AI helpers learn to work for you, and your own shortcuts are the key

The biggest trend in this week's news is that AI is moving from answering questions to carrying out tasks. OpenAI has launched Dots, agents that keep working between conversations. An agent is simply an AI that can act on its own instead of only writing text. Google's Gemini can now take care of tasks in Gmail, Calendar and Android apps, and xAI's Grok Bot can save the ones it has solved as recurring "routines."

Skills: your own recipe

At the same time, another idea is gaining ground: that you write a recipe once and reuse it. Google is replacing Gems in Gemini with "Skills," reusable instructions that can automate repetitive tasks. If you have built a Custom GPT in ChatGPT, be aware that they will shut down on December 11, 2026. There is a step-by-step guide to moving it over to a Skill. Claude also has Skills, and MakeUseOf points to five that can save time and give more useful answers.

The practical point is that it is no longer just about writing a good prompt (the message you give the AI). It is about saving what works, so you do not start from scratch every time. Anthropic goes a step further with mods, small pieces of code that let users change how Claude Code looks and works. And a new tool can clear outdated instructions out of prompts, so companies save money and get better answers from Opus 5.5. Old instructions can, in other words, hold back newer models.

Images and video for everyone

In the creative area, the selection is large. IEEE Spectrum has reviewed five image generators, from Midjourney to Google ImageFX, with different strengths ranging from photorealism to free access. Luma Dream Machine makes video from text or an image. If you want full control, you can install Alibaba's free Qwen-Image-2.1 on your own computer. There is a catch, though: the model is for research only, not for commercial use. That is easy to overlook if you want to use the images in your work.

Two angles pointing in opposite directions

One voice says that AI will soon handle everything. The creator of Ruby on Rails, David Heinemeier Hansson, says he has not written a line of code by hand since March 2026, and he calls AI the biggest thing that has happened in computing. The other voice is more cautious. Search Engine Land warns of ten pitfalls when Claude is allowed to handle SEO unsupervised, from factual errors to poor structure. AI writes fast, but you are the one responsible for the result.

What can you do?

Start small. Find one task you repeat every week and write it down as a fixed instruction or a Skill. Let an agent handle a harmless task before you give it access to your mail or calendar. Always check the result, especially facts, and read the terms before you use AI images commercially. And if you have a Custom GPT, put a date in your calendar before December 11.