The AI Round-up: So what have we learned?

AI news covering the week of April 13, 2026

The AI Round-up: Year 4, Issue 13

I have a thing with the number 13. It was my number. My dad’s number. My girls’ numbers. We got married on the 13^th. I set the microwave for x:13 for whatever time I have to cook.

So, this is issue 13, covering the week of the 13^th. Which means it will be a very lucky issue for all of us. Lucky because we are starting to see some threads emerge across these stories, updates and new models…so keep that in mind as you read through the stories and takeaways below.

Let’s get to it. (Note: I wrote 85% of this newsletter. Why? Because Claude helped me write a few this week due to time…see if you can guess which ones?)

11 stories – Here we go.

Story 1: Gen Z and Gen AI aren’t getting along. (Axios)

If you caught my LinkedIn post, you know I have a personal interest in this story. And it’s not just because of my Gen Z kids. One of our innovation pipelines is in danger of being shut off, and I’m not sure I know what to do about it. (If you know me, I don’t like not knowing.)

Story 2: Be nice to your LLM. Science says so. (Platformer)

The machines are watching and listening. New research from Anthropic found that Claude has measurable internal representations of emotions and they influence behavior in surprisingly human ways. The researchers essentially stumbled onto the same management insight most good leaders already know: people (and apparently AI) do their best work when they feel appreciated.

Story 3: What you need to know about Mythos. (Paul Roetzer)

I always appreciate Paul’s thoughtful takes on the latest AI news. His LinkedIn post (linked in the headline) is a great summary if you don’t want to listen to the latest episode of The Artificial Intelligence Show.

Stories 4-6: At the end of the day, trust your gut. And PR.

A few stories crossed my feed these past two weeks that, when taken together, tell one very clear story: Everyone is betting big on platforms and strategies that haven't been proven yet.

AI models don't weight what you say about yourself. They weight what others say about you (coverage, mentions, third-party credibility). That's not a new capability--that's PR.

While the industry is busy chasing the algorithm, the smarter play is building the kind of reputation that no algorithm update can take away.

Stories below:

Agencies compete for SEO talent as clients demand zero-click expertise.* (Digiday)

OpenAI is building tools to see if ChatGPT ads are working, converting (Digiday)

And if you missed it last week it’s worth sharing again…from The Verge: The SEO Industry is trying to influence AI. Can it?

*Not this agency…because you don’t need that talent to help clients with zero-click needs. We should talk.

Story 7: Wait, does CoPilot work? (Conor Grennan)

The answer—it’s up to you. And this study proves it.

Story 8: Canva relaunches as AI-first platform with new agentic tools. (Quartz)

-and-

Story 9: Meet your new creative director? (Shelly Palmer)

The creative world is starting become overrun by AI tools…what can we do to make sure that AI doesn’t run creative overall though?

Glad you asked…

Story 10: AI is actually a creative accelerant. If you handle correctly. (Fast Company)

The most successful organizations won't be those that simply use AI to do more things faster, but those that use it as a creativity accelerator, freeing up human capacity for the work only we can do: imagining, connecting, and making meaning.

The Fast Company article linked in the headline introduces a framework built around Move, Think, and Rest and makes a counterintuitive argument that productive friction, the kind that creates discomfort and forces learning, is actually worth protecting rather than automating away. (How human of us!)

Story 11: How to delete your chat history in ChatGPT. (digitaltrends)

4 Nopes.

1. This is why people worry about AI taking their job. (Christopher Penn) Oh remember the good ol’ days when the line was ‘AI won’t take your job…but someone who uses AI will’? Yea, me too.
2. Reese Witherspoon says ‘it’s time to learn AI’ and gets slammed for it. (Los Angeles Times) – WHAT? This will not stand. No one slams Reese Witherspoon!
3. Latest AI models could threaten world banking system. (Financial Times)
4. There is an anti-AI movement. And it needs to be taken seriously. (CNN)

-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.