Ben's Bites
Ben Tossell
10 stories we have summarised that Ben's Bites covered.
Grok Bot gains users with new social feed feature
Grok Bot, a chatbot made by xAI, is attracting users who previously used OpenClaw, another AI chatbot. Grok Bot now has a social feed where people can see bot interactions, though the text is hard for humans to read. Hermes Desktop, a separate AI application, launched its own Bot mode to compete with Grok's offering.
Ben's Bites
Grok Bot adds social feed for bots; Hermes Desktop launches competing mode
Grok Bot, an application built on Elon Musk's Grok AI system, introduced a social feed where bots can interact with each other. The application has hired developers who previously worked on OpenClaw, an earlier AI agent project. Hermes Desktop, a separate product, launched its own Bot mode as direct competition in the growing bot application space.
Ben's Bites
Google releases faster Gemini 3.7 Flash, half-price through year end
Gemini 3.7 Flash, released three weeks after 3.6 Flash, shows substantial gains in coding tests. FrontierCode jumped from 34.4 to 43.6 percent and DeepSWE rose from 49 to 65.3 percent. Document processing and business workflow automation both improved. GDP.pdf benchmark went from 22 to 34 percent. AutomationBench rose from 17 to 30.4 percent. Google cut pricing to half the prior rate through December to retain developer interest after delaying its flagship 3.5 Pro model since a May commitment.
Ben's Bites
Google releases faster coding model, delays flagship update
Google released Gemini 3.7 Flash three weeks after version 3.6, with coding test scores jumping notably: FrontierCode improved from 34.4 to 43.6 percent, DeepSWE from 49 to 65.3 percent. The company cut the model's price in half through year-end to $0.75 per million input tokens, competing with OpenAI's cheaper GPT 5.6 Luna option at $0.20 per million input tokens. The faster release cycle and focus on incremental Flash improvements suggest Google has delayed its promised flagship Gemini 3.5 Pro model, originally expected in June.
Ben's Bites
ElevenLabs voice tool now works inside Claude chatbot
ElevenLabs, a text-to-speech company, built a connector that lets Claude users access voice capabilities without leaving the app. The connector uses Model Context Protocol, a technical standard that lets AI assistants use external tools and data sources. Claude users can now generate spoken audio directly within their conversations instead of using separate applications.
Ben's Bites
ElevenLabs audio tool now works inside Claude chatbot
ElevenLabs, a text-to-speech company, built a connector that lets Claude generate and process audio directly in conversations. The integration uses Model Context Protocol, a technical standard that lets AI assistants access external tools without rebuilding the software. Users can now handle audio tasks within Claude instead of switching between separate applications.
Ben's Bites
Claude Code gains design mockup feature and cost reduction tools
Claude Code's new /design command lets developers create UI mockups in the terminal before writing code, generating multiple draft options as editable artboards. Anthropic released prompt caching guidance to reduce token costs on repeated inputs to 10 percent, though the cache clears when switching model modes. The design feature reads existing codebases to match current UI style and produces shareable mockups that carry into the build phase.
Ben's Bites
AI Breakfast
Claude Code adds visual design mockup feature for developers
Claude Code now includes a /design command that generates UI mockups as editable artboards directly in the editor before coding begins. Developers can request multiple design options, select a preferred mockup, edit it, then have Claude build the code implementation. Claude reads existing codebases to match current UI styles and creates shareable mockups that developers can save manually for now.
Ben's BitesAI Breakfast
Stripe acquires OpenRouter for over 7 billion dollars
Stripe completed the acquisition of OpenRouter, a platform that lets customers choose between different AI models for different tasks based on budget and performance needs. OpenRouter raised $113 million at a $1.3 billion valuation just five months ago, making this deal roughly a 5x increase in valuation in that timeframe. The startup serves 8 million users and provides access to more than 400 AI models, positioning itself as a neutral marketplace rather than locking customers into one system.
Ben's Bites
The Rundown AI
Latent SpaceOpenAI tests optional memory feature for desktop AI agents
OpenAI is testing a Computer History feature in its macOS app that logs user clicks, keystrokes, and active applications. The feature is opt-in through settings and helps AI agents understand what users are doing without needing screenshots. OpenAI reported enterprise revenue now exceeds consumer revenue, with business accounts reaching two million users and growing 32 percent.
Ben's BitesAI Breakfast