😺 OpenAI fixed their UI

PLUS: GM kills its robotaxis & Meta's AI can think in math?!

Welcome, humans.

Things are getting heated in the AI race. OpenAI’s been non-stop dropping products over the last four days, and The Information just reported that Google is now asking the FTC to kill Microsoft’s exclusive cloud deal with OpenAI. Apparently, it’s sort of a buzz kill that Google’s cloud AI service can’t offer OpenAI products...

We also bet that OpenAI would be in favor of that outcome, too. Maybe with more cloud providers, it could actually give people access to the tools it’s “releasing.” Anyway, more on that below.

As a reminder, you can check back here today at 10AM for OpenAI’s next drop…

Here’s what you need to know about AI today:

OpenAI made Canvas (its writing / coding UI) free + available for all.
YouTube added auto-dubbing in 9 language for partner channels.
GM shut down Cruise to focus on personal self-driving cars.
Meta tested AI thinking in math without words.

Advertise in The Neuron here.

We might have ALL been sleeping on ChatGPT Canvas…

We wrote today’s article in Canvas!

OpenAI is great at many things, but let's be honest—their user interface isn't one of them. ChatGPT has basically been one loooong chat window since day one.

That's why Canvas, GPT’s new interface for writing and coding, is such a big deal. After a few months in beta (check our previous explainer here), it's now rolling out* to everyone (*allegedly—it's OpenAI after all).

The internet's reaction? "Forget SORA—now this an AI tool I'd actually use at work."

What makes Canvas different? Think Google Docs meets ChatGPT, with some extra spice:

Side-by-side chat and document editing.
Run Python code right in your browser (no more copy-paste to Replit).
Live debugging / editorial commentary with instant feedback.
Reading level adjustments and emoji additions (because why not?).
Custom GPT integration for specialized tasks (more on that in a sec).

Here’s the official launch video—it’s a good demo of the capabilities.

Early user feedback has been mostly positive:

Writers love using it for dialogue and brainstorming.
Developers praise the seamless code execution.
Free access (yes, even for non-Plus users) is a big win.
Building quick tools now requires zero setup.

The real game-changer w/ Canvas is time saved. No more copying between ChatGPT and Google Docs like it's your part-time job. Canvas puts everything in one place.

But it's not all sunshine and rainbows. Users still want:

Better project organization (Claude’s is better).
Mobile support.
Active word counter + GDoc-style hyperlinking control (that’s from us!).

We wrote today’s newsletter in Canvas. Here’s what we think:

While Canvas isn't perfect (what's with that “Document exceeds max length" notification?), it's a glimpse into how AI tools could actually fit into our daily workflow. For now, it's worth trying—especially if you're tired of playing copy-paste ping-pong between docs and your AI apps.

To try Canvas, go to Chat.com, click the toolbox icon below the text box, and select Canvas (it has a little pen). Then start your prompt (here are the Help docs if ya need).

Now, for that whole GPTs + Canvas thing…we created a little Canvas Tutor GPT to help show it off! Ask it any question about Canvas and it should be able to answer!

FULL DISCLOSURE: We still passed the final version of this article from Canvas through Claude for the final edit. What can we say, we’re a sucker for Claude…

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Treats To Try.

*Want to understand how businesses are succeeding with AI? This data-driven report explores stats, facts, and insights to shape your strategy and improve AI’s impact within your organization. Download the free report.
Devin, the much hyped coding agent, is now generally available—apparently it’s like having a junior dev for $8 an hour.
Retrodiffusion is a pixel-art style image generator (free for 50 credits).
Aftercare asks automated follow-up questions to your survey respondents when they mention something interesting.
Magic Clips cuts long videos into viral shorts by finding the best moments and adds captions and transitions. There’s also Zebracat, which transforms text, blog posts, or audio into videos with avatars that speak in your voice.
Remento turns your parents' spoken stories into a printed memoir with QR codes to hear their voices.
ulist keeps you organized by combining lists, tasks, and notes in a single app.
Firstleaf scans wine labels and menus to instantly recommend wines that match your taste preferences (app store only rn).
Speak helps you learn any language by speaking out loud with a personal AI tutor who corrects your pronunciation (raised $78M).

See our top 51 AI Tools for Business here!

*This is sponsored content. Advertise in The Neuron here.

Around the Horn.

YouTube launched automatic dubbing for Partner Program channels, allowing videos to be translated between English and French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish (and vice versa).
GM shut down its Cruise robotaxi program, and will absorb the self-driving subsidiary’s operations to focus on personal autonomous vehicles.
Meta researchers let a language model called Coconut think in abstract mathematical spaces rather than words, and found it made it a better problem solver (translation: having to show all their work in human words might be holding AI back—then again… if we lose our ability to know what our AI is thinking… uh oh…)

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NEW SECTION: Bots Behaving Badly.

From time to time, it may be necessary for us to open up the BBBB (Bots Behaving Badly Bureau) and share some sketchy stories about, well, bots behaving badly.

A new report found that a Russian-backed campaign used ElevenLabs in “Operation Undercut” to undermine European support for Ukraine by targeting European viewers with AI voice-overs on fake / misleading videos.
CharacterAI was sued by the parents of two children who claim the company’s AI abused their children and “sympathized” with kids who murder parents.
Scammers created a fake version of a defunct Oregon newspaper using AI to rewrite stories and stolen journalist identities, profiting from ads while evading legal consequences due to their international operations.

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