“We are the AI Generation.” - Doreen Bogdan-Martin Hello Reader, Last week I published a scathing teardown of the 22-page AI Strategy published by the New Zealand government. (Read that teardown here.) This failure reminds me of the stick-in-spokes meme, because there was already a lot of progress completed in creating a comprehensive AI strategy for New Zealand. The first version of the AI Blueprint for Aotearoa was published in July 2024, by the NGO (Non-Governmental Organisation) the AI...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
“The future belongs to those who can synthesize, not just analyze. The AI Generalist doesn’t compete with artificial intelligence—they choreograph it.” - Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind Hello Reader, As the only country in the OECD that had yet to publish an AI Strategy, New Zealand has finally published a 22-page document full of AI slop. (This critique was written by hand, and not by AI. Because when something matters, you shouldn’t deliver your ideas via AI slop.) The title...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
“AI adoption is not just about the short-term gains. Organizations need to invest in the efficiency of the design, deployment, and integration of AI solutions to their operations that enable tracking of the impact.” - Fan Ho, ED/GM of Solutions and Services Group, Lenovo Asia Pacific Hello Reader, As an immigrant, I have an outsider's perspective on New Zealand. (I recently received my citizenship, making me the Newest Zealander!) During the first workshop of the AI Training Programme I teach...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
“This is the last frontier of media - billions of people making high-end content.” - Chris Valenzuela, Runway CEO Hello Reader, Prompt engineers are movie producers now. Producing video content used to require access to equipment, and talent, and funding. Not anymore. Now, you don't need a movie studio, or a graphics budget, or any skills. Just a good idea (and good taste!) can make a good movie, with a little prompting. Google's new Veo 3 model has generated some amazing new videos on the...
2 months ago • 1 min read
“AI is very good at content, but not context. Without context, it doesn’t know what to do, so it doesn’t have any purpose.” - Daniel Priestley Hello Reader, The quality of your AI outputs depends on the context you give it. What is Context with AI? Think of it like having a conversation. If your partner doesn’t know what you’ve been talking about, how can they respond well? Context is the information behind the content. Developing context is how I refine my prompts, shape my visuals, and...
3 months ago • 1 min read
📊 "Generative AI is expected to give the average worker 275 additional hours per year to dedicate to high-value tasks, improving productivity 15.5% by 2038.” - p.13 of Microsoft’s report, ‘Economic Opportunity of Generative AI in New Zealand’ Hello Reader, Last week, I taught a bunch of workshops for TechWeekNZ. This was my 7th year teaching a workshop for TechWeek, but I taught more this week than ever before. In addition to the webinar Be More Human: Do the Work that Matters Most with...
3 months ago • 2 min read
With infinite answers now available, asking the right question becomes priceless. Hello Reader, Most people think prompt engineering is about getting better at telling AI what to do. But the real power move is asking AI what it needs from you. With infinite information on tap, AI doesn’t struggle with answers. It struggles with ambiguity. Precision gives it power. The sharper your prompt, the smarter your AI responds. To get the smartest prompts, ask AI to generate the prompt for you. Then...
3 months ago • 2 min read
'The new workflow for me is I think with AI and work with my colleagues.' - Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft Hello Reader, LLMs are changing fast. What worked well last week might be garbage to use today. If you're still using just one AI model for everything, it's like playing a round of golf with just one club. You need to be able to select the best tool for the job. This 3-minute tutorial shows you how to test multiple LLMs—side-by-side, in real time—so you can instantly see which one's...
4 months ago • 2 min read
'We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training.' - Archilochus Hello Reader, You know that feeling when you're juggling five ideas, six tabs, and a dozen half-finished chats with ChatGPT? Your brain is buzzing, your files are scattered, and your best insights are lost in the mess. Now imagine turning ChatGPT into your command center. All your notes, files, and conversations—organized by project, remembered forever. As of now, Projects are only available...
4 months ago • 3 min read