Today’s Big Story

ChatGPT Launches Apps

OpenAI is one step closer to making ChatGPT an ‘everything app’ that connects directly to … everything?

Did you hear, ChatGPT has officially launched its app directory. This means you can now connect to some of your favorite services without ever leaving the OpenAI platform. “Apps extend ChatGPT conversations by bringing in new context and letting users take action like order groceries, turn an outline into a slide deck or search for an apartment,” the company said in a statement. OpenAI also noted in a help document that “connector” apps like Google Drive are now simply called “apps.”

The idea is that moving forward, the chatbot can suggest apps or you can easily access them (using the @ command) during a conversation. For instance, if you connect Adobe Photoshop to your account, you will then be able to utilize Photoshop tools when making image requests. In our testing, this works even if you don't have an existing Photoshop account.

Adobe Photoshop, Canva, even Zillow and DoorDash are now apps within the AI chatbot. Some help you pull-in locally-stored data and another lets you organize Apple Music songs or Spotify playlists. Instead of downloading an app, you’ll simply click a “Connect” button to give ChatGPT access to it.

Interestingly, CNET points out, you can’t just ask ChatGPT what apps are connected if you forget—instead, you need to go to Settings, Connected Apps or to Settings, then Data Controls, then Connected Apps depending on which version of ChatGPT you’re using. Not the most intuitive, especially for artificial intelligence, but these are still early days.

Engadget reports that the new feature is a big part of Sam Altman’s promises to make ChatGPT more versatile with the addition of custom GPT bots. “Over time, we want apps in ChatGPT to feel like a natural extension of the conversation, helping people move from ideas to action, while building a thriving ecosystem for developers.” Will this be what helps them out of their recent “code red” slump?

Trump Attempts to Rename the Kennedy Center

Although a formal change may have to be approved by Congress

President Donald Trump continues to rebrand Washington. On Thursday, the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, will be renamed the “Trump-Kennedy Center,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced. Even though Trump had already been calling it that for months in trollish posts online, he acted surprised that his handpicked board had thought to do this for him.

However, the move quickly raised legal concerns as to whether the board has the authority to rename the arts institution, which Congress designated in 1964 as a memorial to the Democratic president. U.S. code states that no new “memorials or plaques in the nature of memorials shall be designated or installed in the public areas of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.” To change that would require Congress, CNBC reports. House Republicans have already introduced at least one bill to rename the center in Trump’s honor.

Not surprisingly, Kennedy family members on Thursday denounced a plan. Jack Schlossberg, President John F. Kennedy’s grandson, wrote on X, “Microphones were muted and the board meeting and vote NOT unanimous.” The president of the Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center added: “President Kennedy proudly stood for justice, peace, equality, dignity, diversity, and compassion for those who suffer. President Trump stands in opposition to these values, and his name should not be placed alongside President Kennedy’s.”

Rethinking Marijuana

The White House orders expanded access to marijuana, CBD, citing medical benefits

President Trump also signed an executive order on Thursday to downgrade cannabis from the most restrictive category of drugs, easing some limitations and allowing for more research. Fast-tracking the reclassification would pave the way for the Food and Drug Administration to study its medicinal uses.

Trump said before he signed the directive in the Oval Office that it is “really something having to do with common sense.” But … the order does not make cannabis legal nationwide, he said. Trump also indicated he would not be open to legalizing cannabis for recreational use. “It’s never safe to use powerful controlled substances in a recreational manner,” he said. “So unless a drug is recommended by a doctor for medical reasons, just don’t do it,” he said.

Cannabis is currently classified in the same category as heroin, ecstasy and LSD under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. The order, once finalized by the Drug Enforcement Administration, moves cannabis out of Schedule I classification—the most restrictive—to a Schedule III classification. Other examples of Schedule III drugs are Tylenol with codeine, ketamine and testosterone.

A Weekend Pairing

‘Emily In Paris’ + a Roman Holiday Cocktail

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