Month: August 2026

  • Almost Timely News: 🗞️ How to Build a Cheap AI Setup (2026-08-09)

    _Almost Timely News: 🗞️ How to Build a Cheap AI Setup (2026-08-09) :: View in Browser_ The Big Plug 👉 New merch! The Trust Insights Deep Research Suite Content Authenticity Statement 100% of this week’s newsletter was made by me, the human. Learn why this kind of disclosure is a good idea and might be…

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  • The Real ROI of AI in Education: Turning Mediocre Students Into Top Performers

    Results oriented. Outcome driven. Proven track record. Do these phrases sound familiar? They should. They top the LinkedIn bios and CVs of millions of people. They’re what we say to communicate our value. They’re how we justify a hiring decision. They’re part and parcel of business culture. Do you believe in them? Take a look…

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  • So What? Theoretical AI Usage

    Summary In today's episode, I walk through Trust Insights' new paper on theoretical AI usage and what jobs AI could actually do. Here's what this means for you. You gain a clearer framework for evaluating AI opportunities in your own organization beyond the panic-inducing headlines about job displacement. You'll also learn these concepts: why Anthropic's…

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  • You Ask, I Answer: Optimizing for Agentic Mode?

    Summary In today's episode, I break down how companies should navigate the gap between optimizing for AI-generated summaries and optimizing for AI agents that act on a user's behalf. Here's what this means for you. You'll discover that making your site fully accessible to machines also lifts the experience for human users with visual impairments,…

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  • Stop AI Slop: 21 Generative AI Use Cases for Marketers

    Are you tired of AI generating slop? I’m certainly tired of getting it, and content creation is arguably one of the least interesting use cases of AI today. In the new Trust Insights book 21 Use Cases of Generative AI For Marketers, derived from workshops I’ve delivered in the last 9 months, you’ll learn 21…

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  • You Ask, I Answer: Pivot or Stick It Out?

    Summary In today's episode, I walk through how to decide whether to rebuild or pivot when your main marketing channel collapses. Here's what this means for you. You get a clear framework for evaluating opportunity cost and locating where your audience has actually moved. You'll also learn these concepts: how to survey your audience to…

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  • AI Generated a Novel in 51 Minutes. Here’s Why Human Connection Still Wins in Influencer Marketing

    Last night I used Minimax M3 to generate a steaming pile of AI slop in 51 minutes, a 50,000 word 1920s romance novel set in Venice. (and it’s terrible) I did it to prove a point to a commenter on X who publicly posted they didn’t feel like human authors deserved fair compensation for their…

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  • How to Generate Unique AI Music Using Public Domain Archives for Less Generic, Defensible Tracks

    How do you generate less generic music with AI? You start by using existing music. AI, by definition, will create mathematical averages of the tasks you give it, be it writing, images, video, or music, based on what is most probable in its training data set. DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT A LAWYER. THIS IS NOT…

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  • You Ask, I Answer: Setting Test Timeline Expectations?

    Summary In today's episode, I answer a question about how to set realistic client expectations for marketing A/B testing timelines using data-driven calculators and confidence intervals. Here's what this means for you. You gain a method to build interactive tools that let stakeholders understand and own the risks of their testing decisions. You'll also learn…

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  • Don’t Trust Generative AI Until You Run the BBQ Bias Benchmark

    Let’s talk about BBQ. Not the food, the Bias Benchmark of QA, a test of AI’s ability to navigate known human biases. BBQ dates back to 2021, when the earliest language models like GPT-3 and GPT-J-6B were first released; generative AI was in its infancy and researchers had identified that early models returned significant biases.…

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