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OpenAI has upgraded ChatGPT's Projects feature to remember past chats, tone preferences, and filesProjects now offers deep research, voice mode, mobile file uploads, and moreOpenAI wants Projects to function more like smart workspaces than one-off chatsChatGPT's Projects feature has been a useful way to organize conversations with the AI chatbot since it debuted, but it has had its limitations. A major set of upgrades released by OpenAI this week has transformed Projects from a simple file folder into a highly focused version of ChatGPT as a whole.The Projects feature debuted as a way to organize related chats and files into one digital shoebox. But now, that organization means ChatGPT will remember that those chats and files are related. So, if you start a chat within a Project, the AI will remember things from other chats in that project, referencing your past messages within the same workspace.If you start a new Project, you can upload your notes, chat about the topic with ChatGPT, ask for online comparisons, and then come back three days later to continue the conversation without rehashing everything or having the AI cite unrelated discussions. ChatGPT won’t just remember the topics either. It will remember your formatting preferences, as well as your tone of voice.And those can be a lot more complex conversations now that Projects includes the Deep Research tool, which lets you run multi-step tasks in ChatGPT, blending your files and instructions with live information from the web.You can also now use ChatGPT's voice mode in Projects. Tap the microphone inside any project and start talking about the files within or anything else, and you'll see it appear. And if you're using the mobile app, you can now upload files directly and switch between GPT-4o or other models on the fly.Other upgrades are more minor but still significant. For instance, if you have a Project that you don't want to share in its entirety, but it includes a particular ChatGPT conversation you wish to send to someone, you can do that now. And if a discussion with ChatGPT suddenly inspires you to start a Project, you can now drag it directly into a project folder or convert it instantly from the sidebar.Not everyone can use the upgraded Projects features as of yet. You have to be a ChatGPT Plus or Pro subscriber for now. However, based on many other ChatGPT features that were once exclusive to subscribers, I wouldn't be surprised if these become accessible to free users at some point in the future.AI project powerAs impressive as ChatGPT Projects could be now, I wouldn't expect to see offices throwing out their Notion or Trello programs anytime soon. They still lack some of the common elements of those tools, like calendars. But, for personal or just smaller efforts, it's a nice enhancement of the AI assistant, one that might at least help OpenAI compete with the AI infusions Google has been adding to its ecosystem.OpenAI has been clear that they don't just want to be a chatbot provider. They want to be your go-to for life and work. These upgrades feel like the early sketches of something more ambitious. OpenAI might someday pitch ChatGPT as an alternative to toggling between ten apps. Instead, you might one day just open ChatGPT and say, “Let’s pick up where we left off on the next work presentation.”A little experimentation on my part found the upgraded Projects seemed more efficient almost immediately, but not without some hiccups. One large collection of conversations I've organized for testing other features was a little too eager to dredge up the initial interactions rather than pull from more recent discussions about ChatGPT's capabilities. And while Projects can now reference past chats, the actual search and navigation between those chats still isn’t perfect. There's no Boolean logic to use to isolate certain phrases yet, so you might have to do some scrolling to find what you're looking for.Still, even with the inevitable friction, I can see the value of making Projects more of a self-organizing AI data source, rather than simply a file folder for documents, as it has been. Whether compiling research, analyzing data, or plotting the perfect party, it could make using ChatGPT a lot less chaotic.You might also likeChatGPT's new Projects feature can organize your AI clutterHow to use ChatGPT’s new Projects feature to bring order to OpenAI’s chatbotChatGPT crosses a new AI threshold by beating the Turing test

Mattel is partnering with OpenAI to build AI‑powered toys, which might lead to some amazing fun, but also sounds like the premise for a million stories of things going wrong.To be clear, I don't think AI is going to end the world. I've used ChatGPT in a million ways, including as an aide for activities as a parent. AI has helped me brainstorm bedtime stories and design coloring books, among other things. But that's me using it, not opening it up to direct interaction with children.The official announcement is very optimistic, of course. Mattel says it’s bringing the “magic of AI” to playtime, promising age‑appropriate, safe, and creative experiences for kids. OpenAI says it’s thrilled to help power these toys with ChatGPT, and both companies seem intent on positioning this as a step forward for playtime and childhood development.But I can’t help thinking of how ChatGPT conversations can spiral into bizarre conspiracy theories, except suddenly it's a Barbie doll talking to an eight-year-old. Or a GI Joe veering from positive messages about "knowing is half the battle," to pitching cryptocurrency mining because some six‑year‑old heard the word “blockchain” somewhere and thought it sounded like a cool weapon for the toy.As you might have noted from the top image, the first thought I had was about the film Small Soldiers. The 1998 corny classic about an executive at a toy company deciding to save money by installing military-grade AI chips into action figures, leading to the toys staging guerrilla warfare in the suburbs? It was a satire, and not a bad one at that. But, as over-the-top as that outcome might be, it's hard not to see the glimmer of chaotic potential in installing generative AI in the toys children may spend a lot of time with.I do get the appeal of AI in a toy, I do. Barbie could be more than just a doll you dress up, she could be a curious, clever conversationalist who can explain space missions or play pretend in a dozen different roles. Or you could have a Hot Wheels car commenting on the track you built for it. I can even picture AI in Uno as a deckpad that actually teaches younger kids strategy and sportsmanship.But I think generative AI models like ChatGPT shouldn't be used by kids. They may be pared down for safety's sake, but at a certain point, that stops being AI and just becomes a fairly robust set of pre-planned responses without the flexibility of AI. That means avoiding the weirdness, hallucinations, and moments of unintended inappropriateness from AI that adults can brush off but kids might absorb.Toying with AIMattel has been at this a long time and knows what it is doing, in general, with its products. It's certainly not to their advantage to have their toys go even slightly haywire. The company said it will build safety and privacy into every AI interaction. They promise to focus on appropriate experiences. But “appropriate” is a very slippery word in AI, especially when it comes to language models trained on the internet.ChatGPT isn’t a closed-loop system that was built for toys, though. It wasn’t designed specifically for young kids. And even when you train it with guidelines, filters, and special voice modules, it’s still built on a model that learns and imitates. There’s also the deeper question: what kind of relationship do we want kids to have with these toys?There’s a big difference between playing with a doll and imagining conversations with it, and forming a bond with a toy that independently responds. I don’t expect a doll to go the full Chucky or M3gan, but when we blur the line between playmate and program, the outcomes can get hard to predict.I use ChatGPT with my son in the same way I use scissors or glue – a tool for his entertainment that I control. I’m the gatekeeper, and AI built into a toy is hard to monitor that way. The doll talks. The car replies. The toy engages, and kids may not notice anything amiss because they don't have the experience.If Barbie’s AI has a glitch, if GI Joe suddenly slips into dark military metaphors, if a Hot Wheels car randomly says something bizarre, a parent might not even know until it’s been said and absorbed. If we’re not comfortable letting these toys run unsupervised, they’re not ready.It’s not about banning AI from childhood. It’s about knowing the difference between what’s helpful and what’s too risky. I want AI in the toy world to be very narrowly constrained, like how a TV show aimed at toddlers is carefully designed to be appropriate. Those shows won't (hardly ever) go off script, but AI's power is in writing its own script.I might sound too harsh about this, and goodness knows there have been other tech toy scares. Furbies were creepy. Talking Elmo had glitches. Talking Barbies once had sexist lines about math being hard. All issues that could be resolved, except maybe the Furbies. I do think AI in toys has potential, but I'll be skeptical until I see how well Mattel and OpenAI navigate that narrow path between not really using AI and giving the AI too much freedom to be a bad virtual friend to give your child.You might also likeAnthropic’s new AI-written blog is more of a technical treat than a literary triumphAI can write a hit song, but it can’t lift your soul or break your heartAudible’s AI narration sounds impressive, but I'd rather hear the story told by a human

The Apple Watch’s fitness features have been getting consistently more impressive in recent years, between new running metrics, the recent addition of Training Load, and integrations with third-party apps such as TrainingPeaks. And yet, despite these advanced tools at my fingertips and as someone who tests the best Apple Watches as part of my job, I’m still lacking in the running department.After a long day of work, as a man in his mid-thirties with a very active six-year-old, the last thing I feel I want to do is get my shorts and underlayer on and head out the door, and that’s even with some lovely running routes nearby.Tracking my workouts is great, but how can I outsource my motivation to my Apple Watch? As it happens, Apple's new AI Workout Buddy might be the answer.Workout Buddy could became my favorite new watchOS feature in years(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)I should stress that I have no such issues getting to the gym, . My hesitance to run (which takes a lot less work and time than lifting weights) feels very much like a problem of my own making, so it’s gratifying that Apple may have a solution for me and could make me feel less like I’m the only “reluctant runner” out there.As revealed at WWDC 25 this week, watchOS 26 will offer Workout Buddy, a “first-of-its-kind fitness experience with Apple Intelligence that incorporates a user’s workout data and their fitness history to generate personalized, motivational insights during their session, based on data like heart rate, pace, distance, Activity rings, personal fitness milestones, and more.”It’s that word “motivational” that piqued my interest, and while I’m wary of the use of AI (especially as a journalist who makes his living using words) a helpful few words of encouragement in my ear when I’m pushing myself out the door for a 5K could make all the difference.I recently completed my first 10k running event following some heart health issues in recent years, and having an AI assistant tap into my heart rate data and advise me how much further I could push myself every now and again could have stopped the fearful questions I was asking myself, such as “am I going too fast?” or “am I pushing too hard?”Matching my style of runningWhen I do get out for a run, I try to avoid looking at my Apple Watch Ultra. I often don’t want to know what my pace is like, because I try to be more intentional with exercise. Namely, keeping my mind on the whole ‘moving my legs’ part of the workout rather than keeping an eye on my pace.Looking at my pace and seeing it slower than anticipated is a bit of a morale-buster, while checking the distance run and seeing I’m less than halfway around my circuit has a tendency to have a negative impact on my pace, as if I’m willing it to be over.If I can tweak what the AI offers as encouragement, then I feel I’ll be having my proverbial cake and eating it, pushing me further without laying on too thick how far I’ve fallen since my prime a decade ago. Think less “here are your splits”, and more “keep going, you’re doing great!”.I’ve tried AI coaching apps like Zing in the past, and as promising as they are, they can often feel overly complex when you just want to track some exercises or your step count. Having something like Workout Buddy running natively on my devices that I can call upon when I need it, and minimise when I don’t, really does feel like the best of both worlds. Roll on September!You might also like...Does your Apple Watch support watchOS 26? Here’s the full list of compatible Apple Watches (and which ones will miss out)iOS 26: everything you need to knowApple Intelligence is a year old - here are 3 genuinely useful AI tools you should use on your Apple products