Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of the release of ChatGPT. Imagine that! I remember getting access eventually over the Christmas break and from the very first interaction with it - “write a poem in the style of Robert Burns on the delights of champagne” - I was ‘jaw on the floor’ hooked. It seemed unbelieveable to me that I could get such an excellent creative poem - “Ode to the Bubbling Nectar” if I remember correctly - from such a simple instruction in less than ten seconds! My instant thought was that this was going to change everything - the same thought I had decades earlier when I first read about, and first logged onto, the internet. Except this is truly different. The pace of change in early internet days seemed fast but actually, compared to AI, was quaint and gentle. AI pace of change is brutal, magical and relentless all at once. The world will look very different on the fifth anniversary of ChatGPT than it does today. Until then, let’s buckle up and enjoy the ride.

News

US, UK and others sign AI agreement: more than a dozen countries signed up to a “Secure by Design” agreement for AI development in an attempt to set a benchmark for global standards. Read the detail here

Everyone is still talking about OpenAI’s Project Q*: after the dust settled last week on the crazy goings on at OpenAI, the story still rolled on as it appeared that Project Q* was one of the reasons behind the turmoil. Here’s an article that explains the background

California’s blueprint for tomorrow: in what may be seen as a landmark attempt at trying to show best practice for bringing a government up to speed with generative AI use, the state of California published a paper outlining it’s proposals for doing just that. You can see my post on X about it here, and read the paper itself here

Putin says Russia needs to up it’s AI game: in a recent speech, the Russian President has noted that Russia has fallen behind in the AI race and that progress in the form of new laws and investment will be required to keep Russia in touch. Most of Russia’s top AI talent fled when Russia invaded Ukraine, so this will be difficult. Read all about it here

Pentagon moves to AI autonomous weapons at scale: in a move that sees the US military commit to deploying autonomous weapons managed by AI, the talk was all about keeping up with China. Read the report here

Tool

I wanted to share with you a new tool that I have been using throughout the last week to order my thinking. I love mind maps. That’s the process by which you break a task or a project down into it’s constituent parts, bringing both clarity and an action list. The process is illuminating but laborious. Enter mymap.ai a generative ai tool that creates a fully mapped out mind map in seconds from a single, simple prompt. Here’s my mindmap on how to craft a daily newsletter:

Pretty cool I think. Mymap give a 7 day free trial after which there are several paid plans available depending on use. I hope you’ll give it a try.

Prompt

Carrying on the birthday theme, did you know that ChatGPT can act as a birthday party (or any other event for that matter) planner? Here’s a quick prompt that will take away the stress of getting the party going:

I'm going to be having a birthday party for my [son/daughter/etc]. 
The theme of the party is [Theme]
The venue and date/time is [details here]
You are an expert event planner and will assist me in making all the arrangements.
Can you give me a list of things that need to be organised in advance along with some entertainment ideas?
Ask me any questions that you need to get the information you require to ensure that it is a memorable party.

ChatGPT will hold your hand to make sure that a memorable party is had by all.