PLUS: new autonomous farm robots and AI's impact on human skills
Good morning
OpenAI is making a major play for the enterprise market, launching a new feature that directly challenges Microsoft’s 365 Copilot. The new 'company knowledge' tool allows ChatGPT to connect to and reason over an organization's internal data sources.
By undercutting Microsoft on price, OpenAI is heating up the competition for the go-to AI assistant in the workplace. The decision for businesses now boils down to a key question: is a deeply integrated ecosystem more valuable than a best-in-class standalone tool?
In today’s Next in AI:
OpenAI's direct challenge to Microsoft Copilot
Autonomous farm robots powered by vision AI
OpenAI vs. Anthropic's business strategies
The debate over AI and human de-skilling
ChatGPT's Corporate Push
Next in AI: OpenAI is taking on Microsoft 365 Copilot with its new company knowledge feature, enabling ChatGPT to connect directly to your internal data sources. This move allows the AI to provide answers and insights based on your organization's private information.
Decoded:
The feature integrates with popular workplace apps like Google Drive, Slack, and SharePoint, allowing ChatGPT to access and synthesize information from documents and conversations, though Microsoft's OneDrive is notably absent for now.
OpenAI is undercutting its competitor on price, with ChatGPT Business offered at $25 per user per month on an annual plan, compared to Microsoft 365 Copilot's $30 monthly fee.
Unlike Microsoft's integrated approach, company knowledge currently operates in a separate mode, meaning you can't use it at the same time as other features like web search or image generation.
Why It Matters: This launch heats up the competition for the go-to enterprise AI assistant, offering businesses a powerful and more affordable alternative to Microsoft. The decision for many companies will now hinge on whether they prefer a deeply integrated ecosystem or a best-in-class standalone tool.
AI Meets Agriculture
Next in AI: Bonsai Robotics is bringing AI to the field, literally. The company unveiled three autonomous vehicles that use vision-based AI instead of GPS to perform tasks like weeding, hauling, and crop scouting.
Decoded:
The system's key advantage is its vision-based AI, which allows vehicles to navigate and operate reliably in dusty, low-visibility conditions where GPS often fails.
The lineup includes the Amiga Flex, a modular platform for research, alongside the Amiga Max for heavy loads and the Amiga Trax for rugged terrain like vineyards.
Built for real work, the Amiga Flex supports an 800 lb payload and features a swappable battery system that enables over eight hours of continuous operation.
Why It Matters: This move lowers the barrier for deploying autonomous solutions in agriculture by solving for real-world environmental challenges. It also signals a larger trend of AI moving out of the cloud and into physical industries to automate demanding manual labor.
Tale of Two AI Giants
Next in AI: OpenAI and Anthropic are charting opposite paths to profitability, with OpenAI chasing mass-market scale while Anthropic focuses on high-value enterprise solutions.
Decoded:
Anthropic’s enterprise-first strategy gives it an edge with businesses valuing reliable and safe AI, even leading competitor-backer Microsoft to add its Claude model to the Copilot suite.
OpenAI’s massive scale requires immense funding for computing power, with the company pursuing large deals to secure its long-term chip supply from partners like Nvidia and Google.
The monetization strategies are starkly different: OpenAI is banking on volume through subscriptions and potential advertising, while Anthropic builds a more predictable revenue stream from businesses paying for specific, high-value AI systems.
Why It Matters: While OpenAI’s consumer-facing brand captures public attention, Anthropic’s focused enterprise strategy offers a clearer and potentially more stable path to near-term profitability. This divergence shows the AI market is maturing, creating distinct lanes for both broad-reach platforms and specialized business tools.
AI's Cognitive Impact
Next in AI: The increasing reliance on AI is sparking a critical debate about “de-skilling.” While these tools offer major productivity gains, they also raise questions about their impact on our core cognitive abilities and critical thinking.
Decoded:
Recent studies suggest a tangible impact, with one finding that frequent AI users scored lower on critical-thinking skills, while another showed physicians became less adept at spotting medical issues without AI assistance.
This anxiety isn't new; it's a recurring fear that surfaces with transformative technologies, echoing Socrates' concern that the invention of writing would weaken human memory.
Beyond technical ability, the shift toward automation can lead to a thinning of identity, as workers whose craft is replaced by computerized systems feel disconnected from their work's meaning.
Why It Matters: The pattern shows we often trade individual virtuosity for greater overall performance with each new technology. The essential question now is to consciously decide which human skills are too valuable to delegate to a machine.
AI Pulse
Britain's signed up its Ministry of Justice for ChatGPT Enterprise, deploying the AI assistant across one of its major government departments for internal use.
OpenAI released its new Atlas browser, which comes with ChatGPT deeply integrated for web-native AI assistance and browsing.
Sam Altman stated in an interview that he expects “some really bad stuff to happen” due to AI technology, while arguing that only the most powerful, superhuman models should face careful regulatory scrutiny.