ChatGPT’s Tasks: Small Step Towards AI Virtual Assistants

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This is Lore, the newsletter that helps you thrive in the age of AI.  

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P.S. Watch the latest episode of The Next Wave, in which we discussed everything Matt saw at CES!

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1) Things Are Getting Better

2) ChatGPT’s Tasks: Small Step Towards AI Virtual Assistants

We barely blinked since OpenAI’s last update and—boom—another new feature has landed. This time it’s Tasks, a beta add-on for ChatGPT that pushes AI further into Alexa/Siri territory. Powered by GPT-4o, Tasks can schedule reminders, trigger routines, and ping you with everything from stock prices to daily language lessons.

Why is this exciting? Because it’s our first glimpse of ChatGPT stepping into asynchronous territory. It’s not just answering questions in the moment; it’s acting later—even at set intervals—like a mini personal assistant. Think daily news roundups or weekly novel-writing sessions delivered straight to your inbox.

Some quick-use ideas:

• Stock Price Checker: Get your morning market check without lifting a finger.

• Sci-Fi Story Generator: Have fresh micro-stories show up like little surprise gifts in your inbox.

• Language Drills: Need daily Japanese vocab? Tasks can keep you on track, dishing out new words every evening.

• News Summaries: Let ChatGPT harvest the biggest headlines while you focus on… literally anything else.

Sure, the feature is still in its infancy—bugs and all—but it’s a big leap toward the Agents we’ve all been buzzing about. Eventually, we’ll see our calendars, laptops, and even to-do lists blending seamlessly with AI that manages (and remembers) our daily tasks. I’ll be test-driving Tasks for the next week—expect a follow-up on how well it behaves.

Bottom line: this might look like a small quality-of-life upgrade, but it’s laying the groundwork for a world where ChatGPT can handle more than just your pop quizzes. The future is coming—and it wants to remind you about your dentist appointment.

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3) The Biggest AI Announcements From CES 2025

In this week’s episode of The Next Wave, Matt Wolfe and I discussed all the cool things he saw at CES. From kind of goofy things like fridges with AI to more incredible things like next-generation drones and cars that use AI. Check it out!

Also, please subscribe to The Next Wave on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube. 

4) Ray2 by Luma Labs: Lights, Camera… AI Action!

Luma Labs—best known for their cutting-edge 3D scanning tech and LiDAR-based solutions—just unveiled Ray2, a generative AI video model making serious waves. I think it’s not as good as Google Veo 2 (yet), but it’s close. And Google Veo 2 isn’t even out yet.

And with multiple companies racing to out-innovate each other, full-blown AI video (complete with consistent characters) might hit our screens by year’s end—think ads, short films, and more.

Why care? Because Ray2 ups the ante with 10x more compute than Ray1, meaning:

• Faster rendering and fewer half-baked frames.

• Crisp, lifelike details in every shot.

• A new wave of text-to-video, image-to-video, and editing tools on the horizon.

It’s early days, but AI video’s going from “neat demo” to “production-ready” in record time. If you’re in advertising, content creation, or just a fan of next-gen tech, keep your eyes on this one. Check out Luma Labs’ tweet (embedded below) for a sneak peek at Ray2 in action.

Short films made in an afternoon by a single creator? It’s coming. Buckle up.

5) Things I’m Learning From

That’s all for today. Please consider sharing the newsletter with your friends if you think they’d enjoy it. 🙏

Please give me feedback on Twitter. I am still figuring out the best format for this newsletter. Which part did you like? Dislike? Do you have other suggestions? Please let me know—just tweet @NathanLands.

-Nathan