I’ve been using Gemini 3 as my daily driver this week (more on that below). It is blowing my mind. It’s fast, it’s smart, and it’s helpful. View this email in your browser

The Weekly AI Briefing

🧑‍🏫 Latest AI thoughts, tools, and news from unburdn Quick Housekeeping: Before we get to the tech, I’m putting my money where my mouth is. I am currently matching donations to the University of Denver's business school up to $10,000. You give, I match. That is 100% immediate leverage on your money. Support Entrepreneurship: Donate Here Support Accounting (Wayne Shroyer): Donate Here The Main Idea: I’ve been using Gemini 3 as my daily driver this week. It is blowing my mind. It’s fast, it’s smart, and it’s helpful. But this shift made me zoom out and look at the market. We are witnessing the most vertiginous financial ascent in history with OpenAI, but we need to sober up. We might be watching a slow-motion collapse. (Yes, AI recommended “vertiginous”… I had to look up it 🤪) OpenAI rocketed from a non-profit lab to a $500 billion juggernaut. The narrative is intoxicating: They own the future of intelligence. But if you peel back the hype, you see a company caught in a "commoditization trap." They are burning billions on compute to sell a product—intelligence—that is rapidly becoming free. Think of it this way: OpenAI is trying to sell bottled water while its competitors (Microsoft, Apple, Google) are building the plumbing to deliver it to every tap for free. OpenAI has no moat. Consumer Front: I just switched to Gemini 3 with zero friction. If a subscription feels too pricey, users leave. Enterprise Front: Microsoft and Apple don’t need to make a profit on AI itself. They use AI to sell more cloud contracts and iPhones. OpenAI has to make a profit to survive; the others can subsidize the cost indefinitely. We have to consider the "WeWork Scenario." OpenAI could be the first mover that defined a category, only to be hollowed out by competitors who figured out how to actually monetize it. The eventual $1 trillion IPO might not be a coronation—it might be an exit strategy for investors before the market realizes the emperor has no clothes. Here's the play: Don't Marry a Model: Stop building your business workflows around a specific version of GPT. Build them around the capability. Be ready to switch providers tomorrow if the price or performance shifts. Own Your Data: The AI model is a commodity. Your proprietary data and your unique process are the only "moats" you have. Protect them. Diversify Now: If your entire business relies on one API from OpenAI, you are building on rented land. Test other models (like Gemini or Claude) immediately. PS: Keep reading for hot-takes on headlines, AI tools, and a personal story + pic

📰 AI News Worth Knowing

🔮 2026: The Year of the "Renaissance Developer" Amazon’s CTO predicts that by 2026, AI moves from a tool to a genuine partner in the "human loop." We aren't being replaced; we are being amplified. The "Renaissance Developer" will emerge—engineers who bridge human empathy with machine syntax. Read Here 🧊 The "Iceberg Index" vs. Doomsday An MIT study claims AI can already replace 11.7% of the US workforce. Sounds scary, right? Dig deeper. This is mostly in "safe" sectors like finance and logistics. My take: Disruption is coming, but it will be slower than the clickbait suggests. Read Here 🛍️ Try Before You Buy (Virtually) Perplexity now lets you upload a photo to create a digital avatar and virtually try on clothes. This is a massive shift for retail—AI showing you exactly how you look before you spend a dime. Read Here

🛠️ AI Tools You Need to Try

🚀 Gemini 3 What it is: My new daily driver. Why: If you are still "married" to ChatGPT, this is your wake-up call. Loyalty in AI is a weakness. Gemini 3 is showing early signs of SMOKING other models on performance. Go give it a try and MAFO (Mess Around Find Out). Link 📞 Google Agentic Calling What it is: Ask Google to call local businesses for you. Why: This is a wild opportunity to see "agents" in action. Let the AI sit on hold or ask about inventory while you do actual work. Try it and let me know if it works. Link 🧰 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. Subscribe

From the Field: 🕰️ Gears and Code

I'm obsessed with watches. I like cats, too—though not as much as my wife, who is borderline hoarding them. But looking at this photo of Izze and my watch, I see two worlds colliding. This is a modern "vintage” GMT Master II (Year 2000). It’s got the old soul—lug holes, jubilee bracelet—but the modern movement. It represents the end of an era. It is wild to think that I can spend my morning using Gemini 3—a state-of-the-art AI that could help cure cancer—and my afternoon admiring a bunch of gears and springs that just tell time. Technology is evolving at a breakneck speed, yet demand for mechanical watches has never been higher. We can have both. We can embrace the future without losing our appreciation for the mechanical past. And, why not throw a cat on top of things? 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