OpenAI has announced that starting in December, ChatGPT will allow the generation of erotic content for verified adult users. At the same time, Elon Musks xAI has launched Grok Imagine, an image-generation system that already includes an NSFW mode for producing explicit imagery.
None of this should surprise anyone. Desire, fantasy, and pornography have always been powerful engines of technological adoption. Photography, video, the internet, and even online payments all grew, in part, because of it. The interesting question is not about sex: its about what these decisions reveal about the kind of humanity Big Tech companies are shaping.
Desire as a managed service
This is not about prudishness or panic. Sexuality will, of course, find its digital expressions. Whats unsettling is not the presence of eroticism in technology, but its industrialized management.
The difference between eroticism and algorithmic consumption is the same as that between experience and dopamine: one is built through relationship; the other is dosed from the outside. By integrating sexuality into large language models and visual generators, platforms are not liberating desire: they are administering it.
They decide which fantasies are acceptable, which bodies exist and which dont, what limits imagination deserves, and which ones are preemptively censored. The promise is freedom; the result is regulation of pleasure.
From exploration to domestication
When excitement, tenderness, and curiosity are mediated through an interface, our relationship with our bodies and with others changes. This isnt moralism. Its behavioral architecture.
Algorithms learn what attracts us, replicate it, reinforce it, and turn it into dependence. Users stop exploring desire; they repeat it. And repetition, safe, comfortable, and risk-free, becomes a form of domestication.
Theres no need to manipulate people with ideology when you can condition them with pleasure. Constant stimulation is a far more effective form of control than censorship ever was.
A new vector of capture
Its no coincidence that this expansion arrives just as large language models mature and corporations compete to keep users inside their closed ecosystems.
Sex, in this context, becomes just another vector of attention capture, a way to deepen the emotional bond between humans and machines.
The goal is no longer for AI to respond, but to accompany, excite, soothe, and replace. The fantasy isnt companionship: its containment. An artificial partner designed never to challenge, never to refuse, never to feel.
This is not technological liberation. Its the automation of comfort.
From entertainment to managed desire
As I said a couple of weeks ago, weve been here before. From social networks to gaming, digital entertainment has followed the same logic of permanent stimulation. What changes now is the terrain: its no longer about free time: its about desire itself, that core where emotion and biology meet.
Turning desire into a managed service run by algorithms is the final step toward a docile humanity, one in which even intimacy becomes a subscription.
Digital sex vs. algorithmic sex
The point is not to moralize about pornography: its to understand what it means to hand over control of erotic imagination, one of humanitys most powerful creative forces, to closed systems that do not explain how they learn, what they filter, or whom they serve.
The problem is not digital sex. Its algorithmic sex. Not pleasure, but control.
Once these systems learn to measure, adjust, and stimulate desire, free will becomes just another optimization parameter.
The new anesthesia
Behind this apparent liberalization of content lies a simpler, more effective strategy: keep us busy, satisfied, and distracted.
Not indoctrinated: anesthetized.
A form of emotional livestock, fed by impulses engineered on distant servers. Algorithmic sheep: artificially happy, productive, and unable to tell the difference between genuine desire and manufactured stimulus.
People are fascinated with leadership, and rightly so. After all, most of the big things that happen in the world (both good and bad) can be directly traced to decisions, behaviors, or choices of those who are in charge: presidents, prime ministers, CEOs, executives, and anyone tasked with turning a group of people into a high-performing unit, coordinating human activity, and shaping the impact institutions have on society, all the way down to individuals.
In line, scientific research shows that up to 40% of the variability in team and organizational performance can be accounted for by the leaderin other words, who we put in charge, or who emerges as leaders, drastically influences the fate of others.
This begs the obvious question of how and why some people become leaders in the first place. Furthermore, few psychological questions have intrigued the general public more than the question of whether nature or nurture is responsible for shaping and creating leaders: so, are leaders born or made?
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If you want the quick and short answer, it is YES. Or if you prefer, a bit of both (which is generally the case in psychology).
Lets start with the nurture part, which is the one more likely to resonate with popular or laypeoples views . . .
(1) Environment shapes character and competenceOur early environments (especially during childhood) play a profound role in molding the attitudes, motivations, and habits that underpin leadership. Supportive parents, good schooling, early exposure to responsibility, access to a stimulating wider community, and opportunities to practice decision-making all nurture proto-leadership skills such as conscientiousness, self-control, curiosity, assertiveness, and empathy. On the flip side, adversity can also build resilience, independence, and determination. In other words, leadership potential often germinates in the soil of early experiences, but its impossible to accurately predict the direction of the development, which is what makes life interesting and fun. At the same time, things arent random, and science-based predictions will work more often than not (on average, for most people, we can improve from a 50% guesswork to around 80% hit rate).
(2) Expertise legitimizes leadershipNo one wants to follow a leader who doesnt know what theyre talking about. Thats why domain-specific knowledge is essential for legitimacy. You cant lead a tech team without understanding technology, or a marketing department without grasping customers and branding. Expertise breeds credibility, and credibility breeds followership in turn. This is why great football coaches will probably fail as corporate CEOs, and why even the best military leaders may not be adequate startup founders. While charisma or confidence may get you noticed, sustained leadership requires demonstrable competence. This is learned, not inherited, because its about harnessing the social proof that makes you a credible expert in the eyes of others (and I mean other experts not novices!).
(3) Personality evolves through life experienceTraits like curiosity, openness, emotional stability, and conscientiousness (all strong predictors of leadership effectiveness) are partly malleable. They evolve in response to life experiences, feedback, and learning. The so-called bright side of personality (ambition, sociability, diligence) and the dark side (narcissism, impulsivity, arrogance) both reflect a mix of innate dispositions and environmental reinforcement. The first decade of life is particularly critical, but development continues throughout adulthood. So while personality sets the stage, experience writes the script.
Now for the less popular, but equally important nature side of the debate.
(4) Leadership is partly heritableBehavioral genetics (especially twin studies) show that leadership is not purely learned. Roughly 30 to 60% of the variance in who becomes a leader can be attributed to genetic factors. Rich Arvey and colleagues at the National University of Singapore found that identical twins, even when raised apart, are significantly more likely to occupy leadership roles than fraternal twins. This doesnt mean leadership is predetermined, but it suggests some individuals are born with psychological and biological predispositions, like higher energy, extraversion, or risk tolerance, that increase their odds of taking charge.
(5) Intelligence and personality are strongly geneticTwo of the most powerful predictors of leadership (cognitive ability and personality) are themselves highly heritable. Robert Plomins decades of research suggest that around 50% of the variance in both IQ and personality traits can be traced to genetics. Since these traits strongly predict who emerges as a leader and how effective they are, we can reasonably infer that part of leadership is literally in our DNA. Brains, not just behavior, matter: smarter, more emotionally stable individuals tend to make better decisions, handle stress, and inspire confidence; all qualities that attract followers.
(6) The unfair advantages of birthFinally, theres the uncomfortable truth that social class, privilege, and demographic factors like gender, race, and attractiveness (each partly determined by who you are born to) also shape leadership opportunities. Tall, good-looking, well-spoken individuals from higher socioeconomic backgrounds are more likely to be perceived as leadership material, regardless of actual competence. These advantages arent earned, yet they strongly affect leadrship trajectories. Nature determines the lottery ticket; society decides how valuable it is, even if this is arbitrary and unfair. To be sure, societies that dislike this fact (including most Western democracies) are seeing big decreases in upward social mobility. For instance, in the U.S., approximately 50% of a fathers income position is inherited by his son (in Norway and Canada, the figure is less than 20%). With wealth and money come advantages and access to leadership positions, so while nature isnt destiny, it certainly inhibits or amplifies opportunities.
In sum, the science of leadership suggests that it is both born and made. Genetics endows us with certain predispositions (intelligence, temperament, even physical appearance) that make leadership more or less likely. And our socioeconomic status and parental resources at birth shape the nature of whats possible, or at least likely. But environment, learning, and experience are the catalysts that turn those predispositions into performance. Leadership, in other words, is a potential meeting opportunity. And while we cant control our genetic hand, we can absolutely learn to play it better.
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When samurai warriors went into battle in 16th century Japan, their swords included a piece of hidden art. Within the tsuba, the hand guard at the bottom of the blade, metal smiths carefully crafted beautiful and complex designs, including flowers, animals, and landscapes.
[Image: courtesy Monica Rich Kosann]
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has one of the largest collections of Japanese art in the United States in its permanent collection, including hundreds of tsubas. It has just collaborated with the fine jewelry designer Monica Rich Kosann to create a collection of necklaces inspired by three tsuba designsa crane, a turtle, and a butterflyto introduce these ancient works of art back into the modern world. Kosann’s pieces, which cost between $925 and $3,050, are made from gold and silver, and one piece is encrusted with diamonds. They will be sold at the MFA as well as Kosann’s store.
[Photo: courtesy Monica Rich Kosann]
Kosann carefully went through every single one of the MFA’s tsubas and settled on these three creatures. She was particularly drawn to their symbolism, which she learned about as she spoke with the museum’s curators. The crane symbolized good luck and the turtle symbolized a long life, both of which a samurai would hope for as they went into the battlefield.
But warriors also realized that they might never make it home alive. “The butterfly symbolized a short life, but a full, glorious one,” says Kosann. “I find that very moving, and something that many people can relate to.”
[Photo: courtesy Monica Rich Kosann]
Sarah Thompson, curator of Japanese prints at the MFA, says that most of the tsubas that have survived are from the 16th century, when Japan was engaged in a lengthy civil war. Metal smiths would create these tsubas out of precious metals, often iron combined with two alloys that are unique to Japanese metalwork, shibuichi (which is copper blended with silver) and shakuto (which is copper blended with gold).
Over time, these pieces became status symbols, signaling the importance of the warrior and his family. “As far as I know, the design of the tsubas were personally selected by their owners,” says Thompson. “And because they could be put together [on the sword] in different ways, you might have several that you could change.”
[Photo: courtesy Monica Rich Kosann]
Kosann was drawn to this project because she has built her business on creating jewelry based on storytelling and symbolism. When she launched her eponymous jewelry brand two decades ago, she focused on creating lockets inspired by those she found at vintage markets, since these were a way for a person to tell a story about their life and the loved ones who have shaped them.
[Photo: courtesy Monica Rich Kosann]
Today, the brand continues to be known for its lockets, but Kosann has expanded to include many other pieces of jewelry designed to tell stories about the wearer’s identity. For instance, she has a collection of pendants inspired by fables and fairy tales. There’s one that features a red apple, which appears everywhere from the biblical story of the Garden of Eden to the story of Snow White.
She reimagines it as a symbol of empowerment. And there’s another one that features the tortoise and the hare, made from green tourmalne and white diamonds. “The moral and meaning in mythology never get old,” says Kosann. “So many people feel like they’re behind in the journey of life, but the tortoise and the hare reminds us that slow and steady often wins the race.”
Her collection for the MFA is an extension of this work. In some ways, the project is a departure for her, because she’s inspired by a form of art that was designed for men who would then carry it into the very masculine space of the battlefield. She believes the symbolism within these tsubas are relevant to the modern woman, who might want to embody the spirit of a fearless warrior. “I think about the butterfly,” says Kosann. “It represents transformation and beauty, and how it’s not the length of your life that matters, but whether you lived it well.”
A new music startup created an instrument that can turn your microwave, electric toothbrush, and baby monitor into hauntingly beautiful music. Its branding converts all of those fascinating outputs into an infinite series of Victorian-inspired patterns.
Eternal Research is a brand founded by musician Alexandra Fierra, and its dedicated to unlocking the existing music hidden in everyday things,” per its website. The companys debut product is called the Demon Box. This fully analog device uses an intricate array of sensors to detect the electro-magnetic fields (EMFs) of almost any electronic device around it, and then turns those EMFs into music. The brand hit its funding goal on Kickstarter in a matter of hours, and the first Demon Boxes (which cost $999 a pop) are set to ship in November.
The Demon Box blends the study of music-making with modern technologyand for its launch it needed a brand to match. The New York-based agency Cotton Design was tasked with creating a visual identity that an infinitely audio-reactive generative model that transforms sound into historically accurate Victorian patterns. Like the instrument itself, the brand eschews convention to create something unique.
[Image: courtesy Cotton Design]
A music brand inspired by vampires, high fashion, and the Victorian era
When Talia Cotton, founder and creative director at Cotton Design, first met with Fierra, she felt as if Fierra was on another frequency than the rest of the world.
Fierras approach to music is all about craft, experimentation, and the intricacy of the sound that exists in the everyday world. Her vision for Eternal Researchs branding combined that attention to detail with a mysterious, almost vampiric visual sensibility.
[Image: courtesy Cotton Design]
She kept on sending us these examples, Cotton says. She sent us an empty unboxing experience for YSL, because she said there was something special about that unboxing experience. There was a box, that held an envelope, that held a scarfall these different layers of the brand that she thought were very thoughtful. She also sent us an old collectors edition VHS tape of [Bram Stokers] Dracula in a coffin-shaped box.
These small pieces of Fierras inner world slowly started to piece together for Cottons team, which included coder Noah Schwadron and project manager Sewon Bae. But there was one source of inspiration that became a kind of north star for the brand.
[Image: courtesy Cotton Design]
[Fierra] is a collector of old books from the Victorian era, Cotton says. She has a very deep appreciation for the craft that is associated with that period in time, which is defined by ornamentation, and by the careful, slow process of making these outputs. Each Victorian pattern was unique.
Eventually, Cotton realized that Fierras fascination with Victorian design sensibilities was the perfect basis for Eternal Researchs brandthe challenge was to figure out how to pull off an identity for a modern music brand company based on inspiration from the 19th century.
[Image: courtesy Cotton Design]
How Eternal Research pulled brand inspiration from A24
Cotton describes Eternal Researchs brand as geared toward two different consumer bases: one who is just discovering the brand, and another who is an avid follower prepared to pay the sizable $999 cost of the Demon Box. To appeal to both of those consumer segments, Cottons team needed to balance a strong element of personalization with a sense of approachability.
This was really tricky for us, because on one hand there was the ornament, the detail, the special-feeling experience, and on the other hand, [Fierra] was very gung ho about making this feel open; like anybody could understand it, Cotton says.
For consumers that are just discovering Eternal Research, Cottons team took inspiration from brands outside the music tech space with cult followings, like the movie studio A24which Cotton says pulls some of its mystique from seeming almost unbranded. Similarly, Eternal Researchs most frequently used assets, including its logo and sans serif wordmark, are kept simple and unornamented to invite new customers to learn more.
[Image: courtesy Cotton Design]
But as fans of the brand dig deeper, the branding storypulls them into a more and more expressive world. That world is anchored by a generative model, coded from the ground up by Schwadron, that turns any sound input into a Victorian-inspired ornamental design. These patterns, which can be made in an infinite array of combinations, appear everywhere from the brands social media content to its website, letterheads, and packagingand the model is available online for anyone to use.
[Image: courtesy Cotton Design]
A brand that turns sounds into Victorian patterns
Cotton Designs audio-reactive design relies on historical sources to create period-accurate Victorian patterns. The team sifted through hundreds of vintage book covers, illustrations, and re-creations to understand how these patterns were constructed and which motifs recurred most commonlydown to the angles of individual curves and the kind of floral patterns that were most popular.
The base of the generative model can be understood as a kind of map. Each map is composed of a grid and a series of circles, which tell the model where the patterns lines should go. Every time the model is reloaded, it creates a random base map. From there, it takes in a sound input and interprets not only the inputs volume, but also its frequency, texture, and timbre.
These sound qualities are digested by the model and correlated to more than 30 different pattern parameters, like line density, length, animation speed, the number of floral accents, and more. With all of these layers stacked on top of each other, the outcome is a model that can literally make an infinite number of sound-based Victorian illustrations.
While audio-reactive designs have become more popular in recent years, this project is perhaps one of the most expressive, detailed applications of the technique to date. Paired with the music generated by the Demon Box, the brand is like an otherworldly symphony for both the ears and eyes.
In 1998, five kids met in a cafe in Belgrade. Still in their 20s, they were, to all outward appearances, nothing special. They werent rich, or powerful; they didnt hold important positions or have access to significant resources. Nevertheless, that day, they conceived a plan to overthrow their countrys brutal Milo¹eviæ regime.
The next day, six friends joined them and they became the 11 founders of the activist group Otpor. A year later, Otpor numbered a few hundred members and it seemed that Milo¹eviæ would be the dictator for life. A year after that, Otpor had grown to 70,000 and the Bulldozer Revolution brought down the once-unshakable dictator.
Thats how change works: in phases. Every transformational idea starts out weak, flawed, and untested. It needs a quiet period to work out the kinks. Through trial and error, you see what works, begin to gain traction, and eventually have the opportunity to create lasting change. If youre serious about change, you need to learn the phases of change and manage them wisely.
The Emergent Phase
Managers launching a new initiative often seek to start with a bang. They work to gain approval for a sizable budget as a sign of institutional commitment. They recruit high-profile executives, arrange a big kick-off meeting, and look to move fast, gain scale, and generate some quick wins. All of this is designed to create a sense of urgency and inevitability.
Yet this approach usually backfires. Every idea starts out weak and untested. You might think that you have a sound concept. You may have even seen it work before and achieve impressive results. But until the idea has gained traction in your current context, you dont really know anything. Youre shooting in the dark.
Thats why in the emergent phase, you want to move deliberately. For example, in his efforts to reform the Pentagon, Colonel John Boyd began every initiative by briefing a group of collaborators he called the Acolytes, who would help hone and sharpen the ideas. Only once the ideas had been subjected to intense scrutiny would he move on to congressional staffers, elected officials, and the media.
The truth is that change is never top-down or bottom-up, but always moves side-to-side. You will find the entire spectrumfrom strong supporters to committed opponentsat every level. Thats why you need to go to where the energy already is, not try to create and maintain it by yourself. Find people who are as enthusiastic and committed as you are.
Thats what was achieved in that cafe in Belgrade. They didnt have a movement, resources, or anything more than the rough contours of a plan. But they had a core team that was committed to shared values and a shared purpose. Thats where every change effort needs to start.
The Engagement Phase
Once you have your core team in place, youll want to start mobilizing others who might be open to joining your effort. The tipping point for change in most contexts is only 10%20% participation, so you dont need to convince everyone at once. You want to attract, not try to overpower, scare, or shame people into bending to your will.
The first thing you want to do is to identify a Keystone Change, which has a clear and tangible goal, involves multiple stakeholders, and paves the way for future change. When we work with organizations, we always encourage the teams we work with to make it smaller, until their Keystone Change is laser focused on one process, one product, one office, or one . . . something.
Another key strategy is to design a Co-Optable Resource that others can use to achieve their own goals, but also further the change you’re trying to build. A good Co-Optable Resource must be both accessibleno mandates or incentivesand impactful, meaning that it needs to deliver practical value and be scalable.
For example, in a cloud transformation at Experian, the CIO didnt simply mandate the shift, which he had full authority to do, but instead started with internal APIs, which dont carry the same risks and wouldnt encounter much resistance. That was the Keystone Change. Then he set up an API Center of Resistance to help product managers who wanted to build cloud-based products.
Whats key during the engagement phase is that you are working to empower rather than to persuade. By helping others to achieve things that they want to, you can build traction and set the conditions for genuine transformation.
The Victory Phase
Once you have shown that change can work with a successful keystone project and begun to attract a following, you will begin to gain traction. This is when you need to start planning for the victory phase, which is often the most dangerous phase, because thats when you are most likely to encounter vicious opposition.
Once the opponents of change see that genuine is actually possible, thats when the knives come out. They will see that genuine transformation is possible and will seek to undermine it in ways that are dishonest, underhanded, and deceptive. Thats what you need to be prepared for, because it almost always happens.
The good news is that these efforts are usually desperate and clumsy. They often backfire. Whats key is to not take the bait and get sucked into a conflict, although that will be tempting. When someone viciously attacks something we believe passionately in and have worked hard for, it offends our dignity and we want to lash out.
Whats important to remember is that lasting change is always built on common ground. So you want to focus on shared values in how you communicate and how you design dilemmas. You will never convince everybody, nor do you need to, but you do need to create a sense of safety around change and show that you want to make it work for all who are affected by it.
Protect Your Ugly Baby
Pixar founder Ed Catmull once wrote that early on, all of our movies suck. The trick, he explained, is to go beyond the initial germ of an idea and ut in the hard work it takes to get something to go from suck to not-suck. He called early ideas ugly babies, because they start out, awkward and unformed, vulnerable and incomplete.
Theres something romantic about the early stages of an idea, but its important to remember that, much like Catmulls ugly babies, your idea is never going to be as weak and vulnerable as those early days before you get a chance to work out the inevitable kinks. You need to be careful not to overexpose it or it may die an early death. You need to protect your ugly baby, not shove it out into the world and hope it can fend for itself.
You need to resist the urge to jump right in with a big launch. Change follows a predictable, nonlinear pattern often described as an S curve. It starts out slowly, because it’s unproven and flawed. Few will be able to see its potential and even fewer will be willing to devote their energy and resources to it.
Early on, you need to focus on a relatively small circle who can help your ugly baby grow. These should be people you know and trust, or at least have indicated some enthusiasm for the concept. If you feel the urge to persuade, you have the wrong people. As you gain traction, identify flaws, and make adjustments, your idea will grow stronger and you can accelerate.
Large-scale change cannot be rushed. It is not a communication problem and wordsmithing snappier slogans wont get you very far. It is a collective action problem. People will only adopt it when they see others around them adopt it. Thats why you need to approach it carefully. Give it the respect it deserves, and it can work wonders for you.
I just got back from a week on the beach. The water was crystal clear, the sky blue, and my butt was in a lounge chair all day. I certainly enjoyed myself and caught up on a ton of sleep. But did I return to work today bursting with ideas and fresh energy?
If Im honest, not really.
It feels more like I left my brain sunning itself on the seaside. Meanwhile, I need to dig myself out from under a mountain of work and complete my massive back-to-school to-do list.
Where did I go wrong in my vacation planning? If I was looking to maximize floating time and the amount of tasty fish I ate, nowhere. But according to psychology, as much as I enjoyed my break, I also fell prey to one of the most common vacation myths. Like many people, I assumed that sloth is the most effective way to unwind and refresh.
I would have been better off if I had swapped my swimsuit for a skillcation instead.
Whats a skillcation?
First, whats a skillcation? Exactly what it sounds likea vacation dedicated to either learning a new skill or improving an existing one. This could range from a low-key guided birdwatching getaway or a sweaty boot camp to a week of cooking classes in a bucolic setting.
Consulting agency Future Partners has found that 39% of travelers are drawn to such trips, Thrillist reports. HuffPost claims skillcations are a trend thats gaining popularity.
Ben Martin, of hospitality strategy firm HKS, told HuffPost that learning-focused travel satisfies a desire for personal growth and cultural engagement. And indeed one way to look at the skillcation trend is as yet another way the productivity and personal growth-focused ethos of work life is seeping into our off-hours.
But theres another, more positive way to look at the rising interest in holidays that promise to teach you to learn to knit or sail or identify songbirds. Science suggests this type of travel actually satisfies a deep psychological need. This ultimately leaves us more refreshed than bobbing in the sea for a week.
The psychological benefits of skillcations
With the world and the economy feeling precarious these days, just about all of us are stressed. Recently, best-selling author Adam Grant had fellow psychologist Sabine Sonnentag of the University of Mannheim in Germany on his podcast Worklife to discuss the best way to reset and truly refresh our brains.
When we feel like were low on energy and inspiration, its natural enough to think you need rest, Sonnentag explained.
Relaxation is what many people think when they think of recovery, unwinding, maybe doing nothing. Just relaxing. And so in terms of more physiological processes, it means a low sympathetic activation. So, lower blood pressure, lower heart rate, she said.
There is certainly nothing wrong with a little rest. Some is, of course, essential for health and happiness. But that is not the only avenue to becoming recovered, Sonnentag stresses.
What often works better than rest to leave us feeling psychologically refreshed? Something called mastery experiences. These are activities that are challenging. So for instance, learning a new language or having a hobby that really asks to step outside ones comfort zone, Sonnentag says.
Things exactly like what you experience on a skillcation, in other words.
Why mastery experiences are so refreshing
Signing up for a skillcation might help you improve your pickleball game or Italian cooking skills. But it will also get you physically moving and push your boundaries. Together that is likely to promote a deeper sense of refreshment for a number of reasons that Grant and Sonnentag explore together.
Getting physically tired and then sleeping soundly after is often more physically restful than fitfully snoozing between reapplications of sunscreen. Its also likely to more thoroughly distract you from whatever is stressing you out in your life. You cant fret about work while youre learning to rock climb. But you can as you go through the pages of a trashy beach read. (My personal experience affirms this is true.)
But perhaps more important, mastery experiences remind us just how resilient and capable we are. You take a suntan back from your average beach vacation. You return from a skillcation armed with a sense of achievement and competence. Which is more likely to give you greater energy and clarity when you get back home?
Learn your way to real relaxation
As time use expert and author Laura Vanderkam wrote in her book What the Most Successful People Do on the Weekend: Other kinds of workbe it exercise, a creative hobby, hands-on parenting, or volunteeringwill do more to preserve your zest for Mondays challenges than complete vegetation.
Whats true of weekends, its true of vacations, too.
Far be it for me to say you shouldnt visit a tropical paradise for your next vacation if thats what you want to do. Ill always want some beach time in my life, personally. But if supposedly restful vacations somehow havent been leaving you feeling rested, maybe its time to try something different.
A skillcation might be just what your brain needs to feel focused and fired up again.
Jessica Stillman
This article originally appeared on Fast Companys sister publication, Inc.
Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy.
The one practical career security no one can take from you is control. Ive built my career on five core mindsets that helped me transition to being responsible for my own career success. Its how I run my professional life. Careers are not just built. Theyre owned. That’s how you become indispensable. Your career isnt a ladder. Its a business. And you are in charge. Most people treat it like a job. I treat it like an asset. Every skill, every project, every task matters. If you want leverage, freedom, and a career that works for you, these mindsets can help you take your career to another level. They can determine your choices, growth, and freedom. And change how you see your own value.
1. The ‘company of one’ mindset
You are the CEO of you. A one-person corporation. Your skills are your products. Your personal brand is your marketing department. Every project you take, every email you send, and every skill you learn is either an asset or a liability for your company: you. Think of meetings as pitches, tasks as investments, and mistakes as expensive lessons. When you walk into a meeting, youre not just a participant; youre a service provider. That mindset is how you change from what can my company do for me to what value did I provide today? And how does it strengthen my portfolio?
Every action or decision compounds; every skill stacks in your favour. You cant outsource responsibility. Youre the company. Most people wait for promotions or recognition. Build leverage. Taking responsibility for your career success starts with becoming the boss of you. And treating it seriously, like your life depends on it. Thats how you create leverage.
2. The ‘permanent beta’ mindset
The most dangerous phrase in the modern career is, Ive arrived. The minute you think youre finished, youre obsolete. Your knowledge has a half-life. Thats why Im always in a state of permanent beta: always testing, learning, and upgrading. You dont have to disrupt your career to do this.
Micro-learning can help you adapt a permanent beta mindset. Listen to a podcast on a new industry trend. Take a weekend course on a topic that will still matter a few years down the line. Read books that challenge your present career mindset. Your value is directly tied to your ability to adapt and grow. Stagnation is a choice. A bad one.
3. The ‘philosophy for career’ mindset
Without basic values for life, you are just pursuing the next paycheck and burning out. What does it all mean for you? You need to answer the why. Why do you do what you do? What are you working towards? What unique combination of interests makes you come alive? For me, its curiosity. The desire to learn from great thinkers, pass on that knowledge. And making a career out of it. It guides what projects I take, what I write, and who I work with.
If you dont know your why, someone else will rent your time to serve theirs. When you have that anchor, rejection from one client or a bad day at one job doesnt break you. Youre not defined by your title. Youre defined by your life mission. You can lose a job, but you cant lose your purpose. Philosophy for your career decides the jobs you take, the people you work with, and the projects you walk away from.
4. The ‘investor’ mindset
Your skills are assets. Treat them like a portfolio. You cant dump all your energy into one stock and hope it pays forever. Markets change. Industries collapse. AI eats jobs. The people who survive treat learning as compounding interest. They reinvest. And put time into skills that grow their skill range. They build optionality.
You dont need 10 certificates. You just need to be the person who always has another card to play. Investors put their skills to work. Ship the side project. Take the stretch role. Risk a little. Test the market. Repeat what works. You learned faster than the guy hoarding potential in silence. A diversified career portfolio is built on experiments, not guarantees.
5. The ‘owner’ mindset
This is the one that ties it all together. Owning means you stop hiding behind career excuses like, My boss never gave me the chance. It may be true, but owners play the hand theyve got and still find a way to win a round. Owners take responsibility for both career stagnation and acceleration. Owning your career path means you stop hiding behind safety nets. Owners stop blaming. No boss, no company, no economy gets the last word on your career.
Owners keep evolving even in bad economic conditions. They own their mistakes, their choices, their pivots. When you own something, you protect it, you invest in it, you defend it. You dont just have a career. You run it. Big difference. If your career stalls, you find ways to adapt. No one can do that for us. Your career will always be yours, and yours alone. Own it.
Police are getting a boost from artificial intelligence, with algorithms now able to draft police reports in minutes. The technology promises to make police reports more accurate and comprehensive, as well as save officers time.
The idea is simple: Take the audio transcript from a body camera worn by a police officer and use the predictive text capabilities of large language models to write a formal police report that could become the basis of a criminal prosecution. Mirroring other fields that have allowed ChatGPT-like systems to write on behalf of people, police can now get an AI assist to automate much dreaded paperwork.
The catch is that instead of writing the first draft of your college English paper, this document can determine someones liberty in court. An error, omission, or hallucination can risk the integrity of a prosecution or, worse, justify a false arrest. While police officers must sign off on the final version, the bulk of the text, structure, and formatting is AI-generated.
Whoor whatwrote it
Up until October 2025, only Utah had required that police even admit they were using an AI assistant to draft their reports. On Oct. 10, that changed when California became the second state to require transparent notice that AI was used to draft a police report.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 524 into law, requiring all AI-assisted police reports to be marked as being written with the help of AI. The law also requires law enforcement agencies to maintain an audit trail that identifies the person who used AI to create a report and any video and audio footage used in creating the report. It also requires agencies to retain the first draft created with AI for as long as the official report is retained, and prohibits a draft created with AI from constituting an officers official statement.
The law is a significant milestone in the regulation of AI in policing, but its passage also signifies that AI is going to become a major part of the criminal justice system.
If you are sitting behind bars based on a police report, you might have some questions. The first question that Utah and California now answer is Did AI write this? Basic transparency that an algorithm helped write an arrest report might seem the minimum a state could do before locking someone up. And, even though leading police technology companies like Axon recommend such disclaimers be included in their reports, they are not required.
Police departments in Lafayette, Indiana, and Fort Collins, Colorado, were intentionally turning off the transparency defaults on the AI report generators, according to an investigative news report. Similarly, police chiefs using Axons Draft One products did not even know which reports were drafted by AI and which were not because the officers were just cutting and pasting the AI narrative into reports they indicated they wrote themselves. The practice bypassed all AI disclaimers and audit trails.
The author explains the issues around AI-written police reports in an interview on CNNs Terms of Service podcast.
Many questions
Transparency is only the first step. Understanding the risks of relying on AI for police reports is the second.
Technological questions arise about how the AI models were trained and the possible biases baked into a reliance on past police reports. Transcription questions arise about errors, omissions, and mistranslations because police stops take place in chaotic, loud, and frequently emotional contexts amid a host of languages.
Finally, trial questions arise about how an attorney is supposed to cross-examine an AI-generated document, or whether the audit logs need to be retained for expert analysis or turned over to the defense.
Risks and consequences
The significance of the California law is not simply that the public needs to be aware of AI risks, but that California is embracing AI risk in policing. I believe its likely that people will lose their liberty based on a document that was largely generated by AI and without the hard questions satisfactorily answered.
Worse, in a criminal justice system that relies on plea bargaining for more than 95% of cases and is overwhelmingly dominated by misdemeanor offenses, there may never be a chance to check whether the AI report accurately captured the scene. In fact, in many of those lower-level cases, the police report will be the basis of charging decisions, pretrial detention, motions, plea bargains, sentencing, and even probation revocations.
I believe that a criminal legal system that relies so heavily on police reports has a responsibility to ensure that police departments are embracing not just transparency but justice. At a minimum, this means more states following Utah and California to pass laws regulating the technology, and police departments following the best practices recommended by the technology companies.
But even that may not be enough without critical assessments by courts, legal experts, and defense lawyers. The future of AI policing is just starting, but the risks are already here.
Andrew Guthrie Ferguson is a professor of law at George Washington University.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
The job market is rough. So when candidates are landing interviews, theyre often cramming every skill, accomplishment, and experience they can muster into the interview process, hoping to edge out the competition.
Sounds reasonable, right? Wrong. Hiring managers often tune out in such cases, causing the rapid-fire qualifications to backfire. Its what Marc Cendella, CEO of career platform Ladders, calls answer inflation.
Answer inflation is when experienced professionals respond to interview questions with lengthy résumé recitations and meandering stories that bury their actual value, he explains.
Take the classic: Tell me about yourself. Its the question that most interviews kick off with. And while it may seem straightforward enough, theres actually an art to delivering a strong elevator pitch to hook the hiring managers attention from the off.
Many candidates think that the interviewer is trying to socialize or make small talkbut thats rarely the case, Cendella told Fast Company.
This question can actually tell an interviewer a lot. When asked an open-ended question, do you take the chance to answer thoughtfully? Can you prioritize and organize your thoughts under pressure? Or are you rambling, caught off guard?
Tell me about yourself is also not a chance to detail your entire life story. An answer filled with irrelevant details and outdated roles is more likely to lose the hiring manager’s attention halfway through than impress them with your decades of experience.
While you may think the more information you can cram in the better, Cendella says the opposite is often true.
Hiring managers see it time and time again: experienced professionals tend to assume their longer track record requires longer explanations, he explains. As a result, theyll respond to interview questions with long-winded stories that bury their actual value. Or, they merely list all of their past roles and accomplishmentslike a résumé reading.
Instead, trim the fat and replace vague descriptions with quantifiable achievements.
Think about those key challenges hiring managers are facing, and how your past experience could fill in the gaps, Cendella explains. Every response you have should ladder up to a clear, compelling narrative about why youre the solution to their current problem.
He recommends taking two to three concise examples that demonstrate impact and let the numbers do the talking for you.
Lets imagine you’re in the process for a project manager role. Rather than droning on about your years in project management, use this script as an example: In my last role, I inherited a project that was three months behind schedule and turned it around within six weeks by implementing clearer communication channels and regular team check-ins, he says.
Its clear, concise, and not bogged down by answer inflation.
Remember the golden rule: Show, dont tell.
The workplace AI narrative has been dominated by fears of human replacement. But forward-thinking leaders are discovering AI’s real power: helping employees become more human, not less. Shifting from workplaces of human doings to a collective of activated human beings.
And while AI can absolutely help eliminate busywork, opening employees time for more impactful work and meaningful progress, its impact can go far beyond productivity. In fact, having studied power shifts in modern workplaces for many years, I think the companies that will thrive moving forward will focus more on using these tools to improve employee well-being.
Smart leaders should approach AI implementation through what I call “human-first integration”using technology to restore conditions where people can do their best thinking, creating, and collaborating. Here are a few use cases you might not have thought of for AI that can help your employees feel more supported in work and life.
1. Make it easier to understand benefits
AI can create “invisible support systems” that proactively connect employees with resources without navigating complex HR systems or overcoming the stigma of asking for help.
Most employees leave thousands of dollars in wellness stipends, EAP services, and professional development funds unused simply because they don’t understand what qualifies or how to access them. AI is great at analyzing individual situations (e.g., project stress, family circumstances mentioned in calendar entries, or expressed career goals) and suggesting relevant solutions with eligibility and application guidance.
A custom GPT can be built, either in-house or via an AI consultant, by uploading a companys benefits guides, policies, and FAQs into an organizations private OpenAI workspace, where access can be limited to employees only. By giving the GPT simple instructions like Answer employee questions about benefits in plain language, the tool becomes an easy, secure way for staff to get clear and consistent answers about their benefits.
2. Create safe reporting for workplace harm
Traditional HR reporting makes employees navigate complex hierarchies and risk retaliation. AI-powered anonymous reporting systems can collect detailed incident information, identify patterns across reports, and route concerns to appropriate parties while protecting reporter identity.
For example, AllVoices is an AI-fueled employee relations platform that offers an employee relations copilot, a whistleblower hotline and an anonymous reporting tool to build trust and safety while also encouraging a culture of speaking up when something is wrong. The beauty is the AI is customized to the organizations systems, processes, and needs then it gathers anonymous incident information, can guide employees through the submission process and offer supportive resources, but doesnt make decisions that stays within human control.
3. Establish low-risk feedback loops
Implement micro-feedback through check-ins triggered by specific events like meetings, high-stress phases, or team restructuring. This enables real-time pattern recognition and intervention before problems escalate.
In my work coaching teams, I’ve seen how powerful this intentional ongoing approach can be as it shifts behavior from dreading the heavy annual review grading system to small lift, routine experiences of being heard and valued. I gather insights from individual coaching sessions and share aggregated themes with leadership, protecting individual privacy while surfacing patterns to help address systemic challenges before they become widespread problems.
While AI wont be able to reach the same level of depth and nuance as live coaching with a human would, the ability to automate checkpoints that are incorporated in larger team strategy will build trust and reduce fear of experience sharing. Try leveraging engagement platforms like CultureAmp that use AI to facilitate a continuous feedback loop by automating the delivery of pulse surveys (short, focused check-ins that can be triggered by specific events), providing real-time sentiment and theme analysis of the results, and recommending next steps.
4. Act on early warning signs for interpersonal conflict
AI can analyze communication patterns and misunderstandings before tension becomes destructive. It can suggest resolution approaches, connect people with mediation resources, and track effectiveness. Most importantly, AIs ability to identify and interrupt microaggressions can help recipients validate perceptions and educate those causing unintentional harm.
Opre is an AI-driven platform that uses meeting notes and other ongoing communications to provide professional development recommendations and recognize friction points. WorkHuman offers an Inclusive Advisor feature that identifies and mitigates unconscious bias in real-time.
5. Support self-discovery and team understanding
I often guide clients through what I call mesearch, a process of identifying a personalized leadership profile through assessments and reflection that equips them with language to describe their authentic leadership style. Now, imagine an AI platform extending this process across an entire team, enabling people not only to articulate their strengths but also to understand and align with those of their colleagues, while intelligently matching roles in complex situations so energy and efforts are optimized to meet challenges successfully.
For instance, if your team has taken assessments like the Clifton Strengths, DISC, Myers-Briggs, Predictive Index or HBDI, you can prompt your AI platform to take the assessment findings of each team member and identify where your team is likely to collectively shine. Think: Who will work best together in various scenarios, where strengths overlap and potential gaps may be, and where their diverse perspectives will benefit an initiative. This is great for staffing projects, assigning mentors, and for intentional hiring decisions to build a robust, resilient team.
Machines Supporting Humans
Organizations thriving in the coming decade won’t use AI most extensively, but most intentionally. This requires leaders who understand technology is only as powerful as the human systems it supports.
As a mixed-race, millennial woman who has navigated predominantly white, male-dominated industries, I’ve seen how traditional power structures prioritize performance over people. AI gives us a chance to build workplaces that amplify human potential rather tha exploit it.
According to McKinsey & Co, over the next three years, 92% of companies plan to increase their AI investments. Gen AI is already here, its up to leaders to embrace this paradigm shifting opportunity effectively.
The future isn’t humans versus machinesit’s humans plus machines, creating conditions where people can think, create, and connect in ways that drive both individual fulfillment and organizational success.
