A ChatGPT social network?
Plus: Claude gets new Google Workspace abilities, how we're really using AI and a new tool to plan your day with your energy levels
Hi product people 👋,
Coming up in this week’s briefing, Google’s VP of search explains how AI is transforming their business model, a new tool that describes itself as what “Apple Intelligence should have been” and a new study shows what we’re really using AI for - with some surprising results.
Plus, ChatGPT is reported to be planning to build its own social network to rival X and Meta’s ongoing legal case with the FTC throws up some new data on how Instagram could benefit from a TikTok ban.
Enjoy the rest of your week!
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Key reads and resources for product teams
New from the Department of Product Substack this week:
Knowledge Series - How to use Google’s new product announcements at work
Use Vids for Roadmaps, Firebase for mini apps, AI agents for idea generation and more. In this Knowledge Series, we’re going to focus on some of the most relevant product announcements from the past few days for product teams - along with some of the practical ways you can use these at work.
Deep - AI Agents in Practice
Despite Google’s VP of product Ryan Salva declaring that he “hates” the term, the hype train for AI agents is still very much in motion. These real world examples include 20+ new AI agent features from leading companies like Adobe, Hubspot, Replit and others as well as new AI Agent startups and SDKs that have recently been released for product teams to build their own AI agent features. (Department of Product)
Strategy - What if churn is the business model?
In SaaS, churn is the boogeyman. Founders track net revenue retention, lifetime value, and the magical moment when a customer finally pays off their CAC and starts throwing off some margin. But what if churn isn’t a bug? What if it is the business model? (Mostly Metrics)
UX - When to use comparison tables in product design
Comparison tables are most effective when they’re used in the right context. Prevent unnecessary confusion by making sure a comparison table will help decision-making on your site. (NN Group)
Interview - Google’s VP of Search on the future of AI Search
In this interview, Google’s VP of Search Elizabeth Reid explains how AI is transforming Google’s core business. Some key insights include:
Google isn’t aiming to build a “chatbot friend” like ChatGPT. Search remains information-first, not conversational.
People now ask longer, more nuanced questions — especially younger users who are more adaptable to new tech.
Future search will become more personalized and multimodal — combining text, images, video, and voice.
AI-powered search includes ads placed contextually — before, after, or even inside AI Overviews. A paid version hasn’t been ruled out.
Case study - How Figma’s Natasha Tenggoro designed Slides’ new AI features
In this interview, Jay chats with Natasha Tenggoro who shows how she designed AI features for Figma Slides. You will learn about Natasha’s design process, AI design, designing shadows, design explorations for Slides and more. (Figma)
Leadership - 10 Urgent AI takeaways for leaders
Leaders are struggling with shaping AI strategy. After all, this work involves tackling tough topics like risk management and AI ethics, plus data management and culture challenges. Meanwhile, AI tools are continuously evolving. (MIT)
New product features and innovation this week
Anthropic has launched a new Claude Research feature that allows it to connect directly to Google Workspace and perform a series of “Agentic” searches. One of the examples shown as part of the announcement is a prompt asking Claude to prepare an out of office hand over plan for a 3 month sabbatical which searches through email threads, calendar events and Google Drive to create a personalised itinerary that includes check-ins with colleagues. Claude says Research can also be used by product and engineering teams for things like API documentation writing and system design. See it in action here.
Speaking of search…
Netflix is testing out a new AI-powered search engine for movies and TV. It’s powered by OpenAI and allows users to search for content by inputting specific queries, including natural language descriptions of their mood or preferences, like “something uplifting” or “a funny movie about friends.” It’s designed to understand emotional tones and nuanced requests, making recommendations more tailored.
Meanwhile…
ChatGPT will now remember your previous conversations - if you want it to. Saved memories are specific details users can explicitly instruct ChatGPT to remember or details it automatically identifies as useful for future interactions. For example, you might say, “Remember that I am vegetarian when recommending recipes,” or ChatGPT might save a detail like your preference for Python if you mention it while coding. There are also rumours that following the success of ChatGPT’s image generation feature, the company is building a social network to rival X. It is understood that OpenAI is eyeing up building its own corpus of first party, user-generated data that can compete with X. If ChatGPT does have the 1 billion users it is reported to have then building a social network may make sense.
But as OpenAI looks to become more like X, Grok has released its own interpretation of ChatGPT’s Canvas called Studio. If you ask Grok to write code or a document for you, it will now preview it in a side panel window - just as it does in ChatGPT or Claude.
WhatsApp is rolling out a series of new features including document scanning, tappable reactions and a transcription feature that will come as great news to folks who don’t enjoy listening to long winded voice notes (or maybe that’s just me!...).
Chrome on mobile is getting a subtle change that will make viewing web pages more immersive.
Tools you can use
TabTabTab - Apple Intelligence where it should have been. TabTabTab inserts an LLM into your copy / paste functionality on a Mac to let you do magical things.
Product Rank - find out how your product ranks in results in AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity.
Lifestack - manage your calendar according to your energy levels.
📈 Product data and trends to stay informed
Social networks aren’t particularly social any more. New data published by Meta shows that just 17% of viewing time on Facebook and 7% of viewing time on Instagram is spent viewing content posted by friends - and the trend is continuing downwards. The data has been made public as part of the antitrust trial against Meta which also showed just how much Instagram has to gain from a TikTok ban.
73% of monthly traffic across industries now comes from mobile but only 33% of mobile users make everyday purchases on mobile devices. Full report on Mobile Benchmarks.
Therapy and companionship is now the number one use case for how people are using generative AI. Other use cases include getting tax advice, writing appraisals for colleagues and even speaking to the deceased. Get the Full Top 100 here.
Amazon’s CEO says the company is working on over 1,000 generative AI applications at the company including new experiences in shopping, coding, video advertising and home devices. The annual letter to shareholders has some interesting nuggets about how the company approaches product development.
~20% of all Salesforce’s code is now generated by AI agents according to SVP Jayesh Govindarajan. Anthropic’s CEO predicted earlier this year that within 6 months, 90% of all code will be written by AI - so there’s still some way to go yet.
AI model funding dropped 30% in China in the first quarter of this year. The drop was accelerated by the adoption of DeepSeek which has shifted the focus away from model development to product development on top of AI models, including Deepseek.
46% of design leaders say the ability to work with or implement AI is their top hiring priority. 2025 State of Design and Make Report.
A new product is hoping to kickstart a new, well-intentioned but slightly disturbing trend: using AI to contact elderly relatives who may be lonely or lacking mental stimulation.
Workers who use Copilot spend 25% less time writing emails according to a new study.
Other product news in brief
📱Apple is set to give multi-tasking another overhaul in the upcoming iPadOS 19.
🐬Google has created a new AI model for a unique use case that could transform the natural 💶world.
🏥Spotify founder Daniel Ek’s new startup has launched its second Health clinic
💲Meta has added Stripe’s CEO Patrick Collison to its board.
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