Unburdn AI: ‼️ Power users win. Period. NotebookLM is the most under-talked, over-performing AI tool I use weekly. It won’t replace ChatGPT View this email in your browser

The Weekly AI Briefing

🧑‍🏫 Latest AI thoughts, tools, and news from unburdn Housekeeping… We’ve got just a few dates left in December and we’re basically booked solid until January.

Main Idea:

NotebookLM is the most under-talked, over-performing AI tool I use daily. It’s not a replacer for ChatGPT. Think of it as a power tool that sits next to it. ChatGPT is your big, curious brain for brainstorming, writing, and code. NotebookLM is your AI research notebook that actually reads your stuff (Docs, Slides, PDFs, web pages, YouTube, even audio) and only talks about what’s inside… with citations and even Audio Overviews (a mini podcast that explains your materials fast). It’s the difference between a clever intern guessing and a paralegal who’s got the receipts. Please go try it right now. Here are ideas.

10 Ways to MAFO with NotebookLM

New-hire onboarding packs → Turn handbooks + SOPs into a guided brief + audio explainer. Sales enablement → Build product one-pagers & objection FAQs from decks/case studies—auto-cited. Customer support → Convert policy PDFs into searchable Q&A and quick-answer macros. Project kickoffs → Merge scope docs, emails (as PDFs), and links into a single source-of-truth notebook. Exec briefings → Shrink a 100-pager into a 1-page memo + audio overview for the leadership team. Compliance & policy digestion → Plain-language summaries with citations back to the rule text. Training & L&D → Study guides, flashcards, quizzes from manuals/slides (multi-language reports now supported). Research & analysis → Upload market reports & articles; ask targeted questions and pull quotes with links. Content repurposing → Turn webinars/YouTube into summaries, blog drafts, and social snippets. Meeting prep → Drop in agendas + prior notes; get checklists and talking points. Try it: https://notebooklm.google.com PS: Keep reading for hot-takes on headlines, AI tools, and a personal story + pic

📰 AI News Worth Knowing

🚀 Power users are lapping everyone Rank-and-file employees who master AI are impressing bosses and pulling away. The risk isn’t bots—it’s humans who use them better. Start building visible power-user wins. Read Here 💼 Powell finally says the quiet part (jobs ≈ flat) If you set 2026 hiring and wage envelopes, read this: AI capex is climbing while adjusted job creation is near zero. Plan for margin protection in a weaker-hiring, K-shaped economy. Read Here 📈 Will AI break the 2% rut—or Japan-style boom? The trillion-dollar fork: Is AI just sustaining 2% growth, or are we entering an “AI frontier” decade where GDP doubles? Useful framing for board planning and capex bets. Read Here 🔮 Economists vs. insiders: growth spread is wild Most economists see 0.1–1.5% annual AI lift through 2035; insiders say 3–30%. If you assume ChatGPT-today is the ceiling, you’ll under-invest. Staff like cheap PhD-level help changes the math. Read Here

🛠️ AI Tools You Need to Try

🎸 Suno What it is: Text-to-music that turns prompts into full songs. How to use it: Team culture & marketing—spin up parody anthems for offsites, ads, customer thank-yous, or internal hype. It’s instant morale. Try Suno 📝 Granola What it is: Turns your raw meeting notes into clean summaries and action items—no creepy bot joining the call. How to use it: Capture your own notes during calls; Granola converts them into a concise brief for follow-ups and tasking. Try Granola 🧰 Unburdn’s Vault. A curated library of AI tools mapped to Crawl → Walk → Run stages. Great cheat‑sheet for leveling up your team’s stack. Explore Here.

📢 Take Action

Depth beats novelty. Pick one tool, go deep, and let results do the talking. Book us with a “Reply” or go here[Subscribe

From the Field: 🛍️ “Curbside at Dillard’s” and the sunk-cost trap

Was on the road this week (surprise… right?). This time it was Oklahoma City, and if my host team is reading this: you were so amazing. The hospitality was just incredible. I love all of our clients and partners, but Jim + Team… THANK YOU! You went above and beyond to make it an amazing week. Then I learned that Dillard’s is still in business. Here’s a picture of me in front of their sign in a parking lot. They offer curbside service?!? Maybe I’m just not cool enough anymore to know that, haha. But seriously—who is buying stuff from Dillard’s online, driving there, and then picking it up in the parking lot? It got me thinking about a book I LOVE: Quit by Annie Duke. Maybe I’m being unfair with my assessment of Dillard’s… but maybe it’s also a lost cause. This looked like chasing sunk costs—spending time and money building infrastructure to keep a thing alive—when it might make more sense to call it a day and go do something with a better return. Of course, if Dillard’s wants to double down, I’m HAPPY to help with AI implementation. 🤪 Thanks for reading. 🙏 Copyright (C) 2025 AI for the Rest of Us LLC dba Unburdn. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe