Today, we’re bringing you the latest in AI-powered marketing and business strategies. Here’s what’s inside:

🚨 AI Top Story: Duolingo’s AI shift, social media blackout, and PR storm.

🎯 AI Tool Of The Week: Email timing that adapts to each individual — not averages.

📊 One Quick AI Hack: Save time (and sanity) by having GPT o3 write alt text that’s optimised for SEO.

🌟 Creator Spotlight: Marcus Bryne shares what Google Veo 3 means for truth, trust, and visual media.

AI Dreams & PR Nightmares at Duolingo

The Risks Behind Cutting Humans Too Quickly

Duolingo is learning a hard lesson in public perception after its recent push to become an “AI-first” company triggered swift backlash. What started as an announcement about embracing generative AI to boost efficiency quickly turned into a reputational firestorm.

At the heart of the controversy is Duolingo’s decision to part ways with around 10% of its contracted language experts - roles that have long contributed to the platform’s quirky, human-crafted voice and nuanced language content. These changes were reportedly tied to the company’s pivot toward using AI tools like GPT-4 to generate and refine learning material.

The move didn’t go unnoticed. Users, educators, and even loyal fans voiced frustration, raising questions about quality control, job displacement, and the tone-deaf rollout of AI initiatives. Things escalated further when Duolingo mysteriously wiped its social media accounts—a dramatic move that left followers wondering whether it was part of a planned rebrand or simply damage control.

Adding to the confusion, Duolingo’s CEO Luis von Ahn stepped in days later to clarify the company’s stance. He emphasised that AI would serve as a support system for human experts rather than a replacement, and that the company’s core values—fun, accessibility, and pedagogical quality—would remain intact. But the statement did little to reverse the perception that Duolingo may have underestimated the cultural and emotional impact of automating something as personal as language learning.

This saga offers a cautionary tale for marketers navigating the AI transition. Transparency, timing, and the tone of change management matter just as much as the technology itself. As AI integration accelerates across the industry, users aren’t just looking at what’s possible; they’re watching closely to see how it’s done.

🔧 OpenAI upgrades the AI model powering its Operator agent - OpenAI’s Operator just got smarter with a new model that boosts its web-browsing and app-controlling skills

🖥️ How Microsoft wants AI agents to use your PC for you - Microsoft is building AI agents that can navigate your PC and apps like a digital assistant with real hands-on control

⚙️ 7 tips for getting started with AI agents and automations - A quick-start guide breaking down how to launch your first AI automations without getting overwhelmed

🎥 I've been watching Google Veo 3 videos, and my gut says: this will ruin everything - Google’s Veo 3 creates videos so real, it blurs the line between fiction and reality — and that’s got people seriously uneasy.

🎯 The Artificially Intelligent Enterprise - Don't Sleep on the ChatGPT Desktop App

☕ AI Tangle - OpenAI's Operator Overhaul, Nvidia's Chinese Blackwell Chip & 2,000 MW for Pakistan's AI Data Centers

Smarter Send Times, Better Email Results With Seventh Sense

Seventh Sense is an AI-powered email optimisation platform built to make sure your messages land when people are actually ready to read them. Instead of guessing send times or blasting your entire list at once, it analyses historical engagement data and sends each email at the moment your recipient is most likely to open.

It’s not about sending more. It’s about sending smarter.

Seventh Sense works seamlessly with HubSpot and Marketo, giving marketing teams deeper control over deliverability, engagement, and email fatigue. By throttling sends and customising timing down to the individual level, it helps you avoid spam folders, boost click-throughs, and stay on your audience’s good side.

Why It’s Useful

For marketers juggling crowded inboxes and slipping open rates, this is a low-lift way to improve campaign performance without rewriting a single line of copy. It brings machine learning into your email calendar — and gets your content seen when it matters most.

Key Features:

Send-Time AI: Personalised delivery based on user-level behaviour

Integration-Ready: Works with HubSpot and Marketo out of the box

Email Throttling: Prevents spikes that hurt deliverability

Engagement Insights: Optimise based on real open and click patterns

👉 Explore Seventh Sense

Make o3 Your Image Metadata Assistant

You’ve got a pile of images — product photos, UI screenshots, lifestyle visuals, or event coverage — and they’re ready to publish. But now you need to add alt text, image titles, and captions for SEO, accessibility, and better context. Doing this manually takes forever and often ends up inconsistent across the site.

Here’s how

Drag and drop your images into the chat before writing your prompt.

They’ll appear as thumbnails in the chat window.

Add a clear instruction prompt after uploading.
Example:

“For each image above, please provide:
– Alt text (under 125 characters)
– A short image title
– A caption that could appear below the image
Output everything in a markdown table with the file names.”

GPT o3 will process and return all entries in one go.
Each image is analysed independently, and the output will be structured for easy copy-paste.

If you need more than 10 images processed, you can simply repeat the batch in a second message — GPT-4o handles each round quickly and efficiently.

MARCUS BYRNE - The age of synthetic reality is here. Find out why Google Veo 3 is a turning point and what new digital instincts you’ll need.