Three Tools to Write Better, Ace Job Interviews and Record Your Screen (Cool Tools Tuesday 85)

Andrew Miles Davis explains why trying to keep up with everything happening in AI is the wrong goal for most people. After a week off, he came back to new tools, models and announcements, but realised very little of it changed how he actually uses AI. He uses the example of an accountant ignoring a new AI video generator, and asks you to swap "what's new in AI" for "does this change how I do my job". Andrew explains how 24-hour news, endless feeds and YouTube have made us feel we must always be up to date, and why being informed is not the same as being constantly updated. He shares his three circle target, with your work at the centre, closely connected developments next and everything else on the outside, and why he goes deeper into one tool instead of wider across five. He finishes with a simple system, using the 80/20 principle to choose two or three trusted sources, set a time to catch up and ask AI why each story is relevant to you. Subscribe to In AI Nutshell for practical AI ideas for marketers and content creators, every day in ten minutes.  

Andrew Miles Davis shares three more prompt endings, the lines you add at the end of a prompt to get better answers from any large language model. First is "what additional context or information do you need from me to make this answer ten times better?", which makes AI name the gaps in your brief and turns a generic YouTube strategy into one built around your audience and goals. Second is "if you are uncertain about any fact or figure, flag it clearly with a warning", which separates what AI is confident about from what it is guessing and tells you which statistics to check before they go on a slide. Andrew explains why this does not stop hallucinations, but tells you when they might be happening. Third is "give me the short answer first, followed by the detailed explanation", which gets the recommendation in the first sentence so you can stop reading when you have had enough. Find his full list of prompt endings at AndrewMilesDavis.com/prompt-endings. Subscribe to In AI Nutshell for prompt tips you can use today, in ten minutes.  

Andrew Miles Davis shares three cool tools in week 87 of Cool Tools Tuesday. First is the ChatGPT Images 2.6 update, which is the main reason he still uses ChatGPT. It is faster, it creates GIFs of a set length from a photo or from video footage, and it lets you upload a photo of yourself and label it so you do not need to upload it each time. Andrew explains why GIFs are useful when video stutters on someone else's screen during online sessions. Second is Whisper AI, a transcription site that handles large audio and video files, preview the first part for free, transcribe into over 100 languages and give timestamps, which Andrew explains are handy for editing and motion graphics. Third is FridgeSnap, an app that turns a photo of your fridge into recipes, which is the tool people most often ask him to build in his AI training sessions. Andrew also talks about whether to build your own version of a tool like this or pay a small price for one that already exists. Subscribe to In AI Nutshell for three cool tools every Tuesday in ten minutes.  

Andrew Miles Davis takes you back 20 years to MySpace UK, when people asked whether social media was a fad and why he left the BBC to join a website. He explains why he has almost identical conversations about generative AI today, and introduces the Story Lens method, which he uses to understand change, make sense of complicated situations and make better decisions. He compares the hero's journey, the story most of us know from Disney films, The Hunger Games and The Devil Wears Prada, with the stranger comes to town story, using Shawshank Redemption, Ted Lasso and the Banks family in The Fresh Prince of Bel Air as examples. Andrew argues that social media and AI are both strangers coming to town. When the rules change, people divide, we discover how we really work, mistakes are exposed, and decisions have to be made. The people who benefit most are the ones who experiment, adapt and build a new normal. Andrew leaves you with two questions. What has changed in your working world because of AI, and what decisions have you been putting off? Subscribe to In AI Nutshell for practical AI ideas for marketers and content creators, every day in ten minutes.  

Andrew Miles Davis covers a week of AI news that is mostly about work. He starts with ChatGPT's new image update that turns prompts or photos into animated GIFs. Then he looks at four studies on AI at work. Nearly one in five workers laid off because of AI have been asked to return, 32% of organisations that cut staff because of AI had to rehire, and nearly half of those workers want a significant pay rise. Atlassian research found that 82% of AI users say it has taken on tasks they actually enjoy, and another study found 76% of workers have asked AI a question they were too embarrassed to ask a colleague. Andrew asks whether we are asking what AI can do rather than what we want it to do. He also covers Apple's new 18+ age rating for dating apps and AI companions with romantic conversations, Jermaine Dupri challenging Spotify's planned AI remix tool, Grok users finding their usage limits cut, and Netflix launching an AI feature to help you choose what to watch. Subscribe to In AI Nutshell for the AI news that matters to marketers, every Friday in ten minutes.  

Andrew Miles Davis builds this episode around a line from a workshop attendee, who said she uses AI every day but does not feel she is good at it. He breaks down five mistakes he sees, which come down to searching, accepting, producing, blaming and misusing. First is using AI like Google, with one chat for unrelated questions, and why that confuses the model and can use up credits. Second is accepting the first answer, and Andrew explains his AI sandwich, where you add the first 15%, AI does the middle 70% and you finish the last 15%. Third is using AI mainly to produce content, and how his AI Essentials show there is far more to do with AI, with the best results coming from people who already know what great looks like. Fourth is blaming the tool when it does not understand you, and why taking responsibility for explaining yourself gets better results. Fifth is knowing how to use AI but not where to use it, and how to hand your admin to AI so you can spend more of your day on what you love. Subscribe to In AI Nutshell for practical AI ideas for marketers and content creators, every day in ten minutes.  

Andrew Miles Davis answers three questions from his training sessions in this fortnightly FAQ episode. First, does AI make us lazy? Andrew says yes, but not automatically. Using AI to remove repetitive admin is just saving time, but outsourcing your thinking is different, like a calculator you can no longer do without. Second, will AI steal my job? Andrew says AI will take out a lot of jobs, as technology always has, but right now it feels like it is taking tasks and changing jobs. He explains why the best AI results come from people who already know what good looks like, and why you should bring your experience to the table. Third, how do I write better prompts? Andrew compares prompting to martial arts belts and shares GCSE, a simple framework of goal, context, sources and expectations. He also explains why he now thinks prompt endings matter more, and where to find his list at AndrewMilesDavis.com/prompt-endings. Subscribe to In AI Nutshell for the answers to the questions your team is asking, every other week in ten minutes.  

Andrew Miles Davis shares three cool tools for Cool Tools Tuesday. First is a big update to Granola, the note taker that does not need an invite to your call. Granola has now added voice dictation, which takes it head to head with Whisper Flow, the tool Andrew uses more than any other because of his RSI. Andrew explains why he might have to cancel his Whisper Flow subscription if Granola does everything he needs. Second is a blast from the past, Ideogram, which has launched a vector feature. You can create SVG files from text, edit one specific area of an image or logo without changing the rest, and the quality stays sharp when you zoom in. Andrew explains why this matters for logos, why other image tools often change things you did not ask for, and how long he thinks the feature will stay unique. Third is Athena, a tool that helps you stay focused on one goal by asking questions, giving morning briefings and keeping a to-do list, and why it works best when you focus on one project. Subscribe to In AI Nutshell for three cool tools every Tuesday in ten minutes.  

Andrew Miles Davis shares what he is looking forward to in November. First is the new Grand Theft Auto, which he has waited over a decade for. Andrew explains where he thinks AI fits in, with a theory that the long wait was about getting to a point where AI can help players build and share their own worlds, like a full version of South London, for years to come. Second, and his top pick from a work point of view, is the personal agent space, which he thinks will shape his 2027. He shares how he has been using Muse, how his use has changed to a collective brain approach, and why knowing what he wants to do makes it easier to make better decisions. Andrew also explains why he sees personal agents as the next evolution of generative AI, rather than a replacement for large language models. Finally, he looks forward to November being the last full month of work until February or March, and why he prefers a full month as a creature of habit. Subscribe to In AI Nutshell for what is coming next in AI, every day in ten minutes.  

Andrew Miles Davis covers a quiet week of AI releases with some big stories underneath. He starts with the AI graveyard, a running list of AI startups that have failed, including Relay and Character AI, and why a product that is only one feature struggles once ChatGPT or Google adds it for free. He covers O'Reilly research showing employee AI use is moving faster than training and governance, with 39% of people saying they acted on an AI answer that turned out to be wrong and only 24% always checking first. He also covers a report that 59% of marketers say admin has increased in the last three years. Andrew explains Anthropic's new Smart Reports feature for Claude, which lets employers analyse how staff use Claude at work, and his simple rule that if it is a work account, assume work can see it. Then he looks at Bank of America's email asking customers not to share banking passwords with AI assistants, and why responsibility stays with you. He finishes with the growing list of sites, including Yelp, airlines, banks and Amazon, that are blocking AI agents, and what that means for the personal agent race. Subscribe to In AI Nutshell for the AI news that matters to marketers, every Friday in ten minutes.