Howdy %Name%,

What an amazing week for AI❗

• Claude 4.1 was released (it’s an incremental update but still promising)
• Open AI released two powerful open-source models & GPT 5 is expected to drop very soon
• Grok Imagine, xAI’s new AI image and video generator, lets you make NSFW content
• Google’s Genie 3 lets you interact with a “world model”

Over the past couple of months I’ve been spending more time using AI tools (mostly Claude and Grok) to create AutoHotkey tools.

I can confidentially say that AI has finally gotten good enough at AutoHotkey v2 to be used for solving most things.

Is it perfect?  No.

But it is very rare that I run into a problem that it cannot solve.

How about you❓   Are you using AI to develop your scripts❓

Over the weekend I (okay Claude) created an AutoHotkey v2 class that connects to OpenRouter.ai

What’s interesting about OpenRouter is that I can, currently, choose between 400+ models from 60+ providers.

All I have to do is pass the model name as a parameter and, BANG, I’m working with a different model.

Check out this short video showing me call different models back to back.

We discuss AI a lot in our AHK Hero group.   Click here to learn more.

Use Hundreds of Models with OpenRouter.ai

Now on with the show…

Creating videos with NotebookLM

Earlier this week I saw Notebook LM added the ability to generate videos.  

Patiently, I’d visit everyday to see if it had rolled out to my account yet.  

Finally, this morning, I had access❗

Here’s a link to the video.  What do you think?   I miss the “podcast” approach where two people are discussing a topic.  But I do think the video helps it keep attention.

No, The newest AI model won’t save you

Is the User an Admin ?

Some things we do with AutoHotkey are only possible if the script is run at an “admin” level.

Unfortunately most users don’t know what “being an admin” actually means.

So, instead of asking users, we created this script which let’s us pragmatically detect if the user is an admin or not.  You can see how we use it in this video.

Please keep in mind, whiel there is the built-in AHK variable A_IsAdmin, this is not the same as checking if the USER is admin.

Determining if the User is an Admin

Easily Renaming your Files

I was trying to use our AHK v1 Easy File renamer and it had a slight bug.  I gave it to Claude AI and asked if it could fix the issue. 

Claude’s first response was something like:  “I can fix it however, I see this is AHK v1 code and I know you prefer v2 code; let me convert it to v2 for you…”

Now everyone on the-Automator team had looked at the v1 code and decided it was just too complicated to be worth making the change.  Claude, on the other hand, wasn’t as lazy.

The code it gave me didn’t run on the first try

But it did on the 2^nd❗

Not only that but, it implemented the “undo” feature which we had not done!

During a Hero call I was showing it off and someone asked if it handled recursive files/folders. 

During the AHK Hero call Isaias implemented that which you can see in this video.

Adding Folder Recursion to Simple File Renamer in AutoHotkey v2

If you want to see a full demo of the AHK V2 Simple File Renamer script you can see it in this video.

You can learn about file looping in our Intermediate AutoHotkey course

Great tool for Easily Renaming your Files with SimpleFileRenamer

Improving People’s Lives: Story #57  Scaling with AI

I met with an old colleague of mine for lunch.   About a year ago I introduced him to Chat GPT.

Yesterday we touched base and I introduced him to many more AI tools that can help his business scale.    

Would you like to discuss what AI can do for you❓   Book a free meeting with me here.

What we’re reading

• 5 gadgets you didn’t know Support USB Headphones
• Replacement for WinRAR – a fork of 7zip
• Windows 11 might be getting Multi-Output Audio
• 11 Helpful Hidden Winodws 11 Features

AI / Chat GPT-3 News / Usage

• 10 AI Tools that will Instantly Boost Your Productivity!
• Tesla signs $16.5B deal with Samsung for producing AI Chips
• DOGE has built an AI tool to slash federal regulations
• Zuckerberg says AI superintelligence is in sight

⚡️Productivity tips:  Zoom Hotkeys

• Alt+H – Show/hide chat panel
• Alt+U – Show/hide participants panel

A spot of Humor: This would freak me out!

Our Most Chaotic Prank Of ALL TIME | Just For Laughs Gags

What we utomated this week with AutoHotkey #96

In this week’s video I demonstrate how I use AutoHotkey to automate tasks, solve client problems, and build tools that boost productivity and minimize errors.

This past week, I reviewed 123 AutoHotkey scripts we worked on, sharing insights into the various projects and tools we’ve developed to show just how versatile and effective AutoHotkey can be.

What we Automated with AutoHotkey #96

Client’s say…

I had no idea you could do this with AutoHotkey — Jim F.

AHK Hero

Consider joining the AHK Hero club! Members receive 25% off courses, consultations, tutoring, done for you project work, etc.    Currently we have over 445 hours of recordings teaching AutoHotkey that is exclusive to AHK Hero members❗

You can watch 1 hour a day for a year and not repeat content! That’s a lot of AHK Learning!

During this Friday’s call we’re planning to discuss:

• Help AHK Hero Members with their Questions & Code
• Creating videos with NotebookLM
• Waiting for an element to exist Instead of using a long sleep
• Update to Clipster– wait for clipboard format
  • Need to fix the file copy and RTF
• Broadcasting messages to all Windows (hidden and visible)
• Waiting for user to select Menu / if click off menu
• OpenRouter, Claude 4.1, OpenAI GPT-OSS, Genie 3
• Breaking Logs into Incremental Files
• Debug configuration – Switching between scripts in VS Code

They also have access to exclusive & pre-released content and a 3 hours a week where we help people with their AHK issues (the Saturday calls are geared towards people new to AutoHotkey.)

️ Quotable quotes

• The thing most people like least is a mirror — Dan Kennedy
• Excuses are simple lies we first tell ourselves then others — Joe Glines
• Time spent alone in silence can yield breakthrough insights — Dave Dee
• The strength of your business is based more on your customers , than your products — Joe Glines

⏩SHARE WITH A FRIEND⏩

Do you know someone that would benefit from learning useful automation tips like the gems in today’s issue?  Take a second and forward this newsletter and bask in the glow of their undying gratitude.  Was this email forwarded to you?

Sign up for this Newsletter here.  We never share your email with anyone.  Ever!

Ready to level up with AutoHotkey? Explore all courses now 

The-Automator

Joe, Isaias, Irfanand staff

P.S. We are creating more and more custom tools that incorporate AI in them.

If you’d like us to build a custom AI tool for you, let me know by replying to this email.

Yeah, this is a different tool I’m trying here, I’m holding this down.