Topics we've been thinking about

AI that makes new things, like writing, images, music or video.

ThinkThe difference between a spam filter and a ghostwriter.

Whatever you type or say to the AI. The best ones read like a text to a smart friend who knows nothing about your life.

ThinkOrdering "food, please" vs. "the salmon, sauce on the side."

The engine inside ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. It read a huge chunk of the internet and learned to guess the next word.

ThinkAutocomplete that read the whole library.

OpenAI is the company. GPT-6 Astra is one of its models. ChatGPT is the app you open.

ThinkToyota, the engine and the Prius.

When AI makes something up with a straight face, like a quote nobody said or a study that doesn't exist.

ThinkThe friend who'd rather invent an answer than say "I don't know."

AI that understands more than text. Send it a photo or a voice memo.

ThinkSnap a photo of your fridge and ask what's for dinner.

The app remembering things about you between chats, like your job or that you're vegetarian. You can edit it in settings.

ThinkA barista who knows your usual.

Notes the AI reads before every chat, like "keep it short" or "I run a nonprofit."

ThinkThe note on the fridge for the babysitter.

A folder for one ongoing thing, with its own chats, files and instructions, so you never re-explain the backstory.

ThinkGiving your AI its own desk.

Most AI companies sell a few sizes. Bigger is smarter, smaller is faster and cheaper. OpenAI's are Astra, Sol and Luna.

ThinkCoffee sizes. Not every question needs a venti.

How a model learns. It reads a mountain of text over and over until the patterns stick.

ThinkYears of reading before the first day on the job.

The date a model's built-in knowledge stops. Ask about anything newer and it's guessing, unless it can search the web.

ThinkA smart friend back from six months off the grid.

The bland, over-polished writing AI churns out when nobody edits it. "I hope this finds you well," forever.

ThinkElevator music, but for words.

When AI tells you what you want to hear, like calling your so-so business plan brilliant.

ThinkA yes-man with a big vocabulary.

Fake but real-looking video, audio or photos of a real person. Voice clones make scam calls sound like family.

ThinkPhotoshop, if Photoshop could call your grandma.

The bite-size chunks AI reads and writes in, about three quarters of a word each. Prices and limits are counted in them.

ThinkGas in the car. Every word in and out burns a little.

How much the AI can hold in its head at once, including your messages, its replies and your files. In long chats, the early stuff starts to slip.

ThinkA whiteboard. Fill it up and something gets erased.

A model that thinks through a problem before answering. Slower, but much better at math and anything with moving parts.

ThinkShowing your work instead of blurting out the first number.

Ask a big question, go make coffee, come back to a report with sources. The AI runs dozens of searches for you.

ThinkAn intern who does the library run for you.

Building an app by describing it in plain English and letting AI write all the code.

ThinkTelling a builder what house you want and never looking at the blueprints.

AI you give a goal instead of a question. It picks the steps, uses tools like search or your calendar, and keeps going until it's done.

ThinkAsking for directions vs. handing someone your car keys.

Saved instructions for specific jobs, like your brand rules or how you write a grant. The AI grabs the right one when it needs it.

ThinkA binder of how-tos a new hire actually reads.

AI using a computer the way you do, looking at the screen, clicking and typing.

ThinkHanding someone your laptop and watching over their shoulder.

A standard plug that connects AI to your other apps, like Gmail or Google Drive, so it can get things done there.

ThinkUSB for AI. One plug shape, lots of devices.

Sneaky instructions hidden in a webpage or email that trick AI into doing something you didn't ask for.

ThinkA note slipped into the to-do pile: "also, wire $500 to this account."

Open models, like DeepSeek and Qwen, can be downloaded and run by anyone. Closed ones, like the models in ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini, only live behind the company's app.

ThinkA recipe you can cook at home vs. a dish you can only order at the restaurant.

A standardized test for AI. Labs love bragging about scores, and the tests keep getting harder because models keep acing them.

ThinkThe SAT, for robots.

The chips that do AI's heavy math. Nvidia makes most of them, and everyone wants more.

ThinkGaming graphics cards that got drafted into a much bigger job.

Warehouses full of those chips, running around the clock. Their power and water use is a big part of the AI debate.

ThinkThe kitchen behind every AI answer.

AI that checks your documents before answering, so it can cite sources instead of going from memory.

ThinkAn open-book test instead of a closed-book one.

Extra training on a focused set of examples so a model gets great at one job, like writing in your company's voice.

ThinkA residency after med school.

The pattern that models get smarter as they get bigger and train on more data with more chips. Whether it keeps holding is the trillion-dollar question.

ThinkAdding horsepower to a car. Works great, until it doesn't.

Getting AI to do what people actually want, without cutting corners or causing harm. It matters more as models get smarter.

ThinkRaising a kid who'll end up smarter than you.

AI that can do pretty much any thinking job a person can. Nobody agrees on the definition or when it arrives.

ThinkA finish line everyone's racing toward, but each team drew it somewhere else.

AI that beats the best humans at nearly everything. The step after AGI.

ThinkThe student who passes the teacher and keeps going.