AI Getting It Really Right This Week—The Good, The Gooder, and The Goodest
Weekly AI Reboot: straight talk, smart ideas, stuff worth knowing—#28
I write about leadership, education and AI, with a focus on why critical thinking about technology matters more than ever.
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First off, I just want to say how disappointed and disheartened I am that OpenAI seems to be moving in the same direction as xAI and Musk toward adult content. It’s incredibly risky and could backfire spectacularly if parents, legislators, and educators push back, which I suspect they will.
Sam, if you’re listening, there’s a reason that when people list LLMs, they usually mention three: Gemini, Claude, and ChatGPT. Notice the two that aren’t on that list: xAI and Meta. If you go the route of porn on demand, that’s the company you’ll be keeping.
Having said that, I want to focus on three incredibly positive things happening in AI this week. The good. The gooder. And the goodest.
The good: AI and cancer research
Researchers at Google’s DeepMind and Yale University recently used AI to identify a possible new way to treat certain cancers that have been especially difficult to fight. These cancers, known as “cold” tumors, often go undetected by the body’s immune system.
They can show up in several types of cancer, like pancreatic, prostate, breast, ovarian, and in brain tumors. Because they fly under the immune system’s radar, many standard treatments don’t do much against them. So yeah, this is a pretty big finding.
The AI model helped scientists spot an existing drug combination that might make these tumors easier for the immune system to recognize and attack. It’s early research, but it shows how AI can do more than analyze data. It can help generate new medical insights that could eventually save countless lives.
The gooder: AI and sustainability
Two major stories here:
Nvidia announced that all of its offices and data centers now run on 100 percent renewable electricity for fiscal year 2025.
Google also reported that its AI-powered tools, like Maps’ fuel-efficient routing and Nest thermostat adjustments, helped users avoid around 26 million metric tons of CO₂ emissions in 2024. That’s more than double Google’s own total carbon footprint.
It turns out AI’s environmental story isn’t entirely grim. It might even help patch a few of the cracks it caused.
The goodest: AI and accessibility
Lastly, and this one will warm your heart a little. Researchers at the Indian Institute of Information Technology are using AI to help visually impaired children access textbooks in a whole new way. Their system can read the text, describe images, and explain complex diagrams out loud. It turns ordinary books into interactive learning experiences.
It’s a small project in the global AI landscape, but it’s a powerful example of what AI for good actually looks like.
All three of these stories remind me why it’s so important to stay involved in how AI develops. It isn’t automatically good or bad. It becomes what we build, teach, and allow it to be. That’s why I created my AI literacy program, to help students and parents understand how this technology actually works, what’s changing, and where the guardrails still need to be.
Because if what’s coming in December is any sign, OpenAI’s about to test just how far “innovation” can stretch before it breaks some of us.
I’ll be writing more about that on Thursday, along with what I think schools and families should be paying closer attention to right now.
Welcome to The Spotlight Corner 📢
This week I want to do something a little different and give a shoutout to the people I’ve been interacting with in Notes recently. I drop a lot of those during the week, and some of them hit really well, others don’t. You know how it goes.
Sometimes the best part ends up being the back-and-forth in the comments. So I just wanted to say thanks to the folks who’ve been part of the conversations this week, whether we’re talking AI or just trading thoughts in general:
If you aren’t following or reading any of these folks, check them out.
📌 Still thinking about the fun we have in Substack Notes 🥳
Tech Toolbox: Tools I’m Loving Right Now 🛠
My favorite tech tool this month: Scribe
What if I told you that you could make a detailed guide with 50 slides in less than a minute?
➥ Enter Scribe.
With the free version, you just hit record, go through the online process you want to capture, and Scribe does the rest. It automatically grabs screenshots, highlights where to click or type, and builds a shareable guide you can edit, delete, rearrange, or insert steps into.
The result is clear instructions with clean visuals that look like they came straight out of a professional manual, without any extra design effort.
I wrote about this on Medium back in 2023, but I’m dusting it off for those who missed it. If you need to make tutorials, onboarding docs, or just want to save yourself the pain of explaining the same thing 12 times in a row, this is pretty nifty.
The best dictation tool I’ve used ⤵
Wispr Flow Referral Link: wisprflow.ai/r/WISPR6911.
(You get a $15 credit once you hit 2,000 words! Trust me when I tell you that will happen quickly once you get hooked on this thing).
In Case You Missed It! 🔙
👉 My posts 📝from last week:
➠ You May Want to Rethink That No-AI Grading Policy (Reasons why we may want to consider an AI assist when it comes to grading in education).
➠ Last Week’s Weekly Reboot: The Biggest Tech Shift in History, and No One’s in Charge
➠ check out my most recent Instagram (I turned my Sora video into a short reel and it turned out pretty cool) 😊
And until next week, “Don’t forget to lead with purpose in everything you do.”
Thanks for the shout-out.
And thanks for writing about the medical use of AI. The consumer-oriented applications get lots of attention, but there are amazing uses in medical, manufacturing, etc.
I was personally involved in AI for early Alzheimer’s detection and am now working on automating business proposals.
Keep at it; you’re doing great!
Thank you for your mention, Bette :)