The One Habit That Beats AI

Welcome back apprentices! 👋

AI might be getting smarter, but are we?

When the CEO of DeepMind says you need to learn faster, it’s probably not just career advice — it’s a survival tip. 

But don't worry, this isn’t a crash course in code or quantum computing. 

It’s about something way simpler (and sneakily harder): staying sharp in a world that won’t stop shifting. 

Scroll down — you’ll want to be ahead of this one.

In today's email

• The #1 skill you’ll need next

• AGI could be 10 years away

• Degrees are losing their edge

• One habit to future-proof your brain

• + New AI Tools

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Quick News 

🧑‍💼 Albania’s Newest Cabinet Member? Albania just appointed an AI called "Diella" to its cabinet — and she’s in charge of all government contracts. PM Edi Rama says this virtual minister will oversee public tenders and cut out bribery like a digital no-nonsense boss. Diella already answers citizen requests via voice on Albania’s e-portal, but now she’s got real power — and zero lunch breaks. Cool innovation or a hacker’s dream? Stay tuned. And let’s just hope there’s a human still watching the road.

🕶️ These Glasses Know What You’re About to Do. Meta just dropped three new smart glasses — and one of them starts acting before you even move a muscle. The Ray-Ban Display glasses connect with a Neural Band that picks up electrical signals from your fingers before they move, letting you message, navigate, and control apps with Jedi-like subtlety. Add in Ultra HD video, water-resistant Oakleys for athletes, and longer battery life, and suddenly, smart glasses don’t look so... dorky.

🛒 Meet the Protocol That Lets AI Shop (Safely). Google just dropped the Agent Payments Protocol — basically a user-approved shopping license for your AI. With help from 60+ partners (think Mastercard, PayPal, Coinbase), your digital assistant can now fill your cart and check out… but only after you double-confirm it. The system uses “mandates” to keep things secure, blending bank cards, crypto, and real-time approvals for peace of mind. ​​AI shoppers are coming — but thanks to AP2, your wallet won't be hijacked by a rogue chatbot ordering jet skis.

Together with Fin

Hear from leaders at Anthropic, Rocket Money, and more at Pioneer

Pioneer is a summit for the brightest minds in AI customer service to connect, learn, and inspire one another, exploring the latest opportunities and challenges transforming service with AI Agents.

Hear directly from leaders at Anthropic, [solidcore], Rocket Money, and more about how their teams customize, test, and continuously improve Fin across every channel. You’ll take away proven best practices and practical playbooks you can put into action immediately.

See how today’s service leaders are cultivating smarter support systems, and why the future of customer service will never be the same.

Register for Pioneer today

Demis Hassabis 
DeepMind CEO Says Lifelong Learning Isn’t Optional Anymore 

Speaking at the Athens Roundtable on AI and the Rule of Law, Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, made it crystal clear: “Learning how to learn” is now your most important skill.\

With AI evolving at breakneck speed — and AGI potentially arriving by the mid-2030s — the idea of learning one skill and coasting for a decade is over. Jobs, education, and even how we think will shift dramatically. Hassabis said the only certainty is: “Huge change is coming.”

This isn’t just a philosophical speech. It’s a clear signal: AI will reshape everything — and your ability to adapt is now your edge.

What to Know

• 🧠 Meta-skills > hard skills
  Knowing how to learn, unlearn, and relearn will matter more than any fixed skill like Excel, SEO, or Python. Hassabis emphasized that these “learning agility” skills are the best hedge against future job disruption.
  
  

• ⏳ AGI could arrive within 10 years
  AGI — meaning AI systems that match or exceed human cognitive abilities across most tasks — is on the horizon. Hassabis isn’t alone:

  • Altman (OpenAI) says we’re 5–10 years away.

  • Geoffrey Hinton (AI pioneer) recently left Google warning AGI is closer than most think.
    Translation: you're not prepping for 2050, you're prepping for next decade.
    
    

• 🛠️ The workplace is already shifting
  A 2024 World Economic Forum report predicted 44% of workers’ core skills will shift by 2027, with “analytical thinking” and “flexibility” topping the list. Meanwhile, traditional degrees are losing ground to modular learning(e.g. micro-credentials, online certificates, real-time upskilling).
  
  

• 🧾 Hassabis’ dual warning: opportunity + caution
  Alongside optimism about “radical abundance,” he warned that AI could repeat the mistakes of social media — massive scale, minimal oversight, and delayed consequences. His ask? Build in safeguards now before AGI reaches mass deployment.
  
  

• 🧑‍🏫 Governments are taking notes
  The Athens talk was co-hosted with Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Greece is now among the first countries to propose AI literacy in public education — including early coding and algorithmic thinking skills at the school level.
  

Who's Saying What About AGI?

Big picture: AGI is a real-soon-maybe, and different leaders are preparing differently.

Pros & Cons of the AI Age

🏆 Pros:

• AI-assisted learning could democratize education like never before.

• AGI could help solve problems in health, energy, climate, and science — faster than humans can alone.

• New industries will emerge, requiring new types of thinkers, not just new coders.
  

🚨 Cons:

• Fast AI advancement could outpace policy, leaving workers behind.

• Lack of “learning equity” may widen gaps — especially between regions and income levels.

• Humans may fall into “passive reliance” on AI — skipping critical thinking because the bot already “knows.”
  

So What? Why This Matters to You

Whether you’re:

• A founder trying to future-proof your team

• A freelancer watching AI nibble at your niche

• A student unsure if your degree will matter in 5 years
  

…this shift applies to everyone. In a world where machines learn in milliseconds, your superpower becomes:
the ability to stay curious, upskill often, and never settle into mental autopilot.

That means rethinking your habits:

• Learn something just in time, not just in case.

• Follow thought leaders in a space you know nothing about.

• Set up a 15-minute “learning block” each day.

Pro Tip: Build a Personal “Learning Stack”

Don’t wait for HR or your school to catch up. Try this:

1. 🎧 Podcast – Pick one weekly show.

2. 📬 Newsletter – Subscribe to 1–2 sources.

3. 📚 Micro-course – It let’s you level up fast.

4. 🧠 Reflection time – Once a week, ask: What did I learn this week that I didn’t know last week?

Because when AGI shows up, you’ll want your brain trained not to panic — but to pivot.

Help Your Friends Level Up! 🔥

Hey, you didn’t get all this info for nothing — share it! If you know someone who’s diving into AI, help them stay in the loop with this week’s updates.

Sharing is a win-win! Send this to a friend who’s all about tech, and you’ll win a little surprise 👀

Today’s Toolbox

Better inputs. Sharper outputs. Download the guide to premium AI.

Building or refining generative AI models? This guide shows why scraped data falls short—and what to use instead. Learn how real-world behavior signals, clustering, semantic scoring, and visual diversity improve output. Plus, see how Shutterstock’s licensed data and services reduce risk and boost performance. Train smarter, faster, and more responsibly.

Download the guide

🧪 Test the Prompt

A playground for your imagination (and low-key prompt skills).

Each send, we give you a customizable DALL·E prompt inspired by a real-world use case — something that could help you in your business or job if you wanted to use it that way. But it’s also just a fun creative experiment.

You tweak it, run it, and send us your favorite. We pick one winner to feature in the next issue.

Bonus: you’re secretly getting better at prompt design. 🤫

👑 The winner is…

Last week, we challenged you to test GPT-4o’s visual generation skills with this prompt.

Here’s the WINNER:

Congrats to Callum for his creation!🥳

Want to be featured next? Keep those generations coming!

🎨 Prompt: The First AI-Built Habitat on Mars

Create a highly detailed, cinematic render of the first AI-constructed human habitat on Mars. The structure is made from [unusual modular material], seamlessly blended into the Martian terrain. Solar arrays stretch outward, drones work along the scaffolding, and atmospheric processors glow faintly in the background. The sky is tinted in soft orange-pink hues from the setting sun. Style: ultra-realistic cinematic rendering, crisp architectural detail, hard lighting with ambient dust, lens flare, Mars terrain fidelity.

We’ll be featuring the best generations in our next edition!

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