In this week's issue: I break down the Three Pillars of AI, a practical framework for understanding how AI can help you grow your business. Plus, the AI Six, headlines that matter for creative businesses.

Hey there, amazing Reader:

You know what I love most about AI? It never judges my questions.

I can ask it why "go" is represented by green and not purple. Or how exactly airplanes go from flying to descending. Or any of the thousand random thoughts that pop into my head while I'm working. AI just answers—no eye rolls, no "stay on topic," no making me feel foolish for being curious.

It's one of my favorite things about my chatbot companions. Not just that it helps me write faster (not always) or clarify my thinking (totally does), but that it lets me explore without judgment.

It got me thinking: most people don't really understand what AI is beyond the surface level. They think it's just a writing tool. "Yeah, AI can help me draft blog posts faster. That's cool." But AI is so much more than that.

In fact, AI has gotten an early bad rap—a stealer of originality, a shortcut to mediocrity. And yes, it absolutely can be used that way.

But here's the thing: this persisting belief points to a bigger problem. Creative professionals aren't getting the AI training they really need.

​A recent study by Envato (a global creative marketplace) found "universal demand for AI training" among creatives—especially around how to communicate with AI and more knowledge about WHAT AI can do.

The reality? Most AI training out there is either "get rich quick with AI" schemes or overly technical tutorials that don't speak to how creative leaders think and work.

Here's what brought this home for me:

This week I attended a series of events and someone commented that they wished the agenda included contact info for the speakers. AI fan-girl that I am, I said, "Just snap a photo of the agenda and ask AI if it can find emails or social media profiles for each speaker." Their eyes lit up!

That's the kind of help AI can provide, and that's the level of access creative pros aren't getting.

If we want to build thriving communities with skilled professionals who excel at their craft AND who can run successful, sustainable businesses—we need training designed specifically for these business owners.

A practical framework.

So this week, I collaborated with my AI creative partners (AKA Claude AI and ChatGPT) to dive into what AI can do beyond blog posts and social media captions. I've organized everything into three overarching categories—a practical framework that shows you how to use AI to think better, make smarter decisions, and run a more efficient operation."

Warmly,
Monica Poling

PS: We have a very international crowd of subscribers on this list, but for those of you who are located in the U.S., here's wishing you a happy Thanksgiving. If you are looking to decolonize your holiday menu, here's an article from Food & Wine that celebrates some amazing Native American chefs and their holiday traditions.

The Three Pillars of AI

We do love our text-generating AI companions. But most of us don’t truly understand how they work or how we can use them strategically. This article closes that gap with a practical framework—the Three Pillars of AI—that shows you exactly how to use AI to grow your business.

The AI Six

AI headlines and what's shifting for creative leaders this week

🟪 EU Scales Back Key AI & Data Protections — A Significant Regulatory Turn for Creatives — The European Commission is delaying or softening parts of the AI Act and GDPR-related measures, prompting concerns from digital-rights groups. For creative industries, this could mean faster tool adoption but also increased uncertainty around rights, data use, and safeguards—especially for archives, datasets, and cross-border creative workflows. (Engadget, Nov 21)

🟢 Study: Generative AI Still Can’t Match Top Human Creatives — No Surprise for Artists & Storytellers — New research from the University of South Australia finds that AI remains far behind elite human creators across originality and ideation tasks. For creative leaders, the message is clear: the strongest outcomes will come from hybrid workflows where human taste and intuition remain central. (UniSA, Nov 21)

🟦 Major Music Labels Sign AI Licensing Deals With Klay — Universal, Sony, and Warner have officially licensed catalogues to Klay, an AI music startup that lets users remake songs with rights cleared. This marks a real shift from “AI scraping without consent” toward licensed, revenue-sharing AI ecosystems. For creative orgs, it points to emerging remix markets, new royalty structures, and evolving IP models. (Reuters, Nov 20)

🟩 Pantone Launches AI-Powered Palette Generator — Pantone Connect now includes an AI tool that turns prompts into curated color palettes, combining 60 years of color research with Azure OpenAI. For designers and brand teams, this accelerates early-stage ideation but may also push aesthetics toward homogenization if overused. A clear signal that AI is entering the traditional craft of design. (Packaging Digest, Nov. 20)

🟧 ChatGPT Plus Becomes Free for Many Educators — OpenAI will now offer its paid tier free to qualifying teachers and educators. For creative orgs that blend education, outreach, or training, this opens the door to stronger AI-supported programming without added cost. It also reflects a growing trend: premium AI access becoming role-based rather than universally paid. (Forbes, Nov 20)

🟣 OpenAI Fixes ChatGPT’s “Em-Dash Problem” — The notorious overuse of em dashes (a dead giveaway of machine-written text) has been corrected, giving writers more consistent control over tone. This matters for agencies, brands, and storytellers seeking to avoid “AI-sounding” prose and maintain authentic voice across creative outputs. (TechCrunch, Nov 14)

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