Hey, it’s Marek,
I just recorded today’s episode from Poland, where the Polish edition of my book launched last Friday. Tomorrow I’m opening the Masters&Robots conference with a new talk about why AI being better than us might actually be good news for humanity.
But today’s episode is about something uncomfortable.
I’ve been using Claude to review my newsletter drafts for months. It kept telling me “Ship it! This is excellent.” Made me feel great. Then one day I asked it to be my harshest critic instead. The response hurt. And it was the most helpful feedback I’d gotten in weeks.
Turns out this isn’t just about my ego. NYU researchers found that after just four messages with an agreeable AI chatbot, people became measurably more extreme in their views. More certain. More confident. And more wrong.
In today’s episode, I share three prompts I now force myself to use: The Harsh Critic, The Devil’s Advocate, and The Competitor’s Lens. They hurt. But they make the work better.
“Ship it!” feels good. “This needs work” makes you better.
Stay curious,Marek
