AI

Models, tools, and the hype gap between them.

updated
1d ago

October 202614 articles

What the free plans cap, and what paid costs. US list prices from each maker’s own page, read 12 October 2026. Grammarly Free: 100 AI prompts a month; paid, $30 a month or $144 a year. QuillBot Free: paraphrases of up to 125 words; paid, $19.95 a month or $99.95 a year. Wordtune Basic: 10 rewrites and AI suggestions a day; paid, $13.99 a month, or $6.99 a month billed yearly. ProWritingAid Free: 10 Rephrases a day, and reports on up to 500 words; paid, $30 a month or $120 a year. Microsoft Editor: basic spelling and grammar; paid, $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year. Cheapest paid plan from each, before tax; Microsoft’s is Microsoft 365 Personal. Not a ranking.
AI · Explainer

Free AI Writing Tools Ration Rewrites in Different Units

Grammarly gives 100 AI prompts a month, Wordtune 10 rewrites a day, QuillBot 125 words a paraphrase. Yearly billing halves most prices.

Foresight, Google’s offline note-taker: what Google’s own pages say, read 10 October 2026. Where it runs: a macOS download only, optimized for Apple Silicon. Offline: Google says transcription and AI run on the Mac. Your data: Google says audio, notes and files never leave it. Price: no cloud subscription. Status: experimental.
AI · Explainer

Google’s Offline AI Note-Taker Runs Only on a Mac

Transcription and AI run on the Mac itself, with no phone version. Google says your audio, notes and files never leave the computer.

Copilot’s three new local powers, on Copilot+ PCs, “in the coming months”, per Microsoft, 7 October 2026. Local context: with your permission, your files and recent activity. Local actions: organising files, troubleshooting and workflows on your PC. Local models: AI models on your PC, plus the cloud when needed. Remove it: Settings, Apps, Installed apps, Copilot. Microsoft’s announcement names no setting for the new features.
AI · Explainer

Copilot Gets File Access on Copilot+ PCs, With Permission

Microsoft promises it “in the coming months” and names no setting for it yet. What you can limit today: agents’ folder access, or the app.

Claude’s plans, US prices from Anthropic’s pricing page and Help Center, read 8 October 2026. Free, $0: Sonnet and Haiku, up to 5 projects, no Claude Code. Pro, $20 a month or $200 a year: at least 5x Free’s usage per session, adds Opus and Claude Code. Max 5x, $100 a month: 5x Pro’s usage per session, Fable up to half the weekly limit. Max 20x, $200 a month: 20x Pro’s usage per session, Fable up to half the weekly limit. Anthropic publishes no message counts.
AI · Explainer

Claude Pro Adds Claude Code and Opus; Max Is $100 or $200

Anthropic gives usage on each plan as a multiple of the one below it, not as a message count. Free, Pro and both Max tiers compared.

Run a local LLM in three steps, from Ollama's and LM Studio's own pages, read 8 October 2026. Step 1, install: Ollama or LM Studio, both free for running models locally. Step 2, download a small model first: Llama 3.2 is 2.0GB in Ollama's library. Step 3, chat: the command ollama run llama3.2 starts a chat on your computer, and /bye leaves it. Local models keep prompts on your machine; Ollama's cloud models do not.
AI · Guide

Run a Local LLM: One Free App, One 2GB Model

Ollama and LM Studio both run models on Windows, macOS and Linux at no cost. Start small, and know which models are cloud ones.

Ads in ChatGPT, by plan, from OpenAI’s Help Center, blog and pricing page, read 8 October 2026. Free at $0: ads may appear; personalisation can be turned off, and Ads-Free mode removes ads at lower limits. Go at $8 a month: ads may appear; personalisation can be turned off; no Ads-Free option. Plus at $20, Pro from $100, and Business, Enterprise and Edu: no ads. Stop personalised ads: Settings › Ads controls › Personalize ads.
AI · Explainer

ChatGPT Shows Ads on Free and Go, Not on Plus or Pro

With personalisation on, ads can draw on past chats and memory. Getting rid of them takes Plus, Pro or Free’s lower-limit Ads-Free mode.

Gemini’s Call for Me, from Google’s own pages, read 7 October 2026: it calls a business from your own number. Who can use it: Pixel 11 with a US SIM, a Google AI plan, 18 or over, English, in the US. What it does: books and asks, works phone menus, waits on hold. What the business hears: a Google AI assistant, on a recorded line, and your name. Not for 911, payments or health information.
AI · Explainer

Gemini’s Call for Me Phones Businesses From Your Number

US only, on a Pixel 11 with a paid Google AI plan. Each call opens by saying it is a Google AI assistant on a recorded line.

Chatbot study modes and what they cost, from each maker’s own pages, read 7 October 2026. ChatGPT study mode: Free, Go, Plus and Pro, from $0; type @study. Gemini Guided Learning: no plan named, sign-in needed; in the More tools menu. Claude learning mode: university plans, and Claude Code from $20 a month. Microsoft Copilot Study and Learn: Microsoft 365 Education licence (A1, A3, A5), ages 13 and up. A Learning style in Claude.ai was reported in 2025; we found no Anthropic page for it.
AI · Explainer

ChatGPT and Gemini Include Study Modes on Free Plans

Claude’s learning mode comes with university plans or Claude Code from $20, Copilot’s with school licences. How to switch each one on.

Gemini models by plan, before and after Google's October 2026 change, from Google's own Help and pricing pages, read 7 and 11 October 2026. Free, $0: Flash-Lite, Flash and Pro before; from 9 October, Auto, mostly Flash-Lite, with some prompts going to Flash or Pro. AI Plus, $4.99 a month: all three before; Flash-Lite and Flash after, on a date Google emails. AI Pro, $19.99: all three, unchanged. AI Ultra, from $99.99: all three plus Deep Think, unchanged.
AI · Explainer

Free Gemini Moves to Mostly Flash-Lite From 9 October

Choosing Flash takes the $4.99 AI Plus plan, and choosing Pro takes AI Pro. Plus subscribers lose Pro too, on a date Google emails.

Google Assistant to Gemini, device by device, from Google's own posts and Help pages, read 6 October 2026. Phones and tablets: Assistant removal began 3 September 2026, no switching back. Wear OS, earbuds, Android Auto: follow the phone, Gemini replaces Assistant. Cars with Google built-in: Assistant continues, Gemini rolling out. Nest speakers and displays: not affected, Gemini for Home is opt-in early access. Google TV: Gemini on Android 14 and later, 2 GB RAM, adult profiles.
AI · Explainer

Google Assistant Ends on Most Phones, Stays on Nest for Now

Removal from Android began 3 September and takes watches and Android Auto with it. Built-in cars and Nest speakers keep Assistant for now.

What Meta's Muse agent can reach, from Meta's newsroom post and Help Center, read 6 October 2026. Connected for you: Facebook, Instagram and Threads, if they share your Accounts Center. Asks first: before sending email or buying, by default; change it in Settings, Permissions. Training: on from first use; turn off in Settings, Data controls. Availability: rolling out in the US on iOS, Android and muse.ai.
AI · Explainer

Muse Sees What You Connect, Plus Facebook and Instagram

Meta’s agent, rolling out in the US, asks before it emails or buys. Training on your chats stays on until you switch it off.

Qwen 3.6 on your own machine: Ollama download sizes, read 5 October 2026. Qwen3.6-27B, dense, all 27 billion parameters active: 17GB at 4-bit, 30GB at 8-bit, 56GB at full bf16. Qwen3.6-35B-A3B, mixture of experts, 3 billion of 35 billion active: 24GB at 4-bit, 39GB at 8-bit, 71GB at full bf16. Both have a 262,144-token native context, and Qwen advises at least 128K.
AI · Explainer

Qwen 3.6 Needs About 24GB to Run Fully on a GPU

The 27B is 17GB at four bits. The default download is the 35B at 24GB, and Qwen asks for 128K of context on top.

September 20263 articles

Seven ways to prove your age to Discord, from Discord's own support article read 24 September 2026, with what each one shares and who sees it. Apple App Store: an age range, seen by Discord, no birthdate shared. Google Play: an age range, seen by Discord, no birthdate shared. Video selfie: nothing leaves you, seen by no one, processed on device. Google Wallet: age and issuing country, seen by Google, five countries only. Credit card: card details, seen by k-ID, a charge under $0.50. ID scan: ID and selfie, seen by k-ID, deleted after. AgeKey: a reusable key, seen by k-ID, made once. Footnote: most accounts are never asked, because a model places them automatically.
AI · Explainer

Discord Estimates Your Age Before It Asks for ID

Most accounts are sorted by a model reading which servers you join and who you know. Seven methods exist only if it cannot place you.

Google's CC, for families, from Google's announcement and Labs FAQ of 17 September 2026. Who: US adults, 18+, personal accounts. Group: Up to six members. Reads: Only mail from senders you approve. Cannot: Pay, sign waivers, search inboxes. Catch: Members cannot be removed. Access: Labs waitlist, opening in waves.
AI · Explainer

Google's CC Agent Reads Only the Family Email You Share

The relaunched Labs agent runs a household for up to six US adults. Know two rules first: members stay, and deleted mail does too.

Nine separate Apple Intelligence settings on iPhone, shown as a grid of tiles, each with its place in the Settings app: Siri AI under Siri; notification summaries and priority notifications under Notifications; Messages summaries under Apps and Messages; Mail summaries and Mail smart replies under Apps and Mail; voicemail suggestions and Call Context cards under Apps and Phone; and Journal writing prompts under Apps and Journal. Apple's footnote says expanded access will be available for a fee in the future.
AI · Guide

There Is No Single Switch to Turn Off Apple Intelligence

Apple's iOS 27 guide lists nine separate settings, not one switch. Its own footnote adds that a fee for expanded access is coming.