Why AI is not going to take your job

Friends,
Your 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

I’ve just launched the first video in the AI Optimist YouTube series: Why AI isn’t going to take our jobs.

Watch it (to the end if you want to help me be loved by YouTube’s algorithm), drop a comment, and subscribe to be the first to know when each episode is released.

📰 This was the week that was...

AI tribes are forming fast - from coders reinventing workflows to learners reshaping education.
The frontier is no longer whether AI can help, but how far you’re willing to reimagine work and learning.

Developers are showing what’s possible. Those at the cutting edge are claiming 30–50x productivity gains by fully rethinking coding practices. Some are optimising IDEs and model choice, others are orchestrating networks of subagents, while many are only just scratching the surface. The message is clear: there’s still plenty of time to learn, but the gap between explorers and laggards is widening.

Meanwhile, education disruption is accelerating. Google is blending pedagogy with AI through Learn Your Way, raising provocative questions. What if we can train doctors in 12 weeks instead of 7 years? The way we define expertise is shifting, and the ability to rapidly become a subject matter expert is becoming a core leadership skill.

Let’s get into it.

🔥 Urgent Priorities

✅ No fires to fight
✅ Systems stable
✅ Roadmap unchanged

🎯 Strategic Insight

Now is the moment to plan Q1 2026 with confidence.

• Tension: Prices and competition grab headlines, but the real story is that the frenzy has quieted just enough to give leaders space to think.

• Optimistic insight: This breathing room is a gift. The organisations that use it to chart clear adoption paths will step into 2026 ahead of the curve, not scrambling to catch up.

• What’s really shifting: The hype cycle feels less chaotic. That creates a window for strategic planning - to align people, processes, and technology without the noise of daily disruption.

• Why this matters now: By March 2026, the question won’t be who bought AI cheapest - it will be who used this moment to embed it most effectively.

👉 Takeaway: Use this calm to pick two workflows and design your Q1 2026 AI pilots now. Early clarity compounds into advantage.

🤓 Geek-Out Stories

1️⃣ Automation Anxiety vs AI Optimism & Karp’s stance
Oxford economist Daniel Susskind warns of “automation anxiety,” while Palantir’s CEO Alex Karp argues AI is a force for resilience and strength. Two radically different lenses on the same future.

Why it matters: Leaders must engage both narratives - understanding anxieties that shape society, while harnessing optimism to set strategy. When I release my upcoming video on dealing with AI Phobia, you’ll see a third perspective to help frame these debates.

2️⃣ Cambridge spinout makes AI evaluations more trustworthy & follow-up research
Researchers are applying psychometrics to AI evaluation - using human-tested frameworks to benchmark model behaviour.

Why it matters: Trust, governance, and clarity in evaluation will be key as organisations deploy AI deeper into decision-making.

3️⃣ LLM inference costs keep dropping
Epoch data shows inference prices tumbling - but this is more about competitive intensity than an endless downward curve.

Why it matters: Costs may rise again, but what matters is whether you’re using this moment of affordability to scale adoption in ways that create durable advantage.

🎨 Weekend Playground

Two playful tools to test-drive this weekend: one for order, one for creativity.

Howie
For the tinkerers and tool testers: I’ve been playing with Howie, an AI-powered calendar assistant. If it lives up to its promise, it could finally fix the pain of scheduling. If your calendar is chaos, this is worth a spin this weekend. (No free trial yet - so you can also wait for my report.)

Gamma 3.0
For the visual crowd: Gamma has just released its 3.0 update, making it easier to create beautiful decks, documents, and web pages with AI. If you’re tired of wrestling with slides, this is a fun way to experiment with smarter storytelling.

📢 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