AI versus Marshy 74 - catch-up edition

Where you been maaaan?

Hey fam,

Six months.

That’s how long I’ve been quiet.

In AI terms? I’ve basically missed a Jurassic park.

I’m still not sure how I feel about AI-generated imagery for the sake of it, but I’ll see how things go over time

I’ve still been following the space like a madman.

Building solutions for my clients, bingeing YouTube, and picked up a part-time gig doing early-stage marketing recruitment at Pointer, and trying to buy a house while wrangling toddler twins.

Every time I sat down to draft something, I felt like I was behind, and then I saw this quote from one of the industry luminaries:

Yeah if he can’t handle it we’re good

And if he feels behind then I want to assure you that us mere mortals are okay.

I’ve flip-flopped on where to start with this, and so I want to start with something dramatic.

Let’s go with:

The Day Everything Changed

November 24th, 2025.

Anthropic released Opus 4.5.

A 0.5 increment.

How good cant that be?

Turns out: very.

A slide from one of my presentations on AI

I talk to a lot of nerds about this stuff (and follow a lot more) and everyone used to say with confidence:

“I can still code better than AI” or,

“I can still do X better”…

Then it dropped and they can’t say that any more.

4.6 is even better.

And this is the worse it will EVER be.

Then came lobby 🦞

Or Clawdbot, MoltBot, OpenClaw… but I like lobby.

Not least because there’s a Western Bulldogs player who also goes by this nickname.

I got in early.

Set it up my gaming PC, and keep finding ways to capture notes, reminders, check calendars, and coordinate things with my spouse.

I’m not in love with it, and I think other solutions are catching up, but it’s definitely been another “moment” in the last 6 months.

Just please -

If you come across a YouTube in your algorithm from this guy:

Just back away slowly.

It’s the most hyperbolised dross you could ever watch and I hate that I have.

Ten times 10 times ten

Here’s stat that blew my mind:

Anthropic has 10x’d revenue two years running.

2024: Zero → $1B.
2025: $1B → $10B.
2026: Tracking toward $100B.

They’re still running at a loss.

But they’re leading the AI monetization race - largely thanks to B2B, especially code.

Dario Amodei, the founder, openly talks about how this hyper-acceleration could end catastrophically for humanity if we’re not careful.

And yet he’s one of its foremost architects.

It’s bizarre, and from what I can tell, he seems to straddle the paradox more admirably than his peers.

(Looking at you, Sam Altman.)

My own Turing Test (Solved)

But what about meeeeee.

For years, my biggest frustration with content was this:

I’d write a newsletter.
A small group would read it (I love you for that).
Then it would disappear.

I wanted videos.
Social posts.
Repurposed content.

It’s my work - why can’t I get more mileage from it?

AI was supposed to fix that.

But it’s been shit. Clunky. Unreliable.

And well now that’s changed.

I’ve rebuilt my website.

Pulled it off Webflow.
Told the AI what I wanted, directed it, plugged in some APIs.

And it built what I needed.

And my content is easier to own, distribute, house, and do whatever the hell I want with it.

—

Some quick housekeeping -

I’ve moved from Kit (overpriced) to Beehiiv (more user-friendly) but you haven’t heard from me in a while, and some of the new subscribers have never seen an edition - by the time you get this, it should be all fixed up the website lukemarshall dot net.

But this is the flavour of takes you’re going to get so no harm no foul if not for you.

I think I’m ready to start opining on this stuff again, and I think I’m just going to chronicle it from my perspective.

I’ve been doing my own head in trying to “break it down” in a way that’s easy and understandable but I think I’ll just go my own speed hey?

I also think I’ll write more regularly in short-form and do round-ups for the newsletter, but want to see how all of this feels after sending and putting things on the new website.

And because it’s a new email sending tool - replying to this and telling me anything is going to help deliverability. Thanks!