profile

Ai Coaching Newsletter

Welcome to the Age of the Generalist

Published 3 months ago • 2 min read

“Modern work demands knowledge transfer: the ability to apply knowledge to new situations and different domains.”

- David Epstein

Hello Reader,

In his book Range, author David Epstein makes the case that shallow and wide generalists have become more powerful than narrow, deep specialists.

Having access to a wide variety of different bodies of knowledge gives the generalist the ability to make unexpected connections between vastly different ideas.

In a study of Nobel Laureates, researchers found that winners of the Nobel Prize were 22 times more likely to pursue amateur artistic hobbies, compared to other scientist.

At least 1 Nobel Prize has been attributed to a messy desk. When Leon Heppel found 2 unrelated research papers buried in different layers of mess, his combination of these ideas lead to a winning breakthrough.

The Generalist in the Age of AI

If the Internet gave us all access to infinite information, Artificial Intelligence has given us all access to infinite skills.

You don't need to be a programmer with a Computer Science degree to use a Python library in a vibe-coded app. All you have to do is ask the right questions, in clear language.

This is why prompting is the skill of the future. Professionals who become proficient AI operators will be able to leverage their generalist skills to implement multiple specialisations in parallel.

Learn the Foundations of AI in an interactive webinar, 2 days from now

The Foundations of AI course is a 3.5-hour interactive workshop, filled with activities, games, and copy/paste prompts. If you want to improve your skill as an AI Operator, then join me for my next workshop.

  • When? Precisely 48 hours from the delivery of this email in your inbox. Friday 9am NZ time, 7am AU time, which is Thursday 12pm Pacific, 3pm Eastern.
  • How long? 3.5 hours, with a 10-minute break in the middle
  • How much? Normally $350 NZD + GST, I am offering a special rate for my newsletter subscribers. Get $250 off with discount code NEWSLETTER​

(For my American friends - this is $115 NZD, which is about $65 USD. Most credit cards will handle the transaction, but will tack on a modest international conversion fee, up to a couple of dollars.)

🛠️ (24:17) The AI Corner Episode 29

video preview​

🗞️ New AI News This Week

  • OpenAI released ChatGPT 5.1
  • Gemini 3 is rumored to be launching soon
  • Engineering NZ released their new strategy, which moves AI from optional to operational

The Future of Intelligence is Agentic 🛠️

I've been leading training workshops for Agentic Intelligence, where I have joined as their Head of Learning & Enablement. You can see some of the workshops I lead here: https://agenticintelligence.co.nz/training​

Reach out if you'd like to discuss an in-person workshop in Christchurch, or a webinar series for your team.

Your GenAI Trainer,

Caelan Huntress

[email protected]

+64 027 575 1345

Follow Me On:

📈

Upcoming Live Workshops

​Register Now→​

🎨

Video Tutorial Library

​Start Learning →​

📘

Join a Webinar Series

​Upskill Now​ →​

You've subscribed to a newsletter, downloaded a lead magnet, or attended an event with Caelan Huntress.

You can unsubscribe if you don't like this newsletter, but you will miss out on dope memes in the future.

PO Box 8081, Riccarton, Christchurch 8440
​Unsubscribe · Preferences​

Ai Coaching Newsletter

by Caelan Huntress

Weekly newsletter highlighting the latest Ai news, with 2-minute video tutorials and copy/paste prompts you can use to improve your skills as an Ai operator. Ai is changing all jobs this decade. You are either getting ready to change how you work, or getting ready to retire. As artificial intelligence moves from optional to operational, technical specialists no longer have the advantage. It is those who can supervise and coach Ai to improve that will thrive in an Ai-augmented future.

Read more from Ai Coaching Newsletter

⚖️ “With a leveraged worker, judgment is far more important than how much time they put in or how hard they work.” - Naval Hello Reader, AI is better at evaluating content than generating content.This makes sense, when you stop to think about it. For a large language model to interpret your instructions, and create output, all in the same step, it dilutes the same token budget over two requests.But if you have ask AI to evaluate its own outputs, it can focus all its attention on identifying...

7 days ago • 2 min read
Create a Coaching Relationship with AI

🌱 "A coach is just a placebo – it's a commitment to make yourself a better person." Barrett Brooks Hello Reader, Most people treat AI like a search engine. They ask simple questions and accept whatever it replies. But if you want truly great results, you need to stop being a consumer of AI and start being a coach to AI. In my next interactive workshop, you’ll learn how to train AI to think better, iterate on its responses, and refine its output—just like a great coach helps an athlete or...

14 days ago • 2 min read

👨🎓 “In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” - Eric Hoffer Hello Reader, Giving your team Copilot licenses will not magically create AI transformation. That mindset is treating AI as a technology problem, when it is actually an operator problem.Most leaders I meet don't have a clear idea about what AI could do for their organization, or how to embed change at this scale. So they give new...

21 days ago • 2 min read