AI Round-up for 10.31.25: Oh yeah? Well...can ChatGPT tell you its favorite Halloween candies?1

The AI Round-up: Year 3, Issue 35

Hello and Happy Halloween!

Let’s get this out of the way:

Yes, I love David S. Pumpkins and I want you to watch the skit.
No, I am not listing my top 5 Halloween candies.
Ok fine: Counting down--Kit Kat, Butterfinger, Reeses Pieces, Mounds, Junior Mints.
Yes, I am happy to give you a top three horror movies you should watch tonight: Counting up—Halloween, The Shining, Saw.
The best Halloween special is ‘It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.’ I still get pissed when he gets rocks from adults.
The best Halloween beer is Pumpking.
The best Halloween costume is this.

Ok, so with all that being said…a quick anecdote to open us.

I’m seeing a lot of posts, blogs and general concern on LinkedIn around the question of ‘why use AI if it’s making all of us sound/look the same…how are we expected to stand out?’

I’ll keep this short: The things that you felt separated you from the competition STILL do. Don’t abandon those. Use the tool (AI) in the ways you see fit but whatever you do, use it to elevate what you already do well or better. Your differentiator doesn’t change.

Onto this week’s stories.

9 stories -- Let’s get to it.

Story 1: Your AI assistant just got phished. (Shelly Palmer)

I was part of a cybersecurity presentation yesterday and this was a topic we floated that definitely caught some folks’ attention. It’s hard enough to worry about employees…now companies need to worry about their AI employes?

Story 2: Canva just updated its creative suite to feature…AI! (Lifewire)

The headline: Canva just changed everything about design. Wow. Everything? That’s a bold statement!

Story 3: Paypal just made it possible for people to buy stuff in ChatGPT. (Mashable)

I kind of feel like THIS changes everything about commerce!

Story 4: I created over 100 videos in Sora 2. Here’s how to get the best results. (digitaltrends).

Well. I didn’t…the author did.

Story 5: Curious about the Microsoft and OpenAI new structure/deal?

A solid overview from The Verge that sheds a lot more light on what happens if/when AGI is discovered.

Story 6: So, is AI using a lot of water or not? (techradar)

The answer may surprise you. Or it may not. I don’t know. Read and find out!

Story 7: Thank you Paul! He has put his opening keynote from MAICON on YouTube.

This is the one we referenced last week that talked about ‘Move 37’. Must watch!

Story 8: Speaking of MAICON…this author opens up about he felt after a wild three days.

Who knew it took so much AI to make a guy feel human?

Story 9: The BBC is offering a counterpoint to how you may see Amazon’s job cuts.

I almost put this one in the ‘Not talking about’ section but the news around AI and job loss is so heavy* that I just had to.

*This is my nod to the 40^th anniversary of “Back to the Future”, which is in theaters this weekend!

This week, I’m not talking about:

Grokepedia (Business Insider)
Character.ai to ban teens from talking to chatbots (BBC)
Getty and Perplexity reach a deal (CNBC)

Ben

As a reminder, this is a round-up of the biggest stories, often hitting multiple newsletters I receive/review. The sources are many … which I’m happy to read on your behalf. Let me know if there’s one you’d like me to track or have questions about a topic you’re not seeing here.