Meta Platforms is launching new AI features including Business AI, a new sales concierge service that aims to guide customers “from discovery to purchase” with AI-powered messaging agents appearing on Meta ads, threads and your company’s website. Meta is launching the Meta AI business assistant, an AI chat experience that will help optimize campaign targeting and resolve account issues, via Ads Manager and Business Support Home. There are also new generative video tools and expanded access to Meta’s creator discovery APIs to matchmake businesses with influencers and other grassroots partners. The news was shared as marketers convene for Advertising Week New York. Read more

AI search startup Perplexity has made its Comet browser available for free worldwide as it seeks to gain market share against the major players in the field. Comet was first released three months ago to its Max plan subscribers, who pay $200-per-month. While the free version comes with a Comet Assistant, paid subscribers will get access to the new, higher-level Background Assistant, which leverages agentic capabilities to perform multi-step tasks simultaneously and asynchronously in the background. It joins the Email Assistant Perplexity announced last week for those on the Max plan. Perplexity is also rolling out early previews of Comet for mobile, so assistants can be managed from anywhere. Read more

“There will soon be more machines in the workforce than humans,” predicts Cisco President and Chief Product Officer Jeetu Patel. The good news is, “that’s how we are going to deliver on the promise of 8 billion people amplified to have the throughput capacity of 80 billion,” Patel told the crowd at the WebexOne conference in San Diego where the networking giant emphasized a message of “connected intelligence” with AI embedded “deeply and natively” across its flagship collaboration platform Webex. During the event, Patel promised smarter meetings, automated tasks and better security and reliability with Webex. Read more

Microsoft has combined Copilot AI capabilities with productivity apps and cloud storage in a new subscription tier called 365 Premium that is priced for individual users at $20 per month. The move comes 18 months after Copilot Pro subscriptions debuted for $20 monthly. The new product merges the AI power of Copilot Pro with the Microsoft Office suite for a low price. Upping the ante further, Microsoft is bringing “vibe working” to Microsoft 365 Copilot with the introduction of Agent Mode in Office apps and Office Agent in Copilot chat. Media outlets suggest 365 Premium will allow Microsoft to better compete against OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which does not have its own dedicated productivity tools. Read more

Adobe is bringing a free “pro quality” version of Premiere to iPhone, so YouTubers, filmmakers, music video editors, commercial producers and other creators can edit video on the fly. While tools like ByteDance’s CapCut and Meta’s Edits have become popular for mobile, Adobe’s move marks a major productivity step for those aspiring to more than social video, particularly through integration with the entire Adobe tools ecosystem. The Adobe Premiere mobile app features what Adobe promises are “studio-quality audio enhancements, perfectly timed AI sound effects, precision editing on a multi-track timeline, AI content generation and more.” Read more