Faster customer replies, two new AI models and a Swiss model at one year
Archive · Issue of 4 September 2026
Grüezi, bonjour, buongiorno.
September is about customers. We start with the job that eats the most hours in most small firms: answering email. Most of those emails ask the same ten questions. You know the answers; AI can do the typing, in your voice, while a person still checks and sends.
Meanwhile OpenAI and Anthropic both released new top models in the same week, and Switzerland’s own AI model had its first birthday.
The big three
1. OpenAI launches GPT-6 Astra On 3 September OpenAI released GPT-6 Astra, built to operate a browser or desktop for you: forms, CRM updates, calendars. It goes first to selected organisations, then to ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise over the coming days. So what for your business? If you pay for ChatGPT Business, you get it at no extra cost. Test it on one dull browser task, with a human checking. Read more
2. Anthropic releases Claude Fable 5.1 Anthropic’s update arrived on 1 September with unchanged list prices, but the company says typical jobs cost about 25% less to run. It also announced a privacy option for enterprise customers after criticism of its 30-day data retention. So what for your business? Team-plan users get the new model automatically. Check how long your plan keeps your prompts. Read more
3. Swiss AI model Apertus turns one A year after launch, the open model from EPFL, ETH Zurich and CSCS has about 4 million downloads. Ticino’s migration office uses it for translation. Business use is still thin. So what for your business? Not a sign-up product. Worth asking your IT partner about if you need AI translation that stays on Swiss servers. Read more
🔒 This week’s guide
Answer customer emails faster without sounding like a robot. Sort your emails into green, amber and red, give Copilot or Gemini your tone once, and let it draft the routine replies while your team checks and sends. Includes the shared-mailbox catch most firms hit on day one. Read the guide (🔒 Members)
🔒 Tool review
Copilot in Outlook vs Gemini in Gmail: use whichever matches the email system you already have; neither is worth switching for, and Copilot doesn’t work in shared info@ mailboxes. Read the review (🔒 Members)
🔍 Feature deep dive
Claude’s email connectors. Connect Gmail or Outlook to Claude and it can search a customer’s earlier emails before it drafts your reply. What it can see, which plan you need, how to keep sending under your control. Read the deep dive (🔒 Members)
🧩 Skills of the week
- Customer reply drafter: replies in your tone, only from facts you give, with every open question flagged.
- Complaint handler: turns an angry email into facts, options with their cost and a calm reply. Never promises a refund on its own. Get the skills (🔒 Members)
🔒 Template of the week
Customer reply prompt and brand tone sheet. Fill in one page about how your business writes. Paste it into your AI tool once, then use four ready prompts for routine replies, polishing, other languages and reusable answers. Get the template (🔒 Members)
One number
49%: the share of Swiss workers who use AI tools daily, against a European average of 28%, according to Accenture’s Pulse of Change survey (swissinfo.ch, July 2026). The Swiss sample was 200 people, so treat it as a direction, not a precise figure. Your staff are probably already using AI on customer emails. Better they do it with rules you set.
That’s it for this week. Hit reply and tell me: which customer email do you answer most often? I’ll build a prompt for the most common one.
Adam
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