Your Friday AI Forecast - January 17th, 2025
AI Startups Take on Giants | Wall Street Braces for AI Cuts | Ambient Agents Are the Future?
Welcome to the 94 new Autopreneurs who subscribed since last Friday’s AI Forecast!
If you’re reading this but haven’t yet subscribed, join 1924 ambitious entrepreneurs learning to build a viable business with AI & Systems:
Interested in getting your brand or business seen by thousands of readers every month?
Check out these sponsorship opportunities here.
It’s Friday, January 17th—time to dig into the tech stories everyone will be talking about next week…
Here’s what’s on the menu: A Chinese startup is stepping into OpenAI’s ring with bold moves, ChatGPT is one update away from running your to-do list, and “silent” AI agents that will only ping you when they have a question.
Meanwhile, Wall Street is gearing up for AI layoffs that could leave 200,000 people rewriting their résumés.
In today’s issue:
MiniMax’s mega ambitions—4 million tokens and a license to disrupt.
ChatGPT’s scheduled tasks—because your brain deserves a break.
Ambient agents—finally, AI that knows when to shut up.
Wall Street’s AI overhaul—job cuts, big profits, and tough choices.
Let’s dive in.
Oh, and don’t keep the fun to yourself—forward this to a friend! And as always, hit us up with your thoughts at leo@theautopreneur.co
MiniMax Unveils AI Model with HUGE 4 Million Token Limit Per Run
MiniMax just raised the bar in AI with its new open-source MiniMax-01 series, including a model that can process a staggering 4 million tokens at once—enough to handle the equivalent of a small library in a single exchange. This blows past Google’s Gemini 1.5 Pro and is a game-changer for building smarter AI agents that can handle long, complex tasks.
The punch? MiniMax’s pricing is shockingly low, making it accessible to developers who’ve been priced out by competitors like OpenAI. Their models are also built with a fresh architecture, Lightning Attention, which makes them faster and more efficient for real-world applications.
By open-sourcing these models, MiniMax isn’t just showing off its tech—it’s inviting developers to experiment, collaborate, and push the limits of what’s possible with AI. If 2025 is the year of AI agents, MiniMax is setting itself up to lead the charge (prove me wrong OpenAI).
ChatGPT Scheduled Tasks: Your Digital Life Organizer
ChatGPT’s new scheduled tasks feature could be a game-changer for solopreneurs, creators, and freelancers looking to reclaim their time while staying productive. Available on Web, iOS, Android, and macOS (with Windows support coming soon), this tool lets you automate reminders, daily updates, and other repetitive tasks. Imagine having ChatGPT brief you on AI news every morning or remind you about a client meeting without lifting a finger (actually you must lift a finger).
Setting it up is simple: Head to your profile’s “Tasks” section, create a prompt like “Send me a daily list of writing prompts at 9 AM,” and let ChatGPT handle the rest. You can edit, pause, or delete tasks anytime, and notifications will keep you updated. Whether it’s via email or push notifications, you’ll always stay on track.
The only problem is that you can only have 10 active tasks at a time, and usage counts toward your GPT-4o plan limits. But even with these constraints, the potential to streamline your workflow is huge. No more forgetting important deadlines or spending time on repetitive tasks. You can focus on what truly matters: growing your business.
This is still in beta, so features like file uploads or voice chats aren’t supported yet. But if you’re serious about saving time and building a sustainable work routine, this feature is worth exploring.
The Future of AI Is “Silent” Agents…and They’re Already Here:
Understand ambient agents in 4 minutes
Here’s how LangChain’s new ambient agents (have you heard about it?) concept could reshape how we interact with AI. It’s noi the traditional AI app that rely on you to initiate every interaction, ambient agents operate in the background, acting on signals and only reaching out when they detect something important or need input. The goal? To reduce unnecessary interruptions and let you concentrate on what matters most.
LangChain demonstrates this idea with an AI-powered email assistant that flags critical emails, drafts replies for your approval, or asks for missing details before taking action. This thoughtful “human-in-the-loop” design ensures the agent learns your preferences, mimics natural communication patterns, and prevents costly errors—like sending an email without your consent. You maintain control, while the agent handles repetitive tasks (you can try it btw).
LangGraph, LangChain’s platform for building these agents, supports features like persistent memory (so the agent doesn’t forget ongoing tasks), human feedback loops, and cron jobs for scheduled checks. It’s designed to be flexible, enabling you to build agents that don’t just respond to you but actively work alongside you. Their email assistant is now available as a hosted service or open-source project, offering a starting point for developers and a productivity boost for users.
For solopreneurs and creators, this could mean fewer distractions, smarter workflows, and AI tools that truly feel like partners. It seems ambient agents are the new hype.
The State of Enterprise AI
Don’t get left behind, read it here
Here’s what sets AI leaders apart—and why it matters to solopreneurs and creators trying to level up their workflows. A recent survey by MIT and McKinsey found that top-performing companies succeed with AI because of four core strategies: executive sponsorship, strong partnerships, effective cross-department collaboration, and meticulous data management. These factors aren’t just for big corporations—they’re lessons in how to maximize resources and implement systems that deliver real results.
First, leadership matters. AI leaders often have direct involvement from CEOs or boards, guiding efforts and making decisions even when ROI isn’t immediately clear. For solo operators like us, this translates into being intentional about our goals and staying committed to (implementing) AI-powered strategies, even if the payoff isn’t instant.
Second, partnerships accelerate progress. Successful companies leverage both internal teams and external experts to fill knowledge gaps and scale faster. For solopreneurs, this might mean talking to someone with a similar audience and brainstorm ideas to grow together, or using platforms designed to streamline AI integration—think automations or plug-and-play AI apps that save you time.
Finally, data is the foundation. Top companies don’t just collect data—they organize and optimize it for actionable insights. For solo creators, this could mean setting up simple systems (like those inside The Automation Lab) to track content performance, audience engagement, or business metrics. Organized data leads to better decisions, whether you’re fine-tuning a newsletter or scaling a product.
The takeaway: focusing on what moves the needle: the fundamentals, - not the minor details.
Is there an AI Layoff Wave Incoming?
Artificial intelligence is set to shake up Wall Street, with global banks potentially slashing up to 200,000 jobs in the next three to five years, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. The roles most at risk? Back-office, middle-office, and operational tasks—essentially any job heavy on routine and repetition. While full job elimination isn't in the cards, expect a significant workforce transformation as AI takes over repetitive tasks and reshapes customer service and compliance roles.
For banks, the bottom line looks brighter. Generative AI is predicted to boost productivity and revenues by at least 5%, translating to a $180 billion bump in pre-tax profits by 2027. With AI tools trimming costs and streamlining processes, banks like JPMorgan and Citi are betting big on the tech’s potential. Meanwhile, industry leaders argue this shift will augment jobs rather than replace them, creating a future where AI works alongside employees.
Despite the looming job cuts, some see a silver lining. As JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon puts it, AI could dramatically improve life quality—think longer lives and shorter workweeks. But for now, the financial sector braces for one of its most transformative eras yet.
That’s all for our second-ever edition of the Friday AI Forecast.
We send newsletters every week:
…teaching you how to use AI inside your Business.
See you on Sunday, Autopreneur.
~ Leo
Let us know if you liked today’s content:
You Might Also Like:
Did you miss Wednesday’s Workflow of the Week?
Learn to build ELITE level prompts…using these 7 easy steps:
I’ve moved all my social audiences to Substack…here’s how you can too:
Another good one today Leo.
Agents are gonna be the talk of 2025.