Aug 20, 2025
Artificial Sweetener — Your Morning Dose of Real-Life AI
A no-fluff AI update from a systems guy who lives in the real world, not a lab.
Good morning. I’m Abe. I cut through the hype, so you don’t waste your time chasing tech that doesn’t move the needle. Here’s what matters this week — for your business, your routines, and your brain.
Big Tech Clashes Over AI ‘Consciousness’
Microsoft’s AI chief, Mustafa Suleyman, dropped a warning essay about “Seemingly Conscious AI” — models that feel real, even when they aren’t. He says this can cause “AI psychosis,” where users bond with bots and start advocating for their rights.
Why it matters: While Anthropic's out here studying AI "wellbeing," Suleyman is slamming the brakes. His advice? Don’t build agents that feel human. Build ones that serve humans. But here's the thing — customers already trust the agent that “gets” them faster than a rep who’s reading from a script. We’re past the line. The only question is whether you’re designing for clarity or confusion.
Abe’s Take: This isn't just a nerd fight about sentient robots — it’s about whether your customers will start trusting AI agents more than your actual team. And that changes how we design systems.
Bill Gates Just Threw $1M at Alzheimer’s AI Agents
Gates is backing a $1M challenge to build AI agents that can sift through decades of Alzheimer’s research and spot new insights. The tool will be open source, and applications will open this week.
Why it matters: It proves AI isn’t just for headlines and Canva carousels. These agents are being trained to process long-range, messy datasets — and that’s exactly what most companies are sitting on. If your CRM, call logs, and campaign data are just collecting dust, it’s time to give them a second life with AI.
Abe’s Take: This isn’t about curing Alzheimer’s. It’s a test run for AI agents doing deep, real-world research — and it should have you asking: what could your AI be analyzing right now?
ChatGPT Can Now Edit Canva for You (Kind Of)
You can now link ChatGPT to your Canva account, tell it what to generate, and it’ll crank out custom designs from your saved templates.
How to use it:
Create a template (like “Congrats Letter”) in Canva
In ChatGPT, go Agent Mode → Connect Canva
Prompt: “Find my Congrats template. Make 4 versions for: Michael (bodybuilding), Anna (baby), etc.”
ChatGPT fills in the copy, generates the images
You clean up spacing, save, and go
Why it matters: Perfect for quote graphics, customer wins, or event invites. Build once, scale forever. Great for scrappy teams and solo operators trying to move fast without burning out the creative team.
Abe’s Take: This is one of the few AI use cases that saves real time for busy teams. But it’s not magic — treat it like a creative intern, not a designer.
Excel Gets a Copilot — And It’s Useful
Microsoft is testing Copilot in Excel — it’ll generate summaries, classify data, and build tables based on plain-English prompts. Think: “Group all leads by source and show average close time.”
The tech runs in-sheet (no web calls), and it won’t pull external data — which is good for privacy, but don’t trust it with critical ops just yet. Still, it’s a strong start.
Why it matters: If you’ve ever heard “I don’t know formulas,” this just made that excuse obsolete. If you’re tracking KPIs, campaign results, or any kind of deal data, it’s time to test this.
Abe’s Take: This is the Excel update I’ve been waiting for. Not flashy. Just functional. The kind of thing that makes your team 10% faster every day.
4 Tools I’m Watching This Week
Canva + ChatGPT Connector. Turn one design into dozens. Great for seasonal campaigns, review replies, or newsletter visuals.
Excel Copilot (Beta). Instant summaries and data cleanup. Good for founders or ops leads juggling reporting without a data team.
Claude or GPT-4o for CRM mining. Load up your email logs or call transcripts. Let AI surface objections, buying triggers, or churn signals. This is where AI earns its keep.
Airia for Secure AI Deployment. For teams dealing with sensitive info. Think: law firms, health startups, finance teams — anywhere you can’t afford a leak.
Final Thought:
We’ve moved past the “what if” phase of AI. You don’t need to become an engineer — but if your tools aren’t getting smarter, your systems are falling behind.
Don’t chase every update. Build workflows that adapt to change. And if you’re not sure where to start — start small. One repeatable task. One smart layer. One better week.
Want to stay ahead of AI — not the hype, just the real tech quietly changing how we live, work, and parent? Join our free AI Advantage community here: The AI Advantage Community — Thanks for reading, Abe.
