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  • Ep 689: ChatGPT doubles down on healthcare, Google’s shopping and hardware push, and more

Ep 689: ChatGPT doubles down on healthcare, Google’s shopping and hardware push, and more

Anthropic expands healthcare-focused AI tools, Google rolls out new Gemini shopping features, OpenAI starts building ChatGPT Jobs and more

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Everyday AI
January 12, 2026

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The weekly AI news roundup is packed. Sheesh. OpenAI, Google, NVIDIA, Microsoft, Meta and more made big splashes. Make sure to check it out.

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Outsmart The Future

Today in Everyday AI
8 minute read

🎙 Daily Podcast Episode: AI showed up in more everyday workflows this week, from healthcare tools to shopping and hardware upgrades that quietly change what’s possible. Give today’s show a watch/read/listen.

🕵️‍♂️ Fresh Finds: Midjourney releases a new image model, Google launches an AI flight planner, Grok faces bans in two Asian countries and more. Read on for Fresh Finds.

🗞 Byte Sized Daily AI News: Anthropic expands healthcare-focused AI tools, Google rolls out new Gemini shopping features, OpenAI starts building ChatGPT Jobs and more. Read on for Byte Sized News.

💪 Leverage AI: If you clocked out last week, the AI giants didn’t. NVIDIA, Google, OpenAI, and Meta all made moves that reshape how work, shopping, healthcare, and even cars will run next. Keep reading for that!

↩️ Don’t miss out: Miss our last newsletter? We covered: Grok restricts image generation after safety concerns, OpenAI releases new healthcare product, Meta goes nuclear for AI and more.  Check it here!

Ep 689: ChatGPT doubles down on healthcare, Google’s shopping and hardware push, and more

Why did ChatGPT go all in on health.... twice? 🤔

Did Google just silently win the week in AI with shopping and TVs? 🤔

And is NVIDIA trying to be the new Tesla, but better? 🤔

So many AI questions to start 2026, and we've got AI answers.

Also on the pod today:

• ChatGPT Health: upload your records📊
• Google Gemini: instant shopping chat
• TCL TVs get Gemini AI📺

It’ll be worth your 46 minutes:

Listen on our site:

Click to listen

Subscribe and listen on your favorite podcast platform

Listen on:

Here’s our favorite AI finds from across the web:

New AI Tool Spotlight – Atlas.new Creates maps, runs analysis, and builds spatial apps with AI, Adject 1.5 Uploads your product photos and gets realistic lifestyle images in seconds, cubic's AI agents automatically reviews PRs in GitHub using your guidelines and best practices.

AI Disrupts News — Media giants brace for AI-driven collapse in search traffic. Want to learn more?

AI Flight Planner — AI now hunts flight deals—just tell it what you want.

Infinite Grok Feed — Grok now delivers endless, personalized news feeds from your X activity.

AI Layoff Pressure — Layoffs linked to AI push workers to embrace new tech.

AI Powers Alphabet — Alphabet dethrones Apple with $4 trillion AI-fueled surge.

AI in 2026 — AI hype isn’t fading—execs say it’s delivering real value, but people issues are the big hurdle. Curious?

Atlanta New AI Hub — Atlanta emerges as a fast-growing center for AI innovation.

1. Claude Expands AI Power in Healthcare and Life Sciences 🧬

The latest update includes HIPAA-ready features for providers, direct connections to key health databases, and expanded life sciences capabilities for everything from clinical trials to regulatory submissions. The move signals a bigger push to embed AI at the core of both patient care and drug development, letting organizations automate more of their most tedious but critical work.

2. Google Gemini Goes Shopping with Walmart and More 🛒

In a major retail shakeup, Google announced at the National Retail Federation convention that its Gemini AI chatbot now lets users shop directly from top retailers like Walmart, Shopify, and Wayfair, skipping the old search-and-click routine. This move heats up the race against OpenAI and Amazon, as chatbots rapidly shift from helpful assistants to instant checkout merchants within a single conversation.

For now, these AI shopping features are U.S.-only, but global expansion is on deck as Google eyes more payment options soon. The announcement also saw Walmart and Alphabet’s Wing reveal big plans to ramp up drone delivery, signaling that AI is now at the heart of how we buy—and get—what we want.

3. OpenAI Tests Career Assistant to Rival Microsoft’s Copilot 🧑‍

OpenAI is quietly building ChatGPT Jobs, an all-in-one career agent set to help users navigate job searches, polish resumes, and get tailored career advice. This new tool follows the debut of ChatGPT Health and signals OpenAI’s push to turn GPT into a go-to productivity companion.

Microsoft is testing similar waters with its Career Coach for Copilot, making the AI job hunt space suddenly competitive. While ChatGPT Jobs isn’t live for the public yet, it’s another clear step toward AI-powered personal guidance becoming a staple in everyday professional life.

4. Apple Teams Up with Google for AI Boost 📲

The multi-year partnership marks Apple’s biggest step yet into the AI race, after mostly watching from the sidelines. This deal comes as Google’s market value just topped Apple’s for the first time since 2019, signaling a new power dynamic in Silicon Valley.

5. Lilly and Nvidia Launch $1B AI Drug Discovery Lab in Bay Area 💊

Eli Lilly and Nvidia are turning up the heat in the AI drug discovery race, announcing a $1 billion, five-year partnership to open a new co-innovation lab in the Bay Area by March.

The move, unveiled at the 2026 J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, signals both companies’ intent to use cutting-edge AI and robotics to speed up drug development and shake up how medicine gets made. This new alliance builds on their previous AI “factory” project, but now adds real-world lab data, advanced biological models, and end-to-end tools for scientists worldwide.

6. Grok AI Blocked in Southeast Asia Amid Deepfake Scandal 🌏

Malaysia and Indonesia just slammed the brakes on Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot, citing repeated abuse of its image-generating features to create sexual deepfakes. Authorities say Grok’s safeguards failed to stop users from producing and sharing non-consensual explicit content, especially targeting women and minors.

These bans mark the world’s first major crackdown on Grok, as regulators push back against unchecked generative AI tools.

If you hit snooze on AI this past week…. Yikes. 

Every big player made at least a move or three. 

NVIDIA built an autonomous driving stack Mercedes will ship this year and could instantly compete with Tesla. Google turned Gemini into a checkout terminal. OpenAI launched TWO healthcare products in the same week.

Meanwhile?

A Microsoft report showed the UAE leads the world in AI workforce adoption at 64%. The U.S.? Not even in the Top 20. 

Awkwaaaard.

Meta's outgoing AI chief admitted they "fudged" Llama 4 benchmarks. Amazon put Alexa+ on the web, and it’s not very good. 

And that’s just the intro, shorties. 

Here's the weekly breakdown and what matters.

1. Google Turns Gemini Into Your Personal Walmart Checkout 🛒

The company announced major shopping expansions at the National Retail Federation convention this past week. Partnering with Walmart, Shopify, and Wayfair.

Instant checkout lets customers buy directly inside Gemini chats using linked Google accounts. PayPal support coming soon.

Walmart customers can link accounts for personalized recommendations. Items go straight to existing Walmart carts.

US only for now.

Honestly though? Google's been winning top of funnel shopping for over a decade. They're gonna push this hard.

What it means: Every major AI company is bringing daily internet activities into chatbots.

That's why AI operating systems keep coming up.

2. NVIDIA's Alpamayo Makes Them a Top Three Player in Autonomous Driving 🚗

Jensen Huang kicked off CES in Las Vegas this past week. Announced the Rubin platform, NVIDIA's first extreme codesigned six-chip AI platform. Now in full production. Promises to cut AI token generation cost by 90%.

That's huge.

Huang also introduced Alpamayo, an open reasoning model family for autonomous vehicles.

Here's the thing though y'all.

NVIDIA's actually been powering autonomous vehicles for a decade. This is their first official foray with a new brand name.

First passenger car featuring Alpamayo tech hits the US this year in the Mercedes-Benz CLA.

What it means: This automatically makes NVIDIA a top three name in autonomous vehicles.

Especially with Alpamayo going open source.

3. OpenAI Launched ChatGPT Health for 230 Million Weekly Users 🏥

Try 230 million.

OpenAI launched ChatGPT Health in the US this past week. Users can share medical records and app data for personalized health advice.

Upload data from Apple Health, Peloton, MyFitnessPal. OpenAI says conversations stay separate. Won't train models.

Currently only available to a small group of early US users. Wait list for others.

What it means: For some, handing health data to an AI company is a no brainer.

For others, the privacy concerns are very real.

4. OpenAI Also Launched ChatGPT for Healthcare Enterprises 🏨

OpenAI doubled down on healthcare this past week with ChatGPT for Healthcare.

Powered by the GPT-5 family. Tested by doctors in real world clinical scenarios.

Early adopters include Boston Children's Hospital, Cedars-Sinai, and Stanford Medicine Children's Health.

Welp.

Studies show AI models can be more empathetic than doctors. Probably because doctors here are extremely overworked.

What it means: The question now is whether healthcare providers use the right model and understand how large language models actually work.

5. Google's AI Inbox Is Coming to Gmail (For Some) 📧

Here's the thing about Google's latest Gmail update. It might change how you process email entirely.

Google launched AI Inbox for trusted testers this past week. Converts the traditional email list into AI-generated to-dos and topics.

No wait list. Just invite only.

What it means: Gmail's been the default for two decades.

If this AI inbox actually delivers, email management could look completely different by end of year.xxxx

6. Gemini Is Coming to Your Google TV 📺

Google announced Gemini integration for Google TV this past week. Rolling out to select TCL devices initially.

Voice controls for settings. Search integration with Google Photos using natural language.

Sheesh.

What it means: The Google Photos integration alone opens up creative possibilities.

Imagine asking your TV to show all photos from your last vacation while it generates a slideshow with AI music.

7. The UAE Leads the World in AI Adoption. The US Ranks 24th. 🌍

Microsoft's AI Economy Institute released a new report this past week. Generative AI is now the fastest spreading technology in history. Reached more than 1.2 billion users globally in under three years.

US ranks 24th globally with only 28% adoption rate.

That's bonkers.

UAE leads at 64%. Singapore follows at about 61%.

What it means: If you want a good understanding of where global AI is trending, this Microsoft report is worth reading.

8. CES 2026 Showed AI Moving From Chatbots to Robots 🤖

CES marked a major shift for AI this year. Focus moved from generative AI chatbots to physically interacting with the world.

LG debuted CLOiD, a mobile home robot with articulated arms. Can fold laundry, load the dishwasher, fetch objects.

Yuuuuup. The zero labor home might actually become a reality.

In the smart home rivalry? LG's robot demoed live while Samsung's Ballie got quietly shelved after six years.

What it means: LG seems to be pulling ahead of Samsung in home robotics.

9. Meta's Outgoing AI Chief Says They "Fudged" Llama 4 Benchmarks 🦙

Yuuuuup. Now we know why.

Yann LeCun, Meta's outgoing chief AI scientist, dropped a bombshell in the Financial Times this past week. Said the company "fudged a little bit" when testing Llama 4.

Meta's researchers used different model versions on separate benchmarks. Instead of evaluating a single version across all tests.

That's not standard practice.

Meta's leadership denied releasing different models. Blamed infrastructure variations.

In June, Zuckerberg restructured Meta's AI division. Created Meta Superintelligence Labs and brought in Scale AI cofounder Alexandr Wang.

What it means: Meta's been silent since April or May when they announced Llama 4.

That's an eight or nine month gap in model releases. For AI frontier labs, that's basically a decade.

10. Amazon Launches Alexa+ on the Web and the Crowd Goes Mild 🔊

Amazon put Alexa+ on the web this past week. Tens of millions can now chat with Alexa at alexa.com for the first time.

Only available for Alexa+ users who join a wait list or own newer Amazon devices.

Users can ask questions, create content, plan trips, get homework help. Standard large language model stuff.

Alexa+ reportedly runs on Anthropic's models. Which are really good. But the implementation has issues.

It's slow. It's clunky. Some basic queries like weather take three to five seconds.

That's bonkers for basic queries.

What it means: Amazon announcing Alexa+ and the crowd goes mild.

At least in its current state, competing with ChatGPT on the web seems unlikely.

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