Here’s a link to a pdf of the slide deck.

Download the pdf of the slide deck here.

These are the most useful tools for the work we do. If you can do productive work without them, bless you. I’m happy for a conversation about the pros and cons of AI.

Otter.ai: While Zoom can create transcripts and summaries, I find that Otter does these tasks better. It joins Zoom and other remote meetings automatically.

NotebookLM: Made by Google, this Web app lets you create notebooks on every aspect of your work, organizing your documents. You can query the app to create reports, graphs or other kinds of content. I don’t use it as a writing tool but for organization.

Claude.ai: At this moment, it’s the best all-around large language model for the sorts of work you and I do.

Perplexity.ai: The fastest LLM out there, great for explanations of science and technology.

Chat GPT etc.: I get access to the latest versions of Chat GPT, Gemini, Claude DeepSeek, Grok, Perplexity, and other LLMs through this subscription. Not expensive, and it lets me run the same query through several apps at once.

Grok.ai: I use this Elon Musk-owned app sparingly because of, well, Elon Musk. But it’s suprisingly fast and fairly accurate. Grok has the fewest limitations on image making, so use it wisely. That being said, it’s the best image app.

Suno: The song-making app. You can incorporate your own voice, input your own lyrics and create songs in any genre. I don’t widely distribute “my” songs except for one with my obituary.

Claude Code: It’s the industry standard vibe coding app.

Gemini Spark: This Google app isn’t widely available yet, but reviewers say it’s the state of the art in agenting—carrying out tasks like an assistant without prompting. The lawyerly disclaimer shows the risks (besides giving Google everything): “Check responses. Supervise closely, interrupt when needed. Subscription required. Compatibility and availability vary.

Here’s how I work with a client. (See the graphic on the left.)

I schedule regular meetings over Zoom. The app called Otter.ai attends and creates a superior transcript along with paragraph summaries. Transcripts and my own notes go into Google Docs in a folder shared with the client.

At the end of each Zoom meeting, I either give the client homework, a short writing assignment—essentially a form to fill out—or sometimes they prefer having Otter do the homework assigning.

Their homework, along with the Google Docs, go into another app, NotebookLM. I then have NotebookLM organize the thoughts and ideas, though most of the time I end up doing much of that work myself. Then I prompt other AI models, such as Perplexity and Claude, on marketing ideas and the content itself. This stage feels a little like creative meetings with a junior staff. I then write up a proposal using as much of the client’s original language as possible, and then have Claude critique the draft.

BOOKS

Aristotle, On the Soul. The main source of my description of soul.

Jay Heinrichs, Aristotle’s Guide to Self-Persuasion. I reinterpret Aristotle’s soul theory here.

Katrina Manson, Project Maven. if you’re concerned about AI being used in warfare, read this well-reported account of the Pentagon’s work with the evil giant Palantir.

Save the Cat beats system. We used this method in the Storytelling workshop.

ARTICLES

New York Times (gift link), Coding After Coders: The End of Computer Programming as We Know It. This is the article I quote from in my talk. A must-read for anyone who works in the humanities.

Dario Amodei, Machines of Loving Graceand The Adolescence of Technology. Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, is the most thought actor in the industry. These two essays are canonic among developers. And you might like this video interview the Times did with Amodei.

New York Times (gift link), Political Campaigns Have No Idea What’s About to Hit Them

Here’s a slide show I did for a lecture in Chicago years ago. I propose a curriculum built around a New Trivium; the student would graduate with some sophistication in argumentation and collaboration (Rhetoric), communication across space and time (Grammar), and discrimination. (Logic as well as “decision metrics.”)

Hard Fork. By far the best podcast on AI. Insightful, hilarious.

I write a regular Substack newsletter on rhetoric, Aristotle’s Guide to Soul Moving.

And I’m on Linked In, Facebook, YouTube, and the usual other time-wasting places.

You can use the contact form here, though my email address is on the last slide of the deck.