AI at Work edition

AI at Work · 21 Sep 2026

21 Sep 2026 · 15 articles

The 8 best AI sales assistant software in 2026

From acquiring leads to following up with cold accounts to handling customer queries, sales teams have a lot to do. Like shooting guards coming off a pick on the perimeter, sometimes they need an assist to close the deal. (Don't check my basketball theory—I haven't played since eighth grade.) AI sales assistant software uses machine learning, predictive analytics, generative AI, and smart…

Summary published by The Zapier Blog · 18 Sep 2026 · Read the original ↗

Flet 1.0 Released: Build Production Web, Desktop and Mobile Apps in Python Only

Flet 1.0 shipped on September 15, 2026, and the team now calls the framework ready for production apps. We look at what changed: a layered CI suite that drives packaged apps on real devices, bundled Python 3.12, 3.13 and 3.14, more than 100 mobile ready packages, faster control diffing, and dart-bridge in process communication. We also cover the one migration trap that will bite 0.28 users.

Summary published by MarkTechPost · 20 Sep 2026 · Read the original ↗

Tencent's Gander aims to keep talking while it works in the background

Tencent's Gander processes speech, images, and text while handling tasks in the background. A "cerebellum" keeps the conversation going, while a swappable "brain" searches files, writes code, or tackles other complex work. Users can interrupt or change the task mid-conversation. In benchmarks, Gander interrupted users in just 8 percent of cases, less often than its rivals, but trailed on task…

Summary published by The Decoder · 20 Sep 2026 · Read the original ↗

Daily AI usage in the U.S. has more than doubled in just six months

Surveys by Epoch AI and Ipsos suggest AI is becoming part of everyday life for more Americans. The share of US adults using AI almost daily more than doubled between March and August 2026, rising from 8 percent to 19 percent. Meanwhile, the share using it just once a week fell from 17 percent to 10 percent.

Summary published by The Decoder · 20 Sep 2026 · Read the original ↗

Simulated students that make realistic mistakes help AI tutors learn faster

Microsoft and the University of Illinois built StudentSim to replicate individual students from limited data and give AI tutors fast, low-cost feedback. In tests covering 60 students across chess, English, and math, it outperformed GPT-5.4. A chess tutor trained with StudentSim also earned the highest expert ratings among three versions tested.

Summary published by The Decoder · 20 Sep 2026 · Read the original ↗

Meta Launches Muse for Mac: A Personal AI Agent That Works Across Your Files, Mail, Messages, Calendar and Notes

Meta has released Muse for Mac, the first version of Muse that can complete things on a user’s computer. The agent works with local files and native apps, where your data already lives. It adds a desktop layer to an agent that launched on phones, the web and WhatsApp earlier this month. Is it deployable? […]

Summary published by MarkTechPost · 19 Sep 2026 · Read the original ↗

GGUF vs GPTQ vs AWQ vs EXL2: LLM Model Formats Explained (2026)

GGUF, GPTQ, AWQ, EXL2, and EXL3 solve the same problem in different ways. This guide separates file containers from quantization methods. It explains bits per weight, calibration, and hardware fit. Then it shows which format to pick for Macs, consumer GPUs, and production serving.

Summary published by MarkTechPost · 19 Sep 2026 · Read the original ↗

The 9 best marketing automation software tools in 2026

Forget Dunkin'—the world runs on automation. Well, at least marketing teams with tons of assets to manage and campaigns to run. If the marketing agency I work for didn't automate some of our more tedious tasks, we'd waste a lot of time doing things that software could take off our hands. There are tons of marketing tools out there that enable you to build automated workflows, but some shine…

Summary published by The Zapier Blog · 17 Sep 2026 · Read the original ↗