Digest #493 → Subscribe² | Upgrade to Pro⁵⁷

Hey folks, we finally have some 🍓🍓 to taste. We’ll talk all about them today.

Also, we have 2 events this week:

• How and when to use AI for sales and RevOps²¹¹ - Today

• Personal AI agents³⁸⁰ for everyday workflows - Tomorrow

TLDR; inside today’s newsletter

• o1 kicks off a new era for AI models & Microsoft shows Copilot V2

• ICYMI: 5 new tutorials and a deep dive, with two upcoming workshops this week.

• snack n skill - learn how to automate personalized sales proposals

• 6 of the best new AI tools

• 6 interesting posts from around the web

• to-do’s

Alright, let’s get to it!

 🔎 Trends & news

• OpenAI released two new models o1-preview⁸⁹ and o1-mini.⁷⁵ These are the results of their “Strawberry” project. o1 models take their time thinking about a problem before giving a final answer and thus perform much better at reasoning⁷⁹ or long-planning-based tasks. Both models are available in ChatGPT Plus, and Team plans for use. 🍿All you need to know about o1⁵⁴⁶.

• Microsoft’s gearing up for the next wave of Copilot updates.³⁷⁰ It’s bringing a dynamic canvas called Pages to Copilot, where you import outputs from Copilot (which can also access the web or your work documents) and collaborate with your team. And this 5 min demo⁷⁴⁸ for the new Copilot in Microsoft apps is insane (IF it actually works). 🍿Our Summary¹⁸⁴ (also below)

• Salesforce has released its agent builder called AgentForce³⁰³, which allows you to create bots capable of taking action on their own, within established limits.

• RunwayML announces a video-to-video¹⁹⁰ mode for their Gen-3 Alpha model. Making videos in custom styles⁹⁷ is going to get so much easier.

👀 ICYMI: New stuff we’ve launched

• How AI startup Wayfaster²⁶⁷ is changing the way we hire.

• Build your own Perplexity in Slack²³⁸ to perform web searches.

• Automatically generate tailored sales proposals²⁶⁹ for high-ticket clients in your CRM.

• Maximize revenue by analyzing sales data and optimizing territory assignments⁸⁷.

• Use AI to write down your company’s mission, vision and values²³⁴ statement.

• Create a simple web scraping tool⁴¹⁴ that uses AI to extract specific information from web pages.

🍽️ Snack ‘n’ skill

Learn how to auto-generate personalized sales proposals

Imagine turning your high-value leads into tailored proposals automatically. This tutorial shows you how to combine your CRM, Zapier, and AI to create a powerful sales proposal system.

Step 1. Set up your CRM for high-ticket clients

Define criteria for high-value leads in your CRM (we use HubSpot) and create a dynamic list that updates in real-time.

Step 2. Build your automated workflow

• Create a Zap triggered by new contacts in your high-ticket list

• Use Claude AI to generate personalized sales proposals

• Set up email draft creation with AI-generated content

• Add notifications to alert your team about new proposals

Tip: Review and refine your high-ticket client criteria quarterly to improve lead quality over time.

This walkthrough is a condensed version of this tutorial.²⁶⁹ Check it out for one-click copyable prompts and more detailed steps.

⚙️ Top new tools

• AssemblyAI¹⁷²* - Build AI apps that understand speech with insanely accurate speech-to-text models.

• Offdeal²⁵⁰ - Find the perfect buyer for your business in half the time.

• Content Helper by Ahrefs¹⁵⁷ - Target core topics in your content, not mindless keywords. (It’s in beta; the link works for Ahrefs users only).

• EVI 2 by Hume¹⁵⁴ - Voice-to-voice, empathetic AI model for developers.

• Gumloop Chrome Extension³¹³ - Automate any web browsing workflow with AI.

• Cohere AI app¹⁰² - Access multilingual enterprise-grade AI models in Slack.

More tools here →¹⁵⁹
*sponsored

🗣️ Everyone’s talking about

Microsoft’s dropping the next wave of Copilot updates³⁷⁰, and it looks promising. They’re introducing Pages, a dynamic canvas where Copilot pulls data from the web or your work documents, letting you and your team collaborate in real time. Plus, new updates across Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and more are coming, making everyday tasks smoother.

What's going on here?

Microsoft is launching Copilot Pages, Python in Excel, and AI agents as part of its Copilot Wave 2 release.

What does this mean?

Microsoft has expanded Copilot’s capabilities significantly in Wave 2. The updates focus on:

• Pages: A collaborative canvas for AI-powered teamwork accessible from BizChat - A hub that merges work, web, and business data.

• App Integration: Copilot gets deeper into Microsoft 365 apps with tools like Narrative Builder in PowerPoint and Python integration in Excel.

• Copilot Agents: AI agents that automate and streamline business processes.

These tools are designed to make knowledge work more intuitive by integrating AI into your workflow across different Microsoft apps.

Why should I care?

If you’re using Microsoft 365 daily, these updates can save you serious time. Think about not having to jump between apps for data analysis, emails, or presentations. Tools like Prioritize My Inbox in Outlook will help you focus on what actually matters. The real question, as always, is whether this will actually work as seamlessly as promised.

Read more stories on the Ben’s Bites blog.⁷⁹

 📜 Interesting posts

• AI tools enhancing workplace productivity.³²²

• Google integrates Data Commons¹¹⁸ with its Gemma models.

• How CEOs are using GenAI³⁴⁷ for strategic planning.

• How Amgen, Cognizant and Teladoc Health are using Microsoft 365 Copilot.¹⁰⁸

• Turning community bank employees¹⁴¹ into AI enthusiasts.

• Can AI solve compliance¹⁹⁹—one of the most expensive and boring parts of work?

📌 To-dos

1. Don’t miss out on exclusive insights into the future of automation—register today⁷¹* for the biggest automation event of the year!

2. Let us know^53† if you have any tutorials or courses you want us to create—we’re always open to ideas.
   *sponsored

That wraps things up for today! See you again on Thursday. 👋

Ben

Enjoy this newsletter? Please forward to a friend.

Want more education on AI? Become a Ben’s Bites member⁵⁷ and access our courses & tutorials.

Want to advertise in this newsletter? Click here⁵³.