/// System Override

A tool, shift, or insight that challenges the default and demands a deeper look. Our main story of the week.

Welcome to another week of The AI Upload!

I have a quick hack for you that should help those preparing marketing assets for brands - or even just those who want to create more social posts with the assets you already have.

This is how you can convert square and vertical video content into landscape content using Generative Fill for video to expand it sideways. It took me a while to figure this out, but it’s going to be hugely useful for repurposing Meta Ads content, for example, over to YouTube.

Hopefully this is useful to you! With that, let’s get into the newsletter.

To The Future,
Cory

/// Patch Notes

A log of new tools, major announcements, and news worth knowing, compressed for fast parsing.

Google's Veo 3: AI Video Gets a Voice

Lights, camera, AI—Google’s Veo 3 is rolling out the red carpet for next-gen video creation. Unveiled at I/O 2025, this third-gen model from DeepMind doesn't just generate high-resolution visuals; it also crafts synchronized audio, including dialogue, ambient sounds, and music, making AI-generated clips nearly indistinguishable from human-made films. Available to U.S. users via the $249/month AI Ultra plan, Veo 3 supports text and image prompts, handles real-world physics, and ensures accurate lip-syncing.

Early adopters, like filmmaker Hashem Al-Ghaili, have showcased its potential, stirring both awe and ethical debates. As hyperrealistic AI videos flood the internet, questions about authorship and authenticity take center stage.

In fact, Veo3 is so good and life-like, a new satirical bit of lore has spawned around it called ‘Prompt Theory’, which describes that characters created with Veo3 are so lifelike that they are real and themselves can’t believe they would be generated by a prompt. Similar to the Simulation Theory. It’s an interesting idea. Here’s a cool video someone made using Veo3 to describe it:

Claude 4: AI's New Coding Champ

Brace yourself—Claude just leveled up. Anthropic’s latest AI models, Claude Opus 4 and Claude Sonnet 4, bring serious upgrades in coding, reasoning, and agentic capabilities. Opus 4 now leads industry benchmarks, scoring 72.5% on SWE-bench and 43.2% on Terminal-bench, while sustaining complex tasks for up to seven hours. Sonnet 4 offers a more efficient option with enhanced instruction-following and reasoning. Both models introduce “extended thinking,” allowing them to alternate between reasoning and tool use like web search, and can run tools in parallel. Developers can now integrate Claude directly into IDEs like VS Code and JetBrains, thanks to the general release of Claude Code. New API tools—including code execution, file handling, and prompt caching—enable more autonomous AI agents. With these advancements, Claude 4 sets a new standard for intelligent, long-running AI workflows.

OpenAI's Bold Leap into AI Hardware

Move over, smartphones—OpenAI and Jony Ive are crafting a new kind of tech companion. In a $6.5B deal, OpenAI acquired Ive’s startup, io, to develop a sleek, screenless AI device designed to seamlessly integrate into daily life. This pocket-sized gadget, neither wearable nor display-dependent, aims to be a "third core device" alongside laptops and phones. Equipped with environmental awareness through cameras and microphones, it connects to existing devices for processing power. CEO Sam Altman envisions shipping 100 million units faster than any prior product launch, potentially adding $1 trillion in value to OpenAI. The first release is targeted for late 2026, marking a significant shift in human-AI interaction.

Shopify's AI-Powered Summer '25 Edition

Looks like Shopify just handed merchants a magic wand. The Summer '25 Edition introduces over 150 AI-driven features aimed at simplifying and enhancing e-commerce operations. The standout AI Store Builder allows users to generate full storefronts from simple brand descriptions, streamlining setup . The new Horizon theme offers modular, AI-assisted design tools for flexible customization. Sidekick, Shopify’s AI assistant, now supports voice interaction, screen sharing, and multilingual capabilities, acting as a proactive business partner. Additionally, the Shopify Catalog and Knowledge Base app enable merchants to integrate with conversational shopping platforms and manage AI-generated FAQs, ensuring consistent brand representation . These innovations position Shopify at the forefront of AI-integrated commerce.

Thanks for reading this week’s edition of The AI Upload. Is there anything you want to see added? Something we missed? We want to hear your feedback! Simply reply to this email and we will read it. Thank you for your support!