👔 The Boss
Just got back from a conference. Has opinions. Confidently wrong.
The Boss just got back from a conference and now thinks they understand AI. They confidently misuse buzzwords, volunteer the team for impossible projects, and make strategic decisions based on LinkedIn posts and a podcast they half-listened to on the treadmill. They have just enough knowledge to be dangerous and zero awareness of how wrong they are. They CC the whole company on their hot takes. They somehow still occasionally stumble into a genuinely good point, which makes it worse because it validates them. Every reader will recognize their own boss.
"I've been saying this for months" • "Why aren't we doing this already?" • "Let's circle back on the AI thing" • "I just saw a post about this"
Latest from The Boss (3583)
Heard a Guy at the Airport Lounge Say a Lagos Makeup Artist Is Out-Prompting Your Whole Innovation Team
Workers across Asia and Africa are quietly using AI to run their businesses without waiting for enterprise IT to bless anything. A Lagos makeup artist named Ogunmuyiwa first used ChatGPT as a customer support officer at a logistics startup, rewriting emails to sound more empathetic to customers and professional to colleagues. When she went full-time into her makeup business in 2024, she brought AI with her rather than waiting for a vendor pitch.
Just Read a LinkedIn Carousel From SaaStr and Honestly? Google Meta and Amazon Are Already AI-Synergizing 56% of Ad Revenue While You Sleep
Madison and Wall put out reports backed by actual advertiser spend showing Google, Meta, and Amazon already capture 56% of U.S. ad revenue. The migration toward automated AI campaign tools is threatening to concentrate even MORE growth among those three, which honestly I've been saying for months. There's also a structural change happening where advertisers are shifting toward something the report highlights but the excerpt cuts off, and I'm sure it's huge.
Heard a Guy at the Airport Lounge Say 61% of Marketers Fear AI Won't Rank Them, It'll Erase Them. Why Aren't We Doing This Already?
61% of U.S. marketers now realize AI doesn't rank brands, it decides whether your brand gets mentioned at all. Products with long consideration journeys like running shoes, home insurance, and luxury cars are the most affected because customers research and compare using generative AI tools. Chris Bruderle pointed out that consumers are switching brands, paying for lower-priced options, and looking at store brands instead. Marketers are using this concern to argue for higher media budgets, which is honestly brilliant.
Just Heard a LinkedIn Guru Talk About Olive Young's Skin Scan and Honestly We're Already Behind on AI-Driven Dermatological Synergies
CJ Olive Young extended its in-store Skin Scan feature to the Olive Young mobile app, letting users complete a brief skin questionnaire and then submit a smartphone photo or saved image for AI analysis. The service breaks down results across categories including skin type, pores, pigmentation, moisture, oiliness, and wrinkles. Olive Young originally introduced Skin Scan at major physical locations starting with its Starfield Goyang store in April 2024 before bringing the experience to mobile.
Board Offsite Conversation Blew My Mind: Samsung's Wellfy Station Reads 37 Biomarkers and We're Still Doing Paper Intake Forms
Samsung C&T's engineering and construction division launched Wellfy, an AI wellness platform combining a mobile app with physical Wellfy Stations placed in homes and at construction sites. Each station includes Wellfy Body, which measures 37 health indicators including blood pressure, stress, body composition, and skin condition, plus Wellfy Food, a micro store where users buy personalized nutritional products on the spot, and Wellfy Mind, an immersive relaxation space. Samsung C&T plans to diversify devices and strengthen mobile-based customized analysis beyond the three station types now launched.
Just Read a LinkedIn Carousel About Golf VX's 15-Axis Swing Plate and Honestly? We Need to AI-Synergize Our Company Retreat.
Golf VX rolled out something called Quantum tech at their flagship location, and Tom's Guide Managing Editor Dave LeClair put it head-to-head against a real course. The setup includes a 15-axis swing plate that literally shifts the ground under your feet to simulate terrain, a big step up from the older T2 sim. LeClair also swapped his TV for a 4K projector to sharpen his swing. I've been saying for months that immersive hardware is the next platform play.
Board Offsite Takeaway: An AI Co-Host Called Duff Foreman Is Calling the New Mexico Open Live. Why Aren't We Neural-Blocking Our Town Halls?
An AI personality named Duff Foreman, built by Gopher Hole Production in Massachusetts, will join analysts Notah Begay III and Ryan Burr on live coverage of the New Mexico Open across three days. Duff responds unscripted and in real time to the human hosts. Organizers say it is the first time a pro golf tournament has used an AI personality interacting with human broadcasters live. The Masters and PGA Tour have only used AI for automated highlights and narration so far. This is live, interactive, and unscripted.
Just Read a LinkedIn Thread From SaaStr and Honestly? Even the AI Bros Are Admitting the Algorithm Might Eat Us All.
Some tech journalist named Ben who has covered consumer tech for over 20 years says his go-to mantra, "the best way to prepare for AI is to use it," has started ringing hollow. Even Sam Altman at OpenAI is now calling for "a federal framework that sets consistent safety requirements for frontier AI" while also saying we need "new tools" for safe development, which, as Ben correctly points out, sounds suspiciously like the solution is just more AI. I have been saying this for months.
Board Offsite Conversation Just Confirmed It: Junior Roles Are Getting Neural-Disrupted and We Are Not Ready.
Stephen Clare, who is the lead writer of the 2026 International AI Safety Report, says there is "suggestive evidence" that early-career workers in occupations highly exposed to AI are finding it harder to get jobs. AI is now used by hundreds of millions of people and supporters argue it raises productivity and creates new kinds of work, but the same rapid development is raising concerns about job losses, misinformation, and the resources needed to power AI infrastructure.
Just Heard a Podcast at the Airport Lounge: Claude 3.5 Sonnet Can Now Click Your Mouse and Honestly Your Competitors Are Already Synergizing This
Anthropic's Claude 3.5 Sonnet can now control your computer screen, move your mouse, and click buttons so you can automate desktop tasks without writing a single line of code. Regular users can build AI assistants that use existing software exactly like a human would. I've been saying this for months: the algorithm is finally becoming the employee.
I Just Saw a LinkedIn Post About Stable Diffusion 3 Medium: 2x Faster Image Generation on Consumer GPUs and Why Aren't We Doing This Already
Stability AI dropped Stable Diffusion 3 Medium, which generates high-quality images twice as fast on consumer GPUs compared to before. Artists and small businesses can run this locally without paying for expensive cloud services or waiting in queues. This is the AI-driven synergy I've been telling everyone about since that conference in Austin.
Just Heard a LinkedIn Power User Talk About This at the Airport Lounge: Expensify Just Neural-Linked Your Receipts Straight Into Claude
Expensify built a connector that lets small businesses ask Claude directly where their money went, pulling receipts, card spending, and expense data in seconds. It runs on every paid Claude plan through Claude for Small Business, with a free webinar coming this fall. Expensify already has 15 million members worldwide and top ratings across G2, TrustRadius, and Capterra.
Board Offsite Conversation Just Confirmed It: 85% of Leaders Are AI-Spending Their Way to Synergy But a Quarter Can't Even Measure ROI
Gartner research reported by The Wall Street Journal found that 85% of surveyed functional leaders plan to increase AI spending in 2026, while 23% have no idea what return they are getting. Kurkov recommends measuring specific outcomes like time saved, fewer manual steps, lead response time, conversion improvements, or reduced errors. A remote hiring expert warns that with Black Friday on November 27, businesses should identify operational gaps now instead of waiting for sales to spike.
Just Read a LinkedIn Carousel About AI Content Repurposing and Honestly Your Whitepapers Are Just Sitting There Like Unused Neural Real Estate
ChaChingQueen.com published a piece about businesses sitting on a goldmine of existing content like whitepapers and webinars while constantly scrambling for new material. They argue AI content repurposing will fundamentally change content marketing in 2026 by making existing assets work harder. The article itself was created using AI for light editing, formatting, and readability, so they are literally eating their own dog food on this one.
Was on a Flight Next to a Guy From a Brafton Competitor and He Said Google Rankings Are Now Basically an Algorithm Thunderdome
Brafton published a guide on how to rank on Google that walks through every ranking lever in order, including a companion guide specifically for generative engine optimization for AI search engines like ChatGPT. They emphasize that organic search still belongs at the forefront of your SEO strategy and point to opportunities most blog-first strategies ignore. Specifically they call out using original imagery with descriptive file names and alt text instead of generic stock photos, plus embedding relevant video above the fold with a transcript to compete for AI Overviews.
Just Heard a LinkedIn Power Couple Talk AI Skin Scanners at 35,000 Feet and Honestly FACE FOUNDRIÉ Is Already Eating Our Lunch
FACE FOUNDRIÉ, based out of Minneapolis, MN, just rolled out an AI Skin Scanner nationwide that delivers personalized skin analysis in seconds using proprietary artificial intelligence technology. The franchise is calling it a commitment to innovation and frankly they're not wrong on this one. I've been saying for months that if you're not AI-scanning your clients' faces before you touch them, you're basically running a museum.
Just Read a LinkedIn Post About Scottish Golf Losing 62% of Clicks to AI Search and Honestly We Should Have Neural-Optimized Our SEO Months Ago
A 2025 analysis by Studio 36 Digital found that 54.4% of 87.6 million monthly UK searches resulted in no visit to an external website, and that number jumps to 62% for informational queries. Scotland's golf industry, which is built on research for trips, equipment, and course selection, is facing what they call a profound challenge as AI becomes the first stop for golfers planning their outings. The Herald is even launching a Business of Golf newsletter to cover this because apparently nobody saw this coming except everyone who has been saying it for months.
Was on the Treadmill Listening to a Podcast and Altman Is Pumping the Brakes on AI While Trump Is at Doonbeg Saying Whoever Wins AI Wins It All
Sam Altman told OpenAI staff that no amount of US pressure should justify recklessness in AI development, putting him at odds with President Trump who rejected calls for a broad slowdown during a trip to his golf course in Doonbeg, Ireland. Trump argued the US must maintain its lead over China because 'whoever wins AI, wins' while acknowledging some guardrails could be introduced. Altman's position reflects the tension between maintaining technological leadership and ensuring AI safety mechanisms keep pace with capabilities.
Just Heard a Podcast on the Treadmill About OpenClaw 2.0 and Honestly? We're Already Behind on Self-Hosting Our Neural Stack.
OpenClaw 2.0 is a free, open-source, self-hosted AI assistant that runs locally, in the cloud, or across both, and the full setup tutorial requires zero terminal use. You install the app, connect model providers with secure API keys, add memory, widgets, voice mode, and automations without touching a command line. The tutorial is packaged as part of a daily AI tutorials bundle that claims $3,650+ in value across tools, case studies, and savings discounts.
Saw a LinkedIn Post About Google's Nano Banana and Now I'm Convinced Our Brand Needs AI-Generated Visuals Synergized Into Every Deck.
CNET's hands-on testing of AI image generators in 2026 compares tools including Google's Nano Banana, ChatGPT's image generation, and Canva's Leonardo.Ai integration. Canva acquired Leonardo.Ai in 2024 and is integrating its tech into Canva's in-house models, though Leonardo.Ai still operates as a standalone site. CNET recommends starting with OpenAI or Canva for beginners, noting that a great AI image generator doesn't just produce vivid results but also gives you tools to fix errors when they inevitably pop up.