5 New Prompts & Today's Actionable News
By Robert MacKelfresh — August 17, 2026Turn a screenshot into something usable
EASYHere's a screenshot. Read it properly, then: 1. WHAT THIS IS SAYING, in plain language. Include the numbers exactly as they appear…Open full prompt →for ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini (image upload)Decode a pricing page that hides the price
EASYI'm trying to work out what [VENDOR] will really cost us. Answer as though you're on my side of the table. 1. THE HEADLINE NUMBER…Open full prompt →for ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini (with web access)Turn a customer call into positioning
MEDIUMMine it for language. Not themes — language. 1. THEIR WORDS FOR THE PROBLEM. Quote them exactly. Don't tidy the grammar, don't…Open full prompt →for Claude or ChatGPTAudit the automation you inherited
ADVANCEDI've inherited an automation someone else built and I don't fully understand it. Help me map it before it breaks. 1. WHAT IT…Open full prompt →for Claude or ChatGPTGive an agent a budget it must account for
EXPERTYou're going to work on this with a fixed budget, and you're going to account for it. At each phase boundary report in three lines…Open full prompt →for Claude, ChatGPT agents, or any tool-using AI
The Context Coda
One more thing: use anything you already know about me from our past chats and anything you're connected to. If you can find it yourself, don't make me look it up.
Paste this at the end of any prompt above. It tells your AI to use what it already knows about you instead of asking you to repeat it — which is the difference between a generic answer and a personal one.
Actionable News
What just happened, and the prompt, skill file, or setup that turns it into something you can use.
Microsoft is retiring Excel's =COPILOT() function after September 14 — existing formulas stop working
here's the migration map and the search that finds every formula you own, because the side pane is not a drop-in replacement
SPEND AUDITStripe is reportedly buying OpenRouter for $7B, and OpenRouter shipped a cost dashboard the next day
here's the thirty-minute spend audit using the new dashboard — the acquisition is a rumour, this part is live today
The OpenAI Agents SDK now requires openai v3, and ships testing modules that need no live model calls
→here's the upgrade map, plus the one deterministic test worth writing the moment you're through it
GET THE UPGRADE MAPVercel cut GPT-5.6 Sol by 50% on AI Gateway until September 18, but not for bring-your-own-key requests
→here's the tier table and why a one-month discount is a testing window rather than a reason to migrate
GET THE PRICE TABLEGartner forecasts agentic AI costs rising more than fivefold by 2028, because agents burn tokens faster than prices fall
→here's the cost model for working out your own number — per completed task, with the failed runs left in
GET THE COST MODEL
The AI Five is published by Automation Squad. Every prompt is written from scratch and every claim links to a primary source. Corrections: [email protected].