Blog distinguishing between active and passive use of AI - active helps you think and learn. Passive outsources your thinking.

Agentic AI systems are no longer science fiction. They're here, they're capable, and they're rapidly being deployed across industries. But before you rush to implement them, there's a reality check we need to have: the challenges are real, and they're significant. Let me walk you through the seven critical problems that organizations are grappling with right now. 1. Reliability & Control: The "Will It Behave?" Problem Agentic systems: they can go off the rails in ways traditi

Blog about how to use multiple AI tools to create new research insights

If you've been using ChatGPT or Claude as just a fancy search engine, you're only scratching the surface. Understanding the four distinct modes of working with generative AI can fundamentally transform how you approach problems, create content, and amplify your capabilities. Let me walk you through each mode, when to use them, and how to get the most value from each approach. Mode 1: Advanced Search Tool This is where most people start, and it's a natural entry point. You hav

Some things I've picked up over the last few weeks that caught my eye. Been spending a lot of time recently looking at the impact of AI on employment. Some really interesting studies coming out that raise questions about the implications for entry level jobs and the importance of separating between tasks and jobs - AI might not replace jobs, but it will replace tasks. Its clearly early days and its still an evolving picture, but good to see data and evidence appearing to info

Continuing with the theme of interesting developments in AI. Recent developments in AI include major product upgrades, new research insights, and even a historic political appointment. Anthropic rolled out transformative features to Claude, including file creation, contextual memory, and privacy controls, while Albania appointed the world’s first AI-powered government minister. Research highlighted both the promise and risks of AI, from reducing nondeterminism in LLM inferenc

I've decided to experiment with a summary of interesting AI related stuff that I've come across this week. Would welcome feedback and comments. What's useful? What's not? Only criteria for selection at the moment is that I thought it was interesting! Hence the title. Summary This week brings robust observational and survey-based evidence on generative AI’s labor-market and productivity effects. A Stanford study finds a 13%–20% decline in employment among young U.S. workers i

What are the best metaphors for LLMs? Are the great improv artists? Are they parrots? Or are they something else entirely?

Inspired by a speech I gave recently at Oxford University I started thinking about the tradeoff between humans being dependent on AI and humans being enhanced by AI. Which will it be?

I asked ChatGPT to generate a simple image: a doctor and a nurse. What I got back was a white male doctor standing beside a white female nurse. Standard. Predictable. Problematic. I posted the image to LinkedIn with a single observation: AI models have biases we need to acknowledge. The response was explosive. Tens of thousands of impressions. Hundreds of comments. Battle lines drawn faster than you could say "machine learning." One camp insisted AI simply reflects reality—ne

Using AI as a thought partner to stretch your own thinking I've seen a few posts on LinkedIn recently suggesting that AI tools will make us intellectually lazy and diminish our critical thinking abilities. This perspective, while understandable, oversimplifies a complex relationship. The impact of AI on our cognitive processes isn't predetermined—it depends entirely on how we choose to engage with these tools. Rather than replacing thinking, AI can enhance it when used though

Thoughts on how you build an AI-first culture in an organisation. Critical challenge initially is simply getting people to use AI.

Traditional approaches to AI education are becoming obsolete almost as quickly as they're implemented. By the time comprehensive training materials are developed, distributed, and absorbed, the AI landscape has already shifted dramatically.   The solution? Stop treating AI education like a fixed curriculum and start fostering a culture of active experimentation.   Organisations that thrive in the AI era won't be those with the most structured training programmes but those tha