← All issues  ·  Archived issue from 1 August 2026. Workshop dates and prices mentioned here may have changed: see current workshops.
AI by Akhil
THE WEEKLY AI BYTE
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Issue: Saturday, 01 August 2026 Practical AI training · Kolkata, India
This Week in AI
GLOBAL
Claude Opus 5 Launches — Frontier Performance at Half the Price
Anthropic's Opus 5 matches Fable 5 on major benchmarks at half the price — $5/$25 per million tokens.
OUR VIEW
Frontier-grade reasoning is now cheap enough for real production use. Worth checking if you're over- or under-using the right model tier.
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GLOBAL
ChatGPT Health Rolls Out to Every US Adult
OpenAI opened ChatGPT Health — Apple Health + hospital record integration — to every US adult; 300M+ ask it health questions weekly.
OUR VIEW
Not officially live in India, and not built around Indian health-privacy norms — treat any AI health answer as a starting point, not a diagnosis.
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INDIA
HCLTech and Sarvam AI to Build ₹14,257 Crore Sovereign AI Data Center in Odisha
HCLTech and Sarvam signed an MoU for a ₹14,257 crore sovereign AI data center in Odisha, creating ~5,000 jobs.
OUR VIEW
India's sovereign-AI push is moving from slogan to steel-and-concrete — worth watching if data residency matters to your business.
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GLOBAL
OpenAI Slashes GPT-5.6 Prices — Luna Down 80%, Terra Down 20%
OpenAI cut Luna pricing 80% and Terra 20% — the latest move in a compounding frontier price war.
OUR VIEW
Everyday AI use keeps getting cheaper — revisit your AI ROI math every quarter instead of assuming it's fixed.
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GLOBAL
Google DeepMind's Gemini Robotics 2 Gives Humanoids "Whole-Body Intelligence"
DeepMind's Gemini Robotics 2 gives humanoids full-body control, demoed walking and fetching objects on command.
OUR VIEW
A longer-runway story for India — but manufacturing and logistics here will eventually test labour-augmenting robots.
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INDIA
IndiaAI Mission's BuildAI TechPitchSprint Kicks Off at IIT Gandhinagar
IndiaAI's hackathon-plus-pitch-day at IIT Gandhinagar has 20 early-stage startups competing for cash and incubation.
OUR VIEW
A concrete, government-backed on-ramp — worth tracking if you've wondered where to start building in AI.
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Level Up Your AI Skills

Two hands-on, small-group workshops in Kolkata — pick the one that fits where you are right now.

🚀
The AI Starter Session
Your first real conversation with AI — guided, hands-on, no jargon
For business owners, managers & working professionals — zero tech background needed.
₹2,5002 hrsMax 8 peopleKolkata
✓ChatGPT, Claude & Gemini — how they differ & when to use which
✓Prompting that works for emails, SOPs & business documents
✓Marketing, sales, AI agents & automation basics
Join waitlist — next date TBA →
26 Jul session full — 8 seats max per session. Waitlist members get payment priority.
🌱
AI for Everyday Life & New Beginnings
AI as your patient, always-on assistant
Designed with women in mind — all warmly welcome.
₹2,5002 hrsMax 7 peopleKolkata
✓Meal planning, budgeting & drafting messages
✓Comparing travel & shopping options, side-hustle brainstorming
✓Spotting scams, deepfakes & voice cloning
Register my interest — date coming soon →
7 seats max per session. Waitlist members get payment priority.
See full workshop details & register your interest → learnai.akhilsonthalia.com

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