AI Spotlight keeps you up-to-speed on the latest cool stuff in AI and tech. This week, we'll show you new tools, how businesses can use AI, and what's hot in the world of AI.

In today’s email:

• Meta Launches Stand-Alone AI Assistant App to Compete with ChatGPT and Rivals.

• Visa and Mastercard Dive Into AI-Powered Shopping

• Microsoft CEO says up to 30% of the company’s code was written by AI

• Tutorial: How Old Photographs Can Be Restored Using ChatGPT

• 📢Top AI Tools of the Week

Meta Launches Stand-Alone AI Assistant App to Compete with ChatGPT and Rivals

Meta has officially stepped into the AI app arena with a new stand-alone Meta AI app, launched this week at its LlamaCon developer event. While OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude dominate the space, Meta is banking on its decades of user data from Facebook and Instagram to offer something more personal. The app is now available in the U.S. and Canada and aims to be your next-gen AI companion—with memory, personality, and a social feed.

Key Points

• Meta’s AI draws on your existing data from Facebook, Instagram, and other Meta platforms to tailor responses—no extra setup required.

• You can tell Meta AI things like dietary preferences or travel plans, and it’ll remember them to refine future recommendations.

• A new “Discover” feed allows users to share fun AI interactions—like emoji self-descriptions—with friends, adding a viral twist.

• While personalization is powerful, Meta’s history with data usage raises concerns about how this information will fuel its ad business.

• Unlike OpenAI or Anthropic, Meta already knows who you are—and it’s betting that insight can beat raw intelligence alone.

  Source: https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/meta-launches-a-standalone-ai-app-to-compete-with-chatgpt/

Visa and Mastercard Dive Into AI-Powered Shopping

AI is no longer just lurking in chatbots—it’s heading straight for your wallet. This week, Visa and Mastercard unveiled bold new steps into “agentic commerce,” enabling AI agents to shop on your behalf. These intelligent assistants will browse, curate, and even make purchases based on your preferences—effectively automating the consumer experience.

Visa’s “Intelligent Commerce” and Mastercard’s “Agent Pay” aim to fuse personalization with payment security, teaming up with tech giants like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Microsoft to bring the vision to life. As AI takes on more responsibility in your buying decisions, the future of retail is looking increasingly automated.

key Points

• Visa and Mastercard are rolling out AI agents that can browse, select, and purchase items based on individual user preferences and rules.

• Built with partners like OpenAI and Stripe, the platform claims to make shopping more personal, secure, and efficient by allowing AI to act as a consumer concierge.

• Goes beyond recommendations—this tool enables AI to complete purchases and suggest optimal payment methods, such as Mastercard One Credential.

• Visa and Mastercard are aligning with Microsoft, Anthropic, IBM, Perplexity, Braintree, and more to create AI-powered ecosystems for seamless transactions.

• Competitors like PayPal, Amazon, and OpenAI are also launching agentic commerce features, signaling a rush to redefine how people shop online.

• While convenience skyrockets, these developments raise important questions about privacy, consumer autonomy, and how much trust users should place in AI shopping agents.

  
  Source: https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/visa-and-mastercard-unveil-ai-powered-shopping/

Microsoft CEO says up to 30% of the company’s code was written by AI

At Meta’s recent LlamaCon event, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella dropped a revealing stat: up to 30% of Microsoft’s codebase is now written by AI. Speaking with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Nadella highlighted how AI is increasingly becoming a behind-the-scenes developer, especially for languages like Python. The comment aligns with earlier predictions by Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott, who believes AI could be writing 95% of all code by 2030.

While the numbers sound impressive, Nadella and others have noted that outcomes vary depending on the language — and that not all AI-generated code is equal. Even Google, which claims over 30% of its code is AI-generated, may be playing fast and loose with what counts.

key Points

• AI writes 20–30% of Microsoft’s code, with stronger performance in Python than in C++.

• Microsoft aims for 95% AI-written code by 2030, according to its CTO Kevin Scott.

• Code quality varies, and AI-generated code still requires human review.

• Google claims similar figures, with over 30% of its code now AI-generated.

• Measurement methods aren’t transparent, so comparisons across companies may be shaky.

  
  Source: https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/microsoft-ceo-says-up-to-30-of-the-companys-code-was-written-by-ai/

How Old Photographs Can Be Restored Using ChatGPT

Old photographs may be enhanced and colorized through the use of ChatGPT’s GPT-4o model. While this method does not constitute true photo restoration, it offers a simplified way to upscale, clean, and colorize vintage images while preserving their original integrity.

Here’s how:

1. ChatGPT must be accessed via the web or mobile application.

2. The model ‘GPT-4o’ should be selected for the session.

3. The old photograph intended for restoration must be uploaded.

4. The following prompt should be entered precisely:

   “I have an old photo that I own the copyright to. Please upscale it to high resolution and colorize it in a way that stays faithful to the original image. Do not alter the composition, facial features, clothing, background, or expression. The final result should be identical in layout and structure—if placed on top of the original, it should match exactly. The only acceptable changes are increased detail and the realistic addition of period-accurate color. Keep the style photo-realistic and era-appropriate.”

5. Once processed, the restored version may be reviewed and saved.

   

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