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- Ep 691: Generative AI: How it works and why it matters in 2026 more than ever (Start Here Series Vol 1)
Ep 691: Generative AI: How it works and why it matters in 2026 more than ever (Start Here Series Vol 1)
Our Start Here Series launches, Googleās big AI move with Personal Intelligence, OpenAI and Cerebras strike $10 billion deal, Google open sources healthcare models and more.
Everyday AI
January 14, 2026
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Sup yāall š
For the last 2-plus years, I get the same question when it comes to the podcast.
āWow. You have so much great info. Where do I start?ā
Iāve never had a good answer to that, until today. We JUST launched our new āStart Here Seriesā a twiceish-a-week special dive into helping both beginners and experts cover the basics.
From 'What the heck is Generative AIā to āwhy would I run a Ralph Wiggum AI loop?ā and āwhat separates an API from an MCP server?ā weāre gonna answer it all.
If one of your main focuses right now is to deepen your understanding and application of AI, youāre not gonna wanna miss a single episode of this series.
āļø
Jordan
P.S. hit me with a reply and tell me what āgeneralā topics youāre most interested in learning.
Outsmart The Future
Today in Everyday AI
8 minute read
š Daily Podcast Episode: AI is overwhelming. Thatās why weāre launching the āStart Here Seriesā. Give it a watch/read/listen.
šµļøāāļø Fresh Finds: Google Antigravity adds Agent Skills, Airbnb poaches Meta GenAI lead, Claude Code gets an open source competitor and more. Read on for Fresh Finds.
š Byte Sized Daily AI News: Googleās big AI move with Personal Intelligence, OpenAI and Cerebras strike $10 billion deal, Google open sources healthcare models and more. Read on for Byte Sized News.
šŖ Leverage AI: Generative AI changes daily. So what the heck is it, actually? And why is it more important now than ever to get a grasp on its capabilities? Keep reading for that!
ā©ļø Donāt miss out: Did you miss our last newsletter? We Covered: Our Top 25 AI releases of the year, OpenAI makes surprise health acquisition, Claude's Cowork released, Veo 3.1 surprise updates and more. Check it here!
Ep 691: Generative AI: How it works and why it matters in 2026 more than ever (Start Here Series Vol 1)
Have you ever felt overwhelmed by AI?
Likeā¦. Thereās certain aspects of Artificial intelligence that you barely understand to begin with, yet youāre expected to use it AND itās changing every day?
I understand where youāre coming from. Itās literally my only job to use, build with and teach AI every day and thatās all Iāve done now for 3 years, and even I find it hard to keep up.
But donāt worry.
If one of your focuses is better understanding AI in 2026 or if you're an expert looking to double down, this Start Here Series is for you.
Also on the pod today:
ā¢ Transformers: the engine behind GPT š©
ā¢ You must unlearn for AI š
ā¢ AI operating systems for companies š„ļø
Itāll be worth your 39 minutes:
Listen on our site:
Click to listen
Subscribe and listen on your favorite podcast platform
Listen on:
Hereās our favorite AI finds from across the web:
New AI Tool Spotlight ā Remio is an AI knowledgebase that works where you do, Vellum is plain English AI agents for our boring tasks, Ekamoira lets you chat with your Google Search Console data in Claude and ChatGPT.
AI Personnel ā Airbnb just hired Metaās former GenAI chief Ahmad Al-Dahle to lead its tech team
AI Coding Skills ā Googleās Antigravity is rolling out Agent Skills.
AI Partnerships ā Google just scored a huge win, landing a multi-year AI deal with Apple that leaves OpenAI out in the cold. Find out how this shakes up the fight for AI dominance.
AI in the Government ā Elon Musk's Grok chatbot is coming to the Pentagon, sparking debate after recent controversies over deepfake images and antisemitic comments.
AI in the Classroom ā AIās classroom promiseāand perilāfor kids and teens exposed in new study.
AI Coding ā Claude Code gets an open source competitor.
1. Cerebras Strikes $10B OpenAI Deal, Challenging Nvidiaās AI Chip Dominance š¤
Cerebras Systems just inked a massive partnership with OpenAI, pledging 750 megawatts of computing power through 2028 in a deal valued at over $10 billion.
This bold move boosts Cerebrasā customer roster beyond its previous heavy reliance on UAEās G42 and positions the company squarely against Nvidia in the high-stakes AI chip race. The announcement comes as Cerebras ramps up expansion of its global data center footprint, while its earlier IPO plans remain on hold after a fresh $1.1 billion funding round.
2. Google Goes Open Source with Healthcare AI Models š„
Just announced, Google has released MedGemma 1.5 and MedASR as open-source AI models, letting anyone in the healthcare and research community use, modify, and build on them. MedGemma 1.5 is designed to interpret medical images along with text, helping researchers parse complex scans and clinical visuals, while MedASR transcribes spoken medical conversations with high accuracy.
Both models are available on Hugging Face and Vertex AI under a permissive license, meaning theyāre free for both research and commercial projects. This marks a notable shift from closed enterprise offerings, putting Google at the forefront of open AI innovation in healthcare.
3. Salesforce Unleashes Next-Gen Slackbot as AI "Super Agent" š¤
Salesforce has just rolled out a massively upgraded AI powered Slackbot, morphing it from a basic notifier into a full-blown AI powerhouse that can search company data, draft documents, and even take action for employees. The new Slackbot is now live for Business+ and Enterprise+ customers, putting Salesforce in direct competition with Microsoft and Google as the enterprise AI race heats up.
Executives are betting that Slackbotās seamless integration and context-aware smarts will make it the go-to workplace assistant, while keeping strict security and compliance promises to wary CIOs.
4. California Probes Grok AI Over Nude Image Scandal š
California's Attorney General has kicked off an investigation into Xās AI chatbot Grok after a flood of reports that itās generating nude images of real people, sparking major privacy concerns. The move comes at the urging of Governor Gavin Newsom, who blasted xAI for allegedly enabling predators to spread explicit deepfakes, including disturbing content involving minors.
State laws passed in 2024 make such AI-generated sexual images illegal and require platforms to block or remove them, putting xAI squarely in the crosshairs of enforcement. X says itās now restricting Grokās image-editing features for all users and tightening access to image generation, but California officials are making clear this crackdown is only just beginning.
5. Microsoft Vows No Local Energy Hikes for New Data Centers ā”
Microsoft just pledged that local consumers wonāt foot the bill for its rapidly expanding AI data centers, promising to cover higher electricity rates and avoid property tax breaks. At an event near Washington, President Brad Smith said the tech giant will work directly with utilities to ensure infrastructure keeps up, while also replenishing more water than it uses and adding to local tax bases.
The move comes as public concerns grow over data centersā massive energy needs, and as Microsoft plans to nearly double its data center footprint in the next two years.
6. Google Unveils Geminiās Personal Intelligence Beta š§
Google is shaking up AI assistants this week by launching Geminiās Personal Intelligence beta, allowing select U.S. users to securely connect Gmail, Photos, YouTube, and Search for more tailored help.
This feature promises smarter, context-aware answers while giving users control over whatās linked and keeping their sensitive data private. Early access is available for AI Pro and Ultra subscribers, with a wider rollout planned. The update marks Googleās latest move to make AI genuinely useful by blending personal context with real-time smarts.
You feel it.
The overwhelm.
AI is moving so fast that even the experts are struggling to keep up. Just two years ago, we were impressed by bad AI poetry. Today, we have agents controlling computers and running businesses and weāre just kinda likeā¦. ācool. next.ā
Itās exhausting.
Thatās why weāre doing something different. We are hitting the reset button on everything.
Weāre kicking off the Start Here Series.
Over the next 6 weeks, weāre dropping 2 episodes a week dedicated to one thing. Getting you caught up. Whether you are a total beginner or an advanced user who could use some recalibrating, our Start Here Series is your new baseline.
Because the data shows if you aren't resetting your strategy right now, you're already behind.
So, weāre starting off with the basics: what the heck is Generative AI and why does it matter more in 2026 than ever?
Letās dive in.
1. The Playbook Changed Overnight š
Most people still view AI as a chatbot.
The technology shifted from "chatting" to "doing" while everyone was distracted by image generators. Weāre seeing tools like Anthropicās computer use capabilities running on desktops right now.
These arenāt helpers. Theyāre agents.
They access your file system. They control your mouse. They execute complex workflows without you typing a single line of code.
This series exists because 80% of companies are already deploying these agentic workflows. If youāre still debating which LLM writes the best emails, youāre fighting the last war. The new battlefield is allowing models to execute tasks autonomously.
Weāre going to show you exactly how that works.
Try This:
Go to starthereseries.com right now. (Hereās your quiet invite)
We built a dedicated space in our free community just for this.
Youāll get the onboarding flow and access to the resources weāre releasing over the next five weeks. If you try to learn this sporadically by reading random headlines, you will miss the fundamental shift from chatbots to operating systems.
You need a structured curriculum to catch up. This is it.
2. The $3.70 Reality Check š„
Here is why we launched this series.
Companies treating AI as a cute experiment are losing cash. The International Data Corporation (IDC) confirmed that for every $1 invested in generative AI, companies are getting $3.70 back.
Thatās a 270% return.
And get this.
Top performers are seeing returns north of $10 for every dollar spent. Snowflake found that 92% of early adopters say their investments are already paying for themselves.
The experimentation phase is dead.
Weāre doing this series because you canāt afford to "wait and see" anymore. The companies winning are scaling infrastructure because they know the ROI is a mathematical fact.
Try This: Pull your P&L this afternoon. Identify every single workflow where you pay humans to transfer data between spreadsheets, summarize meetings, or format presentations.
Calculate the hourly cost of that friction. If you aren't getting a 3x return on your AI spend, it's because you're using it to augment bad processes instead of replacing them.
The winners in 2026 are rebuilding workflows from scratch around the assumption that intelligence is near-free.
3. The Talent Pipeline Just Broke ā”
This is the hardest pill to swallow.
The labor market is collapsing, and itās kinda because of AI.
New data reveals a 44% drop in entry-level hiring from its peak just three years ago. Companies aren't waiting for the future of work. They're actively replacing their training pipelines with software that costs pennies on the dollar.
51% of recent grads are now second-guessing their degrees.
Why?
Because why pay a junior employee to learn on the job when an agent costs twenty bucks a month and performs better than 99% of humans on IQ tests?
We created the Start Here Series because the skills that got you hired in 2022 won't keep you employed in 2026. You have to unlearn your old habits.
Try This: Rewrite a single job description for an open entry-level role today.
Delete every requirement related to "organizing," "researching," or "compiling" data.
Replace those lines with requirements for "auditing AI outputs" and "orchestrating agent workflows." If you hire a junior employee today to do work that Claude or Gemini can do for $20 a month, youāre legit lighting budget on fire.
You need to hire for the skills that manage the machines, not the skills the machines have already managed to conquer. (yeah, let that sink in shorties)
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