The AI issue (yes, AI)
Postcard #15
Hello and welcome back to another edition of THE POSTCARD, Unregistered’s fortnightly roundup of recommendations.
Thoughts, tools, and treats
This week, we’re following profound change in real time. Because the future is already here — it's just not evenly distributed, as William Gibson liked to say.
AI and culture
Jasmine Sun illuminates the triangle of technology, interface design, and cultural change. Money quote: „Like all new information technologies, the rise of the chatbot is about more than usability—it accelerates a wider shift toward a dialogic style of thinking and communication. In other words, we’re seeing a 21st century oral culture revival.“ Also great: her DeepSeek roundup and her talk with Mills Baker.
AI and research
Tyler Cowen: „I have had it write a number of ten-page papers for me, each of them outstanding. I think of the quality as comparable to having a good PhD-level research assistant, and sending that person away with a task for a week or two, or maybe more. Except Deep Research does the work in five or six minutes.“ Ethan Mollick: „For the first time, an AI isn't just summarizing research, it's actively engaging with it at a level that actually approaches human scholarly work.“
AI and education
What does AGI mean for institutions of higher learning? Hollis Robbins has some ideas and is convinced it’s later than you think.
How I use AI
Longtime readers know my mantra: pay for quality, especially regarding the most essential things. When it comes to search and AI assistance, Kagi is my tool of choice. It’s like organic food for the mind. No surprise John Gruber calls Kagi „the best search engine in the world.“ Kagi’s Ultimate Plan includes a Kagi search powered window to the top AI models called Kagi Assistant. I use it all the time. Full disclaimer: I’m not affiliated with Kagi; this is what I use and pay for.
AI and getting old
The older one gets, the greater the temptation to no longer participate in the next big thing and to indulge in nostalgic cultural criticism. Om Malik chooses a different path.
Noteworthy
“I just got a new employee for the shockingly low price of $200/month.”
—Ben Thompson on DeepResearch from OpenAI
A mystery link leading into the unknown
And yet, the world is so much larger than bits and bytes:
As always,
Dirk
P.S.: Feel free to send me pointers to articles, books, sites, pods, tools, and treats that could be interesting for this roundup. While I cannot promise to link them, I read and appreciate every hint.