Hello and ahoy to another edition of AI versus Marshy! It’s been a challenging few weeks - so I’m pleased to get this newsletter to you at a reasonable time. This newsletter charts AI’s trajectory curve and our 1 year anniversary is next year - if you like the newsletter can you forward it someone you think might be interested and ask them to visit: https://www.lukemarshall.net/newsletter So they can subscribe themselves. Thanks! 🙏 This week covers:
Lots to share with you this week, so let’s get the foul, make the shot, and go for the 3-point play (Go Knicks! 🏀) -Marshy A novel look at AI’s utilityVia Fraser @ Entropy and The AI Crowd is Mad. Two good articles looking at the state of AI from a few months ago. Tim and Fraser both disaggregate hype from reality and point to where the hype focus has been on AI versus where the reality and value lies. Here’s some takeaways for you, followed by some comments:
I’ve nerded out on charts. If you’re an older reader you would have seen me reference the hype adoption cycle. And if you’ve onboarded recently you might remember the tech mass-market adoption curve (hint: AI is moving faster than mobile phones). Well Fraser shares another chart: The argument here is that we’re nowhere near peak explosion and it’s yet to come. And when it does it will fast. I regularly try and take myself outside my own bubble. Recently I talked about what’s coming with my mother. She’s a career nurse and clearly doesn’t follow tech like I do. I spoke to her about ChatGPT and gave her demo with voice. It started with: “Hey, I’m just talking to my mum and trying to explain the capabilities of ChatGPT to her. Could you give me an example of what you’re capable of?” And got a generic answer. Then I asked something relevant for Mum (prompted by her). Can you give me instructions on how to sew a jumper that’s torn on the left? The answer was more impressive to her: Absolutely, Marshy! Sewing a torn jumper is a pretty straightforward task. Here's a simple way to do it:
It might take a bit of practice to get your stitches neat and almost invisible, but it's a handy skill to have! How does that seem for a start? That’s Mum’s language. It still wasn’t impressive enough for her to consider downloading the app or paying for a premium subscription - the reality is we’re not there yet. My friend linked me on this take on a podcast he listens to (don’t send me podcasts I have enough to sift through!) One way Meta (Facebook, IG, WhatsApp etc) could win is by making AI accessible to people like my Mum. How I write an AI newsletter (and keep up)Via me. It’s a question I get a lot - so I thought I’d walk you through my workflow for creating this newsletter. Ironically - I don’t use a lot of AI tools for this, although I’m aware of many ways I could summarise email digests and scan for keywords. I’ve enjoyed going into the weeds and uncovering things to share with you. Let’s go! Throughout the week
Before writing
Writing time
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Post-sending
This is a long-time play for me and ladders into other things I do but in a complementary way. I had a habit of losing interest in things over time and knew I wanted to slay the dragon. I gave myself the goal of getting to 100 with the goal of getting better and it’s working. My numbers aren’t huge and it costs me around 5-10 hours per week. I do know its worthwhile however and have had business opportunities and co-founder opportunities emerge off the back of this interest. I also know from my experience as a marketer that email is where it’s at, and that AI is a long-term game-changer. So doing a newsletter on AI that’s authentic is a long-term winner. If you have any questions - please shout! Happy to help my readers :) Audiopen - a note taking app I am here forI used to review and play a lot with new AI tools. Then it began to feel gimmicky. I’ve been using Audiopen for about a month now and am happily paying for the premium version. Let me share why:
Enter Audiopen. It doesn’t try and do too much and lets you narrate what you’re saying and it will translate it back to you in clarified language. You then get to choose the way it translates things - in legalese (for some weird reason), casual language, bullet points, and more. Skip the legalese: But the casual language helped me write the previous article while driving: I’ve been using it to plan and talk through my day, and for talking through something I’m stuck on. My main gripe with it so far is that on mobile it runs with a web app - which will time out alongside when you’re phone is set to. I gave the feedback and the founder said the actual app is being released very soon. There’s a free version to test, and I’m paying for the premium version which allows for longer voices, customising the “translation” into my own words, and integration/webhook capability (so I can potentially build more things with it). Check it out if it’s piqued your interest. – Whoops - I accidentally made a long one again. I hope you enjoyed reading and keep the feedback, requests, comments coming - this space isn’t going to get any more ordinary any time soon and the rate of change is growing at an alarming rate. I think the best thing we can do is simply equip ourselves with information, focus on what’s going to help us be better people and operate a better planet, and enjoy the ride. We’ve got this! 💪 -Marshy |
Growth marketer meets biggest technological advancement in our lives. Learn about AI in a way that doesn't overwhelm. Add a splash of strap yourself in and be prepared.
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