What\u2019s new in AI tools
Automated weekly roundup of release notes and changelogs across every AI tool we track. Currently indexing 25 updates.
This week \u2014 2026-W18
AI Tools This Week: 42 updates across 7 products
-
Custom instructions for personalized chat responses
GitHub Copilot now supports custom instructions in VS Code and Visual Studio to personalize chat responses based on preferred tools, organizational knowledge, and coding best practices.
-
Prompt files for consistent responses
Users can now save and reuse prompt files to get faster and more consistent responses from GitHub Copilot. This feature helps standardize interactions with the AI assistant.
-
Accelerating LLM Inference with Prompt Caching for Open‑Source Models on Databricks
Databricks introduces prompt caching capabilities for open-source LLM inference to improve performance and reduce latency. The feature optimizes repeated inference operations by caching common prompt patterns.
-
December Drop 2025
Added new quickstart agents designed to help sales and revenue teams accelerate their workflows from request to completion.
-
Transforming industries with conversational AI: Partner solutions built on Databricks Genie
Databricks showcases partner solutions leveraging Databricks Genie for conversational AI across various industries. The announcement highlights ecosystem expansion and industry-specific AI applications.
-
Announcing the Databricks analytics engineer learning pathway
Databricks launched a new Analytics Engineer Learning Pathway to provide structured training for analytics engineers.
-
Helix-02 Bedroom Tidy
Figure AI demonstrated Helix-02's ability to perform bedroom cleaning and organization tasks autonomously.
-
Helix-02 Bedroom Tidy
Figure AI's Helix-02 robot demonstrates autonomous bedroom cleaning and organization capabilities.
-
Plan Mode
Introduced Plan Mode for Custom Agents, which adds a preliminary step where agents ask clarifying questions and build detailed plans before executing complex multi-step tasks. This reduces errors and increases confidence in agent outputs.
-
Plan Mode
Introduced Plan Mode where agents ask clarifying questions and build detailed plans before executing complex multi-step tasks. This feature reduces surprises and increases confidence when agents make significant changes to pages or databases.
-
New Custom Agent Directory
Added a dedicated Custom Agent Directory in the Library where users can browse all workspace agents, pin favorites, and create new ones. The directory provides centralized access to automate team workflows.
-
New Custom Agent controls for admins
Added comprehensive admin controls for Custom Agents including permission management, per-agent credit limits, workspace-level spending controls, and usage tracking dashboards. Includes automatic guardrails to prevent unexpected spending.
-
New Custom Agent controls for admins
Released admin controls for Custom Agents including permission management, per-agent credit limits, workspace-level spending controls, and usage tracking dashboards. Includes automatic guardrails to prevent unexpected spending.
-
New database permission: Can create pages
A new database permission level allows teammates to create new pages without being able to view or edit other content in the database. This is intended for use cases involving external contributors or sensitive data.
-
Partnering with Waze to help cities patch their potholes
Waymo has partnered with Waze to share pothole data collected by its autonomous vehicles to help cities identify and repair road infrastructure issues. The collaboration aims to improve road conditions using data from Waymo's fleet.
-
Partnering with Waze to help cities patch their potholes
Waymo launched a pilot program with Waze that uses its perception systems to detect potholes and provide real-time data to cities through the Waze for Cities platform.
-
Partnering with Waze to help cities patch their potholes
Waymo has partnered with Waze to share pothole data collected by its autonomous vehicles to help cities identify and repair road infrastructure issues. This collaboration uses Waymo's sensor data to improve road conditions.
-
Partnering with Waze to help cities patch their potholes
Waymo and Waze launched a pilot program using Waymo's perception systems to detect potholes and provide real-time data to cities through the Waze for Cities platform.
-
Partnering with Waze to help cities patch their potholes
Waymo has partnered with Waze to share pothole data collected by its autonomous vehicles to help cities identify and repair road infrastructure issues.
-
Partnering with Waze to help cities patch their potholes
Waymo partnered with Waze to use its perception systems to detect potholes and provide real-time data to cities and transportation departments through the Waze for Cities platform.
-
Partnering with Waze to help cities patch their potholes
Waymo has partnered with Waze to share pothole data collected by its autonomous vehicles to help cities identify and repair road infrastructure issues. The collaboration uses Waymo's sensor data to improve road conditions.
-
Partnering with Waze to help cities patch their potholes
Waymo and Waze announced a pilot program using Waymo's perception systems to detect potholes and share that data with cities and state DOTs via the Waze for Cities platform. The program aims to provide up-to-date road condition information in cities where Waymo operates.
-
Mute discussion replies
Users can now mute reply notifications on discussions they no longer want to follow. Notifications automatically resume if the user is @-mentioned or posts a new comment, and can be manually unmuted via the options menu.
-
Share Notion AI chats as a link
Notion AI chat conversations can now be shared as read-only links with teammates or publicly. Shared links are manageable from Settings under Public pages.
-
Helix 02 Living Room Tidy
Demonstration of Helix 02 AI model performing household cleaning tasks in a living room environment.