This morning’s briefing brings a US ban on DeepSeek for government use and a substantial overhaul of Notion AI. Its agents can now tackle day-long tasks, while Business and Enterprise workspaces are moving to separate monthly AI allowances.
New releases
Claude Code. Version 2.1.304 adds guided auto-mode setup and warns Pro and Max users when resuming an inactive conversation would consume a noticeable share of their five-hour allowance. More
Copilot in PowerPoint. Eligible Copilot users can create clickable dashboards and timelines in PowerPoint for Windows, Mac and web, with the phased rollout expected to finish by the end of October. More
Gemini in Google Sheets. Eligible Workspace and Google AI Pro/Ultra users gain full-dataset BigQuery analysis and refreshable dashboards in Sheets, with a rollout of up to 15 days starting on 19 October. More
Gemini and Google Sites. Workspace and personal Gemini accounts can now export interactive apps to a private Google Sites draft on web, Android and iOS, subject to Sites permissions. More
Google Meet and Google Chat. Automatic meeting recaps are reaching Chat for Business/Enterprise Standard and Plus and Frontline Plus, with Rapid Release underway and Scheduled Release starting on 27 October. More
Gemini in Google Sheets for iOS. Eligible Workspace and Google AI Plus/Pro/Ultra users gain questions, insights and static charts in Sheets for iOS, documented yesterday after rollout began on 15 October. More
Notion AI. Business and Enterprise seats gain 1,500 Standard and 500 Select credits per member monthly, subject to purchase terms, from 19 October for new workspaces and 2 November for existing ones; Meeting Notes starts using Standard credits on 1 December. More
Notion Agent. With Notion AI access, agents can now run tasks for up to 24 hours using their own computer and browser, with ‘Review for me’ becoming the default approval mode. More
Notion connections. MCP memory sync is live, while ChatGPT Go can now fund personal Agent sessions for Business and Enterprise members selecting a GPT model. More
Perplexity Computer. Max subscribers can select Ultrafast for GPT-6 Astra and GPT-6.1 Sol in Computer on the web, using more credits than Normal or Fast. More
Perplexity Projects. Mac app 26.38 adds a persistent working folder to Projects, reused by new tasks and accessible only to its owner even in shared Projects. More
Perplexity Decisions API. API users gain pplx-decider v1.2 and Flash v1.2, costing US$0.02 and US$0.01 per million input tokens respectively, with output tokens free. More
Elsewhere in AI
The US has banned the Chinese AI system DeepSeek from government use as technology tensions with China continue, the BBC reports. Read
Anthropic is in talks with UK data centre group Nscale over a second multibillion-dollar deal as it seeks more computing power, the Financial Times reports. Read
Shares in data centre builder Elice fell more than 30% on their Seoul trading debut, adding to concerns over AI valuations, the Financial Times reports. Read
Australia’s Human Technology Institute has urged stronger workplace privacy protections as AI accelerates employee monitoring, often without workers knowing, The Guardian reports. Read