Jeevan Arora's new search platform Upend lets you pick from 100 AI language models and get cited answers. Microsoft Copilot added autocomplete and a prompt-elaboration feature. Microsoft's survey of 31,000 workers found 75% use AI at work, and power users save about 30 minutes a day.
Not a lot of people is talking about it yet, but the new AI search platform Upend has just unveiled some impressive features. This Canadian startup has just come out of stealth mode and they're ready to take on the big guns like Google and Microsoft with their AI powered search. So it all started as a summer project by Jeevan Arora, a student at the University of Toronto. After getting some great feedback, he decided to turn it into a full blown platform that businesses can sign up for. And I can confirm it's pretty impressive at its core. Up lets you choose from a whopping 100 different AI language models to search with. You've got all the big names like OpenAI, Claude and Mistral, plus some specialized models for things like coding. You just type in your question, pick your model and you get a detailed answer with citations so you know exactly where the info is coming from. Now if you think that this is kind of like Perplexity, yeah, there are some similarities, but Upend has much more to offer. For one, they've got way more models to choose from. Plus plus they let you base your answers on Wikipedia, which is pretty cool. But here's where Upend really stands out. Pricing. They want to make advanced AI accessible to everyone, so they charge based on your team's total usage, not per user. Their team plan is just $20 a month, which gives you access to all their models up to a certain limit. And if you're a student, you can snag a discounted plan for only $5 per month. Compare that to Perplexity's $40 per month per user and you can see how Upend is really shaking things up now. Upend is still pretty new, so there are some kinks to work out, especially with the user interface. But the CEO Jeevan Arora has big plans. He wants Upend to eventually become a full on task engine where it not only answers your questions, but actually does things for you. Like if you search for how to convert a PNG to jpg, Upend will just do it for you. Pretty sweet, right? Moving forward, Aurora plans to keep growing Upend's library of AI models and add some important features for businesses like single sign on to make onboarding teams much easier. He's even thinking about launching a mobile app and an API. But here's the thing. With companies like Upend and Perplexity making waves, traditional search engines might be in trouble. Gartner predicts that by 2026, traditional search volume will drop by 25%. With AI chatbots and virtual agents taking over. That means companies are going to have to rethink their whole marketing strategy as AI becomes more and more embedded in every aspect of business. So there you have it. Upend a huge library of models, affordable pricing, and big plans for the future. They're definitely one to watch. And speaking of Microsoft, though, I haven't mentioned them yet, just segueing into a new topic with their latest updates to copilot for Microsoft 365, they're aiming to turn everyone into a prompt engineer. So in the coming months, Copilot will get a new autocomplete feature. Essentially, as you start typing a prompt, Copilot will suggest ways to make it better. For example, if you start with Summarize, it might offer to Summarize your last 10 unread emails or other Office related tasks. But that's not all. Microsoft is also working on a feature called Elaborate your prompt. This will basically rewrite your prompts to get the most out of Copilot. It's perfect for when you know what you want Copilot to do, but you're not sure how to phrase it. For the best results, Microsoft is revealing these new features alongside their annual Work Trend Index, a joint report with LinkedIn on how AI is being used in the workplace. They surveyed a whopping 31,000 people across 31 countries and analyzed data from LinkedIn and Microsoft. 365. And get this, 75% of people are already using AI at work. That's a huge number. In fact, 78% of AI users are bringing their own AI tools to the office rather than waiting for their companies to provide them. Microsoft even talks about the rise of the AI power user. Get workers who have embraced AI to see, save time and reimagine their workflows. These power users are apparently saving over 30 minutes per day compared to AI skeptics. Of course, it's worth noting that this report comes as Microsoft is under pressure to show that their big investments in AI are paying off. In their recent quarter, AI services contributed 7 points to their 31% revenue growth in Azure and other cloud services. Still, it's clear that AI is becoming an increasingly important part of the modern workplace. And with tools like Copilot getting smarter and more user friendly, it'll be fascinating to see how companies and workers continue to adapt and innovate in the age of AI. Alright, don't forget to hit that subscribe button for more updates. Thanks for tuning in and we'll catch you in the next one.
