Kia ora {{ First name | friend }},
We’re exploring the light and shadow of technology, with a focus on efficient AI workflows to free up your time.
This week’s edition features:
Disney’s partnership with OpenAI
Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year” for AI builders
Privacy warnings for AI
Nano Banana Pro tips
ChatGPT Cheat Codes
PS: I missed last week’s email due to life’s busy-ness and family health issues, sorry about that.
Thanks for being here.
Feature: Disney Licenses it’s Characters to OpenAI
Disney just made a big move into generative video. The company signed a three year licensing agreement with OpenAI to bring Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars characters into Sora.
Basically, fans type a prompt, then Sora generates short social videos using official Disney IP. Some of those videos end up streaming on Disney+.
What’s included:
• Sora generates short fan prompted videos using over 200 licensed characters.
• Characters span Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars worlds.
• Environments, costumes, props, and vehicles included.
• ChatGPT Images creates fully generated images from text using the same IP.
• No actor likenesses or voices allowed.
• Curated Sora videos stream inside Disney+.
• Disney deploys OpenAI APIs across products and internal teams.
• ChatGPT rolls out for Disney employees.
• Disney invests $1B into OpenAI with additional equity warrants.
• Fan video generation starts early 2026.
So why did Disney do this?
Disney sees where content creation is heading. Fans already remix characters across TikTok, YouTube, and memes. Instead of fighting that behaviour, Disney now owns the rails. Official characters. Approved systems. Built in distribution. This also turns Disney+ into more than a streaming library. It becomes a living platform where fans participate in the story universe. Disney also sent Disney also sent a cease-and-desist to Google on the same day, accusing the OpenAI competitor of generating unauthorized Disney content at “massive scale”.
And what’s in it for OpenAI?
This marks the first major licensing partner for Sora. A global IP giant chose collaboration over lawsuits. OpenAI gains trust, distribution, and proof that generative media works with top tier rights holders. It also sets a template. Other studios now have a clear reference deal for navigating these kinds of complex IP arrangements.
The bigger symbol
This deal formalizes fan generated media as a first class category. Not bootleg content or fringe behaviour, but a supported layer inside major platforms. This means fans can directly contribute to the Disney universe now with custom scenes etc. Wild.
Both companies emphasize safety, creator rights, age controls, and protections around voice and likeness. Expect this structure to influence future studio AI deals.
Time Magazine named AI’s builders as “Person of the Year”
This is strangely ironic. TIME just chose the people building AI for its 2025 Person of the Year. Rather than a single figure, the award went to a group of influential AI leaders whose work shaped the world this year. How is it that (supposedly) psychopathic billionaires who are building artificial intelligence, got named as people of the year? There’s no indicator that they’re “good people” or that the building of AI warrants this sort of award/recognition.
Anyway, the cat’s out of the bag, so here’s the details:
TIME spotlighted the “Architects of AI” for pushing artificial intelligence from niche tech into everyday life.
This reflects how AI now affects coding, medicine, entertainment, business, politics, and global policy.
The group includes leaders behind major AI companies and breakthroughs.
TIME noted the dual nature of AI’s impact: massive potential benefits alongside real risks like misinformation, job shifts, and ethical challenges.
Choosing a collective instead of an individual underscores the widespread influence of AI development this year.
Why this matters for tech and creators:
This recognition is a signal that AI builders now shape global society on par with major political and cultural forces. It frames AI infrastructure and leadership as defining forces of the decade. This sets expectations for both innovation and responsibility as AI becomes central to product strategy, policy debate, and how people work and create.
The problem I see with this, and the glorification of these people in general, is the sensationalism that we’re still in with respect to AI’s development. It’s still too early in the game for widespread understanding of the negative implications of AI, and it’s very unlikely that these same “People of the Year” will be held accountable for those issues, when they do arise…
Here’s a few interesting technology updates:
Microsoft released GigaTIME, a new open-sourced AI model that pulls deep tumor insights from a standard $5 to $10 pathology slide. The model turns routine H&E tissue images into virtual immunofluorescence data across 21 protein markers. This replaces lab tests that often cost thousands of dollars and take days to run. Read more.
OpenAI, Anthropic, and Block co-founded the Agentic AI Foundation under the Linux Foundation. The goal is shared standards for AI agents, built in the open. Unlikely alliance is sure to see some more standards and regulation built in, particularly with Google, Microsoft, AWS, Bloomberg, and Cloudflare joining as supporting members. Learn more.
The Pentagon Goes All In on Generative AI, following a Trump presidential mandate to establish U.S. dominance in artificial intelligence. AI tools now reach every corner of the military enterprise. This will be interesting… Read more.
Core Devices just launched the Index 01, a $75 AI smart ring that records your voice and uses on device AI to turn spoken ideas into notes, reminders, or calendar events, all without subscriptions or internet access.
Amazon’s Ring is rolling out a new AI-powered feature called “Familiar Faces” that scans, stores, and recognizes faces of anyone who walks past a camera, with no sign-up or consent required. Marketed as smart home security, this is in reality a quiet but massive expansion of real-time, networked facial recognition. If you’ve ever walked past a Ring camera, your biometric data may already be in the system—without you ever knowing. What’s the worst that could happen? Check it out.
AI Glasses can now recognise anyone instantly in real-time, as displayed by these recent viral video from a Dutch journalist. This video sparked fierce debate about facial recognition technology and public privacy across Europe, just as major tech companies accelerate their push into the consumer wearables market. Read more or watch the full video (quick GIF below).
Old mate Bill Gates is at it again with his digital infiltration of our lives, now teaming up with the World Health Organisation, outlining a plan for a global digital ID system linked to lifelong vaccine tracking and AI-driven surveillance. It proposes integrating personally identifiable information with socioeconomic data—such as income, ethnicity, and religion—and using artificial intelligence to “identify and target the unreached” and “combat misinformation.” It also enables governments to require digital vaccine proof for access to education, travel, and services.. Check it out on the WHO website.
Nano Banana Pro Tips
Nano Banana Pro deserves another feature here. Here’s why it’s next level, in comparison to Midjourney or ChatGPT image. The weird thing is that Artlist.io just adopted, marking even more centralisation of internet creativity. I’ve been using Artlist for years, first the were just a royalty-free music library for video. Then they moved to stock footage. Now they’re in AI image generation… monopoly?
Text accuracy is miles better
Prompts follow properly
Style transfer is super clean
Multi-image merge is insane
VFX shots look Hollywood-level
Deaging and relighting is ridiculous
Technical diagrams are shockingly accurate
Here’s some ways you might like to use it:
1. Turn Artistic Portraits Photorealistic
Prompt: Make this stylized portrait photorealistic. Maintain likeness and lighting.
2. Continue A Comic Story
Prompt: Continue the story in the same art style, color palette and character poses.
3. Deage Yourself
Prompt: Make him look younger. Natural skin. Maintain facial structure.
4. Banana Ripeness Diagrams
Prompt: Create a visual chart showing banana ripeness from green to brown with accurate text.
5. Exploded Mechanical Diagrams
Prompt: Create an exploded view of this camera with technical labels.
6. Solve Problems On A Whiteboard
Prompt: Solve the problem and write the full step-by-step solution on a whiteboard.
7. Transform Any Image Into Ink, Knitted Or Other Styles
Prompt: Transform the entire image into an ink drawing. High contrast. Sharp edges.
8. Replace Logos With Perfect Textures
Prompt: Replace the shirt logo with this logo. Match stitching, lighting and fabric texture.
9. Create Technical Drawings
Prompt: Create a technical diagram of this object with labels and measurements.
10. Add Snow, Rain Or Golden Hour
Prompt: Add realistic falling snow to the scene. Match shadows and reflections.
realistic exploded diagram of a macbook pro laptop with technical measurements and dimensons
ChatGPT Cheat Codes for Prompting
I found this on Reddit and thought others might find it useful…
Here are 32 ultra-high-leverage ChatGPT shortcut commands you can copy/paste at the very beginning of any prompt to instantly change the output.
Each one acts like a modifier - speeding up your workflow, improving clarity, and unlocking higher-level reasoning with zero extra effort. Use these to write faster, research deeper, think clearer, and get more predictable results from ChatGPT.
If your prompts feel long, messy, or inconsistent, here’s the cheat code.
Why use these?
Mode Switching: They instantly shift ChatGPT into the mode you need.
Quality: You get cleaner, more predictable, higher-quality answers.
Brevity: You reduce prompt length by 30–70%.
Efficiency: You eliminate back-and-forth corrections.
Speed: Your workflow becomes dramatically faster.
Here is the comprehensive list of 32 shortcuts, categorized by how they help you.
Speed & Formatting (Get to the point)
Use these when you need specific output formats without the fluff.
/ELI5: Explain Like I’m 5. Great for complex concepts (Quantum physics, Blockchain).
/TLDL: "Too Long; Didn't Listen/Read". Summarizes long transcripts or texts into a few key lines.
/BRIEFLY: Forces a ruthless constraint on length. Good for quick definitions.
/EXEC SUMMARY: Generates a high-level summary suitable for a CEO or decision-maker.
/CHECKLIST: Converts the response into a functional, actionable checkbox list.
/FORMAT AS [Type]: Forces the output into a specific format (Table, JSON, Markdown, CSV).
Example:
/FORMAT AS TABLE: Compare iPhone 15 vs 14 specs.
Persona & Tone (Change the voice)
Stop the "AI voice" by forcing a specific perspective.
/ACT AS [Role]: Sets a specific persona. (e.g.,
/ACT AS Michelin Chef)./TONE [Mood]: Modifies the emotional weight (Formal, Sarcastic, Urgent, Dramatic).
/AUDIENCE [Target]: Adapts complexity for a specific group (Experts, Beginners, Stakeholders).
/JARGON: Specifically asks the AI to use technical, industry-specific vocabulary (opposite of ELI5).
/DEV MODE: Simulates a raw, technical developer perspective (code-heavy, concise).
/PM MODE: Adopts a Project Manager persona (focus on timelines, resources, risks).
Deep Logic & Reasoning (Think harder)
Use these to stop hallucinations and force better logic.
/STEP-BY-STEP: Forces the AI to show its work. Proven to reduce math and logic errors.
/CHAIN OF THOUGHT: Similar to step-by-step, but focuses on the connecting logic between ideas.
/FIRST PRINCIPLES: Breaks a problem down to its fundamental truths and builds up from there.
/DELIBERATE THINKING: Forces a "slow down" approach to reasoning (great for complex strategy).
/NO AUTOPILOT: Explicit instruction to avoid generic, cliché, or lazy answers.
/REFLECTIVE MODE: Asks the AI to reflect on its own answer after generating it to check for quality.
/SYSTEMATIC BIAS CHECK: Explicitly asks the AI to scan its response for inherent biases.
/EVAL-SELF: Forces a critical self-evaluation of the response at the end.
Analysis & Strategy (Big picture thinking)
Turn the AI into a business consultant.
/SWOT: Generates a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats analysis.
/COMPARE: Puts two or more concepts side-by-side (best combined with
/FORMAT AS TABLE)./MULTI-PERSPECTIVE: Explores a topic from 3-4 different viewpoints (e.g., Economic, Social, Ethical).
/PARALLEL LENSES: Similar to multi-perspective, but examines a singular issue through specific theoretical lenses.
/PITFALLS: Specifically focuses on what could go wrong or common mistakes in a plan.
/METRICS MODE: Forces the answer to include measurable KPIs, numbers, or success indicators.
/CONTEXT STACK: Instructs the AI to keep previous context layers active (useful for long chats).
Advanced Control (The power user tools)
/ROLE: TASK: FORMAT:: The "God Mode" of prompts. Defines everything in one line.
Example:
/ROLE: Teacher /TASK: Explain Gravity /FORMAT: Analogy
/SCHEMA: Generates a structured outline or data model for a project.
/REWRITE AS [Style]: Takes existing text and transforms it (e.g.,
/REWRITE AS Seinfeld script)./BEGIN WITH / END WITH: Constraints the AI to start or end sentences in a specific way (great for coding or creative writing constraints).
/GUARDRAIL: Sets strict negative constraints (e.g., "Do not use emojis", "Do not mention X").
As always, proceed with caution… AI is only as good as the clarity of mind you bring to it. No point wasting energy, time and valuable human god-given memory power if you don’t know what you want out of it :)
{{ First name | friend }}, thanks for dropping in again.
Forward this to a friend if you found it useful.
Stay human,
Billy