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Hey {{first_name | there}},
Claude Cowork is great, but honestly? It can be a bit pricey.
So I went looking for alternatives. And I found some really solid ones: some free, some open source, all worth knowing about.
Here are those alternatives along with a quick guide on creating infographics with AI, and the AI updates you need to know this week.
But first, a quick question:
I want to make this newsletter as useful as possible for you. What do you actually want to see more of here?
⚡ AI Updates You Should Know About
Gemini 3.1 Pro is out
Google just dropped Gemini 3.1 Pro and it's already ranked #1 across coding and AI agent benchmarks, beating Claude Opus 4.6 and GPT-5.2. It's built for the most complex tasks, supports 3D audio generation.
Gemini can now create music
Lyria 3 just rolled out in the Gemini app. Describe what you want like "a fun afrobeat track about my mom's cooking" and it generates a full 30-second song with lyrics and cover art. Available now for 18+ users in 8 languages.
Sam Altman says two jobs are safest from AI
Speaking at the India AI Impact Summit, Altman was blunt: customer support is "totally, totally gone." But the two areas he sees as least vulnerable? Nursing and programming.
His bigger warning: skills now have a 2-3 year half-life. Keep adapting.
The boring AI automations are where the real money is
A thread on r/AI_Agents from a freelancer who's built automations for a dozen startups gained traction. His take: stop trying to impress clients with AI demos. The stuff that actually gets contract renewals? Lead enrichment. Invoice parsing. Slack alerts. Simple IF conditions instead of expensive LLM calls. Find the one task quietly eating 3 hours of their day. That's it.
Best Claude Cowork Alternatives
OpenWork: Free, Local, and Fully Agentic
OpenWork is an open source AI coworker that lives on your desktop and runs on OpenCode. Technically free. Gives you the same agentic workflow as Cowork, file management, task execution, the works without paying for a subscription.
How to use it: Download OpenWork, install it locally, connect your preferred model, and you're good to go. It runs entirely on your machine so your data stays with you.
Kuse Cowork: Works With Any API You're Comfortable With
This one is for people who want flexibility. Kuse Cowork lets you plug in whatever API you want: Claude, GPT-4o, Gemini, anything. You're not locked into one provider.
How to use it: Go to kuse.ai, sign up for a free account, upload your files into a workspace, and just describe what you want done in plain language. Kuse breaks it into steps and executes autonomously.
You can switch between Claude 4.5 Opus, GPT-5.2, or Gemini 3 Pro depending on the task.
Try it with something simple first: sync a file and prompt "summarize this report into slides." From there you can generate full docs, spreadsheets, slides, and reports in one click.
Open Cowork: The Most Customizable Option
Open Cowork takes it furthest. You can add skills, MCP connectors, and plugins, including Claude Code. If you want to build a proper custom agentic setup tailored to your workflow, this is the one.
How to use it: Go to the website, configure your API settings, then start adding the skills and connectors relevant to what you actually do. The plugin support is what sets it apart.
Composio Open Claude Cowork: Best for Teams
Composio open Claude cowork is an open source, MIT-licensed, no vendor lock-in. Built on Composio's tool routing and Claude's Agent SDK, it handles files, apps, and multi-step workflows end to end. 100+ integrations out of the box including GitHub, Slack, and Notion.
How to use it: Clone the repo from GitHub, add your Anthropic API key and Composio auth, launch the chat interface, and grant folder/app permissions.
Then just prompt naturally, "organise Downloads by project" or "create slides from these PDFs", and it routes everything automatically. Use MCPs for OAuth apps and more complex tool connections as you scale up.
Good starting point: run a simple file task first, then build from there.
How To Create Infographics Using AI
Infographics perform really well on LinkedIn, Instagram, and newsletters. Here's the fastest way to make them with AI.
Option 1: Napkin.ai (easiest)
Have your text ready first, a paragraph, a list, a process, whatever you want to visualise. Then go to napkin.ai, click New Napkin, paste your text in, and it'll automatically suggest visual formats for it.
Pick the one you like, customise the colours and layout, and export. Genuinely takes under 5 minutes.
Option 2: Nano Banana Pro or ChatGPT
If you want a custom-designed infographic rather than a template-style one, use this prompt:
"Create a clean, modern infographic about [your topic]. Use a minimal design with icons, short bullet points, and a clear visual hierarchy. Background: white or light grey. Accent colour: [your choice]. Format: vertical, optimised for social media."
Drop that into Nano Banana Pro on Google Flow or ChatGPT's image generation and you'll get something ready to post in seconds like this:
Here are some more prompt you can use:
"Design a visually engaging infographic titled '[your title]' that breaks down [your topic] into key stats and facts. Use bold numbers, minimal text, and a dark background with [your accent colour] highlights. Format: vertical, optimised for social media."
"Generate a timeline infographic showing the evolution of [your topic] from [start point] to [end point]. Use a horizontal or vertical timeline layout with icons for each milestone. Background: white. Accent colour: [your choice]. Format: vertical, optimised for social media."
"Create a 'did you know' style infographic with [number] surprising facts about [your topic]. Each fact should have its own icon and one-line explanation. Keep it bold, minimal, and scroll-stopping. Background: [your choice]. Accent colour: [your choice]. Format: vertical, optimised for social media."
Now go try one of these tools this week, pick the one that fits your setup and replace Cowork with it for a day. See how it feels.
I'd love to hear which one you end up using. Hit reply and let me know.
- Aashish
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