Innovation Profs - 2/10/2026

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Latest Gen AI News

Anthropic and OpenAI both announce model releases

In a massive week for generative AI, Anthropic and OpenAI have both unveiled their latest flagship models, Claude 4.6 Opus and GPT-5.3 Codex, respectively. Anthropic’s Claude 4.6 introduces a 1-million-token context window, allowing users to process massive codebases and entire libraries of documents in a single pass. Not to be outdone, OpenAI launched GPT-5.3 Codex, a model specifically re-engineered for elite-level programming and system architecture. According to OpenAI, GPT-5.3 Codex can “take on long-running tasks that involve research, tool use, and complex execution.” These releases signal a shift away from general-purpose chat toward specialized, high-utility agents designed for long-term professional workflows.

Super Bowl LX becomes the “AI Bowl” as Svedka and Anthropic lead generative blitz

Super Bowl LX marked a definitive turning point for generative AI on advertising’s biggest stage, with nearly a quarter of all commercials featuring AI technology. Svedka Vodka debuted “Shake Your Bots Off,” the first national spot produced primarily through AI prompts. Anthropic took a more aggressive stance, targeting rival OpenAI’s recent move toward monetization. Their ads featured a personified chatbot that mid-conversation pivots into an unwanted sales pitch (e.g. hawking “Step Boost Maxx” shoe insoles to a user), concluding with the pointed tagline: “Ads are coming to AI. But not to Claude.” The broadcast also featured entries from OpenAI, which promoted its Codex tool with the tagline “You Can Just Build Things,” and Google, which showcased its Nano Banana Pro model through a story of a family visualizing their new home.

ChatGPT officially rolls out ads

OpenAI has officially begun integrating advertisements into ChatGPT, marking a significant shift in its business model. The rollout is starting as a limited trial in the United States for users over 18 on the Free and “Go” plans. OpenAI said about its ads, “Ads do not influence the answers ChatGPT gives you, and we keep your conversations with ChatGPT private from advertisers.” The company says ads will also always be clearly labeled as sponsored and separated from the organic content.

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👋 Hands-On With Gen AI Workshop

Are you ready to actually build things with generative AI? Sign up for our Feb. 27 Hands-On With Generative AI Workshop at Drake University (or attend virtually) and complete six AI projects in six hours. Save $70 if you sign up by Feb. 13.

 🍟 FREE AI Lunch Club virtual events

Our AI Lunch Club series continues with three more FREE virtual events to help you better understand generative AI tools. Click each link to get more info and to sign up:

• Feb. 16 - Google Gemini, Nano Banana and NotebookLM

• Feb. 23 - Building Microsoft Copilot Agents

• March 4 - Vibe coding with Claude, ChatGPT and Lovable

These events are offered free thanks to a sponsorship from technology and management consultancy, Lean TECHniques.

Quick Hits

Tool of the week: ChatGPT Codex

Who says Claude Code should get all the headlines. OpenAI recently released GPT-5.3-Codex, it’s own agentic coding model. Codex is built to help with computer programming by translating natural language instructions into functional code across many languages. It can write code, fix bugs, run tests, and propose pull requests in cloud or local environments. But it’s capabilities are not limited to software. Codes can also create PDFs, slide decks and analyze data in spreadsheets.

AI-generated image of the week

We’ve been reading Where’s Waldo books in the Snider household lately - which got me wondering if we could use Nano Banana to create our own Where’s Waldo-style images. I used the prompts below to create the image on the left and then the image on the right. See if you can find me!

Prompt: A full-body character design sheet in the style of Martin Handford’s "Where’s Waldo." The character is in the attached image. The art style must feature thin, clean black ink outlines, flat vibrant colors, and a slightly lanky, cartoonish anatomy. The character should be shown in 3-4 different candid poses (walking, waving, looking confused, holding an object). No shading or gradients; use a minimalist, 2D hand-drawn aesthetic on a plain white background.

Prompt: A sprawling, ultra-detailed isometric "Wimmelbilder" illustration in the signature "Where's Waldo" art style. The scene is a college campus activity fair.

Scene Details: Thousands of tiny, unique characters performing humorous, individual actions. High visual density with bright, primary colors and thin ink line art.

The Hidden Subject: Hidden somewhere in the crowd is the person in the attached illustration. They should be scaled to the same tiny size as the other characters, making them difficult to find.

Aesthetic: 1990s children's book illustration, matte finish, white borders, no 3D rendering, purely 2D hand-drawn look.

What we found

David Fortin shared seven of his favorite Copilot tips, including using the Researcher agent to prepare for your week ahead and personalizing your Copilot.