🎬OpenAI Backs 'Critterz' Animated AI Film
OpenAI is throwing its resources behind "Critterz," an AI-generated animated feature that aims to prove AI can help create strong films while cutting Hollywood production costs and timelines.
- —The team hopes to complete the feature in 9 months with a sub-$30M budget, compared to typical animated films requiring 3 years and much higher budgets
- —OpenAI plans to provide its tools and computing resources, including GPT-5 and image generation models, targeting a Cannes Film Festival debut in 2026
- —Human actors will voice characters, with artists creating initial sketches that GPT-5 and image models transform into final animations
- —OpenAI creative specialist Chad Nelson developed the characters over three years, initially using DALL-E to create the first iteration of the film
Why it matters: AI's disruption of Hollywood is already underway, but it's been more of a hush-hush integration of tools, with large swaths of both creatives and consumers still taking a strong anti-AI stance. We'd bet on Critterz successfully hitting its timeline and goals, but the audience's embrace of an openly AI film will be the tougher hurdle.
🩺AI Voice Agents Boost Blood Pressure Monitoring
A new study from Emory University tested utilizing AI voice agents to assist senior citizens in taking and reporting their blood pressure over the phone, helping both raise satisfaction and reduce costs by nearly 90%.
- —Conversational AI agents reached 85% of the 2,000 patients by phone, with 60% successfully taking blood pressure readings in English or Spanish
- —Agents automatically escalated cases to nurses when readings exceeded thresholds or patients reported symptoms like chest pain or dizziness
- —The AI obtained readings from 1,939 patients with outdated records, boosting quality scores from 1 to 4 stars while cutting costs by 88.7% vs. human nurses
- —The average satisfaction score was above 9/10, despite researchers expecting resistance to automated healthcare interactions from older demographics
Why it matters: This study hits at the center of a few trends: AI's coming role in healthcare (and eldercare in particular), and the continued growth of voice agents in customer service. In the future, adding an AI vision tool like Gemini Live to walk seniors through processes will bring remote patient care to a new high-tech level.
📧Automate Gmail Drafts with Zapier and Google Sheets
In this tutorial, you will learn how to automatically create Gmail drafts from Google Sheets data using Zapier, turning hours of repetitive email work into a single automated workflow.
- —Open Zapier.com and click "Create a Zap" — this fresh start gives you full control over each step
- —Set up your Trigger: Select Google Sheets → "New Spreadsheet Row" event → Connect your Google account and pick your spreadsheet
- —Create your Action: Choose Gmail → "Create Draft" (not auto-send, so you can review) → Connect Gmail and set up your template with dynamic fields
- —Configure the draft: Map the "To" field to the email column, add your subject line, use HTML for body copy to embed links, and format professionally
- —Test by adding new rows to your sheet and clicking "Run", drafts will instantly appear in Gmail, then save and name your Zap
Why it matters: The simplest workflows often save you the most time — this Zap is a huge time-saver in handling email communications without burning hours in Gmail.
🙌The AI Prompts That Actually Work for Readers
We asked the AI community on X to share the AI prompts that actually transformed their work or life, with some of our favorite and most insightful submissions featured below.
- —@ralphbrooks created a board of advisors prompt asking personas for advice, with an AI Elon Musk providing first-principles analysis for unexpected insights
- —@Xyster fed entire company histories, financials, and competitor research into one mega-prompt, then asks for concrete 1, 3, and 6-month action plans
- —@MrXSeek flipped the script by asking the model to write its own optimal prompt first, then used that refined version to complete the actual task
- —@Itslipsadas' prompt pushes deeper into goals by having AI pose questions to break through circular thinking patterns
Why it matters: The common thread? Some of the best results come from prompts that force models to think systematically rather than just respond. Plus, as @MrXSeek points out, today's AI models are great prompt writers — have it help spin up your next detailed prompt before starting a task.