Microsoft's new 'Clippy' 😱

Hi Non-Techies,

You know when people say, “Sure, AI is smart, but it can’t read your mind.”?

Well…maybe it’ll be able to do that soon, too (at the expense of having to wear a silly shower cap, mind you). Brace yourself: It’s not even the weirdest of the three AI news bits I’m chatting about today.

Before we get going, I’m super pleased to tell you that my third ‘Become an AI Trainer’ 3-day bootcamp is now LIVE!

• Three days of online learning.

• £72/$97.

• Perfect if you’re reskilling (new career) or upskilling (new role).

It’ll take place on 19-21 August 2025, 16:00-17:30 BST / 11:00 - 12:30 ET. Just click the button below to register:

Meet Microsoft’s new…entity?

Do you remember Clippy? That paperclip-with-eyes that used to pop up whilst you were working on a Word doc? Let me jog your memory:

Well, it appears Microsoft hasn’t learned its lesson, because its CEO, Mustafa Suleyman, was on a podcast recently and spoke about a new character for Copilot (Microsoft’s flagship AI tool).

Look at this thing:

Suleyman elaborated with some slightly unnerving details. “Copilot will certainly have a kind of permanent identity, a presence, and it will have a room that it lives in, and it will age.”

So, if you woke up today thinking, “I wish I had a tamagochi that can help me answer tricky work emails,” you’re in luck. You can read more about it here.

From Prompt to Podcast

There are a few “turn this into a podcast” tools out there, but GenSpark’s latest announcement video really caught my eye.

It’s agentic, which means it can go away and do research around a topic, beefing out your inputs with inputs of its own. You can also choose whether you’d prefer a conversation, a solo-host or a whole group.

How does it differ from Notebook LM?

Whilst Notebook LM offers conversational ‘audio overviews’ of documents, GenSpark is going for proper podcasts. That means voice customisation and top-quality production. Unlike Notebook LM, the aim isn’t to summarise and distil, but to create engaging podcast content around any topic.

I don’t imagine it’ll be long until you can add your own voice to software like this, which will open up a whole load of possibilities for people building a personal brand. For now, it could be a winner for small businesses that want a cheap, easy and fast podcast.

The AI thinking cap.

The scientists are at it again.

Smart people at the University of Sydney are using an AI-powered thinking cap to turn thoughts into text.

The tech is still very much a work in progress (it has a respectable 75% accuracy at the moment), but it could have life-changing implications for people with communication difficulties.

Here’s my Non-Techie explanation of how it works:

• You put on the cap. This part is obligatory.

• You think. The cap reads your brain signals.

• AI interprets those signals and turns them into text on a screen.

It’s demonstrated in this video.

Okay, just like Copilot’s new character, I’m off to go and sit in the room that I live in and age. Don’t forget, there’s a digital seat waiting for you at my next ‘Become an AI Trainer’ bootcamp!

See you next week,

Heather and the AIFNT team.