Claude Gains New 'Skills' to Automate Workflows

PLUS: Kayak's AI co-pilot, and Spotify's AI music play

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Gen AI Art
October 18, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

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Anthropic is giving its AI assistant, Claude, a major workplace upgrade. A new 'Skills' feature allows companies to bundle their unique workflows and knowledge into modules that the AI can then use to complete tasks on its own.

The new capability is being compared to the instant-learning scenes from The Matrix, allowing Claude to load specialized expertise on demand. Does this mark a turning point where AI assistants evolve from simple Q&A tools into truly integrated, agentic partners in our work?

Today in AI:

  • Claude gains new 'Skills' to automate workflows

  • Kayak's new AI travel co-pilot

  • Spotify’s collaborative AI music lab

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What’s new? Anthropic has launched Skills, a new feature for Claude that lets organizations package their unique workflows, procedures, and knowledge into modules. The AI can then autonomously access these Skills to handle specific tasks.

What matters?

  • Skills function like folders containing instructions and reference materials, essentially allowing Claude to load specialized knowledge on demand, with one developer comparing them to the instant-learning scenes in The Matrix.

  • Users can create custom Skills using an interactive assistant, which means building these powerful capabilities requires no coding expertise.

  • Different Skills can also coordinate with each other, allowing Claude to combine capabilities like brand guidelines and financial reporting templates to complete a single, complex workflow.

Why it matters?

By packaging complex enterprise knowledge into simple folders instead of code, Anthropic is making powerful AI customization accessible to more teams. This development moves AI assistants beyond simple Q&A and closer to becoming truly integrated, agentic partners in your work.

What’s new? Travel booking giant Kayak has launched an AI Mode powered by ChatGPT. This feature allows you to use natural language to find and book your next trip.

What matters?

  • The AI assistant guides you through travel research conversationally, answering open-ended questions like “Where can I go for a warm beach vacation in December under $1,500?”

  • It provides personalized suggestions for flights, hotels, and activities based on your conversational input.

  • You can complete your entire booking process directly within the chat interface, streamlining the path from discovery to purchase.

Why it matters?

This integration simplifies the traditionally fragmented travel planning process into a single, seamless conversation. Kayak's move signals a major shift toward conversational commerce, where AI assistants can handle complex, multi-step tasks from start to finish.

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What’s new? Spotify is proactively creating an AI music lab in direct partnership with major record labels. This collaboration aims to explore AI music generation responsibly from the outset.

What matters?

  • This move is a strategic hedge, allowing Spotify to avoid the copyright battles that have plagued other AI companies.

  • The collaboration is framed around enhancing artist-fan connections and includes a promise of fair compensation for creators.

  • Instead of releasing a public tool, Spotify is building a controlled lab environment with major labels backing it from the start.

Why it matters?

Spotify is setting a precedent for how creative industries can approach AI innovation collaboratively rather than confrontationally. This ensures that future AI music tools are developed with artist rights and compensation built-in from day one.

Everything else in AI

Microsoft plans a new AI-powered OneDrive app for release next year, which will include a new gallery view, AI slideshows, and enhanced editing features.

Pew Research released a new global survey of over 28,000 adults across 25 countries, finding that public concern over AI's rising use is outpacing excitement, with the EU ranked as the most trusted regulatory body.

DeepMind partnered with a major pharmaceutical company to apply its new protein-folding models to accelerate the discovery of novel treatments for rare diseases.

Google expands its AI ecosystem strategy by offering free access to its Gemini models for students across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) in a push to cultivate the next generation of AI developers.

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