Dior's been accused of it. Prada showed its working. Here's why I'm owning mine. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ Hi Sparklers! Happy Diwali! Sorry this week's Spark is landing later than usual. I've been celebrating with family, and some things are worth being late for. Diwali is the Festival of Lights, the triumph of good over evil. After a week that felt like there might be a sparkle of hope on the horizon, I've been thinking about progress and gratitude. Hope and joy are my most radical acts these days, and I...
7 days ago • 7 min read
A tech boss asked AI to describe her daughter. Here's what I'd hand over instead. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ Hi Sparklers! Marissa Mayer, an early Googler and the former Yahoo boss, is building an AI assistant called Dazzle, pitched at busy mums. In last week's New York Times interview, her opening example was asking it for three bullet points to describe her own daughter for a school presentation. I'm sorry, but that's not mental load. That's parenting. There's loads I'm happy to hand to AI. But finding the...
14 days ago • 8 min read
Check your website is patched, lock your private ChatGPT chats, and give your family a safe word against AI scams. Two minutes each. No jargon. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ Hi Sparklers! I'm back, and my head is still buzzing. A week in China with Oskar: the pandas in Chengdu, then a few days in Shanghai, which I completely fell in love with. What struck me most is how little we really know about China, and how digital it is. Daily life runs through two apps, WeChat and Alipay. You pay, book taxis and organise...
21 days ago • 8 min read
Six AI assistants, one impossible refund. Plus: ChatGPT gets its hands on your browser, and two minutes to set its rules. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ Hi Sparklers! Last Monday's Wait, You Too? at Tech Junction was everything I hoped. The tech fell over at a tech venue, during Women in Tech Week. Nope, you couldn't make it up! But a room of mums, daughters, grandmas and friends made for a brilliant night, and reminded me exactly why I want to get us all Switched ON. The questions were brilliant, and I've been...
26 days ago • 8 min read
Two agents apparently did, and texted him like your mum. Plus Claude moves into Google Docs. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ Hi Sparklers! I’ve landed in your inbox on a Sunday this week. I’m trying it out, so hit reply and tell me: better with a weekend cuppa, or did you miss me on Monday? If you were on my Zoom last Monday, thank you. Switched ONline was my first online event, and it was brilliant. Lots of lessons, and lots of amazing feedback. I really appreciate everyone who turned up. I’m doing it again...
about 1 month ago • 7 min read
Hi Sparklers! Did you see the White House lunch? Thirty-one guests, a lot of very important men, and one big promise to keep AI safe. The bosses of the six AI companies behind it are all men. Lisa Su, who runs AMD, was one of the very few women in the room. Hold that thought for story 3. This could be one of the most important technologies of our lives, shaping our health, our work, our businesses and how we live together. It definitely needs regulating. Right now, it’s in the hands of people...
about 1 month ago • 6 min read
Hi Sparklers! Last week I had the pleasure of speaking at a few events, including Technology for Marketing and the AllBright Live Well Festival. The highlight was hosting the Switched ON Session and helping a roomful of women go from AI overwhelmed to a lot more capable. One of the guests said this: “What a great evening! I have been telling lots of friends about this! … I have been adding things to my folder all weekend … and I have developed a speaker pack to send out for new business ops....
about 2 months ago • 5 min read
Hi Sparklers! You read a headline about AI this week and thought, right, that's it, I'm out. An hour later you opened ChatGPT to sort your emails. Me too. It's been a bit of a week for AI news. I want to use it, but I'm also scared of it. Which one is it? Most of us are doing both. That's allowed. Over to the news. THIS WEEK Switch ON to AI News Somebody's Watching Me Hundreds of contractors are paid to read real ChatGPT conversations and score the answers. Anthropic has people review chats...
about 2 months ago • 6 min read
Switched ON Sessions Last Orders, by Leigh Banks. The painting on my office wall, and where the names came from. Hi Sparklers, Dolly Parton reads the news for me every day. Well, my Dolly does. She's one of my AI agents, named in her honour. Whitney edits my voice notes, Freddie checks everything, Bowie reviews my week, and my human team make the calls. Meanwhile, you. It's 11pm and you're typing it all out for AI again. Who you are, what you sell, how you like things written. Same as last...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Hi Sparklers! The people building AI are warning us about the AI they're building. One of them reckons there's more than a 10% chance it kills us within a decade. Read on for more on this. It wasn't lost on me that, in a week of fear-mongering, I was on stage at the launch of Trinny London's new FEARLESS Skin Tint Drops. The brand's mission is “to give everyone the tools they need to fearlessly feel their best”. Trinny interviewed me, Stacey Duguid and Lorna Luxe about our stories of being...
2 months ago • 5 min read
