Earlier in the year, Apple lifted the lid on Apple Intelligence — the company’s heavily anticipated suite of AI features. In the original announcement, we got a taste of what was to come with things like generative emojis, Siri enhancements, and more.

Fast forward to today and Apple has revealed it’s newest range of iPhones and along with it some new features that will be powered by AI. Let’s dive in.

The new iPhones come with a new DSLR-style capture button for photos, videos, and settings adjustments. Stacked rear cameras support spatial video for Apple Vision Pro, and the A18 chip.

But the biggest update for the iPhone is arguably its integration with AI. With Apple Intelligence, you will be able to do things like detect real-world objects using the built-in camera, generate text based certain moods, and more easily filter through your photos by using the LLM technology.

If you saw a meme with this Black Mirror-ish Squid Game-y figure in your feed over the last week, you knew something was up.

AI and developer tools go hand in hand. Since ChatGPT burst onto the scene a few years ago, seasoned developers and hobby developers alike have been using LLMs (large language models) to fix bugs, explain functions, and even build entire apps. 

Alongside that, new AI tools like ShellMate and Ellipsis have sprung up with the goal of making a developer's life easier, and already popular tools have begun to adopt the technology to improve their product offerings. One of them is Zed, the popular Rust-based, multiplayer code editor built by the creators of Atom and Treesitter. 

Over the past two years, the Zed team has quietly experimented with LLMs to build a fast, reliable text editor that ships with the tools devs need right out of the box. That work caught the eye of Anthropic, spurring a conversation that quickly became collaboration. 

The result is Zed AI, a hosted service developed in tandem with Anthropic that gives developers the ability to use AI right inside their code editor. 

Embarking on a startup is probably one of the most exciting experiences in life. You and maybe a bunch of friends getting together to hack away at a solution to a problem in the hopes of launching a company is a roller coaster ride of emotions, to say the least. 

It’s not all fun and games, though. If you want to build a real, true-to-life startup, you’re going to have to think of some of the more tedious back-office tasks like company compliance, taxes, and payroll. These are things that, if not done correctly, could land you and your company in some very hot water. 

That’s why Central exists. After founder Nilay Modi had to pay over $20,000 in government fines, he set out on a mission to ensure this didn’t happen to other startups. Central is a YC-backed platform built to handle a lot of government-orientated startup work. 

Say you’re hiring a new developer. Rather than pulling your hair out from frustration, you can hand off the process to Central. From there, it will handle things like offer letters, payroll registration, compensation, payroll taxes, benefits, and more. 

X, the platform that was once Twitter, has just launched Grok-2 and Grok-2 mini, the latest AI models from xAI. These models bring enhanced reasoning abilities and, for the first time, allow users to generate images directly within X. 

According to xAI, Grok-2 marks a significant upgrade from the previous Grok-1.5 model. Both Grok-2 and Grok-2 mini have been tested on a wide range of academic benchmarks, covering areas like reasoning, reading comprehension, math, science, and coding. 

The results have shown Grok-2 to be competitive with other advanced models, excelling in fields such as graduate-level science knowledge (GPQA), general knowledge (MMLU), and math competitions (MATH). Grok-2 also stands out in vision-based tasks, delivering top-tier performance in visual math reasoning (MathVista) and document-based question answering (DocVQA).

The new image generation feature is already sparking interest — mainly for its lack of guardrails. Browse the site for a few minutes, and you’ll find any number of wacky generations, usually involving a politician. According to xAI, Grok-2 uses FLUX 1, an AI model built by German-based Black Forest Labs, a company that recently raised $31 million from the likes of AI6Z.

Despite the model’s advancements, many early testers noted that Grok-2 still has room for improvement, particularly in areas like code generation and news summaries, which had caused issues with the first version of Grok.

Developers will soon have access to Grok-2 and Grok-2 mini via an enterprise API, which is expected to roll out later this month. For those eager to try it out, Grok-2 is available in beta for Premium users on X.

Ever feel like you need a clone in order to keep up with your online presence? Meta’s new AI Studio might be the answer. It lets you create AI versions of yourself, designed to chat with your audience and handle interactions on Instagram or the web. It’s like having a virtual assistant that speaks in your voice, ready to engage with your community when you can't.

With AI Studio, you can set up your AI to respond to comments, chat in threads, and even manage specific tasks—all while you focus on creating content or running your business. Simply head to the AI Studio website or start an "AI chat" on Instagram to begin. Meta’s blog post details how you can customize your AI’s personality, set boundaries on topics, and control which accounts it interacts with. You can also enable features like auto-replies, making the experience seamless and interactive.

Beyond personal avatars, AI Studio also allows for the creation of entirely new characters, offering a playful twist to your digital engagement.

Meta AI Studio is currently available to US users, but it will likely expand to other countries soon.

Earlier this year, Meta hinted at a significant development in AI: an open-source model that could rival the best from companies like OpenAI. Last week, Meta officially launched Llama 3.1, claiming it surpasses other leading models such as GPT-4o and Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet in several benchmarks.

Llama 3.1, the largest open-source AI model to date, boasts 405 billion parameters and has shown superior performance compared to its competitors. The Llama-based Meta AI assistant is also expanding to more countries and languages and now includes a feature for generating images based on specific likenesses. CEO Mark Zuckerberg predicts Meta AI will become the most widely used assistant by the end of the year, overtaking ChatGPT.

TalkTastic just launched a context-aware AI voice keyboard app. It works by integrating across all your macOS apps, from Slack to Messages to your browser, to not only transcribe your speech with accuracy but refine and rewrite what you say based on your screen’s context.

So imagine you’re going about your day-to-day. With Talktastic, you’d hit the little microphone button and start dictating your response back to an investor in an email. The tool will write your reply while fixing any vocal tics, adjust words for tone, and spell the names of your investors correctly. Then hop over to Slack and shoot your coworker a DM and TalkTastic adjusts for that audience and context.

Moshi is a new AI chatbot founded by French billionaire Xavier Niel. It’s designed for hyper-human-like conversations. It comes with voice mode by default and prioritizes ultra low latency. 

ElevenLabs launched an API to compliment its Voice Isolator tool. It allows developers to easly implement the audio cleanup technology into any number of their own apps. The team even showcased how easy it is to build on top of it with Claude. 

Runway Financial came out of beta last week. Backed by Garry Tan and others to the tune of $22.7 million, Runway Financial uses AI to help you automate your startups finances and important documents. 

Sign AI is a virtual, realtime, AI-powered sign language interpreter that lives within video calls, conferences, and really anywhere it can be deployed. It’s a technological solution to the current shortage of interpreters.

Writebook is a platform for creating and publishing web-based books by 37signals — the team that also built Basecamp and Hey, co-founded by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson. Writebook is a downloadable software you can self-host, giving authors the power of ownership. Read more.

Suno is an AI-powered music app that secured $125 million in funding for its text-to-song method of generating entire tracks. It launched its new iOS app. You might have also seen its name around because Suno is being sued by music labels for copyright infringement. Read more.

next play is a new community network from Ben Lang, who’s known for helping lead Notion’s community growth from its early days. The next play community helps support people in finding their next role through introductions to startups, gatherings, and newsletter content.

Voice Isolator is another launch from AI company ElevenLabs that removes unwanted background noise and produces clear dialogue for audio clips and videos. You can see if it is as impressive as the demo is here.

Google launched Gemma 2. The lightweight models (9B and 27B) are being pitched to developers who want to incorporate AI into their apps or smart devices. Gemma 2 massively improves its performance on math-based questions, creative writing, cognitive reasoning, and more. Read more.

Anthropic launched its latest model, Claude 3.5 Sonnet. The launch follows a whopping $2.75 billion fundraise from Amazon earlier this year. Sonnet 3.5 matches and beats GPT-4o and Google’s Gemini across various tasks. Read more.

Intercom launched a new Copilot called FinAI. It can pull up answers to customer questions using your company’s knowledge base and previous history from your conversations with the customer, and references sources to its answers. Read more.

Figma’s Config conference came with several launches, including new AI features and an all-new product, Figma Slides. CEO Dylan Field says the goal isn’t to kill PowerPoint, but to offer a product for designers already using Figma — a pretty sizeable audience. Read more.

Notion launched Notion Sites, which adds more features for those who use Notion to externally publish their pages. Features include design customization (like favicons), custom domains, and SEO options. The launch steers clear of pivoting into a full-blown site builder. Read more.

Sherloq, a YC-backed startup, is a collaborative AI repository for SQL users. It gathers all your ad-hoc SQL queries into one place for easy retrieval. With the AI SQL repo plug-in, you can collaboratively manage, save, and share your SQL code, without leaving your IDE.

Remember when The Beatles got together for one last song? It got mixed reviews, but the fact that one of the biggest bands of all time embraced AI set a precedent. AI was going to change the music industry. From writing songs to generating entire tracks, many predicted an AI-powered musical revolution.

TwoShot is one of those AI apps looking to make its mark on the music scene. Launched last week, It is focused on making music accessible to all by letting you craft tracks with your voice, text prompt, or just by humming into a mic. 

Say you’re working on a lo-fi track to stimulate productivity. You can instruct TwoShot to generate a “melody of flutes inspired by nature” and then pair it with a chill drum line by beatboxing into your mic. The AI will turn it into a full-fledged, professional-sounding track. 

It also comes with a library of over 200,000 samples, ranging from rock to country music and everything in between, that you can grab for inspiration or even use the AI to remix into something new to create your next banger. 

One of the most powerful features is TwoShot's plethora of different models. While building your track, you can swap your chosen AI model at any stage for a different one, including ones built by big names. Say you want your lyrics to have a female voice. You can load up the “Grimes” model with your prompt or existing sounds, and it will work it into a more Grimes-esque sound.

Alongside that, these models are “ethically trained,” according to the team, meaning they usually have attained artist permission to use their likeness or have worked with them to create the model itself, like in the case of the Grimes one above. 

Dream Machine is a text-to-video model that competes with OpenAI’s Sora, outperforming Sora's output at 120 frames of video in around 120 seconds. Dream Machine is built by Luma AI, an a16z and Nvidia-backed startup. Read more.

ICYMI, Apple launched Apple Intelligence, iOS 18, a crazy new calculator app, and more. You can read our digestible breakdown of the best new AI features here.

MARS5 TTS from CAMB.AI is an open-source, text-to-speech model, even for “extremely tough prosodic scenarios.” That means the AI can replicate speech rhythm and intonation patterns when it matters (e.g. imagine sports commentators or a movie trailer voice-overs.)

MotherDuck is now Generally Available. The cloud SQL analytics platform is recognized for its fresh approach to data infrastructure, including blending local and cloud query execution. Read the story.

Writer launched an AI studio with a Python framework to help companies build AI apps. The startup emerged as a product to help companies use AI style guides and grew quickly, locking down enterprise customers who, as it turns out, need help building more AI stuff. Read more.

TeamCreate is a tool that creates various types of AI workers from a simple Slack integration. It was launched by the team at Sivo, a fast-growing, YC-backed debt-as-a-service startup.

Detail wants creators to share videos without editing software. Launched originally in 2020, Detail's latest update puts even more editing tools right into the recording experience, like text-based editing and remote recording. Detail is founded by Paul Veugen, whose past startups won Apple and Webby Awards. Read the story.

Descript, the popular audio & video editor, launched Underlord, an AI video assistant. If you’re a user, you know that Descript’s text-based editing was a game changer, but editing is still a time suck. Underlord can now redline changes for you, create clips, and more. Read the story.

Second is a codebase maintenance system from second-time YC founder Eric Rowell. Connect to your GitHub repo, select whatever maintenance module you need (e.g. Angular to React), review the AI agent's plan, modify as needed, and hit run. Read the Story.

Cello is a new all-in-one referral platform for B2B SaaS. Although a crowded space, the founders (a Forbes 30 under 30, serial founder + an ex-Twilio PM Director) say Cello is set apart through its seamless integration with your product, which motivated them to build it in the first place.

Elevate (formerly Bloom) offers US-based USD accounts for remote employees and freelancers, primarily in East and North Africa. Back in 2022, it became the first startup from Sudan to particpate in YC, and is now available in other emerging markets.

The ex-Head of Growth at Notion launched a tool for growth people: Roadway. It lets marketers self-serve data and pull insights with an AI assistant. Read the story.

Cartesia Sonic is an AI voice model – a state space model (SSM) that the founders invented while working as PhDs at the Stanford AI Lab. Sonic generates high-quality, lifelike speech fast (135ms model latency). Read the story.

Kino is a video app from the makers of Halide, the popular and Apple Design Award-winning photography app. Kino gives pros and amateurs more control, using the iPhone 15 Pro’s ability to shoot ProRes in Log format. Read the story.

🥇Oh, A Potato is a meal planner set apart by its AI-powered features. You can scan recipes from a book or save videos from Instagram — the app translates the instructions for you. The fun branding is prob thanks to the makers’ backgrounds in Product at Savage X Fenty, Adidas, Babbel, and Amazon.

Hex launched end-to-end no-code workflows. The data and analytics platform from ex-Palantir makers is already growing in popularity (we use it at PH) across people with varying technical backgrounds. This elevates its flexibility and collaborative potential.

Reforge launched a Chrome extension. It's an AI tool that integrates with tools like Notion and Google Docs to evaluate your work and give you advice based on experts like Andrew Chen or the ex-CPO of Tinder.

Stolkholm-based Mentimeter launched an AI builder to add polls and surveys to your interactive presentations.

Arc Search went old school with Call Arc. Picture this: You’re in your kitchen, pick up your phone, and ask Arc Search for an “authentic carbonara recipe.” It plays some hold music before providing a verbal answer and standing by for another question. Read more.

New Microsoft Windows laptops, called Copilot+, will have AI hardware and native AI software features enabling features like "Recall" for a searchable photographic memory on your PC, and the ability to run over 40 different AI models, including GPT-4o. Read more.

Maven is a new social media site that does away with followers. Backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Twitter co-founder Ev Williams, Maven is built around "open-endedness." Instead of following people, you follow interests like cooking or coding. Read more.

Canva redesigned its editing experience and launched Canva Enterprise at Canva Create. Enterprise features include enhanced security, single sign-on, dedicated support, folder customization, and a “suggestion mode” on Google Docs for reviewers to leave edits. Oh, and this happened. Read more.

Ivee, a B2B influencer marketing platform claimed Product of the Week. It lets companies find and evaluate LinkedIn, YouTube, Apple Podcast, and Substack influencers, and reach out for collaborations. Read more.

NocoBase, the top developer tool of the week, is built on the principle that 80% of requirements can be achieved with no-code tools. The 20% that require development can be implemented through the platform's plugins. NocoBase’s core and plug-ins are open source. The platform is also driven by data models, decoupling data and UI.

Voicenotes is a voice app built by the Buy Me a Coffee founder. There’s no login — open the app and hit record. Say you’re going shopping and can’t remember what deodorant you bought two weeks ago. Simply ask your AI to trawl your notes for you.
Read more | Voicenotes

🧑‍💻 Jijo Sunny, Aleesha John

AFFiNE, a Miro meets Notion tool, stands apart for its open-source and local-first approach. What’s under the hood of AFFiNE could potentially offer users the same exact features as Notion or Miro, but with customization and flexibility.
Read more | AFFiNE

🧑‍💻Jiachen He📍Singapore 💰Seed

Snaplet generates realistic seed data using AI to understand your database schema. Snaplet was founded by Peter Pistorius, who was also on the co-founding team of RedwoodJS with former GitHub founder Tom Preston-Werner.
Read more | Snaplet

🧑‍💻 Peter Pistorius📍Berlin 💰Pre-seed

Equals had its biggest release since its initial launch. There are three main parts to the update: a redesigned query experience, even more flexible spreadsheets, and more dashboard features.
Read more | Equals

🧑‍💻 Bobby Pinero, Ben McRedmond 📍SF 💰Series A 🏆GKA 2023 Best in Data

Plenty is a wealth management platform for couples. It's designed to help modern couples discuss, manage, and invest their money together. Plenty was started by a husband-wife duo in fintech (formerly Stripe and Even [acquired]).
Read more | Plenty

🧑‍💻 Emily Luk, Channing Allen 📍SF 💰Seed

OpenAI launched its latest model, GPT-4o. What really stood out was the voice handling. Users can ask the model a question and mid-answer, interrupt it to divert the conversation or correct it. OpenAI stressed how much more human-like this model is by showcasing its emotional reasoning capabilities. Read more | GPT-4o

Google launched a bunch of stuff including its answer to OpenAI's Sora. Veo outshines Sora by generating minute-long, 1080p videos from a single prompt. It can produce various visual styles, like landscape shots and time lapses, and allows for editing existing footage. Read more | Veo

There’s no shortage of AI coding copilots out there. I mean I only just covered GitHub’s latest coding copilot in this very newsletter, and Amazon just launched their own recently too. But where are the AI tools for non-coding related tasks like say, writing technical documents or engineering design?

Shin Kim, the founder of Eraser, an all-in-one diagrams and documentation designing tool, had the same question. So after helping build 1 million+ diagrams for customers, him and his team set to work on Eraser AI. 

Eraser AI is a copilot that allows anyone to generate technical design assets by writing natural language prompts that outputs diagram code that you can save, edit, and share with your team. 

Say you’re building a cloud infrastructure and you want to visually explain your thought process to your team. Instead of spending hours designing a diagram, you can instead tell Eraser what you need and it will get to work generating colorful, accurate, and icon-studded diagrams to your taste. 

Or maybe you need a design doc to pitch to your manager. Drop in your specifications and Eraser will get to work generating outlines for planning documents like RFCs (request for comments) and full fledged design thinking documents. 

Like a lot of AI copilots, Eraser shines when you know what you want and, in that spirit, you can make direct edits to any and all documents it generates before deciding on the final iteration. 

If you want to make educated decisions on things like product direction, design variants, or copy, you need to back it up with data. Take this newsletter, for example. Every week, I dive into the data to see what resonated with you all and how I can make it even better. 

For a long time, querying data has been left to people with experience in things like SQL, and if you’re a solo founder or a small team, this isn’t always possible. Since AI exploded onto the scene, though, that’s begun to change. 

Originally launched back in 2023, Outerbase is a solution built to help founders and their teams easily navigate their data with AI. A big part of how it does this is with its AI chat assistant “EZQL” which lets you query your data in plain English. 

Now, after participating in the 2023 YC winter batch, the team is back with Outerbase 2.0. So what’s new? 

Mobile love: According to founder Brandon Strittmatter, Outerbase has been redesigned from the ground up with a specific focus on being mobile-friendly so you can have a data scientist in your pocket. 

More databases: Outbase now supports over ten database connections, including MySQL, Postgres, and MongoDB, so there is no need for any pesky database migrations before using it. 

New data studio: 2.0 comes with a new data studio with some new features, including an optimized GPT-4 client, an SQL co-pilot, and AI-powered data visualization tools. 

Alongside that, the team also launched native Mac and Windows apps, an SQL sandbox so you can drop in a CSV to build your database, and more.