🤓 I wasn’t Ok This Week. ChatGPT Helped.
PLUS: This Week in AI
It has been a heavy week.
The conflict between Iran and Israel has been escalating—and I’ve felt it tightening in my chest every day.
I still have family in Tehran, where I lived as a child during the Iran-Iraq war.
I grew up with air raid sirens and shelter drills. Those experiences and memories never fully leave you.
And now, decades later, that familiar dread is rushing back.
So, I have been trying my best to stay informed without getting pulled under.
Unexpectedly, AI has helped hold that line.
It pulls the most current and credible reporting from trusted sources—Reuters, Al Jazeera, AP—and offers just enough context and nuance to ground me.
(I’ve been using ChatGPT’s o4-mini-high model.)
Instead of losing myself in 20 different articles or around the clock coverage, I get clear, accurate snapshots.
I can follow up with questions, go deeper if I want to, and then walk away for a bit.
It hasn’t made the news less painful.
But it has helped me hold it without losing myself inside it.
To stay grounded and present in my own life.
To keep doing the work that energizes me.
To write this newsletter.
To even quietly celebrate my birthday with my family (it was Wednesday)—something I wasn’t sure I’d feel capable of this week.
This isn’t the kind of AI use case that makes headlines.
But I’ve written a lot about how AI is reshaping how we search, discover, and make decisions.
Our habits—including mine—are shifting faster than most people realize.
If you work in marketing, comms, or PR, you should already be evolving your strategy. This recent Edition lays out what’s changing, and what to do about it: 👉 Why PR Matters More in the Age of AI
And if you work in media or entertainment, or if Gen Z is a big part of your audience, don’t miss this one: 👉 For Gen Z, AI Isn’t Just Tech—It’s Culture
That’s the bigger picture.
But this week, it hit in a more personal way.
AI didn’t soften the weight. But it helped me hold it without breaking.
And I’m grateful.
Also—thank you. For staying curious. For reading. For replying. For reminding me why this work matters.
Every week, I hear from many of you who say this newsletter helps you stay grounded and make sense of what’s happening—cutting through the noise with a little more clarity, a little less spin. This fuels me.
We are living through a critical moment, and how we meet it will shape what comes next. That’s why I created this newsletter.
So, if it has helped you—and you want to give me a birthday gift: Share it.
Help me get it in front of more curious people who might benefit from it.
What You Need to Know About AI This Week ⚡
Clickable links appear underlined in emails and in orange in the Substack app.
Meta just bought a 49% stake in Scale AI for $14.3 billion
Scale provides the labeled data and tooling that AI labs like OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft use to train their models.
Meta’s latest models have underwhelmed. Top researchers have left to join competitors. So Zuck is hitting reset, with a new “superintelligence” lab—whatever that means.
Scale’s 28-year-old co-founder and CEO, Alexandr Wang, will run the show.
Meta’s also coming for talent—offering nine-figure pay and poaching directly from rivals.
During a recent interview, Sam Altman said Meta is offering $100 million signing bonuses to OpenAI staff. Not $100 million annual compensation, just the signing bonus.
These kinds of numbers show just how high the stakes really are.
The most important decisions in AI aren’t being made by regulators. They’re being made inside a handful of labs, by people most of us have never heard of.
Sam Altman. Dario Amodei. And now, Alexandr Wang. If you want to understand where this is all heading, follow the people steering the ship.
Bloomberg just published a great profile on Wang. It’s worth your time.
“At first glance, the Wang hiring looks a lot like the other expensive not-quite-acquisitions by Meta’s big tech competitors. Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet have also thrown gargantuan sums at AI researchers with advanced degrees and experience building cutting-edge models, sometimes by inking licensing deals with their companies.
But Wang stands out because he’s not an academic nor is he running a prominent AI model maker — he’s just really good at knowing what’s going on in the industry.”
Amazing. My check must be coming soon. 😁
Mattel the toymaker behind Barbie and Hot Wheels, has partnered with OpenAI to develop AI-powered toys and further expand fan experiences across content and games.
The toy giant plans to launch its first AI toy by the end of the year, and is rolling out ChatGPT Enterprise across its teams.
Mattel employees are lucky—they don’t have pay for their own secret ChatGPT accounts because IT only offers Copilot or Gemini. 😂
The big question? Privacy and safety.
These toys will likely collect voice data, remember conversations, and learn preferences. Parents will need to decide if the magic is worth the data trade-off.
Midjourney, the popular AI image generator, launched its first AI video model—designed to turn still images into 5-second clips hat can be stitched into 20-second videos.
And it looks pretty incredible. You can check out the explore feed here.
A few weeks ago, I did a deep dive on AI notetakers and the tradeoffs that are already changing how meetings feel.
This is where we are…
Just you, twelve bots, and no one to laugh at your jokes.
🛑 Should an AI be able to fire you?
California lawmakers don’t think so.
The proposed “No Robo Bosses Act” would make it illegal for companies to primarily use AI to hire, fire, promote, or discipline—unless a human reviews and signs off on the decision.
I can’t believe we actually need a law for this! 🤯
It’s a response to the rise of “bossware” tools”—AI systems that claim to evaluate performance, productivity and your mental state.
Some say they can even detect anxiety or disengagement. Research says otherwise.
This isn’t progress. It’s surveillance.
Europe has already banned these systems. We should too.
Big tech used to need ad agencies. Now they’re building tools to replace them.
Google, Meta, Amazon and TikTok are rolling out AI tools that let brands generate ads without leaning on agencies for creative development. Meta’s even testing end-to-end ad creation.
Agencies still run ads on these platforms, giving the platforms a front-row seat to their creative strategies—which can then be used to train their models.
WPP, Publicis, and others are betting billions on their own AI tools to stay relevant. But platforms will now control the most advanced creative workflows AND distribution.
As one exec put it: “The advertising world might be at their funeral without even realizing it.”
Tribeca Studios has teamed up with OpenAI on a year-long program to fund two short films made with its tools, set to premiere at the 2026 festival.
Max—soon to be HBO Max again—will start using AI to pull “standout” scenes from TV shows and movies for its autoplay video previews.
I better not get any spoilers.
🎬 AI screenwriting isn't replacing writers
A new study out of Hong Kong looked at how early-career screenwriters in China are experimenting with AI tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney.
Most are using AI to brainstorm ideas, generate characters, and visualize scenes—but struggle when it comes to dialogue, structure, and emotional nuance.
The tech helps generate raw material, but can’t do the real craft.
Even these younger writers recognize AI’s limits—and see it more as a tool for early-stage inspiration than full script development.
🌟 Here’s my take:
For inexperienced writers, AI helps them punch above their weight—making it easier to reach “good enough” faster.
For talented storytellers who have strong instincts, taste and craft, it’s an amplifier. Because now they can move faster, explore more, and raise the ceiling even higher.
But either way, as the flood of AI-assisted work floods the system, creative value shifts toward taste, curation, and refinement—not volume.
And the gap between “good enough” and great is only going to get wider.
Reddit’s new tools let marketers track sentiment over time, see what users are saying about them (or competitors), and spot trending topics across subreddits before they break.
What agencies and a few AI startups were charging for, Reddit just built in.
In case you missed last week’s edition, you can find it 👇:
That's all for this week.
I’ll see you next Friday. Thoughts, feedback and questions are always welcome and much appreciated. Shoot me a note at avi@joinsavvyavi.com.
Stay curious,
Avi
💙💙💙 P.S. A huge thank you to my paid subscribers and those of you who share this newsletter with curious friends and coworkers. It takes me about 20+ hours each week to research, curate, simplify the complex, and write this newsletter. So, your support means the world to me, as it helps me make this process sustainable (almost 😄).
Happy belated birthday 🎂
Happy birthday Avi. My heart is with you as you navigate the impact of the conflict in Iran. I can relate in a way because of my familial connection with Ukraine. Painful to witness, and yes, the
right amount of clear information helps a little.