🥯 Today on Bagel Bots:

• 🤯 OpenAI’s Roadmap: GPT-4.5, GPT-5, and the End of Model Confusion

• ⚡️ Fresh tech of the day - Perplexity’s New Sonar Model: Speed, Accuracy, and a Direct Shot at OpenAI

• 📰 The latest AI and tech news

• 🤖 Cool new apps for you to check out

• 🧠 Today’s Free Prompt: AI-Optimized Press Releases: No Revisions Needed

• 🤔 Can you guess which image is real and which one is AI? Go vote!

(Read time: five minutes) - Fun fact: I never change this.

One Big Story: OpenAI’s Roadmap: GPT-4.5, GPT-5, and the End of Model Confusion

Sam Altman just released a major update on OpenAI’s direction, which is about making AI feel more seamless. OpenAI knows its product lineup has gotten… a little messy, so it plans to fix that with two big moves: first, rolling out GPT-4.5 (aka Orion), and then launching GPT-5 as a unified system that merges all its tech—including the O-series models—into one powerhouse AI.

Key Takeaways:

• OpenAI wants AI to “just work” without users choosing between different versions.

• GPT-4.5 is coming first—this will be the last model without chain-of-thought reasoning.

• GPT-5 will be the big leap—integrating multiple AI systems into one, including search, deep research, and even voice.

• Free ChatGPT users will get unlimited access to GPT-5 at a standard intelligence level, while Plus and Pro users will unlock more advanced versions.

My Take: This is precisely what AI needs—less friction and more intelligence. OpenAI is taking a big step toward making AI feel like a true assistant, not just a chatbot. And unlimited free access to GPT-5? That’s huge.

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Cool Tech: Perplexity’s New Sonar Model: Speed, Accuracy, and a Direct Shot at OpenAI

Perplexity just dropped an upgrade to their in-house AI model, Sonar, and it’s making waves. Built on Llama 3.3 70B, Sonar is designed to deliver faster, more accurate answers for Perplexity’s search mode. And when they say fast, they mean it—this thing runs at 1,200 tokens per second, making it 10x quicker than Gemini 2.0 Flash while keeping up with GPT-4o and Claude 3.5 Sonnet in performance.

Key Takeaways:

• Sonar generates responses almost instantly, ideal for search queries and quick answers.

• Sonar beats GPT-4o mini and Claude 3.5 Haiku and rivals higher-end models like GPT-4o and Claude 3.5 Sonnet in user satisfaction.

• Sonar improves factual correctness, readability, and markdown formatting, making it great for information retrieval.

• Perplexity Pro users can set Sonar as their default model, and it’s coming soon to the API.

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Interesting News

• A recent study by Carnegie Mellon and Microsoft found that professionals who heavily rely on AI tools tend to think less critically, potentially reducing their problem-solving abilities.

• Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei predicts that within the next two years, AI will reach a level of collective intelligence comparable to “a country of geniuses,” urging democratic nations to lead in AI development to prevent authoritarian regimes from gaining global military dominance.

• The European Commission has launched InvestAI, an initiative to mobilize €200 billion for artificial intelligence development, including €20 billion for AI gigafactories, to enhance healthcare, research, and competitiveness in Europe.

• Thomas Shedd, a former Tesla engineer now leading the General Services Administration’s Technology Transformation Services, is spearheading efforts to integrate AI across government systems, including plans to modify Login.gov to access sensitive data—a move some employees have flagged as potentially illegal.

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Fresh Apps

Are you looking to automate your work or life? Want to play with excellent new AI tools? Every post has five new AI apps for you to try for yourself. You can also use our favorite apps here.

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🔗 Hypertxt - Your new favorite AI article writing toolkit

🔗 Chatbase - AI Agents for magical customer experiences

Today’s Tip: AI-Optimized Press Releases: No Revisions Needed

Writing a press release that grabs attention and gets media coverage can feel like a high-stakes puzzle. You need the perfect balance of clarity, structure, and storytelling—without sounding overly promotional or bland. Maybe you’re not sure how to format it, or you keep second-guessing whether it’s newsworthy enough.

That’s where this ultimate press release mega-prompt comes in. It eliminates the guesswork by walking your favorite AI tool through a precise, structured process, ensuring your press release is polished, compelling, and instantly ready for distribution. Whether you’re announcing a product launch, a significant milestone, or a game-changing partnership, this prompt guarantees a professional, media-ready release on the first try—no endless rewrites required. Let’s dive in.

1. Clear Ask: Write a professional, compelling, and newsworthy press release that effectively conveys the key message to the intended audience.

2. Context & Purpose: This press release is being created to [explain the purpose—e.g., announce a product launch, company milestone, event, partnership, funding round, or major business development]. It should be engaging, well-structured, and written in a format that aligns with industry standards to maximize media coverage and reader interest.

3. Detailed Input Requirements:

Fill in the placeholders below to customize the press release:

• Headline: [A concise, attention-grabbing title]
• Subheadline (optional): [A supporting sentence that adds context]
• Company Name: [Name of the business or organization]
• Location: [City, State, Country (if applicable)]
• Date of Release: [e.g., February 13, 2025]
• Announcement Summary: [One or two sentences summarizing the core news]

Key Details:
• What is being announced? [Product, event, milestone, acquisition, funding, etc.]
• Why is this important? [Industry impact, benefits, competitive edge, etc.]
• Who is involved? [Executives, partners, investors, etc.]
• When and where does this happen? [If applicable]
• Supporting Quotes: [Quotes from executives, partners, or key stakeholders]
• Call to Action: [Next steps, how to learn more, website link, contact details]

4. Additional Instructions:
• Tone: Keep it professional, engaging, and journalistic—not overly promotional.

Structure: Follow the standard press release format:
• Headline (bold & compelling)
• Subheadline (optional, italicized for emphasis)
• Dateline (Location + Date)
• Lead Paragraph (Most critical info in first 1–2 sentences)
• Body Paragraphs (Details, supporting facts, and quotes)
• Boilerplate (Brief company background at the end)
• Media Contact (Name, email, phone number, website link)

• Readability: Use short, clear sentences. Avoid jargon unless necessary.
• SEO & Distribution: Ensure the content includes relevant keywords for visibility.

5. Perfect Output Every Time: ChatGPT should return a fully formatted, publish-ready press release that follows best practices. The press release should be free of grammatical errors, easy to scan, and instantly usable for distribution.

🤔 Which image is real?

One of these images is real, and one was created with AI. Vote for which one you think is real, and tell us why you voted that way. My only goal is to choose such good photos that the majority of votes are wrong.

The last edition’s results—80% were correct!

Did you vote in the poll from February 12th? The top image was real! Go back and see the photos here. So what do you think? Are you getting better at spotting AI vs. not?