💸 “The cost to use a given level of AI falls about 10x every 12 months, and lower prices lead to much more use.” - Sam Altman

Hello Reader,

Last week I taught a half-day workshop in partnership with the Regional Business Partner Network at Enterprise North Canterbury. We gathered dozens of entrepreneurs and business owners together for an afternoon of AI training.

They had heard the hype, seen the demos, and played around with a few tools. But they were still trying to understand how AI could actually help them in their own work.

During our workshop, we answered questions like:

• How do I write better prompts?
• How do I know if I can trust the answer?
• What can AI actually do for me?
• Where do I start?

I work really well with newbies, because I am not a technologist.

Lots of AI experts are technical - they talk about the tech, and the mechanics, and their explanations go over the heads of the layperson.

But in university, I studied classical philosophy. I ran away and joined the circus when I was a kid. When I use AI, it is through the lens of the humanities.

How do we, as humans, interface with this new technology?

This makes me well equipped to teach the basics to non-technical professionals, especially those who feel like they are falling behind. My Foundations of AI Certification uses interactive games and simple copy/paste prompts to build capability without overwhelm.

By the end of the half-day workshop, we were able to document:
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+ 36.5% in Confidence using AI
+ 91.3% in Prompting skill
+ 38.9% in Strategic thinking
+ 185% in Tools used fluently
+ 40.9% in Average capability lift
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Before someone can use AI well, they need to understand what role it plays in their work. Is it a research assistant? a writing partner? a strategy sparring partner? a spreadsheet gremlin? or a second brain with suspicious confidence?
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The real AI advantage won’t belong to the people collecting the most tools. It will belong to the people who know how to think clearly, ask better questions, and build better systems around their work.

If you'd like to upskill your team, review my AI Training workshops.

• 100-level workshops for Foundations
• 200-level workshops for Applications
• 300-level workshops for Agents

​Get in touch to discuss a customised AI Training curriculum for your team.

💡 Great New Zealand AI Roadshow

Last week, Justin Flitter completed his second nationwide AI tour, sharing implementation strategies from New Zealand businesses. At the final stop in Christchurch, I attended to learn the latest insights.

​Justin has been an outspoken advocate of AI in New Zealand for years, and he's done more to educate the country about AI than anyone.

📰 New AI News This Week

• OpenAI released GPT 5.6 in preview, pending US government approval​
• Apple raised prices on its entire hardware line, citing the increasing costs of memory chips
• Claude introduced Claude Tag, which Karpathy called the '3rd major redesign of LLM UIUX.'

👓 What I’m Reading

• ​State of the AI Economy by Exponential View
• ​OpenClaw iOS App docs (spoiler: a glitchy gateway)
• 2026 State of Speaking Industry report by SpeakerFlow (31.5% of time spent on social media, but it drives just 2.3% of revenue.)

Free Community Event

Webinar for members of the AI Coaching Academy

Friday, July 17 at 1:00 PM GMT+12 AI and the Exponential Age of Abundance What if we're underestimating what could go right? As intelligence becomes cheaper, faster, and more accessible, we're entering an era unlike anything in human history. Just as electricity transformed industry, and the internet transformed communication, AI is transforming intelligence itself. In this webinar, we'll explore the optimistic case... RSVP

Keep on growing!

- Caelan Huntress ​[email protected]​ ​https://ai-coaching.academy/​

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