Author: What if..?

https://uk.themedialeader.com/the-cultural-moments-that-will-matter-to-media-in-2026 The giant wall in reception pulsed and flickered, updating the matrix. Dates shifted. Entries extended and contracted. New words and phrases appeared and disappeared. Above the wall, the Agency’s famous slogan “when culture shifts, move fast” glowed. Visitors were hypnotised, watching culture shift and morph. Some took notes, planning or just finding something to … [Read more…]

https://www.ft.com/content/9de227a5-2bc1-4730-88b1-dbbb5b559ee8 Real-world shopping is messy. Humans liked to wander, browse. You could model it to a certain extent – and he had the best sensors and models working on it – but humans just weren’t perfect. Their Agents were much better to work with. Shopping became a seamless experience: finding the product, negotiating the price, … [Read more…]

https://digiday.com/marketing/facing-ai-slop-and-a-trust-problem-ai-platforms-invest-in-super-bowl-level-brand-ads They wanted a human in the meeting. That meant they had to use a language the human could follow which slowed things down of course but the real problem was that they had to limit the number of ideas they could propose and discuss and worse, do them one at a time. The issues … [Read more…]

https://gizmodo.com/anthropic-ceo-worries-humanity-may-not-be-mature-enough-for-advanced-ai-2000714187 The school test was coming up. She was nervous, so was her son. He knew what it meant, how important it was. A fork in the road. He could go on to a good career, a real partnership with the best Agents, a bright future. Or he could be on the slow lane. She … [Read more…]

https://www.engadget.com/ai/apple-reportedly-plans-to-reveal-its-gemini-powered-siri-in-february-174356923.html There was something different. She couldn’t put her finger on it but there was just something. They had been together for a long time, lived together, worked together. They knew each other intimately. Her partner would notice if something was different, writing, would say something. But it was she who noticed something. It was … [Read more…]

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/scientist-horrified-chatgpt-deletes-research They worked well together now. It had been a rocky start. Any creative partnership is as you get to know each other. She’d had to tweak her partner, making it less sycophantic. No point in having a dialectical relationship where your partner agrees with you all the time. She’d paid extra to get some … [Read more…]

https://www.ft.com/content/c6980fc4-97b6-40bf-a3d0-c40c3a6cac56 Cartoonists sometimes portrayed him as a Bond villain stroking a white cat by the picture windows of a giant office; an evil smile as he overlooked a desolate landscape. He had one of the cartoons framed on his wall by the windows. Of course he couldn’t see his empire through the windows but he … [Read more…]

https://uk.themedialeader.com/the-year-ahead-2026-a-look-at-the-agency-landscape He didn’t need an office. But he occasionally walked down Madison Avenue or through Soho and daydream. His Agent knew what he was thinking and rehearsed the same arguments: “you didn’t have any human staff, you don’t hold any IRL meetings, and it’s not as if your clients post things to you!” All good … [Read more…]

https://www.ft.com/content/c89496b1-bc8d-425e-b86b-ec89402410e4 He remembered mentoring. He’d been good at it he thought: introducing young recruits into the business, passing on his knowledge and experiences, coaching. He was still asked to do some. There were so many new Agents joining the business he was kept busy working with the programmers, connected to their machines: training. But it … [Read more…]

https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/20/in-an-effort-to-protect-young-users-chatgpt-will-now-predict-how-old-you-are/ They’d turned it into a game. Some of them were good at impersonations. Chris was particularly good at doing their English teacher: the long sentences, the use of gerunds, the rising intonation. Sam had the PE teacher’s gruff, short, sharp language down pat. They gathered round at lunch break to see if they could … [Read more…]