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Good morning, AI enthusiasts. Welcome back to the first issue of Recaply AI in 2026.
Before we dive into today's news, I have some exciting updates to share. Starting next week, I'm adding a new Tutorial section to every issue. This section will walk you through practical tutorials on how to use AI for specific tasks, helping you get more value from the tools shaping your work.
I'm also expanding Recaply with two companion publications: Recaply Tech and Recaply Robotics. Both are bi-weekly newsletters covering the latest developments in their respective fields, keeping you informed and ahead in your industry.
In today's recap:
OpenAI's dedicated health space for ChatGPT
Razer's holographic AI companion for work and gaming
Anthropic's $350B valuation surge in four months
5 new AI tools, prompts and upcoming events
OPENAI
OpenAI launches dedicated Health space in ChatGPT
OpenAI
Recaply: OpenAI just introduced ChatGPT Health, a dedicated space that lets users connect medical records and wellness apps to the chatbot for personalized health guidance.
Key details:
Users can connect medical records through b.well, plus Apple Health, MyFitnessPal, Weight Watchers, and Function for grounded health conversations.
Health operates as a separate space with purpose-built encryption and isolation, with conversations never used to train OpenAI's foundation models.
Over 230 million people ask health and wellness questions on ChatGPT every week, according to OpenAI's de-identified analysis of conversations.
ChatGPT Health is rolling out to a small group of early users first, with plans to expand access to all users on web and iOS in the coming weeks.
Why it matters: ChatGPT's shift into health care makes sense given the massive weekly usage, but it's also entering one of AI's most sensitive areas. OpenAI designed Health with physicians over two years, using more than 260 doctors who provided 600,000 pieces of feedback. The separate space with enhanced privacy signals OpenAI knows this isn't just another feature launch. Health is designed to support, not replace, medical care.
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RAZER
Razer's project AVA evolves into full AI companion
Razer
Recaply: Razer just unveiled Project AVA at CES 2026, pivoting from last year's gaming-only AI coach to a 24/7 holographic desk companion for work, life, and play.
Key details:
AVA features a 5.5" animated hologram with natural movements, eye-tracking, and facial expressions, powered by xAI's Grok engine with plans for multi-platform AI support.
Users can choose from personalities ranging from bold and sassy to calm and friendly, with avatars including Razer characters like Kira and Zane or esports legends.
PC Vision Mode lets AVA analyze the user's screen for real-time strategy advice in games or productivity support for brainstorming and data analysis.
Project AVA is expected to be available in the second half of 2026, with U.S. users able to reserve a unit now for a $20 refundable deposit.
Why it matters: Razer's expansion from gaming gear into AI companions shows how hardware makers are betting on physical AI assistants. The holographic form factor and PC Vision Mode address a gap in the market, where most AI tools live in apps or browsers. By giving AVA a physical presence on desks with the ability to see what users are working on, Razer is positioning it as a true desk companion.
ANTHROPIC
Anthropic raising $10B at $350B valuation
Anthropic
Recaply: Anthropic just closed a $10B funding round at a $350B valuation, nearly doubling its value from $183B just four months ago.
Key details:
Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC and Coatue Management are leading the new financing, with the round expected to close within weeks according to sources.
The $350B valuation represents nearly double the $183B Anthropic commanded in its $13B Series F round in September 2025.
Anthropic is expected to go public this year, joining a likely banner year for AI startup IPOs after 2025 saw AI companies collect a record $222B.
The Claude chatbot maker has raised tens of billions to date from existing investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Fidelity Management & Research, and Iconiq Capital.
Why it matters: Anthropic's valuation surge from $183B to $350B in four months shows investor appetite for AI hasn't cooled despite bubble concerns. The timing is strategic, with an IPO expected this year alongside Elon Musk's SpaceX. Claude has built a strong reputation among business users for coding and other tasks, helping justify the massive valuation. The funding race continues to accelerate, with frontier labs needing billions for compute infrastructure and talent.
NEWS
What Matters in AI Right Now?
xAI secured a $20B Series E round at a $58B valuation, with investors including Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
Anthropic released Claude Code 2.1 with over 100 new features, including real-time progress tracking, enhanced GitHub integration, and the ability to run multiple coding tasks simultaneously in the cloud.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella revealed that the company is developing AI tools to detect and filter low-quality AI-generated content, saying "we need to solve the problem we created."
Nvidia unveiled Alpamayo, an AI-powered chip design tool that can generate optimized chip layouts in hours rather than months, with early access available to select partners.
Nous Research open-sourced NousCoder-14B, a 14-billion-parameter coding model that matches GPT-4's performance on HumanEval benchmarks while running locally on consumer hardware.
Arm launched a dedicated Physical AI business unit focused on robotics and autonomous systems, investing $100M over three years to develop chips for embodied AI applications.
TOOLS
Trending AI Tools
🌐 Alexa.com - Amazon's ChatGPT-style interface for Alexa+ bringing conversational AI to your browser for answers, tasks, and smart home control
🤖 Liquid LFM 2.5 - Liquid AI's 1.2B-parameter on-device model family with text, audio, and vision capabilities running at 4K 50fps
🎥 LTX-2 - Lightricks' pro video generation model producing up to 20 seconds of synchronized 4K video and audio with precise creative control
💻 Claude Code 2.1.1 - Anthropic's coding assistant with real-time progress tracking, improved GitHub integration, and cloud-based multi-task execution
⚡ PostSyncer - Social media scheduling tool for managing 10+ platforms with AI content creation, unlimited team members, and analytics for $15/month
PROMPTS
Workspace Activity Analyze
Gemini: Analyze my Google Workspace activity (Gmail, Drive, and Calendar) from the last six months to identify my most impactful projects and leadership contributions.
Extract specific quantifiable evidence (such as targets achieved, deadlines met, or measurable growth) for each major deliverable identified. Use these insights to draft a professional performance self-assessment featuring result-oriented bullet points structured for maximum impact.
Flag any high-level projects where specific metrics are missing to prompt me for manual input. Ensure the final output is concise, objective, and serves as a ready-to-edit template for my review.
Source: Jeff SuEVENTS
MiniMax M2.1 Builder Meetup: Jan 10, 2026 • San Diego California
Anthropic The Briefing: Jan 12, 2026 • San Diego
Agentic AI Workshop (ODSC): Jan 20,2026 • NYC
Microsoft AI Agents Hackathon: Jan 22-23, 2026 • Online
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Cheers, Jason
