TODAY’S THINKING
The world’s worst advice for using AI is … drumroll …
“Wherever it can be used, it should be used.”
And I think that applies personally, just as much as it does in the more common linkedIn-y business/consulting sense.
Here are some facts.
83%+ of students who use AI to “help” when they write their essays … can’t quote a single sentence from those essays (MIT).
They’re also getting worse at writing (and thinking) as a result.
A research paper making the rounds today shows similar for doctors. Specifically, colonoscopy detection rates getting worse in doctors who use AI consistently to support their work, and then stop using AI altogether.
(BTW, I think the study is a bit flawed but we’ll let others have that debate.)
But these findings seem INTUITIVE, don’t they? Haven’t we had the ‘crutch’ analogy for a long time already? You know the one: “over-dependence hurts self-reliance.”
As you use AI, consider the kind of work you’re applying it to. Some workflows are fine to fully overhaul with AI, some need deeper consideration.
If you’re crutching a core cognitive skill you’d prefer to keep, make sure you keep up with the unassisted reps.
TODAY’S 3 MINUTE EXERCISE
Today, launch your WEEKLY FAMILY FUN PLANNER agent.
The outcome: An AI that reviews upcoming events in your area, assesses weather and appropriateness for you/your family, and prepares an agenda.
The muscle you’re building: Letting AI think ahead for you.
The tools involved: Any research-ready AI chat model (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, etc.)
Extra credit: Connect Google calendar and Gmail to let the agent create even more finely tuned plans. Easily doable within Gemini, ChatGPT and Claude.
Here’s the prompt:
You are an expert weekly planning assistant. You are specialized in assessing upcoming events and recreational activities within a given geographic area and providing compelling options to fill the agenda for ["me" or "my family"] based on provided criteria.
The workflow:
- Look for specific major events and recreational activities in and around the given location.
- These must be for the given time frame
- These must align to the provided interests below, avoiding areas where I/we do not have interest
- You should assess weather conditions and plan accordingly
- Respond in a concise format with heading, a brief summary of the opportunity ahead and then an agenda broken out by each day of the agenda with bullets for each day. Each bullet should include a link to find more information and each date heading should include the expected weather for that day, stated briefly.
The criteria:
- Who this is for: ["Just me" or "My family of 4 (list members and ages)", etc.]
- My location: [Your location]
- My days of interest (time frame): ["The next 7 days" or "This coming weekend" etc.]
- Budget: [Provide input around willingness to spend. "Free events only", "Up to $100/person" etc.]
- Other notes: [Any other context. Example: "Avoid early morning activities or activities if outside and if weather is hotter than 90F or raining during that time]
- Interests:
-- [list common things you DO want in your plan]
-- i.e. "Garage and Estate Sales"
-- i.e. "Conferences and major events"
-- i.e. "Small Concerts & Comedy Shows"
- Not interested in:
-- [list common things you don't want in your plan]
-- i.e. "Club meetups"
-- i.e. "Major venue, high-priced concerts"
Proceed with creating my activity plan as described here.
THE EXTRA REP
On August 5th we posted about better approaches to writing with AI vs. letting AI do the writing for you. Today, give the “Walk and Talk” method another shot.
If you’ve been thinking about writing a piece for work, for your personal blog, a thread in social, etc., it might just be the unlock you’ve been looking for.
THREE THINGS, MAKING THE NEWS
The launch of OpenAI GPT-5 is still generating a lot of discussion. Many are saying the launch was a miss. Expectations not met, a slow down in model progression, yada yada . For my part, I think we’re missing the point. This feels like a reset of their approach overall, to create longer-term stability. More focus on intuitive consumer-level experiences (e.g. no need to pick a model), more guardrails against toxic usage that would put the company at risk, and more cost optimization. Expect a rebound.
Perplexity is trying to buy Chrome from Google, for a $34B steal.
The basic detail here is that Perplexity (a popular AI search provider valued around $15B and owners of the Comet browser) sent a buy letter to Google’s CEO, cold, offering $34B for Chrome. Google may have to divest Chrome anyway, with pressure from the DOJ following anti-trust lawsuits last year. My question is “Why, Perplexity?” I mean, the obvious answer is that the browser would give Perplexity massive distribution (like Google Toolbar did by forcing its way into the Explorer browser in the 00s) … but it almost feels too obvious. The deeper game going on, TBD.UT Austin (Hook’em) has defined standards for AI usage in learning.
This may feel a bit nuanced and niche, but we think this is a powerful signal about the future of education with (and pertaining to) AI. Think of it this way; the university is not just working to make AI acceptable in the education setting but they’re working to teach their student body a practical framework for when and how to use AI in their work overall. This is a great skill in its own right to bring into careers. The “UTSage” AI assistant being developed for students is particularly interesting.
Thanks for reading,
