ChatGPT becomes your morning news assistant

☕ Good morning,

Something is unsettling about the idea of AI becoming our daily briefing service. ChatGPT wanting to greet you each morning with personalized updates sounds convenient until you realize you're essentially letting an algorithm decide what deserves your attention before you've even had coffee.

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TODAY IN AI
ChatGPT will send you daily personalized updates

OpenAI wants ChatGPT to feel less like a chatbot you go to when you need something and more like an assistant that shows up with value before you even ask. That’s where ChatGPT Pulse comes in.

Pulse is a new feature that quietly works in the background, then drops five to ten personalized updates into your account each morning. Think news cards, daily briefs, or even suggestions based on your chats and connected apps. If you’ve been talking about space and parenting, you might wake up to NASA launch updates and Halloween costume ideas for your toddler. Hook up Gmail or Google Calendar, and Pulse can sort your emails or even draft a quick agenda for your day.

The idea is to give you just enough information to kick off your morning without overwhelming you. Pulse literally cuts itself off after a handful of updates with a “that’s it for today” note. Right now, it’s only for Pro subscribers paying $200 a month, but OpenAI says Plus users will get it soon, and eventually all users if the system can scale.

It’s still early days, but this shift toward proactive, agent-like behavior is clearly where OpenAI wants ChatGPT to head. Instead of waiting for you to type a prompt, it’s trying to become the first place you check in the morning, maybe even before your usual news app or inbox.

TECH BARISTA
Amazon to pay $2.5B in FTC Prime settlement

Amazon just cut a massive check to make one of its biggest headaches go away. The company has agreed to a $2.5 billion settlement with the FTC over claims it tricked millions of people into signing up for Prime and then buried the exit door behind confusing cancellation steps.

Here’s how the payout breaks down: $1 billion is going straight to civil penalties, while the remaining $1.5 billion will be refunded to roughly 35 million customers who got caught in what the FTC called “dark patterns.” The agency says Amazon made canceling Prime intentionally frustrating, with executives allegedly aware of how the system was designed.

The deal forces Amazon to overhaul its Prime sign-up and cancellation process. That means no more sneaky “No, I don’t want free shipping” buttons to trick people into subscribing, and cancellation must now be as simple as signing up. Customers will also get clearer terms upfront, including cost and auto-renewal details.

Amazon, of course, says it’s always played by the rules and is “moving forward” to focus on innovation for customers. But make no mistake, this is a major win for the FTC, which is also taking Amazon to court over antitrust practices, with that trial set for 2027.

GADGETS BARISTA
Xiaomi 17 series launches

Xiaomi revealed the Xiaomi 17 series at Lei Jun’s annual event, and this lineup is stacked. You’ve got three models the 17, 17 Pro, and 17 Pro Max, each pushing Xiaomi’s mix of sleek design, big batteries, and camera power.

The base Xiaomi 17 keeps it compact at 6.3 inches but still drops Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, a 7000mAh Surge battery, and Leica cameras. It’s slim, light, and charges crazy fast with 100W wired and 50W wireless.

The Pro models are where things get wild. They come with a second screen on the back called the Dynamic Back Display. It’s not just for looks, you can pin notes, check notifications, run custom wallpapers, or even take selfies with the main cameras. There’s also an interactive virtual pet and a gaming mode that turns the phone into a mini handheld console.

On top of that, the Pro Max packs a 7500mAh battery, a 5x zoom periscope lens, and upgraded display tech. Prices start at around $620 for the base model and go up to about $960 for the Pro Max, launching September 27 (Today).

STARTUP BAR
Juicebox raises $36M to reinvent hiring with AI

Hiring has always been slow because recruiters usually just run keyword searches on résumés and LinkedIn, then sift through endless profiles. Two young founders, David Paffenholz and Ishan Gupta, thought there had to be a smarter way. They built Juicebox, an AI search engine that works more like a human recruiter. Instead of relying on exact keywords, it scans professional profiles, websites, and other public data to spot candidates that traditional tools would miss.

The product, PeopleGPT, took off fast. By the end of 2023, over 2,500 companies were using it from scrappy startups to bigger names like Cognition and Ramp — and it was already pulling in $10M ARR with just a handful of employees. The traction was strong enough to land them a $30M Series A led by Sequoia, bringing total funding to $36M.

What makes Juicebox stand out is how it goes beyond search. It can automatically reach out to candidates, schedule calls, and essentially give startups the kind of recruiting power only big companies used to have. For teams racing to build and scale, it saves time, cuts hiring costs, and helps them find talent they didn’t even know was out there.