Is AI content out of control?
This week’s newsletter has a ton of good stuff in it. From the oddities of AI-generated junk flooding platforms to some surprising stories and clever tweaks that just might change the way you think about tech and culture – plus some tiny shifts that make a big impact. Let’s get into it.
Enjoy!
Can no one stop the AI slop?
You know the sort of thing: a string of meaningless, unrelated comments underneath a Twitter post, a weird AI-generated image on Facebook that’s somehow garnered thousands of likes – or low-quality news articles on ad-heavy publisher websites. Now even Medium is being overrun with what Wired has called ‘AI slop’ – which is awkward for a space that styles itself as ‘a home for human writing’. The good news? Most of the detectable AI stories have zero views, which means those of us who spend hours researching and writing our stories for Medium or Substack – or even our LinkedIn posts – should still have the engagement edge over LLMs. For now, at least…
A fan-first mobile phone
Following on from the community deck we highlighted last week, here’s another example of a niche community coming together – this time to design a piece of hardware. The Nothing company, who make very cool mobile phones (and received $15m in their first round series A funding from Google Ventures) has launched a glow in the dark handset that’s been designed by its fan community. 1,000 of these are available from 12 November.
Kale or cocaine?
Regarding phones, so many of us are losing productive time to the addictive tyranny of devices. The average person finds it hard to resist the gravitational pull of their many apps, which the Harvard Business Review claims takes a toll on your cognitive faculties. So when I came across this Kale Phone Vs Cocaine Phone method of beating smartphone addiction, shared by George Mack (check his website – it’s great), I thought I might give it a try. I’ll report back on the results.
The wisdom of crowds
One of the more interesting stories to come out of the US election was the triumph of prediction betting markets over polling companies. While pollsters were deadlocked on the race to the White House being 50/50, betting platform Polymarket had Trump leading comfortably. In this CNN article, Eric Zitzewitz, an economics professor at Dartmouth, explains. “There’s no virtue-signalling in an anonymous market when you’re betting.”
A fun CX tweak
Customer experience optimisation doesn’t have to be about sweeping changes and expensive advice from consultants. Here’s a lovely little idea from Octopus Energy – the hold music you hear when you phone them is personalised to your customer account. It’s a number one record from the year you were 14 – the sweet spot for what neuropsychologists call the ‘reminiscence bump'.
The art of scaling taste
American art collective MSCHF have seen great success with their D2C business that sells everything from bath bombs shaped like toasters to ‘Jesus Shoes’ (Nike Air Max filled with holy water) – with limited edition product drops happening every fortnight. Their story is the subject of this article from media and software firm Every. It’s a fascinating tale of something that started as a knowing pop at consumer culture but went on to become a highly successful business, raising $11.5mn from investors and hitting eight figures in revenue.
Founder mode: the hidden power behind startup success
In this latest article, I dive into the concept of “Founder Mode” and why it might be the secret weapon every startup founder needs. If you’re balancing growth with staying true to your vision, the piece is full of insights to help you drive your business forward with purpose and precision. Find out here why so many business owners are staying in founder mode.
The perfect eight beat pitch deck
When you’re pitching, you’re telling a story. Drawing your audience in, humanising your message and taking them on a journey. Here are the key elements that will bring your idea to life. I hope your story is the start of something big!
Drop me a line
Researching this newsletter is a lot of fun. I love discovering the stories and helpful insights that you might have missed – and with your input it could be even better. So, if you’ve unearthed a trend, hack or piece of knowledge that’s so good it needs to be shared, then let me know and I’ll look to cover it in the future. With a credit to you, of course.
Look out for more great insights and inspiration in your inbox next Sunday.
Cheers!
Adam