Sara Cox looked exhausted on her way through Leeds earlier. Amazing achievement for #childreninneed

vm.tiktok.com/ZNdEApstk/

Nice start to the morning!

Copy Exploration tooltip in GA4

I see Google's getting a bit jazzy with its tooltips this morning.

My dad (in his 80s) just asked me how to disable AI Overviews in Google because he finds them confusing and inaccurate. Showed him Web results and Duck Duck Go. Glad he knows the risks, but I wish there was an easier opt out in Google.

White mushrooms growing in grass

Perplexity told me to eat these.

Nice try, AI bot.

(Note: I am not planning to eat them and wouldn't even if someone said it was fine. So please don't @ me 😀)

A sleeping cat with Bengal/ tabby markings stretching out on an armchair

Pretzel says hello, long lost cousin

Binge-watching the new Alan Partridge series and the Substation section had me weeping. All-time best Partridge series?

Yes. Very creepy.

New email greeting inspo

Lush closed its UK stores, factories, and online operations today.

I didn’t realise until I saw the news on TikTok. Good on them for taking a stand.

Shops in ROI are closed tomorrow.

How Do We Optimize For Agents? Tests Using the Comet Browser Understanding the limits of Perplexity's Comet browser and what we need to do to optimize content for agents.

Some experiments using #Comet to browse the web, review content, and navigate complicated websites.

For content optimization, we can pick up some new tips by watching Comet as it browses.

www.clairebroadley.com/optimize-con...

Enjoying my second attempt at #Substack and doing much better this time around!

Content, SEO, and AI: contentrefresh.substack.com
Trends updates: explodingtopicsinsider.substack.com

Has the UK technology editor at the Guardian never come across custom GPTs? This is the kind of nonsense that sparks AI psychosis. Why is the Guardian publishing this.

Can a calculator suffer if you calculate a really big number?

President Trombe, 2017-2041 Your weekly update on content, SEO, and AI news

open.substack.com/pub/contentr...

My personal #Substack is back, with weekly updates about AI and SEO (primarily for writers and content marketers)

A great example of low-effort content here, directly from the Google team.

Exploding Topics Insider | Claire Broadley | Substack Discover Trends 12+ Months Before Everyone Else. Click to read Exploding Topics Insider, by Claire Broadley, a Substack publication. Launched a day ago.

A new #Substack and a new idea. Some insights and thoughts about the content we've been producing lately.

explodingtopicsinsider.substack.com

How Do We Optimize For Agents? Tests Using the Comet Browser Understanding the limits of Perplexity's Comet browser and what we need to do to optimize content for agents.

Some experiments using #Comet to browse the web, review content, and navigate complicated websites.

For content optimization, we can pick up some new tips by watching Comet as it browses.

www.clairebroadley.com/optimize-con...

America's Highest Earners Are Most Scared of AI Replacement AI's impact on the workforce is more complex than we thought

America’s highest earners are most concerned about being replaced by AI.

Some thoughts about why (and what happens if they’re right):

open.substack.com/pub/explodin...

Exploding Topics Insider | Claire Broadley | Substack Discover Trends 12+ Months Before Everyone Else. Click to read Exploding Topics Insider, by Claire Broadley, a Substack publication. Launched a day ago.

A new #Substack and a new idea. Some insights and thoughts about the content we've been producing lately.

explodingtopicsinsider.substack.com

Another example of AI chat bots and terrible UX, this time from #Barclays.

No other options to contact Barclaycard except via phone, and the lines are closed.

This is an obstacle, not an assistant.

The Hidden AI Workforce: 29% of Employees Pay for Their Own AI Tools As Bosses Provide No Training Our survey of 1,000+ AI users reveals who’s paying, who’s resisting, and why the highest earners fear AI the most.

I was honored to get input from @mariehaynes.bsky.social on the future of work:
explodingtopics.com/blog/ai-work...

AI's impact on work feels scary.

But I try to remember this: "Humanity will adapt, and the resilient will find incredible opportunities in this time of change."

29% Pay For Their Own AI Tools at Work Our AI survey statistic reveals hidden motivations for self-funding AI tools

29% of people are paying for the #AI tools they use at work.

But the bigger question is... why?

I spotted a really good Reddit discussion in the #ChatGPT subreddit. Wrote up some thoughts here:

explodingtopicsinsider.substack.com/p/29-pay-for...

Genuinely the 3rd time I’ve shared this today.

vm.tiktok.com/ZNdC4PxQx/

I try not to contribute to negative sentiment on the internet, but this is so prevalent now and needs to be called out. It impacts the disabled and the elderly disproportionately by making communication 10x more challenging.

If you’re going to use AI for customer-facing interactions, THINK. Whose problem are you solving? The company’s, or the customer’s? It needs to solve both.

The refusal to send an email here is an *intentional decision* to add friction.

Just because you CAN do this, doesn’t mean you should.

If your AI chat bot is a front end for your content and nothing more, get rid of it, because I guarantee customers hate it.

This one from Haven:

- can’t connect me to a real person out of hours
- can’t get my last surname right, because it doesn’t accept two words

Your employees are already using AI. It’s time to support them. Our survey of 1,000+ AI users reveals the gap between employee reality and management perception.

Your employees are already using AI. It’s time to support them.

Our survey of 1,000+ AI users reveals the gap between employee reality and management perception.

OK, I gave GPT-5 a chance but I’m back with Claude. I don’t have time to scroll 12 times to read one response. Even with a system prompt limiting the length, it just won’t stop.

It’s like Black Friday for AI hot takes.

Jokes aside: these are all good and worth reading.