If you could get a PA who can message you when your flight is delayed, when an important email comes that you’ve missed, or when a voucher you have is expiring.

You’ll be surprised, i got it down to $0.5!! And it’s amazing

Yes, I “negotiated”

Today’s edition is about Poke.

The only AI that makes you earn your access, then tries to run your digital life.

Most AI tools want you as a user.
Poke.com makes you beg for access and roasts you for trying.

Imagine an AI that knows your guilty pleasures and isn't afraid to call you out. You don't just pay a subscription, you negotiate. Some people get in for a few cents, others end up paying more, all depending on how well they can argue with a bot.

I’m going to show you how it’s completely changing my life. But before that, time to catchup what happened this week:

AI NEWS AI NEWS AI NEWS:

1. YouTube Shorts Embeds Veo 3 Natively. Read more

YouTube built Google's Veo 3 AI directly into Shorts, letting anyone type a prompt and generate 8-second videos with sound from their phone. Users can create anything from "hummingbird flying through neon jungle" to "robot chef on Mars" with different visual styles. The feature includes automatic AI-generated labels and watermarking to prevent deception.

My take: Google just handed every teenager the power to flood YouTube with AI garbage. We're about to witness the death of human creativity, one algorithmically generated skateboarding penguin at a time.

2. You Can Now Toggle GPT-5's Thinking Time. Read more

OpenAI added thinking speed controls to ChatGPT-5, letting Plus users choose between Standard and Extended modes, while Pro users get Light and Heavy options. The feature responds to complaints that the AI was taking too long to think. Light mode gives quick answers while Heavy mode provides deeper reasoning for complex questions.

My take: OpenAI just admitted their AI thinks too much and users want it dumber and faster. We've reached peak irony: people paying for artificial intelligence that they're asking to be less intelligent.

3. Mark Zuckerberg Unveils Meta's AI Glasses, Fails Demos. Read more

Zuckerberg's Meta Connect showcase turned into a disaster when the new Ray-Ban AI glasses failed twice during live demos. The glasses couldn't help a chef make Korean steak sauce and the neural wristband couldn't make video calls. Meta blamed "brutal WiFi" while CTO Andrew Bosworth promised to "debug" the issues later.

My take: Despite the brutal failure on stage, those glasses look like a promising replacement to our smartphones. I just think that social interactions in person would also disappear if this becomes mainstream (alongside privacy).

AI Tools That Made Me Question My Life Choices This Week

1. Gamma 3.0: AI Design Partner That Actually Gets You 
Gamma launched their biggest update with Gamma Agent, an AI design partner that scans slides to add charts and graphics on command. Upload rough notes and it builds complete presentations with web research, citations, and brand themes. New API enables mass-producing personalized decks from templates.

My take: Finally, an AI that thinks like a designer instead of just making slides faster. The mass personalization API is genius for sales teams who need custom decks at scale.

2. Conductor: Claude Code Army Commander 

Run multiple Claude Code agents in parallel on different project parts. See which Claude is working, which is stuck, and track real-time changes from each agent. At $20/month, it's cheaper than one junior developer and works around the clock.

My take: Like having a dev team that never needs coffee breaks. Perfect for complex projects needing multiple perspectives or A/B testing different coding approaches simultaneously.

3. Teable 2.0: AI Database Agent That Gets Work Done 

Teable evolved from open-source Airtable alternative into an AI database agent. Talk in plain language to build databases, create apps, automate workflows, and process data at scale. Turns leads tables into landing pages, auto-tags CRM sentiment, and batch-processes invoices via prompts.

My take: Someone finally cracked "talk to your data" properly. Instead of just querying databases, you build and automate through conversation. Less clicking, more doing.

Back to Poke.

Quick context: Poke.com by Interaction launched this week and my Twitter feed exploded with mutuals talking about it.

Most stories were about how edgy Poke was when they tried to get access, they had to beg to get in, were judged harshly, and many were priced out.

Only those with thick skin and insane negotiation skills could get in.

After seeing the wildest stories on Twitter, I gave it a spin!

The Setup

Head to www.poke.com

Chat with an AI bouncer that judges whether you deserve access.

It reads your vibes, roasts your lifestyle choices, and then quotes you a price based on how much it thinks you're worth.

The Negotiation

The AI bouncer immediately recognized me and hit me with a $350/month quote. It also had all my invoices to know how much I spent. So it was tough.

But if you play smart. You can get it for as low as $0.5 per month (like I did) if not lesser (if you do get it for lesser, do let me know!!)

Of course, once you're past the bouncer, the real question is, does Poke live up to the hype?

Here's what happened when I let Poke try to run my inbox, check me in for a flight, and handle my daily chaos.

Some of the Core Features I tried out:

⦁ Seeing if it can help me understand what subscriptions I’m paying for (I instantly realised I forgot to cancel so many of them)

⦁ Asked it to help me track accounts receivable (instead of checking a ton of emails / multiple bank apps)

⦁ I am yet discovering the rest (will update you)

What Works:
The UX is genuinely different. Everything lives inside your iMessage. No new apps, no switching tabs. It just works where you already are. When it failed to check me in for my flight, it failed in style with an apologetic message and alternative solutions.

The Reality Check:
I'll be honest: I’m yet trying to figure out the killer use case for myself. I think as it gets integrated with more tools like slack and whatsapp, the use cases will multiply. But I def see it great for reminding me of emails I have forgotten to reply to / ensuring I’m up to date with what’s happening and just being fun to talk to and not having to upload context all the time.

Heads up: it can only perform tasks restricted to your email. But it can work (just a longer route)

Is the hype real? You decide

Reply with how Poke roasted you, or what you'd say to convince an AI bouncer you deserve access. Funniest responses get a mystery mail next week!

Until next time,
Vaibhav 🤝

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