Why frontier firms are thriving

Welcome back, Superhuman. The model that brought us last month’s Ghibli-style image craze is about to be everywhere. OpenAI just unlocked native image-gen in its API, and big names like Adobe and Figma are wasting no time putting it to work. And: We chat with Microsoft about why AI is turning everyone into a manager.

Today’s Insights

• OpenAI’s image unlock, Adobe’s Firefly revamp, and Grok’s voice mode

• Microsoft study finds keys to success in the agentic era

• Tutorial: How to create presentations with GenSpark AI

• 5 new AI tools to boost your productivity

• News, memes, what’s trending on socials, and more

TODAY IN AI

1. OpenAI brings image generation to its API: Developers rejoiced this week as OpenAI announced it’s finally opening up access to its multimodal image generator. Adobe, Figma, Canva, and Instacart already incorporate “gpt-image-1” into some of their biggest products. The model shares the features that made GPT-4o and its Ghibli-fied generations go viral last month, including real-world knowledge and accurate text rendering.

2. Adobe launches revamped Firefly app: The software giant will now let you use image and video models from Google, OpenAI, and Black Forest Labs alongside its own models, which are trained exclusively on commercially safe content. The new Firefly Image Model 4 lets users quickly generate mockups, while the Ultra version is best for complex and realistic scenes. And an AI-powered brainstorming platform called Firefly Boards can help you storyboard and “iterate on hundreds of variations at once.”

3. Grok gets a ‘vision’ mode: You can now share your camera with xAI’s chatbot, enabling it to analyze your surroundings in real time. The feature works with Grok’s voice mode, so you can ask questions about a document or nearby road signs just by talking. Grok got a multilingual upgrade too, letting you chat across Spanish, Turkish, Hindi, and more. Finally, voice mode has access to the internet, letting you chat about time-sensitive things like breaking news or upcoming events.

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FROM THE FRONTIER

Here’s what firms of the future might look like

What do the next five years of work look like? Microsoft surveyed 31,000 workers across 31 countries and analyzed trillions of data points to find out. We talked to Microsoft’s Senior Research Director, Alexia Cambon, about what it all means.

If you’re feeling maxed out, you’re not alone: Microsoft’s data reveals that employees are interrupted every two minutes by meetings, emails, or pings (that’s 275 interruptions a day). Meanwhile, we now receive on average 58 messages before or after work hours.

AI could be our chance to get back on track: We spend a lot of our time on repetitive work, like “triaging emails,” while squeezing in experiments and creative tasks only when we have the chance. But agents could flip the script, freeing us up to tackle “more complex, higher-value work instead,” Cambon said.

Every employee will become an ‘agent boss’: Sure, you can treat AI just like a search engine, but “the more interesting aspect of using AI is when you start using it as a thought partner or a team member,” Cambon said. Even early-career employees will have to learn how to manage teams of agents, helping them learn and improve just as an ordinary manager would.

‘Frontier firms’ can show us the way: These nimble, forward-thinking companies deploy AI across their entire organization, delegate tasks to LLMs, and are already preparing for the next wave of agents, which will be able to take on even more complex responsibilities.

It’s paying off: “It’s very clear that the companies that have figured out how to deploy and use AI are getting much better outcomes,” Cambon said. More than 70% of frontier firms say their company is thriving, compared to just 37% globally. They’re also more optimistic and less likely to fear AI.

THE AI ACADEMY

How to create presentations with GenSpark AI

• Head over to Genspark and log in to access your credits.

• Now select ‘AI slides’ and enter your prompt in the textbox.

• You can type your topic, upload documents, or even use voice commands.

Sample Prompt: “Create professional slides on [your topic].”

• In a few seconds, Genspark will generate a polished, professional presentation.

• Modify slide styles, add charts, or insert visuals—just by describing what you want in plain English.

• Your deck is ready. Download it and you’re good to go!

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AI & TECH NEWS

Everything else you need to know today

📱 Siri Killer: Perplexity’s Voice Assistant — which lets you browse the web, navigate apps, and send emails just by talking — is rolling out to iPhone users after launching on Android earlier this year.

🤖 Agent Armada: Microsoft Copilot just launched new OpenAI-powered agents that can help with in-depth research and data analysis. Plus, a new Agent Store lets you find and use agents from both Microsoft and third parties — or build your own. (Here’s a video with more details.)

🔓 Access Granted: Nvidia is opening up access to its NeMo software tools, which let companies design and deploy custom agents for things like call centers and app development.

📹 No String Attached: Alibaba announced it’s giving users unlimited access to its frontier-level Wan video generator, or you can purchase credits for “priority processing.”

💰 Elite Endorsement: Open-source Firebase alternative Supabase just raised $200M in a Series D, with backing from Y Combinator, OpenAI’s Chief Product Officer, and other big names. That brings its valuation to $2B as it becomes vibe coders’ go-to platform for app hosting.

PRODUCTIVITY

5 AI Tools to Supercharge Your Productivity

✅ KLING 2.0: An AI video generation tool with remarkable prompt adherence and details.

✅ Notion Mail: Organizes your emails, drafts them, and schedules meetings any way you’d like.

✅ Infactory*: Boost your AI apps with reliable NL APIs from your data. Make agents and chatbots give accurate answers every time without extensive prompting.

✅ Reef: Analyze trends, create visualizations, and explain your findings through interactive audio conversations and texts.

✅ Boxo: Instantly embed AI-generated screens into your mobile app—no complex integration needed.

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PROMPT OF THE DAY

Get feedback from history's greatest minds

Prompt: Act as a panel of history’s greatest minds — including Leonardo da Vinci, Marie Curie, Socrates, Einstein, Sun Tzu, and Maya Angelou. I’ll share a modern-day idea, challenge, or decision. For each thinker, give unique feedback based on their worldview and expertise — for example, Einstein might focus on systems and imagination, while Sun Tzu would assess the strategic angle. Let them offer contrasting opinions if it deepens the insight. Then, summarize the most valuable takeaways and end with one thought-provoking question I should reflect on. Here’s my challenge: [Insert your idea, goal, or dilemma]

🤓 Want more? Check out our Top 1,000 Prompts

SOCIAL SIGNALS

What’s trending on socials today

🍼 Cribside Chat: A baby podcast host sits down for an interview with the family dog in comedian Jon Lajoie’s latest viral AI creation.

🎨 Inner Artist: Founder Dan Mindru shows step-by-step how to get the most out of GPT-4o’s image generation capabilities, complete with style guides and prompts.

📚 AI Academy: Google recently released a new batch of no-cost AI courses. Entrepreneur Ryan Hart shares his top 10 picks.

📽️ Cheap Shots: X user TechHalla explains how video models are completely transforming the ads industry, cutting costs from $15k to $9, then shares seven examples.

👀 Between the Lines: A new study from the Cognitive Science Society suggests AI learns new languages by focusing on what each character looks like, as if it were a picture — a process that’s similar to how humans developed some of the first written languages.

AI JOBS

The latest AI job openings

• 🧑‍⚕️ Omada: Senior Software Engineer, Staff Data Scientist

• ☁️ ServiceNow: AI Solution Manager

• 🧑‍💻 Coalition: Data Scientist, Machine Learning Scientist

• 📦 Amazon: Data Scientist (Alexa+, GENIE Science)

• 💬 CrowdGen: AI Assistant Project Contributor

Want to level up your AI skills? Check out our free AI basics course for beginners

AI-GENERATED IMAGES

Zen in Zero Gravity

Midjourney Prompt: Photograph of an astronaut meditating and levitating in the air in the middle of a field of yellow flowers. The field is filled with yellow flowers. The aperture is set at f/22. The full-body shot shows the figure floating with legs crossed, hands clasped." --ar 9:16 --v 7

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Thanks for reading.

Until next time!

Zain & the Superhuman AI team