The Bank of England Governor is an AI optimist + Halloween AI help

Friends,

our weekly AI briefing is here - designed to help you respond to AI, not react to the noise. No curveballs. No chaos. Just clarity.

🌟 An Extra Dose of AI Optimism

If you've ever wondered how AI might help us tackle challenges too complex for human minds alone, this one's for you.

Watch it (to the end if you want to help me be loved by YouTube's algorithm), drop a comment, and subscribe to be first in line for the next one.

📰 This was the week that was...

This week gave us something new: institutional validation of optimism.

The Bank of England Governor, Andrew Bailey, told delegates in Washington he's "an AI optimist." The Nobel Prize in Economics went to researchers exploring how technology drives prosperity. And new data continues to show that AI isn't destroying jobs - it's reshaping how we work.

Meanwhile, Claude Haiku 4.5 arrived at one-tenth the cost of Sonnet, proving the economics of AI are still moving in our favour. And the vibe coding boom hit a reality check, reminding us that just because technology exists doesn't mean we're all ready to use it.

The signal beneath the noise? This is an economic shift, not just a technological one. And the winners will be those who redesign their businesses around that reality.

Let's get into it.

🔥 Urgent Priorities

✅ No fires to fight

 ✅ Economics shifting underneath us

 ✅ Time to rethink, not react

This week doesn't demand urgent action - but it does demand strategic thinking. The ground is moving. Make sure your foundations are ready.

🎯 Strategic Insight

This is not a week about tools - it's a week about transformation.

Tension: Everyone's talking about AI capabilities. But capability without adoption is just expensive infrastructure. And adoption without cultural readiness is just theatre.

Optimistic insight: The institutions are catching up. When the Bank of England Governor calls himself an AI optimist, that's not hype - that's a signal for the rest of us to lean in.

What's really shifting:

Business leaders need to stop treating AI as a tech project and start treating it as an economic realignment.

Teams need space to explore, not just mandates to adopt. At this week's AI Night School Live Learning Lab, we walked through turning ChatGPT chats into automated agents using n8n - and watched people grapple with what it means to become technologists.

And everyone needs to understand: just because the technology exists doesn't mean transformation happens overnight. This is people change, not software deployment.

Why this matters now: The next advantage won't come from having the best AI - it will come from having the most adaptive culture.

👉 Takeaway: Identify one workflow where AI could create genuine value. Then ask: what would need to change culturally for us to actually adopt it? Start there.

🤓 Geek-Out Stories

1️⃣ The Bank of England Governor joins the optimists Andrew Bailey told delegates in Washington this week that he's "an AI optimist" - and Bloomberg reported the Bank sees no evidence AI will lead to UK job losses.

📖 Read more (Bloomberg - paywall)

Why it matters: When central bankers start sounding optimistic about AI, it signals a shift from fear to strategy at the institutional level.

2️⃣ Nobel Prize goes to creative destruction. This year's Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to researchers studying how technology drives long-term prosperity - Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt.

📖 Read in The Guardian

Why it matters: This validates what AI optimists have been saying all along: technological change creates economic opportunity. The question isn't whether AI will help us prosper - it's whether we'll design systems that let everyone benefit.

3️⃣ Vibe coding hits reality Business Insider reported a sharp drop in traffic to AI coding tools over the summer, despite rising hype around AI-generated code.

📖 Read more

Why it matters: Just because technology exists doesn't mean we're all going to immediately become technologists. This is a longer process of change - one that requires reflection on the work we do and how we do it. At AI Night School, we're seeing this tension play out live: people are excited about the possibilities, but navigating what it means to actually transform their work.

🔧 Tech Watch Claude Haiku 4.5 arrived this week - nearly as powerful as Claude Sonnet 4.5, but at one-tenth the price.

🌐 Read the announcement

Why it matters: The economics look like AI will get cheaper. But remember: these providers are in a fight for market share. When the market matures, profit-taking will lead to price increases. Unless you own your AI, you're not aligned with your technology.

Also worth noting: Speculation about AI bubbles is everywhere. Does this have an economic impact? Yes. It adds to the FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) that we're all wading through. If you want a barometer of broader market anxiety, keep an eye on the VIX.

📖 What's the VIX?

🎨 Weekend Playground

Make a Trick-or-Treat route planner with Claude Code

This weekend, try something powerful: Claude Code. It's a command-line tool that lets Claude build working applications for you - no coding experience required.

Your mission: create a route planner for trick-or-treating. Optimise for maximum sweets, minimum walking, and bonus points for spooky ambience.

🧪 Follow the activity here

Why this matters: Claude Code is powerful. Very powerful. Play with it. See how it makes you feel. That feeling - whether it's excitement, unease, or curiosity - is data. Pay attention to it.

📢 Share the Optimism

If The AI Optimist helps you think more clearly, forward it to someone else navigating the shift. If it's not quite landing, hit reply and let me know - I read every message.

Stay strategic, stay generous.

Hugo & Ben