Category: AI

  • Off the Grid: Is it Possible?

    Until recently, evading some forms of digital surveillance was as easy as leaving your phone at home. That’s no longer the case. Last time, I shared a microfiction (1,000 words or less), a short science fiction story called The Ride about a CEO who needed to get closer to one of her board members, and the elaborate…

  • Retro Futures and Who Counts as Human

    What lessons does a 1985 Isaac Asimov novel have to teach us about AI and algorithmic bias today?  After months of failed attempts and carting the book around the planet, I finished reading Yuval Noah Harari’s magnificent and challenging Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI. (Don’t take the word…

  • The Paradox of No Choice

    An odd VENN diagram of tariffs and AI are narrowing our choices as customers. Will this change be permanent? What are the implications for products and retailers? Note: this piece takes its title from Barry Schwartz’s famous and terrific book, The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less. In 1985, Wendy’s ran a memorable, minute-long spot,…

  • AI Double Agents

    With all the talk about Agentic AI, there’s an important question that people aren’t asking: who are these agents working for? In last week’s main piece, I explored how Agentic AI will be bad for brands because, in a world where digital servants take over trivial everyday decisions, we human deciders will be less vulnerable to…

  • The Precipitous Decline of Brands

    …and the rise of generics because of AI agents and other things. (Issue #173) In a recent issue of my newsletter, I mentioned a wide-ranging conversation about AI with my friend Louis Jones of the Brand Safety Institute. Louis and I spent a chunk of time talking about the rise of AI Agents, how they will impact…

  • A Scary Time

    Four shorter pieces this time: the so-called L.A. riots, the middle east, more on AI, and what would we call a third party? I’m not generally anxious, but the news of the last two weeks tested that. Here are reflections about two major news stories, one unsettling NYT article that deserves more attention, and my…

  • Mission Implausible

    Tom Cruise’s new movie has amazing stunts, a ludicrous plot, and doesn’t understand Artificial Intelligence. Here’s my snarky review.  “Thank you for saving my marriage.” That’s what I said to my friend Jeff when we exited the IMAX theater at 10:30pm on Wednesday, having taken in the 7:00pm Mission Impossible: the Final Reckoning, Tom Cruise’s eighth…

  • Our Best Friends

    Mark Zuckerberg thinks our BFFs will soon be AIs. He’s wrong. They’re still dogs, and that’s never more clear than when our dogs die. I have two distinct (but oddly connected) topics this post. AI Gone Weird The number of stories continues to increase about people surrendering all common sense when it comes to AI.…

  • Adapt-amnesia, and Why it Matters

    We’re the most adaptable species on the planet, but then we forget that we adapted. That’s bad news for incumbent businesses today.  2025 Prolog: I’m still on the road, so this week I’m sharing a piece I wrote for the Center back in November of 2017. It’s where I first articulated one of my key ideas: Adapt-amnesia. What is adapt-amnesia?…

  • The Flip

    In today’s world of limitless information, stores, experts, and brands need to find new functions in order to avoid irrelevance. I’m traveling for business, so I hope you’ll indulge me and let me share a piece I wrote for The Center back in November of 2019 that I think holds up. I’ve updated links and fussily changed…