AI Sidequest

BREAKING! What writers REALLY think about AI, with Josh Bernoff

There's a brand new study from Gotham Ghostwriters and Josh Bernoff looking at how almost 1,500 writers and editors feel about AI and what they're actually using it for. It's fascinating information, and we have the very first look!
Read the report at GothamGhostwriters.com/ai-writer/
Find Josh Bernoff at Bernoff.com
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HOT TAKE: Can AI do 2.5% of your work or 48% of your work?

A new study found dramatically different results from a previous similar study of how well AI can do real human work. Researchers from the Center for Internet Safety and ScaleAI got results in a study that, at first glance, seemed similar to the recent OpenAI study that found AI could successfully complete 48% of real-world, economically valuable human work — but this time the researchers found AI could only do 2.5% of the work.
I was intrigued! What was the difference?
Read the blog post at AISidequest.com.
Host: Mignon Fogarty

Small AI wins that actually matter: garlic puns to Spanish rock songs

Learn why AI is changing creative work in unexpected ways. Mignon Fogarty and Jane Friedman look at the delightful small uses of AI (like generating puns and learning Spanish through custom rock songs), then dive into the serious stuff:
Spotify's new anti-slop policy
The $1.5 billion Anthropic book settlement
Why your publisher might owe you money
The crucial difference between "YOLO" AI models and reasoning models that could transform your results
What 900+ professions reveal about society's moral boundaries around AI replacement
Resources Mentioned:
AI Sidequest Newsletter → https://aisidequest.com
Jane's Newsletters → https://JaneFriedman.com
Get Clean URL → https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/get-clean-url/mobpimjmmonkghndllikpdgpapkfckje
Tab Copy → https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/tab-copy/micdllihgoppmejpecmkilggmaagfdmb
Mignon's Spanish Song on Suno → https://suno.com/s/mIoIvVr1DXRldhQU
Christopher Penn's LinkedIn Post → https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cspenn_ai-generativeai-genai-activity-7381662838051991553-phvo
Ethan Mollick's LinkedIn Post → https://www.linkedin.com/posts/emollick_an-issue-with-ai-is-that-it-is-almost-intuitive-activity-7382079797260156928-7Cx9
Anthropic Settlement Database → https://secure.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com/lookup/
"Moral Repugnance" Study → https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5560401
 

Claude Code for non-coding tasks? Plus, the limits of AI without humans.

Mignon Fogarty and Adam Davidson discuss Sora, Claude Code, the OpenAI jobs study, ChatGPT parental controls, and more. Sign up for the newsletter at http://aisidequest.com.

Beautiful bones + ugly scams: Building with AI. Defending against it

Join Mignon Fogarty and Jane Friedman as they discuss their AI wins and worries.
They talk about using AI to build web sites, find new haunts, and do deep research.
But they also uncover sophisticated AI scams using fake reader emails, the uncomfortable reality of AI note-takers in meetings, hallucinated website links, and institutional bias in AI peer review.

BREAKING: $1.5 billion Anthropic copyright settlement delayed

US Copyright Office: https://publicrecords.copyright.gov/
Atlantic database: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/03/search-libgen-data-set/682094
Get future notices: https://www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com/
AI Sidequest: https://www.aisidequest.com/

ChatGPT hates your drama

- When asking medical questions, watch your language because LLMs give worse answer if your prompt seems dramatic, uncertain, or has typos.
- Anthropic is changing the way it handles what you enter into the prompt box. You now have to actively opt out to keep your prompts from being used for training.
- Reader Question: Why do people comment "AI" on posts?
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