Weekly Tech Recap: Perplexity Pro goes free for Airtel users, ChatGPT agent launched and more

With news coming in throughout the week, it can be difficult to sift out the important updates from the noise. To keep readers up to date, we’ve compiled the Weekly Tech Recap, where we take a look at the top news that shook up the world of technology. This week, OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT Agent, Perplexity announced free Pro subscriptions for Airtel users, OnePlus revealed sale details for the Pad 3, and more.

Top tech news of the week:

1) Perplexity Pro goes free for Airtel users: 

Earlier in the week, Airtel announced that its prepaid and postpaid customers will be able to enjoy Perplexity Pro subscription for free for a year, a service that costs upwards of over ₹17,000/ year. Notably, Perplexity Pro subscription allows users access to the latest AI models from OpenAI, Google, Anthropic and xAI. 

Soon after announcing the offer, Perplexity gained popularity in India and the app was soon ranked number 1 in the top free app category on the Apple App Store, dethroning ChatGPT at the top. 

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2) OnePlus Pad 3 India sale announced: 

OnePlus has announced that its latest tablet, the OnePlus Pad 3 will go on sale in India in the month of September. The tablet was first teased during the OnePlus 13s launch earlier in the year but while it was unveiled in the global markets an India launch date remained elusive. 

OnePlus has confirmed the specs for the Pad 3 but the pricing and exact sale date remains elusive for now.

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3) OpenAI launches ChatGPT agent: 

OpenAI has introduced a new AI agent called the ‘ChatGPT agent’, which integrates more deeply with the company’s chatbot of the same name. The ChatGPT agent is a general-purpose agentic system that can take actions on a user’s behalf.

With the new ChatGPT agent, the chatbot can handle tasks such as accessing the user’s calendar, shopping on their behalf, creating spreadsheets, and browsing the web to gather information. It can also automate repetitive tasks, such as converting screenshots or dashboards into presentations, planning and booking offsites, updating spreadsheets with new data, and more.

OpenAI says the ChatGPT agent brings the best of both worlds from the Operator and DeepResearch agentic AI’s, allowing ChatGPT agent to transition naturally from a simple conversation to executing actions within the same chat.

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4) DuckDuckGo brings a feature to block AI images in search results:

Privacy focused search engine DuckDuckGo has brought a new feature that allows users to block AI generated images in their search results.

However, the feature isn’t enabled by default. Users will need to manually go into the search menu to change the filters if they want to reduce the number of AI-generated images they see. On the DuckDuckGo website, a new “AI Images” option now appears in the search menu. By default, it is set to ‘Show’, but users can manually click on the menu and set it to ‘Hide’ to significantly reduce AI-generated images in search results.

DuckDuckGo admits the feature won’t catch every AI-generated image, but it says their frequency should drop significantly. To power the feature, DuckDuckGo relies on open-source blocklists like the ‘nuclear’ list from uBlockOrigin and the uBlacklist Huge AI Blacklist.

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5) Netflix uses generative AI for first time in a show:

Netflix has confirmed that it used generative AI for the first time to create a scene in one of its original shows. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos described the technology as an “incredible opportunity to help creators make films and series better, not just cheaper.”

Sarandos said everyone involved with the project was “thrilled” with the result generated by AI. Since generative AI gained prominence in late 2022, there has been significant anxiety across industries about its impact on jobs, with creative fields expected to be among the most affected. In 2023, a Hollywood actors and writers strike led to new guidelines around the use of AI in productions.

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