Hi there,
The AI world had another dramatic week. A frontier model is still switched off by a government order, eleven days on. Four major models launched inside a month. The noise is relentless.
Here’s the thing. None of it changes the one useful thing you could do with AI on Monday morning.
You don’t need a finished strategy or the perfect tool to make a start. You need one job, done well, once. That first win is where momentum comes from, so it’s all we’re going to talk about this week.
This week in AI
The short version. Claude Fable 5, briefly the most capable model going, is still switched off worldwide eleven days after a US government order, with no return date. Meanwhile four frontier models launched in a month and the headlines have not stopped. It’s a lot. It’s also not your problem this week. The everyday tools you already have are more than enough to get your first real job done, which is exactly where we’re headed next.
The practical bit
Brief it like a person, not a search box.
Most people type into AI the way they type into Google. A few words, hit enter, hope. The answer comes back vague and generic, they decide AI is overhyped, and they quietly give up.
The fix is one habit. Brief it the way you’d brief a sharp new starter on their first morning. Tell it who to be, what you need, who it’s for and what good looks like. Same task, two ways.
Search-box style
“Write a follow-up email to a customer.”
Briefed like a person
“You’re my sales assistant. Write a short, warm follow-up to [name], who I met on [date] about [what they wanted]. We quoted [amount] for [the work]. Keep it friendly and low-pressure, two short paragraphs and end by asking if they have any questions. Sign it off from [my name].”
Same tool, same model, a completely different answer. You gave it a role, the context, the reader and the standard. That’s the whole habit, and it works in every tool you already have. Do it on one real job this week and you’ve started.
Free resources
Prompting 101
The free guide that turns that one habit into a proper skill. Short, plain and built for people getting real work done, not building anything technical. Get this right and your first job, and every one after it, comes out better.
New here? You’ll set up a free community login on the way in.
What’s on
The sessions below ran in June 2026. For what is coming up, see upcoming events.
One morning, and you walk out with your AI strategy and policy written by you. That’s the Build Along, on 9 July. There’s a free afternoon session too, so come for one or both.
Build Along with AI
9 July 2026 · White City, London · 11:00 to 13:00
Walk in unsure about AI. Walk out with an AI strategy and a one-page policy you wrote yourself, in one morning. A working session with us in the room, not a talk.
Free virtual waitlist
The AI Foundry Live
9 July 2026 · White City, London · 13:30 to 16:30
Our quarterly free live event. Two short talks from guest speakers, then time to compare notes with other UK business owners over an afternoon coffee.
Speaking this time: Mahdi Shariff, founder of Humble AI, and Hannah Morris of Let’s Trailblaze.
Free, uncapped
When you’re ready to go further than one job, this is the room to do it in, with us there to help. Bring the person who really owns this in your business.
You don’t have to catch up. You have to start.
It’s easy to feel behind. The headlines are loud, the tools change weekly and everyone sounds further ahead than you. Ignore most of it. The people who get real value from AI aren’t the ones who kept up. They’re the ones who picked one job and started.
Next week, the first handful of jobs most businesses hand to AI, and which one to try first.
Hit reply and tell me the one job you’re going to try first. I read every reply.
Know someone stuck at the starting line? Forward this on.
Understand first. Then act.
Richard