GPT-5 launches in open beta
April Fools! 🤠 If GPT-5 actually launched, none of us would have the brain capacity to enjoy this newsletter. We’d be too busy doing whatever AGI promises it can do.
But if you’re one to keep an eye on the news like me, it was a rough day for separating fact from fiction. Panic attacks aside, it’s always fun when brands and creators jump in on the fun.
So here are some of my favorite April Fools moments from today:
Given the holiday weekend (I hope you had a good one if you celebrate!) today’s newsletter is short, sweet, and saucy. Keep scrolling for the good stuff.
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This week’s rundown
Latest news + trends for brands and creators: AI, Social, Tools
🗣 OpenAI soft launches Voice Engine. OpenAI just previewed a new AI system called Voice Engine that can recreate a person's voice from a 15-second audio recording — think along the lines of what Eleven Labs has been doing.
It can even use a voice sample in one language to create a replica voice that can speak in multiple other languages. For now, Voice Engine is only being tested by a small group of trusted partners in education and healthcare. Understandably so, OpenAI is gauging how these controlled tests go before deciding if and how to open it up for wider use.
🦋 Adobe’s new AI platform is an all-in-one AI content factory. Announced at Adobe Summit (along with Firefly updates and an enterprise chatbot), GenStudio is a new AI-powered platform that plugs generative AI directly into its entire suite of creative tools. Translation: better automated content creation and more streamlined workflows, all in one spot.
The GenStudio highlights:
It’s a centralized interface integrated with Adobe Firefly, Adobe Creative Cloud, and Experience Cloud apps (APIs, publishing, analytics).
Automates content planning, creation, management, publishing, and reporting.
Definitely a big piece of Adobe's broader move to embed AI across its marketing software — especially at an enterprise level.
The value: Automates and systematizes the grunt work of content production, freeing up human creatives to focus on higher-level, strategic work.
Ideal for: Marketing teams, creative agencies, small businesses — particularly those already embedded with Adobe.
🤖 Updates on Elon’s AI projects. Elon Musk's AI company xAI is launching an upgraded version of its Grok chatbot, called Grok-1.5, which will be available to early testers and existing Grok users next week. He also revealed that Grok 2 is in training and will “exceed current AI on all metrics,” apparently with improved reasoning capabilities and longer contexts of up to 128,000 tokens.
🔞 Is 𝕏 getting into adult content? I mean, more than it already is? The platform just introduced a new "Adult Content" setting for communities to improve safety by filtering NSFW content, allowing only age-verified users to access such groups. If you think that sounds like a revenue-boosting move for 𝕏 (and potentially the NSFW creators who inhabit it), you’re probably right.
🤑 New YT Shorts monetization option. YouTube is rolling out Members Only Shorts which give creators a new way to offer exclusive (aka PAID) content to their subscribers. The feature lets creators mark their short videos as "Members Only," making them visible only to paying fans with a special star icon for visibility. With Shorts already racking up 70 billion views daily, it’s perfect for short-form creators already producing short-form vertical content for YouTube (or other platforms like Instagram Reels or TikTok). Members only content = another recurring revenue stream.
📣 Reddit is adding new AI features for ads, including one that suggests catchy headlines and a tool for cropping images to fit ad spaces better. They're also making it easier to manage your ad budget and get more for your money. Obviously Reddit wants to attract more advertisers (especially after its recent IPO), so it’s pulling out every trick — and AI just happens to be one that advertisers really like.
Sauce snippets
Stray links, memes, and trends from the internet ✨
How to backup your digital life
When there’s an awkward silence on the Zoom call and someone has to fill it
X users with large followings are about to get their blue checkmarks back whether they want them or not
An extremely viral tweet where people shared random lore about themselves
A petition for the 4-day work week
An old gentleman asks Drake if he’s famous