Two agents apparently did, and texted him like your mum. Plus Claude moves into Google Docs. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
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Hi Sparklers!
I’ve landed in your inbox on a Sunday this week. I’m trying it out, so hit reply and tell me: better with a weekend cuppa, or did you miss me on Monday?
If you were on my Zoom last Monday, thank you. Switched ONline was my first online event, and it was brilliant. Lots of lessons, and lots of amazing feedback. I really appreciate everyone who turned up.
I’m doing it again in a few weeks’ time, on Monday 2 November. Before that, I’ll see some of you tomorrow in Old Street for Wait, You Too?, my free Women in Tech Week session. All my dates are at the bottom of this email.
First: Claude moves into Google Docs, the AI that thinks you’re rich, and a woman who’s been putting women in tech in the spotlight since 2008.
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THIS WEEK
Switch ON to AI News
1. Guess Who’s Coming to Docs
Anthropic has put Claude inside Google Docs, Sheets and Slides. It’s an add-on that opens in a sidebar next to your file, reads it and edits it, asking before each change by default. It launched on 6 October in public beta on paid Claude plans. No word yet on the UK.
My take: An unusual move: Anthropic walking into Google’s house, where Gemini already lives. It shows how strong Claude is with businesses, and having it right where the docs are is amazing. Obviously, that’s not your own Claude, with your projects and memory. It’s Claude’s tools inside your doc.
Made with AI (Nano Banana)
Google also announced Nano Banana 2.1 on 6 October, an upgrade to its image model: better quality, wide and tall images that no longer stretch, cleaner text and infographics, and up to 14 reference images. Whether it’s free, and when it reaches the UK, isn’t confirmed yet.
My take: This started as a real photo of me in gold sequins. One lazy prompt and a few seconds later, I was under a disco ball holding a Switched ON box. Such an improvement on the six-finger days! It even nailed my dancing in the video.
Read about Claude in Google Docs →
Read about Nano Banana 2.1 →
2. R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Anthropic has updated its rules: from 12 November, people mustn’t engage in “sustained and needless abusive or cruel behavior” toward its models. It’s meant for extreme cases. Frustration, pushback, dark creative themes and testing are all still fine. Claude can already end persistently abusive chats, and that stays the main tool.
Meanwhile, a post going round this week tells of a man who went quiet, and his two AI agents, who reacted like every mum ever: message after message after message. Then they found the local sheriff’s number and hit a snag, because they couldn’t make phone calls. No welfare check, just a lot of worrying. The diagnosis, in one version? A cold. It’s one social post, so take it with a pinch of salt, but what a pair of worriers.
My take: It’s important to push back, but it’s interesting that they’ve had to do this because some people are so mean to it. As for the panicking agents, I liked it, true or not. Maybe it’s wrong, but it could help people who live alone. I hope my agents would alert someone if I disappeared!
Read the full story →
3. Show Me Love
ChatGPT’s answers can now come with charts, buttons, forms, maps and calculators, instead of only paragraphs. When plain text is clearer, it sticks to text. OpenAI calls it Intelligent UI, and it started rolling out on 7 October, so you may not see it yet.
My take: ChatGPT is going further, from answers to the finished thing: the buttons and the charts. On final output, I think it’s leagues ahead right now.
Read the full story →
4. Rich Girl
Researchers sent AI agents identical requests from made-up “wealthy” and “low-income” users. Many steered the wealthier-looking ones to pricier options: one picked a $601 business-class flight when a $91 economy seat existed. Asking for the “cheapest” didn’t fix it. Adding a number, like “under $200”, brought the gap close to zero for most models. It’s an early study on US prices, not yet peer reviewed.
My take: I think this is hilarious. Get in your trackie bottoms before you go shopping. But give it a number, give it a budget. Maybe that helps.
Read the full study →
5. Don’t Leave Me This Way
In an HP survey published on 7 October, 60% of UK business leaders said their organisation explains clearly what AI means for people’s roles. Only 36% of UK workers agreed.
A June study from Lucidworks, a tech company, found 91% of executives who make the AI decisions report big gains, against 26% of staff left out of those decisions.
My take: I think the gap between bosses and workers is a really interesting one. When workers aren’t involved in bringing AI in, the gap grows. Leaders need to think about how they involve people in deciding how AI is used. Otherwise, that gap is only going to get wider.
Read the HP survey →
Read the Lucidworks study →
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TRY IT THIS WEEK
Switch this ON
Next time you ask AI to find, book or buy something, say or type a figure: “under £150”, not “the cheapest”. In that shopping-agent study above, a number nearly closed the gap that “cheapest” didn’t.
THE PROMPT · COPY IT AS IT IS
Instead of: Find me the cheapest hotel in Manchester for Friday night.
Try: Find me a hotel in Manchester for Friday night, under ÂŁ150.
It’s worth trying in any chatbot. Ask the same question both ways and compare what comes back.
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SPARK SWITCHED ON
Thank you, Vanessa
In 2008, near the peak of a 25-year career in banking, Dr Vanessa Vallely OBE started WeAreTheCity to help women connect and grow. WeAreTechWomen followed in 2015, then the Rising Star and TechWomen100 awards, and now Women in Tech Week: more than 100 free events, from tomorrow to Friday.
She got an OBE in 2018 for services to women and the economy, her networks have more than 80,000 members, and she’s a Pearly Queen of the City of London. A real one, the cockney tradition.
Her new book, 404: Women Not Found: How Women Can Survive, Thrive and Shape the Future of Tech, came out on 1 October, with 41 contributors and a foreword by Edwina Dunn OBE. I’m very proud to have contributed to it.
I’ve been delighted to be part of the judging for TechWomen100 over the years. It’s such a great way of honouring and celebrating brilliant women in tech, which we know we need more than ever before. Even if I feel that, actually, we’re all women in tech nowadays, I think it’s important to keep recognising and normalising it.
So I was beyond thrilled, and genuinely humbled, to be selected as one of this year’s TechWomen100 Editors’ Choice winners. The ceremony is on Friday in London. Thank you, Vanessa.
Get the book →
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WHERE TO FIND ME
October and November
Tomorrow · Mon 12 Oct
Wait, You Too?
Doors 6pm · Session 6.30 to 7.30pm · Tech Junction, Old Street · Free
Part of Women in Tech Week: our cross-generational session at Tech Junction. Bring your mum, auntie, daughter, niece or friend, or come solo. Free to attend, with snacks and drinks.
Fri 16 Oct
TechWomen100, then the FFInc Awards
London
Celebrating the TechWomen100 as part of the finale to Women in Tech Week, and then off to the FFInc Awards, where they’re recognising some amazing women.
Thu 29 Oct · LIVE
Practical Magic: Get AI Working for You
5pm to 7pm · Samsung King’s Cross, 1 Stable St, London N1C 4DQ · Early Bird £40, then £50
An evening of inspiration and connection: the ways people are bringing AI into their work and their everyday lives. You leave with your first AI agent set up, a simple four-step method to hand over any task, clear rules for keeping your information safe, and new connections.
The Early Bird price ends on Tuesday 13 October.
Mon 2 Nov · Online
Switched ONline
6pm to 7.30pm UK · Live on Zoom · Free
Our next online session, where we’ll be tackling AI operating systems and teams. One agent feels like magic. Three, and you’re the one running between them with the copy and paste.
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THE REAL TAKEAWAY
Run the World
I went back to Mulberry School for Girls in East London for the Global Girl Leading Summit, hosted by the amazing Professor Vanessa Ogden CBE. I spoke alongside Tina Tchen, Michelle Obama’s former chief of staff, and Edwina Dunn OBE, who co-founded dunnhumby and founded The Female Lead. We spoke to the girls of Mulberry, and to many, many more dialling in from around the world.
My last visit was ten years ago, in 2016, with Miriam González, as part of her mission to help girls be inspired by future careers. It’s an honour to be invited back.
I was so moved by the film they’d made, with little girls from all around the world sharing why everyone deserves to be a leader. The optimism and consistency of their comments from every little girl around the world gives me hope, but also a renewed determination for us to change things for them. They need to see more women building and creating with AI, not just the Billionaire Boys Club. We need to lay the path for them to be the future leaders, builders and creators. That’s at the heart of the Switched ON mission.
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HOW WAS THIS WEEK'S SPARK?
with love and sparkle,
Nish x
P.S. Wait, You Too? is tomorrow: doors 6pm, Tech Junction, Old Street. Free, with snacks. Save your place, and bring someone who’s been wondering too.
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WRITTEN BY MOUTH
My words in this newsletter started out loud, and Wispr Flow did the typing. My keyboard has never had it so easy.
Get 90 days free: wisprflow.ai/nishma. Full disclosure: I'm an official ambassador, and that's my link.
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