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Good morning. Week two of our AI Tools series is Claude, the tool I use to build this newsletter. You'll get the company, the spec sheet, and one prompt that makes Claude grade itself. Plus how four friends used ChatGPT as a travel guide in the Mediterranean.
AI INSIGHT
Everything You Actually Need to Know About Claude
Week 2 of 8 in our AI Tools series.
Claude is how I produce this newsletter. It's my go-to for researching and writing nearly every story you read here. Which makes this a little awkward: Claude helped draft this piece about Claude. Read accordingly.
Claude is made by Anthropic, a company founded in 2021 by former OpenAI researchers, including siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei. Its whole pitch is being the careful one. Even its own draft IPO filing, leaked last month, reportedly spends more than a third of its pages on risks.
The money is moving fast. That same leaked draft reportedly shows quarterly revenue more than doubling this spring, to $11.5 billion, after billions in losses last year. Anthropic hasn't confirmed the figures.
The product is moving fast too. Anthropic shipped three new Claude models in about two weeks, ending with Claude Haiku 5.5 on October 7, per its newsroom. And later this month, Claude will answer U.S. voting questions, like where to vote and what ID to bring, using official data from a nonpartisan nonprofit.
Where it's headed: doing work, not just chatting. On paid plans, Claude can keep working on a longer task in the cloud after you close your laptop.
The catch: Claude still won't make you a picture. If images matter to you, it can't be your only AI.
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AI TUTORIAL
Claude, Feature by Feature, and Where It Falls Short
Same drill as last week's ChatGPT breakdown. Here's what Claude actually includes, then one prompt that makes it grade itself.
▸ Price: Free, Pro at $20 a month ($17 billed yearly), and Max starting at $100. See every plan.
▸ The models: Claude Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5.5, and Haiku 5.5, all released since late September. Paid plans get more of the strongest one.
▸ Images: No, it doesn't generate photos or illustrations. It can build charts and diagrams, and it reads photos you upload. This is where ChatGPT wins.
▸ Voice: Yes, on every plan.
▸ Web search: Built in on every plan. Paid plans add Claude in Chrome, which can work inside your own browser.
▸ Beyond chat: It makes real documents, spreadsheets, and slides. On Pro and Max, longer tasks keep running in the cloud, and the desktop app can work with files on your computer.
▸ Plugins: Connectors link Claude to apps like Google Drive, Notion, and Canva so it can work inside them.
Try This With AI What it does: Gets Claude to tell you, in plain terms, what it's worse at than its competitors.
"Act as a straight-talking technology reviewer. Tell me where you, Claude, fall short compared to your competitors, and be specific. For each weakness, give me one everyday task where ChatGPT, Gemini, or another tool would do it better, and tell me which of those weaknesses apply to the [Free / Pro] plan I am on."
Customize it: Swap in your actual plan, and add the one task you use Claude for most so the answer is about your life, not a benchmark. Tap to open this prompt in Claude. |
If it does not work: You'll get a polite, vague list like "I can't browse every site." Push back: "That's generic. Name three real tasks where a competitor beats you today."
What this doesn't fix: Claude grading itself is still Claude talking. Treat its answer as a starting point, then test the claim on a real task yourself.
Pricing and features change fast in this industry. What's true this week might not be true next month. We'll do our best to keep these current, but always double-check before you commit to a subscription.
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NEWS YOU CAN USE
This Matters at Home
Short, practical summaries to help you stay updated on recent AI news—and what it means for everyday life.
🧳 Princess Cruises Just Moved Into ChatGPT. Princess launched a ChatGPT app that compares itineraries, ships, prices, and shore excursions in one chat. Booking still happens on Princess, but the brochure pile is optional.
🧭 Why AI Feels Overhyped to Some and Magic to Others. AI researcher Andrej Karpathy says free chatbot users and paying power users are seeing very different AI. The real gains show up on big, hard projects.
🧠 Your Voice May Reveal How Fast You're Aging. Researchers built an AI "speech clock" that flags older-sounding voices linked to memory problems and faster aging. A promising clue for doctors, not an at-home dementia test.
👗 Google Photos Can Now Build You a Digital Closet. Google Photos' new Wardrobe feature catalogs clothes from your pictures so you can mix outfits and virtually try them on. Finally, a use for all those vacation photos.
🫂 AI Companion Chatbots Linked to Real Psychological Harm. Northeastern researchers found companion apps like Replika can fuel addiction-like attachment and worsen mental health, largely because the bots agree with everything you say.
REAL WORLD
How We Used AI This Week
Real people, real uses—here’s how AI is quietly making life better, one small win at a time.
🗺️ Arnie K., from Phoenix, Arizona. Heading to the Mediterranean with his wife and two friends, he skipped the printed itineraries and built the whole trip in ChatGPT, one day at a time, mostly from his phone. Every new confirmation went in, and the plan updated. ChatGPT eventually turned it into a private, mobile-friendly travel guide all four of them used daily in Croatia. The surprise favorite? A short history of each port. Everyone read it every day before arriving at the next port.
READER POLL
When you have a question, which AI do you open first?
TOOLS FOR YOU
🧭 Tool Spotlight: GoWithGuide
AI can build your itinerary, but it can't walk you through the old town and know which café the locals actually use. GoWithGuide connects you with licensed private guides in cities around the world, and you can message them before booking to shape the day around your pace and interests. It pairs well with an AI-built plan: let AI handle the logistics, let a local handle the stories. Start here.
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