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Outrage gets amplified by design; platform algorithms are built to reward‬‭ that‬ engagement.Read More

Empower Media has acquired Ocean Media, forming the second-largest North American independent media agency.Read More

Toyota launches its 2025 NFL season campaign that includes a vehicle giveaway and blacklight Super Bowl game.Read More

Take a look at the pitch deck Bluefish used to raise $20 million to help brands influence how they show up in AI interfacesRead More

WPP, IPG, Havas, and others sent media dollars and data to a rival—via Epsilon’s SSPRead More

The actor plays nine different characters in Lego’s latest ‘brickbuster’ movie.Read More

AI and LLMs pose a particularly visceral threat to the typing class. Writers, editors, poets, freelancers, marketing copywriters and others are voicing reasonable (and unreasonable) objections to the pace and impact of tools like Claude, Kimi and ChatGPT.

I think we have two choices, particularly poignant on US Labor Day…

The first is to walk away from the tools. You’re probably not going to persuade your competitors and your clients to have as much animosity for AI automation as you do, and time spent ranting about it is time wasted. But, you can walk away. There’s a long history of creative professionals refusing to use the technology of the moment and thriving.

If you’re going to walk away, the path is clear. Your work has to become more unpredictable, more human and more nuanced. It has to cost more and be worth more. It turns out that the pace of your production isn’t as important as its impact. Writing a hand-built Linkedin post that gets 200 comments isn’t a productive path in a world where anyone can do that. If we’re going to put ourselves on the hook, we need to really be on the hook.

Remember the mall photographers who took slightly better than mediocre photos of kids at Sears? They’re gone now, because we can take slightly better than mediocre photos at home.

The other option is to dance. Outsource all relevant tasks to an AI to put yourself on the hook for judgment, taste and decision-making instead. Give yourself a promotion, becoming the arbiter and the publisher, not the ink-stained wretch. Dramatically increase your pace and your output, and create work that scares you.

This requires re-investing the time you used to spend on tasks. Focus on mastering the tools, bringing more insight to their use than others. Refuse to publish mediocre work.

It’s tempting to fear AI slop, because it’s here and it’s going to get worse. But there’s human slop all over the internet, and it’s getting worse as well.

Whether you dance or walk away, the goal is the same: create real value for the people who need it. Do work that matters for people who care.

If we’re going to make a difference, we’ll need to bring labor to the work. The emotional labor of judgment, insight and risk.

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Founders’ takes is a new series featuring expert insights from tech leaders transforming industries with artificial intelligence. In this edition, Steven Kleinveld, founder of applied AI lab Skylark, argues that vibe coding won’t replace developers — it’ll upgrade them. There’s been a lot of talk lately that AI is going to replace developers. With the rise of tools that let you prompt your way into building apps, people are starting to wonder: “Are developers even still needed?” The short answer: yes — more than ever. The hype around no-code and “vibe coding” makes it seem like anyone can build a solid MVP…

This story continues at The Next WebRead More

It is impossible to make a perpetual motion machine, you’ll waste your time if you try.

It is possible to write a book of poetry that will sell 10 million copies.

It is unlikely, it probably won’t happen, but it is possible.

Science and innovation and creativity engage with the possible. Possible means “might.” It takes persistence to stick it out when we’re not sure.

Once certainty arrives, it becomes an engineering problem.

After the first fusion reactor is shown to work at any scale, we’ll know it can be done. Now the hard work is simply making it work better. Most organizations do this sort of work. Chipping, filing, refining.

Before you get to work, it’s worth deciding which hat you’re being asked to wear… pursuing the possible or optimizing the certain.

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It’s been awhile…

Coconut Cult is a new sort of probiotic magic that’s actually delicious (the chocolate is great, the strawberry is magnificent). A tablespoon a day, try it for a week. You have 38 trillion gut bacteria (!) so you might as well make them happy.

This is the best gluten-free ramen I’ve ever had.

Peanut butter is more than a staple. The best I’ve had is only in the UK, the second-best is homemade. This is the third best, which is so much better than all the other options, I needed to share. You can probably find it locally, or buy a case from Zingermans.

I’m really enjoying the new botanicals and herbal teas from Rishi. And the Jimmy Nardello flakes from Burlap & Barrel. And Le Grand pesto is my favorite vegan pesto–but not easy to find.

And, by request, the homemade honey-oatmeal vodka recipe, as well as a breakthrough on my homemade dosa.

PS Two years later, this is still my favorite rice cooker.

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