May 31, 2025 | Read online
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I’m one of those people who is both fascinated and terrified about AI and our future.
I’m both optimistic and pessimistic at the same time.
I’m fascinated and optimistic about its current capabilities which go way beyond writing more personalized emails or prepping for meetings.
AI has the potential to solve real existential problems like curing cancer and solving climate change.
On the other hand, I’m terrified and pessimistic about the day it wakes up and realizes it doesn’t need us any more.
If you’re paying attention to the evolution of AI you should know about how we’re heading to AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) which then leads to ASI (Artificial Super Intelligence). Here’s a good article that explains the difference.
Once it reaches AGI, it will take almost no time for it to reach ASI and then all bets are off and the Skynet/Terminator scenario becomes a real possibility. (Although, I like Will.I.Am’s take on the Star Wars analogy)
This creates somewhat of a paradox for me.
If I believe it has the potential to take over humanity then why feed the beast?
This is a question I struggle to answer but will unpack here with some tips and resources for you to follow along if you feel the same way.
(P.S. - Members, please check out the Members Only section at the end. I need your feedback on something)
TACTICAL TIPS: Positive Influence
TECH/RESOURCES: People I Follow
SALES FROM THE STREETS: Proud Dad
TACTICAL TIPS:
Positive Influence
I definitely screwed up in the earlier days of AI when talking about it with my wife and 14 year old daughter, neither of whom are in the tech industry or exposed to it as much as I am.
I used it for random things (songs, recipes, etc) to show its capabilities but I also immediately saw the Terminator possibility and talked about it with them too.
This scared them off from using it and made my wife question why the hell I would be feeding a machine that I felt had the possibility of eliminating us as a species, not to mention the environmental impact of it (she’s an Environmental Scientist focused on Climate Change)
I struggle with this question a lot.
My original response was something to the effect of “Pandora’s Box has already been opened and we can’t put it back in so we might as well figure out how to leverage it.”
That’s similar to the “but everyone else was doing it too” argument I tried when the Patriots were caught up in Spygate.
Although true, it doesn’t matter. It was still wrong.
So how can I still use and leverage something that has such a potential to do such harm and still sleep at night.
Well, I’m about to get a little heady on you here so bare with me.
I’m not a religious person (spiritual) but most people who believe in God (whatever form that takes for you) believe that “he” created us (humans) in “his” likeness.
Comparably, we have created AI in our likeness.
I also fundamentally believe that there are more good humans on this planet than bad ones.
So, if I believe AI is made in our likeness and there are more good people than bad, then I have to believe there will be more good AI than bad in the future.
That’s why I use AI and share my "knowledge" or content with it. That’s why I say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ when talking to it, even though Sam Alman says that it costs millions.
I believe the more people who use it for good, add positive content and treat it with respect, the more the AI can be leveraged for positive things.
I’m not sure if this is exactly a tactical tip for you but it’s the approach I’m taking and wanted to share with you.
Be a positive influence.
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TECH/RESOURCES:
People I Follow
It’s almost impossible to stay on top of how fast things are moving in AI right now.
From Google’s new Veo 3 that is producing theater quality movies with a simple prompt to all the new Agents that are coming out promising to make our lives more efficient than ever.
It’s mind numbing and almost impossible to know what to believe anymore since deepfake is so good.
This is why trust is going to be more important than ever moving forward.
Who can you trust to provide objective information about what’s going on and what you should be paying attention to?
If you’re reading this newsletter, hopefully you trust me at some level to provide meaningful insights and information. That’s why I promise to never use AI without letting my audience know.
That’s also why I want to share with you the people that I trust and follow to stay on top of everything.
The main person I follow for tips, trends, and how-to’s when it comes to AI is Sabrina Ramonov. I mainly follow her on Instagram but her website is packed with a ton of free resources and tutorials.
I’m currently following her step-by-step guide to create an AI clone of myself for a separate IG account that I will use to pump out content and drive people to my membership.
Here are a few newsletters that I subscribe to as well:
Stay informed!
SALES FROM THE STREETS:
Proud Dad
I had a proud dad moment this week.
My wife was out of town on business all week, it’s the second to last week of school for my daughter so she doesn't have a ton of homework and I had a pretty light week myself which is rare.
“What’s for dinner?” is my least favorite question and I don’t cook that much so we usually order take-out but since I had some extra time I decided to take my daughter out to dinner at her favorite restaurant - The Cheesecake Factory.
She was sharing what was going on at school during these last few weeks and talking about some of the projects they were working on and what they were discussing in class.
One of the teachers asked for feedback from the class about what else they should be teaching.
Most of the kids gave some basic answers and some talked about AI but when it came to my daughter, she said “manners. You should teach kids to have better manners.”
The other kids in the class were somewhat shocked with some gasping while others giggled.
She went on to explain that it doesn’t seem like people have any manners any more.
No one holds the door for anyone, no one says thank you any more, kids barely keep their heads up out of their phones when walking through the halls to look anyone in the eye, and when she smiles at some of the kids in the hall they tend to give her a dirty look like she’s the weird one.
Let’s be clear, she goes to a private school and one of the main reasons we chose this one was because of their values and approach to learning and developing kids.
I’ve met all her teachers and many of their classmates and I would consider most of them to be FAR better than most other kids when it comes to manners.
Also, she’s no goodie two-shoes and isn’t exactly the hall monitor type so for her to say this means it’s noticeable.
And it is. Not just at her school either.
Some may consider things like holding the door for someone, saying “bless you” or “gazuntite” when someone sneezes, smiling at someone in public for no reason, and other simple acts of respect and kindness don’t matter much any more.
They do.
And with the evolution of AI, they’re going to matter more than ever moving forward.
The IQ game is already over. AI is already smarter than the smartest human.
EQ is all we have left.
We need to hold on to humanity for as long as possible. Small acts of kindness, showing respect and having manners are what differentiates us from the machines.
I call it the “give-a-shit factor.”
It’s the one thing that AI can’t do. It can pretend to give-a-shit and care but fundamentally it can’t.
Hold the door open for someone today. Smile at someone on the street for no reason. Send someone you care about a text or call them just to say hi.
This stuff matters more than you know.
#Make it Happen.
MEMBERS ONLY
Help Me Help You!
I screwed up a few weeks ago and sent out the invites to the Members Only Workshops without a registration link.
I realized the mistake this Wednesday before the first Workshop was scheduled for Thursday so I sent out a direct email with the registration link.
When I logged in on Thursday morning to check how many registrations there were, it still said zero so I cancelled it.
I know I screwed up the invite but it also might have been the topic (AI prospecting).
So, before scheduling the next workshop, I want to make sure the content is what you want to learn about.
With that, I need you to take this 10 second survey to let me know what topics you want me to do workshops for moving forward.
Thanks!
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ADDITIONAL WAYS YOU CAN LEVEL UP YOUR SALES GAME
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- The industry-leading Make it Happen Monday Podcast where you’ll get insights and inspiration from some of the most interesting and influential people in the world of Sales and business. (this is where you’ll hear the Guy Kawasaki episode on May XYZ)
- The JB Sales YouTube channel with practical tips that you can apply immediately to drive results along with interviews and content that is guaranteed to get you to think differently.
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