📰 Today's Frequency

🔥 Claude Opus 4.5 Just Dropped and It's Different Different

The Scoop: Yesterday (November 24th), Anthropic came through with Claude Opus 4.5, and they're calling it "the best model in the world for coding, agents, and computer use." And look, this ain't just cap for the press release. Early testers are saying stuff that was straight up impossible for Sonnet 4.5 just a few weeks ago is now happening with ease. The model is lowkey brilliant at dealing with messy situations and thinking through complicated decisions without you having to hold its hand. But check THIS out: Anthropic slashed the price by 67 percent. We talking $5 per million input tokens, down from $15. They also rolled out Claude for Chrome to everybody on Max and Claude for Excel to Max, Team, and Enterprise users. GitHub already plugged it into Copilot, and they running a promo rate through December 5th.

The Vibe Check: 👩🏾‍💻 Yo, this is MAJOR for Black developers and non technical founders out here trying to build. That price drop? That means you can tap into top tier AI without watching your whole budget disappear. For my coders, this is your chance to really level up your automation, whether you building side projects or trying to bag that developer position. For the non technical founders? Claude's ability to work across Chrome tabs and Excel spreadsheets means you can automate your whole workflow without touching a single line of code. The computer use feature literally lets Claude navigate interfaces FOR you. This the type of tool that lets one person with vision compete with a whole corporate team. And since it's already in GitHub Copilot, you can start using it today if you already in that ecosystem. The door just swung open wider, the capability just jumped higher. That's the wave.

Read Anthropic's announcement →

🛒 ChatGPT Now Does Your Shopping Research (And It's Free for Everybody)

The Scoop: Also yesterday (November 24th), OpenAI dropped a new "Shopping Research" feature in ChatGPT, and the timing right before Black Friday? Chef's kiss. This ain't your basic "find me a laptop" type search. It's powered by a specialized version of GPT 5 mini that's trained specifically on shopping tasks. The tool asks you clarifying questions, researches across the whole internet, reads real reviews from trusted spots (like Reddit instead of those fake promotional sites), and builds you personalized buyer's guides in literal minutes. And get this, it works for ALL ChatGPT users, including the free accounts, with basically unlimited usage through the holidays. You can even upload a photo of something you like and ask ChatGPT to find similar items under your budget. OpenAI is planning "Instant Checkout" soon so you can buy directly in the app.

The Vibe Check: 🧑🏾‍🦱 Look, this changes the whole game for how we shop smart, especially when money tight. For Black Friday and Cyber Monday, instead of spending hours comparing prices and reading reviews across 20 different tabs, ChatGPT does all that research for you and breaks down the pros and cons. Need a laptop for your side hustle but don't know what specs matter? Ask ChatGPT. Looking for the best budget camera to start creating content? It'll compare your options and tell you exactly why one's better than the other. This levels the playing field against folks who got money to waste on bad purchases. Plus, it's completely FREE, not locked behind some paywall. For Black entrepreneurs watching every single dollar, this is basically your personal shopping consultant who actually works for YOU. Use it to research business tools, equipment, software, anything you need to invest in smartly. The AI cuts through all the marketing nonsense and focuses on what real users are saying. That's real value right there.

Read OpenAI's announcement →

🚀 Builder's Playbook

Using AI to Launch Your First Digital Product (Save 20+ Hours/Week)

Phase 1: Validate Your Idea (Week 1)
Use ChatGPT or Claude to research your niche and find the pain points. Hit it with this prompt: "What are the top 10 problems [your target audience] face with [topic]?" Then ask AI to help you create survey questions for your network. Set up a quick Google Form and let AI analyze what people say. Look for patterns in what folks are actually willing to pay for. Don't skip validation, trust me. It saves you from building something nobody really wants.

Phase 2: Create Your MVP (Week 2 to 3)
Pick ONE pain point from your research. Use AI to outline your solution, whether that's a template, guide, course, or tool. For written products, have Claude write your first draft, then you come through and edit it with YOUR voice and expertise. For video courses, use ChatGPT to script your lessons, then record using your phone. For templates, let AI create the framework, then you customize it for your people. The key is moving FAST. AI handles the heavy lifting so you can focus on keeping it authentic and valuable.

Phase 3: Launch & Iterate (Week 4+)
Set up a simple landing page using Carrd or Beehiiv. Use AI to write your sales copy, create your email sequence, and draft social media posts. Price your product between $27 and $97 to start. Launch to your existing network first, get that feedback, and improve based on what real people tell you. Use AI to help you analyze customer feedback and spot what needs work. Then scale your marketing once you got proof it actually works.

Expected Impact: Launch a revenue generating digital product in 30 days instead of sitting on the idea for 6 months. Save 20 plus hours on content creation, copywriting, and market research. Start earning while you sleep. Start with Phase 1 this week, just ask AI those 10 questions about your audience's pain points. That's it. That's your foundation right there.

🎨 Marketing Moves

1. AI Powered Video Hooks
Use ChatGPT to generate 10 different video hooks for your next piece of content. The prompt: "Generate 10 attention grabbing first lines for a video about [your topic] targeting [your audience]." Test the top 3 and watch your engagement go crazy. One creator we know saw 3x more saves using AI generated hooks. That's the difference between scrolling past and stopping the scroll.

2. Personalized Email Campaigns at Scale
Feed Claude your customer data and have it write personalized email variations for different segments. Example: Upload your last 50 customer testimonials and ask Claude to identify patterns and create targeted messaging for each customer type. This is a total game changer for conversion rates. People can tell when you actually SEE them versus sending generic blasts.

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💼 Career Moves: Pivot Into Where the Growth Is

Real talk, the job market is tough right now, especially for our community. But here's what they won't tell you on LinkedIn: AI can be your secret weapon in this search. Not just a tool, your WEAPON.

1. Beat the ATS (Applicant Tracking System)
Most companies use software to filter resumes before humans ever see them. Wild, right? Use AI to optimize your resume for each specific job. Copy the job description and your resume into ChatGPT and ask it to identify keyword gaps. Then strategically weave those keywords into your experience, but keep it authentic. Don't just keyword stuff, make it natural.

2. The Pivot Strategy
If your current field is contracting, use AI to identify transferable skills and adjacent roles that are actually hiring. Ask Claude: "I'm a [current role] with skills in [X, Y, Z]. What growing industries and roles would value these skills in 2025?" Then research those paths and start building the bridge. You'd be surprised what doors open when you reframe your experience.

3. Tap Into the Hidden Job Market
80 percent of jobs aren't posted publicly. Facts. Use AI to help you craft personalized outreach messages to hiring managers on LinkedIn. Be genuine, show you've done your research, and demonstrate value upfront. One well crafted message template can open doors that 100 applications never will. That's just how it works.

🎁 The Asset: AI Skills Gap Analysis Prompt

Use this prompt to identify exactly what skills you need to break into AI roles:

Pro Tip: Run this prompt for each major achievement at your current and past roles. Keep the best bullets in a master document you can pull from for ANY application. Build your arsenal now, use it strategically later.

🔥 The Culture Code Prompt Lab

The Business Launch Blueprint

This prompt will help you go from idea to action plan in one session:

How to Use It: Fill in your information in the brackets, paste the whole thing into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini, and watch it create your complete roadmap. Take that output and break it into calendar tasks. This is literally how you turn dreams into launch dates. No more "someday." We talking THIS day.

💰 Skill Builder: Prompt Engineering

The number one skill that'll get you paid in AI right now? Knowing how to communicate with these tools like you fluent in their language. Prompt engineering is literally becoming a six figure career, with roles paying $135K plus and growing 135 percent year over year. That's not a typo.

Why This Matters: Every single AI tool, from ChatGPT to Midjourney, works WAY better when you know how to talk to it properly. Companies are hiring prompt engineers to optimize their AI workflows, but even if you're not trying to get that specific role, this skill makes you more valuable in ANY position you hold. You become the person who gets better results faster than everybody else. That's power.

Free Resources: Start with OpenAI's "Prompt Engineering Guide" (it's free on their website). Then check out the "Learn Prompting" course on learnprompting.org (completely free, no credit card needed). Practice daily by challenging yourself to get AI to produce exactly what you want in 3 prompts or less. Join the r/PromptEngineering community on Reddit to see what other folks are building and learn from their experiments.

This Week's Challenge: Pick one task you do regularly at work or in your business. Write 5 different prompts to get AI to help with that task. Compare the outputs. Figure out what made the best prompt actually work. That right there? That's your real training. Experience beats theory every time.

🏆 Community Corner

Big shoutout to Jasmine K. from Houston who used the tools from our last newsletter to land a Prompt Engineer contract role paying $95 per hour. She had zero AI experience 90 days ago, just good communication skills and the drive to learn. She built a portfolio of AI projects using free tools, shared them on LinkedIn consistently, and got contacted by a recruiter who saw her work. Three months from "I don't know anything about AI" to $95 an hour. That's what we're talking about right here! 💪🏾

Your Turn: Got a win using AI in your business or career? Got a success story that needs to be told? Hit us up on LinkedIn or tag us @TheCultureCodeAI. We love celebrating the culture and showing what's possible when we lock in!

✊🏾 Keep Building

Look, everybody got an opinion on whether AI is a bubble, whether it's overhyped, whether it's gonna take jobs or create them. But here's what we know for SURE: right now, today, this very moment, companies are hiring, opportunities are opening up, and the barrier to entry is lower than it's EVER been. While they sitting around debating and overthinking it, we executing. While they waiting for the "perfect time" that ain't coming, we building. The people who win in any market shift, any revolution, any major change, they're the ones who move when everybody else is stuck in analysis paralysis. That's always been our story. That's always been how WE do it. And AI? This ain't no different. You already got what it takes. Now it's just about positioning yourself where the growth is actually happening and making your move.

Stay locked in. Stay ready. We'll see you next Tuesday with more tools to keep you ten steps ahead.

—The Culture Code AI Team ✨