weeks. No date yet.
Source Link: https://www.anthropic.com/claude-sonnet-5-5
MY TAKE
For everyday work, Sonnet 5.5 is the one I'd grab. I save Opus for the complex jobs that need real judgment. Your monthly price stays the same, but your usage limits should stretch further. Switch to Sonnet 5.5 in the model menu the next time you build slides or a doc.
4. GPT-6.1 Sol Nearly Matches OpenAI's Best Model for a Lot Less
OpenAI showed off GPT-6.1 Sol at its DevDay event on Tuesday. That is one week after it launched GPT-6 Sol.
OpenAI says Sol now delivers nearly the same level of intelligence as GPT-6 Astra, its most powerful model, for agentic coding, computer use, and professional work.
What OpenAI says is better
- One-fifth the price: Standard input and output token prices are about one-fifth of Astra's.
- Fewer wrong facts: With low reasoning effort, the share of answers containing a factual error dropped from 11.4% to 7.7%.
- More honest about its limits: OpenAI says it is better at flagging broken tools and following your restrictions.
Where you can use it
- Available now in ChatGPT Work and Codex on Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Edu plans.
- Not in regular ChatGPT chat yet.
- OpenAI is not launching a GPT-6.1 Astra.
Source Link: https://openai.com/index/introducing-gpt-6-1-sol
MY TAKE
If you just chat with ChatGPT, nothing changes for you today.
If you pay for ChatGPT and use Work or Codex to hand off bigger jobs, you just got a better helper for the same monthly price. I love an upgrade I don't have to pay extra for.
5. Google Is Retiring Gems and Replacing Them With Skills
If you built a Gem in Gemini, read this. Google is shutting down Gems and replacing them with skills.
Gems let you build a custom assistant for one job, like a running coach or a vacation planner. Skills are reusable instructions you can use across different tasks.
What happens to your Gems
- They move for you: Google says Gems will automatically migrate to skills starting November 17, 2026. You don't have to do anything.
- They keep working until then.
- You pick a skill by typing a forward slash (/) in the prompt bar.
When skills show up
- The Verge reports skills are available in Gemini chats starting September 30.
- Workspace and the app: Workspace accounts get them October 5, and the Gemini app gets them October 13.
- Gems shut down in November for individuals, and as early as March 1, 2027 for Workspace accounts.
Source Link: https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/gemini/automate-tasks-with-skills/
MY TAKE
If you built Gems, do not wait for the notice. Gems start going away in November for personal accounts.
Skills work a lot like custom GPTs and Claude skills. Keep your instructions in a doc you own, and you can rebuild them anywhere.
PROMPT OF THE WEEK
Try this: build something in a ChatGPT Space
OpenAI just launched Spaces: a shared workspace inside ChatGPT where you, your team, and AI all work on the same document. Think Google Docs, but the AI lives inside the doc instead of in another tab.Your 10-minute mission:
1. In ChatGPT (desktop or web), say "Create a space named [your project]."
2. Pick one thing you'd normally build in Google Docs: a client proposal, a launch checklist, a content calendar.
3. Ask ChatGPT to draft it as a Page, then share it with your VA or a teammate and edit it together in real time.One heads-up: Spaces is rolling out on Pro, Business, and Enterprise plans, so if you're on Plus you may not see it yet.
Hit reply and tell me what you built in your first Space.
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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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