🔥 PayPal launches Agentic Payments

Date: 7-May-2025

Hey AI enthusiast,

And just when you think you’ve seen it all…there’s always One More Thing in AI.

In this edition:

• PayPal Enters the Agentic AI Arena

• Claude Just Got Smarter: Here’s What It Means for …

• Duolingo Doubles Down: AI Supercharges Language Le …

• 🎒ChatGPT for School: How Students Are Actually Us …

• Off beat news from the world of AI

If you’re building or just trying to stay ahead with AI news—this one is for you. I do the heavy lift of curating the AI news so that you don’t have to!

Best,

Renjit

PS: Founders- In case you want to prototype and test AI automation /Agentic AI deployment in your business, schedule an appointment here:

PayPal Enters the Agentic AI Arena

We’re heading into the age of agentic commerce- where AI agents don’t just recommend products but drive the entire shopping journey.

PayPal is stepping in early. They’re giving developers tools to build AI-driven commerce flows, from search to checkout- with full payment, invoicing, and dispute resolution baked in.

Here’s what they’ve dropped:

• 🛠️ Remote MCP Server
Run agentic AI commerce logic externally, with PayPal handling the transaction backend.

• 📦 Agent Toolkit
Easily connect AI agents to PayPal’s full stack: payments, subscriptions, tracking, reporting, and more.

• 🔌 Plug into AI frameworks
Built to integrate smoothly with existing agent-based platforms.

PayPal shares example agents that help with commerce (there is more information on the site, so it is worth a peek):

So, What’s the Big Deal?

Whether you’re building autonomous shopping assistants or streamlining enterprise workflows—PayPal just gave you a jump start. When you mash up a payments provider with your commerce database, then you can hand off a number of tasks to AI agents. For more power, you can do Agent to Agent linkages as well. (I would recommend using CrewAI to do this)

Explore it here: PayPal.ai. The documentation and quick start guide is here: https://developer.paypal.com/tools/agent-toolkit/

Great opportunity for builders to get that login created on their developer site and create solutions using these new tools!

Claude Just Got Smarter: Here’s What It Means for Your Business

Running a startup or a business means using a lot of tools- emails, documents, chat apps, and more.
Now imagine if your AI assistant could talk to all those tools and help you stay on top of your business. That’s what Claude can do now.

What’s New:

🧰 Claude works with your favorite tools
Claude can now connect to apps like Jira, Confluence, Zapier, and Intercom.
You can ask it to check updates, pull data, or help with tasks- all in one place. We had written about the MCP architecture that makes this all happen.

🔍 Smarter research help
Claude can now look up info from different sources and make neat, easy-to-read reports. It even adds links so you can see where the info came from (references can help root out hallucinations.

🛠️ Build your own tools for Claude
If you or your tech team want something special, you can now create custom tools for Claude to use to connect to your bespoke applications and databases/excel sheets.

🌍 Web search is now global
Paid users can ask Claude to search the web for answers- for users anywhere in the world. Basically, they have Perplexity and Chat GPT in their sights, now!

Check this demo video out:

Why it matters:

If you lead a team or run a startup, this update saves you time. Claude can now help with research, teamwork, and even your daily tasks- all from one place. Claude is vying to be that all in one assistant at home and work.

Duolingo Doubles Down: AI Supercharges Language Learning

Building a new language course used to take Duolingo, $DUOL ( ▲ 0.95% ) , years. BTW, I use Duolingo to learn Spanish and it is a pretty useful app for me.

Now, with AI, they’ve launched 148 courses in under 12 months. This shift is transforming how we scale education.

Key Takeaways:

• Rapid Course Expansion:
Duolingo has introduced 148 new language courses, more than doubling its offerings. This expansion was achieved in less than a year, a process that previously took years.

• AI-Driven Development:
The company utilized generative AI and a “shared content” system to streamline course creation. This approach allows for a base course to be customized across multiple languages efficiently.

• AI-First Strategy:
CEO Luis von Ahn announced a shift to an “AI-first” approach, indicating that tasks manageable by AI will gradually transition away from contractors. AI proficiency is now a consideration in hiring and performance evaluations. Reminds me of how Tobi Lutke of Shopify $SHOP ( ▼ 2.78% ) , mandated the adoption AI in his organization.

So what?

We knew that education is going to be transformed by AI and this is an example of how one company is taking on that challenge. Remember what happened to the stock price of Chegg, when ChatGPT was released? AI is a double-edged sword. Adopt it or become obsolete.

🎒ChatGPT for School: How Students Are Actually Using It

Let’s be real—school is a lot these days. I hardly understand the way subjects like Maths are taught these days. So if you’r kids or nieces /nephews are not using ChatGPT to save time (and stress), they’re missing out.

Here are real ways students are using it right now (and how you can be a cool Dad or Mom by helping them with studies using AI)

📝 Turn Your Notes into Study guides

• Upload class notes or slides.

• Ask ChatGPT to turn them into a quick study guide—or even a practice test.

🎯 Simplify the Hard Stuff

• Got a tough concept?

• Ask ChatGPT to explain it like you’re 5. Works great for physics, econ, and anything math-adjacent (according to a report in Verve).

🔍 Skip the Research Rabbit Hole

• Use the Deep Research tool to get a clear, sourced summary on any topic.

• No more bouncing between 12 tabs and 3 Wikipedia pages.

💡 Code or Essay Side-by-Side Help

• Use Canvas mode to write or code with ChatGPT helping live, right next to you.

• Great for editing as you go—no toggling back and forth.

📄 Build a Resume from Zero

• Tell ChatGPT what you’ve done (jobs, internships, volunteering).

• It gives you clean bullet points or even a full draft.

📊 Visualize Your Notes

• Upload a doc and ask it to create a chart, mind map, or diagram.

• Ideal for when words just aren’t clicking.

🎙️ Talk It Out with Voice Mode

• Use Advanced Voice Mode to explain tricky stuff to you like a tutor.

• You can interrupt, ask it to slow down, or say, “can you make it simpler?”

• Try saying the answer back—ChatGPT will tell you if you nailed it.

Btw. I like Notebook LM to create podcast study guides based on the notes/references that I upload. Try it out!

How to Get It for Free (Yes, Really)

If you’re in the US or Canada, students can claim ChatGPT Plus free till the end of May (https://chatgpt.com/students). Go to the ChatGPT Students page to claim it.

Bonus Tools for Students:

• 🎓 OpenAI Academy – Learn AI basics without needing a CS degree (https://academy.openai.com/)

• 🧠 ChatGPT Lab – A college-only hub to share smart prompts

• 📲 Inspo from other students – Catch their wild ideas on the ChatGPT Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/chatgpt/?hl=en)

Want a shortcut for finals? Your kids just found it.

Off beat news from the world of AI

Imagine tuning in daily to your favorite radio show, bonding with the host’s voice, only to discover months later that the voice wasn’t human. That’s exactly what happened to thousands of listeners in Australia.

The Unveiling:

• For six months, CADA, a Sydney-based radio station, aired “Workdays with Thy,” a four-hour daily show. 

• Thy, the show’s host, was an AI-generated voice created using ElevenLabs’ technology, modeled after a real CADA employee. 

• Listeners were unaware of Thy’s artificial nature, as there was no disclosure on the station’s website or during broadcasts. 

The Discovery:

• The secret unraveled when a writer, Stephanie Coombes, questioned Thy’s identity, noting the absence of personal details or a biography. 

• Audio analyses revealed identical voice patterns, confirming the use of AI. 

• CADA’s parent company, ARN Media, admitted to the experiment, stating it was an exploration into AI’s role in broadcasting.

Is this the future of radio broadcasting?