Hey👋,
I'm Giacomo

Are you drowning in the AI-video tools jungle? Me too!

But watch this. It might be the best 7 minutes of your week.

There’s a flood of AI video tools out there.
Which ones actually work? How to choose?

The Wall Street Journal did the hard work for us.

Here’s the exact stack they used to produce this short film:

▸ Midjourney, for character creation.
▸ Runway Act-One, to animate characters with real-life gestures.
▸ Runway References, to maintain visual consistency across scenes.
▸ Google Veo 2, for basic image animations.
▸ Google Veo 3, for enhanced animations and background sounds.
▸ Suno, for background music.
▸ ElevenLabs, for the robot's voice and the lady's voiceover.
▸ Any video editor to stitch it all together.

The result is impressive, but not jaw dropping.
Because it's made with consumer Ai tools only, hence not perfect.

But the point is that anybody can achieve similar results by using the exact same tools.

The reality is that many of the amazing Ai videos we see online are actually heavily edited by (semi)professional video makers using professional tools.

This is not the case and I love it.

They even share the final cost, around $1'000. Very realistic.

One element is still missing: lip-syncing.

Getting it right is still the hardest challenge. No wonder they didn't include it in this video.
But you can try Runway’s Lip-Sync tool, it gets fairly close.

Otherwise, Google Veo 3 can make characters talk in perfect lip-synch, but not with uploaded original audio.

Right now, the combo of Runway + Veo 2/3 might just be the most powerful AI video stack out there.

And remember,
this is the worst quality we’ll ever see. It only gets better from here.

Gemini now wants to tap into your Google search history.

This marks a new level of personalisation, unprecedented in the chatbot space so far.

Three years after the launch of ChatGPT, Google is finally flexing its biggest asset: ecosystem integration.

But this feature raises more than a few eyebrows.

Google knows more about you and your history than any other tech company. And it wants to use that knowledge across all its apps, including Gemini.

But let’s not forget, it has just lost three consecutive lawsuits for abusing its dominant position.

In particular, for gatekeeping personal data in and competitors out.

So is this feature even legal?

Personally, I enjoy the process of teaching ChatGPT what to remember about me. It feels like a collaboration, a gradual tuning where I am in full control.

But not sure I’m ready to feed Gemini the mess of my late-night searches during a romantic meltdown ten years ago.

Can I even curate what "memories" to pass?

By clicking that "connect now" button I'm giving away control over my data.
Since I know there's an alternative, I'm not comfortable in doing so.

The GPT "memories" and "custom instructions" model definitely wins for me.

Thoughts?

I got access to Google Veo 3 🎉

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No this is not a demo. I made this video in just a few tries.

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Image, animation, voice, background sounds and music, all Veo3.

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The idea for the ad came from GPT 😅

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Over the last 5-10 years we’ve seen many trends and general frenzies coming and fading.

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Crypto, Bitcoin, NFTs, Memestocks etc…

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Now even the most skeptics will understand Ai is not one of them.

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This is a full-on ad.

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And I made it by myself in just a few hours, almost for free (using free-trial credits).

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Marketing and advertising are being disrupted big big time!

Sunday thoughts: humans are becoming robots.

And robots are becoming humans.

Over the last 30+ years, work has become more standardised, rigid and automated for both blue and white collar jobs.

There is less space for discretion and creative problem-solving.

Instead there are:
→ Rigid processes (Agile rituals, HR compliance)
→ Rigid workflows (Jira, Notion, monday.com…)
→ Standardized outputs.

Yes, strict processes boost efficiency and productivity.
But at what cost?

Not all creativity is about design or art.
It’s about finding better ways to solve problems.

A single issue can have 100 different solutions.
Humans are great at choosing the one that best fits the context.

Yet most workflows now force a single path.

So, if you want employees to act like robots, you might as well employ actual robots.
And that’s exactly what’s happening!

But here's the problem:
→ Robots fail when the environment shifts.
→ AI struggles when the rules don't fit the case.

And today, the rules change daily!

Companies like Klarna are already reversing AI layoffs.
Because machines don't perform in chaotic and changing environments.

Ironically,
AI agents might become the only ones left who can handle ambiguity, acting with human-like discretion. (at least that's the promise)

So yes:
Humans are becoming robots.
And robots are becoming more human.

Thoughts?

ChatGPT is turning into a social media.

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It already has twice as many active users as LinkedIn.

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→ 600M monthly active users for GPT

→ 310M for LinkedIn

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And if you've ever created an image in ChatGPT, you’ve seen the prompt:

“Share on social.”

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This is what drove the Studio Ghibli image trend viral.

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But look closely, no WhatsApp or Instagram in the options.

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Why? Because they’re not meant for friends.

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They're meant for feeds. For virality.

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Now comes the biggest move yet:

“Sign in with ChatGPT.”

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This is the most social-media feature of all!

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Facebook built its empire on it, back in 2008.

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Now OpenAI is replicating the playbook.

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“Sign in with” gives you two things:

1️⃣ Frictionless login → more signups → more usage → more network effects.

2️⃣ Cross-platform data → the backbone of ads targeting.

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And it doesn’t stop there.

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The homepage of Sora already looks like a social feed.

A scrollable stream of AI-generated images and videos.

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In fact, it seems OpenAI might launch an actual social media platform.

Possibly a X-like standalone app.

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It's more and more clear how AI isn’t a feature anymore.

It’s a product.

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It needs its own playground.

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This is why Google and Microsoft have been relatively unsuccessful at integrating AI into their existing apps.

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Zuckerberg is watching very, very closely 😅

Google is finally connecting the dots.

The search giant has been playing catch up with OpenAi for a while now.

Finally it seems something is moving.

AI Mode won't save search.
User behaviour has already shifted and there's no going back.

However, Google still retain a massive ecosystem and network effect.

Think of Ai in:
Gmail + Google Sheets + Search + Android + Google Glass + Pixel Phone
and more.

This is the real power of Google. The power of connecting the dots. With Ai.

But it won't be easy.

Almost three years since GPT launched, a similar giant like Microsoft still hasn't found the way to connect its dots.

Think of:
Windows, Excel, PowerPoint, Bing (and a massive investment in OpenAI).

Copilot is sneaked somewhere in between all these tools, but raise a hand who is actively using it!

It seems users love GPT as a standalone app.
Myself included.

Turns out, AI is not just a feature, but a product in itself.

OpenAI might still be the winner of this crazy race after all.

Google Search is in free fall.

Market share keeps declining in Europe 👇

AI Mode is a last-ditch attempt to bring back users who inevitably moved to Ai chatbots.

But it'll be a tough endeavour.

It's not just about delivering better Ai answers.
It's about acknowledging a fundamental shift in user behaviour.

We're moving from a 30-year old keyword-based search experience to a conversational one.

In this new world, ChatGPT and Perplexity are the clear leaders.

They're winning not because they give better answers than Google (they probably don’t), but because users treat them like confidants instead of tools.

It's not just brand loyalty. It’s intimacy.

Was watching a news segment where Italian teens were asked if they’d turn to their parents to talk about emotional issues.

Most said no.
When asked who they do talk to then, many answered ChatGPT! 😳

Ai chatbots have become life companions, who know us better than anyone else. Yes, even better than Google or Meta at this point!

Switching to a new Ai companion is like breaking up with our partner.
Many will simply stick to GPT and never go back to Google. Full stop.

The cherry on top,
both GPT and Perplexity have launched a Google Shopping clone, targeting the most valuable internet users, those who are ready to make a purchase.

This is a direct attack at Google's most valuable revenue stream!

I tried GPT Shopping and I genuinely find it better than Google Shopping.

Only time will tell who the winner will be.

But one thing is clear:
For the first time in 30 years, the rules of the internet are being rewritten.

AI chatbots will become streaming platforms.

No, they will not stream movies.
They will stream content.

Just like Netflix licenses exclusives, AI platforms will sign exclusive deals with media companies and creators.

You’ll subscribe to:

ChatGPT for Financial Times exclusives.
Claude for The Verge.
Perplexity for Wired.
and so on…

Because original, high-quality content is still the backbone of the internet.

But right now, that backbone is cracking.

Media companies and creators are discouraged from producing premium content, because many AI models scrape it without permission, remix it poorly, and never send traffic back.

It’s extractive and short-sighted. It cannot last.

But AI platforms still need fresh, original content to stay relevant and competitive.

So what’s next?
Three possible scenarios:

1️⃣ Content-heavy websites will charge for crawling.
Until now they let Google do it for free, because it sent traffic back.
But AI doesn’t :(
Ai chatbots crawl websites 10 times more often than Google used to do at its peak years before AI.
For website owners enough is enough.
You crawl, you pay.

2️⃣ More exclusive licensing deals.

3️⃣ A hybrid of the two:
Big players go exclusive. Smaller creators charge per crawl.

Users will notice differences.
Chatbots will sound distinct depending on what content they’re trained on.

To the point that niche specialised chatbots will arise.

Think of an AI skiing assistant trained on every ski publication, gear review blog, resorts website etc.
It will know more about skiing than any other chatbot!

Honestly, this wouldn’t be a bad future for the internet!
Some reasons to be optimistic this Monday morning ☺️

Have a good week everyone!

Have you tried OpenAI Codex yet?

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For a junior vibe-coder like me, it's a game changer.

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My biggest struggle in coding it's not the coding itself, but rather everything that goes around it.

GitHub repo, dependencies, hosting etc.

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So confusing and complex for me!

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I've used Codex for a couple of days now and it looks like it's extremely helpful.

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I start by simply: "explain what this repo is about and what each file does".

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I'm sure pro developers experience it in a very different way.

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Curious to hear more about it!

These are the 21 tools I use daily for AI Marketing:

...
1. ChatGPT
2. ChatGPT
3. ChatGPT
4. ChatGPT
5. ChatGPT
6. ChatGPT
7. ChatGPT
8. ChatGPT
9. ChatGPT
10. ChatGPT
11. ChatGPT
12. ChatGPT
13. ChatGPT
14. ChatGPT
15. ChatGPT
16. ChatGPT
17. ChatGPT
18. ChatGPT
19. ChatGPT
20. ChatGPT
21. ChatGPT

Because if you really know how to use ChatGPT,
you don’t need anything else.

It’s not about stacking tools,
it’s about mastering one.

Agree? disagree?