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Do we need more AI newsletters?

I find almost every twitter/linkedin influencer starting an AI newsletter where they send out links of 100+ AI tools in our inbox.

And tbh it shows how low efforts they are putting in this for their thousands of subscribers. I am kind of worried this space will populate with dumb newsletters and good ones will get lost in this crowd.

Is there a point of starting a really good AI-focused newsletter sending 2-3 AI tools/week and explaining AI stuff in this market? I wanted to start this but seeing top newsletters in this field is kind of demotivating ngl.

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    I don't get newsletters or the hype around AI adjacent tools in general. I use ChatGPT everyday, Midjourney sometimes, and that's about it. Those are the two biggest things in consumer accessible AI in the past year. Everything else seems like it's just using those engines in the background.

    So what's the point of an "AI tool" that's really just a wrapped version of ChatGPT? Is there really 2-3 new ones a week worth knowing about?

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      Wrappers can provide more convenience and tailored experience for specific needs.

      For ex I recently made an app for generating book summaries using ChatGPT. Using the chat ui of OpenAI for that was very inconvenient and having all the generated content in one chat was getting messy.

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        It's also a great tool for understanding user input, and then deliver the results from your DB or APIs once chatGPT has determined what the user wants.

        In my personal use of the GPT3 API, customers will fill in our form, I'd get the GPT to understand the input data, and then i'll ask GPT a set of "yes or no" questions.

        Based on that we'll make the results ourself to ensure quality control and accuracy. Most the time there's data thats impossible for gpt to know (but our API provider does) that we need to serve to the customer.

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    Each newsletter has a different perspective because of the life experiences of the founder. I subscribe to many AI newsletters and learn from each one. I also get inspiration on something I can write about in my own AI newsletter. This is a mute point because there are hundreds of companies that do the same thing, but we only go to or spend our money in certain stores because of our likes / dislikes. We need variety. You can learn more and subscribe to mine which is different from everyone else's. https://theperipheral.beehiiv.com/subscribe

  3. 1

    As someone who is doing one (https://Novice.Media) I would honestly tell you that no, there is no point, at least not financially. It might be good for yourself, your brand, and as a way to connect with a few people who are seeking what you are offering. But if you want to make money, just get a "newsletter" like the ones you've described, and keep pumping out links.

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    I think there is no need for so many AI newsletters, if I wanted them, I would find them myself. What I want to receive from other products and people are their knowledge and a personalized interpretation

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      Hmmm, makes sense but sometimes people(specially non-tech folks) don't know how AI has progressed like they would waste 4-5hrs designing new logos when AI can do that and save so much time and effort.
      I agree with knowledge part, I am thinking of adding simplification of complex AI concepts + new AI products and my interpretation of how people can use it daily.

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        from this point of view, you may be right.

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    1. Do we need more AI newsletters? Generally, no.
    2. Do we need more deep, insightful AI newsletters? Absolutely yes.
  6. 1

    We do not, but I needed to start an AI section in mine 😂 (also covering PKM, tech and bootstrapping)

    To me there's a point: different points of view, different combinations of interests, and simply randomness of what people stumble upon.

    https://dsebastien.net/newsletter

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      This looks cool, just don't throw random 100-200 urls and tool links without any thought there. I think seeing most AI newsletters do that is what triggered me the most lmao xD

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        Yeah, it's a fair point. I initially added context and my own thoughts to each link, but realized I'm already taking too long to prepare it each week :p

  7. 1

    We recently launched our app and have been inundated with people asking for paid features on their websites/newsletters. Seems like if you throw a wide net, you are going to get someone to pay you.

    1. 1

      Sounds interesting, can you tell us more about this?

  8. 1

    You could go more niche and position yourself as the conduit between everyday small business and AI tools. I mean like brick and mortar businesses. Tutorials, case studies and news about integrating AI, and automation into business processes for the non-tech business community.

    Like you say, there's plenty of information out there saturating the eyeballs of the tech savvy, and big businesses have the resources to hire pros in house, but I'd bet there are tons of regular business people without the budget and time to invest in learning about what AI can do for them or how to do it.

    Are there ways to make unsexy businesses more efficient using AI? What can I do with Microsoft office once AI tools are integrated? What sort of jobs can I automate and make more efficient? What do I need to know about what's coming that my competitors might pounce on? I'd subscribe to the newsletter that explored these questions.

    If you wanted to go more niche you could pick certain industries who aren't typically tech-savvy, who you think might soon be disrupted and go deep for that community, tell them what they need to know about what's coming and how to adapt, how to thrive.

    Don't go after people who are already interested in AI, go after the people who haven't thought more than twice about it, and don't make content for content's sake.

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      Yes, this is what I was looking for. Thank you for replying this is a great idea, AI for businesses: Newsletter for AI tools that would make running a business(any type, keeping it generic for now, would double down on one niche if I am getting traffic from one source) efficient. Sounds right?

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        Sounds about right, yeah. No need for hype or clickbait. No need to sell them on any particular technology or any dreams. Just regular, impartial and instructional non-geek overview of the AI landscape as it relates to doing business. A way to help them make sense of something that is going to feel overwhelming to a lot of people. They'll have questions about impending developments and what that means for them, what to look out for, disruptions, threats, new jargon, how to integrate tools into their workflow, how other businesses are wielding AI, how can they be more efficient, how to use AI safely, how to hire for AI skills, how AI impacts them legally, who the AI providers are and what they offer and how that affects how they do business, how tools compare to each other, industry trends, timelines for new advancements, basic how-tos, collections of useful prompts, industry-specific guides, etc. All through the lens of regular old business operations. Happy to help you bounce more ideas around if you want. Best of luck.

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          This is such a cool list, want to write about all of them lol. Thank you for this, let's connect over twitter. Would love to brainstorm more ideas :)
          https://twitter.com/shivambhatia42

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    Is there a point of starting a really good AI-focused newsletter sending 2-3 AI tools/week and explaining AI stuff in this market?

    Curation is valuable.

    Lists 100+ items long are for upvoting and bookmarking and then never looking at again later.

    If you think you can be focused and curate well, why not?

    We can't tell you if you'll be able to cut through the noise or not. "Is there a point...?" depends entirely on your own goals.

    Will you make money? I don't know!

    Will you reach a ton of people? I don't know!

    But maybe those things don't matter. Maybe you want to talk to like-minded people. Maybe you want to hone your newsletter writing skills.

    The one thing I'll flag is that I don't think many people want a generic "AI newsletter" - they want to be better parents, they want to earn more money as an insurance broker, they want to get that promotion to product manager, etc.

    So pick a type of person, and figure out how you could help them.

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      Tbh motivation is to get audience who and hone my newsletter writing skills. My target audience would be non-tech professionals who don't even know how AI can transform their life but are ready to explore this space.

      Curated tools would be generic that can be used in almost any profession for eg: Logo generator, Email Generator, Productivity AI tools, etc. Is this too generic?

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        I think "tech professionals" is too broad, your content will be too bland/unfocused.

        Better would be "programmers" or "designers" or "startup founders" or something like that.

        Within that, you may even want to think about "expert Ruby programmers" or "freelance Figma designers" or "founders trying to write code and do marketing simultaneously" - those could be too narrow for a whole newsletter, but those archetypes should help focus your thinking when writing a particular issue of that newsletter.

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          Yes, I figured out business owners can become one niche. Like people who can use AI tools to grow business, customer support, etc.

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    IMO the issue with all those newsletters is the lack of focus. AI is a tool on its own that can be applied to different areas. So it doesn't make much sense to send 2-3 tools per week since if a person has an issue with completing the task and thinks about using the AI -- the person will instantly search for the tool. I can't imagine someone waiting for the newsletter to figure out if there is a tool that will cover his needs.

    But I can easily imagine a person that subscribes to the newsletter to get inspiration for it's own products and get ideas. That said, probably I'd focus on something more specific in your case -- sharing product ideas based on several existing AI products might be an excellent way to go

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      I agree but I think we all live in our tech/product bubble. I often talk to accountants, lawyers who don’t use twitter, LinkedIn they have no idea how AI can help them. I don’t think a newsletter with thousands of tools can help them but a newsletter with specific use case tools every week will be less confusing for them.

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