unfiltered

The first question we ask of a new technology is what can this product do for me. It’s a useful lens for evaluation, and AI is right in the middle of answering that: do my work, read my emails, write my docs, achieve my dreams, yada yada.

The question seldom asked is what can this product do for the other. How do we make it easier for the other person to understand us? How do we take the burden off other people that we work with? How do we help other people? Much of what we use today don’t arrive at this stage of questioning.

AI is poised to be the most transformative technology in my lifetime. It is also, so far, a Randian ideal: it accentuates differences and reinforces individual preferences. However, we are social creatures who rise and fall together. So the imperative question we should all be asking at the moment, designer or not, is what can this technology do for us.

I haven’t posted an update in a while because I took a vacation and had to work for money! That said, Axle shipped a few minor versions:

• Axle 0.31.0 shipped a major CLI revamp. This update took everything I’ve learned building apps with Axle and put it into a modern, usable TUI. In addition to the new UI, Axle CLI now supports follow up interactions and resumable sessions, as well as more sensible configuration and setup.
• Axle 0.32.0 reworked the thinking Turn and stream objects. It’s a minor but breaking change to the format. The implementation of thinking has always been a little janky, and the recent release of Muse Spark 1.3 gave me a chance to revisit it so that it’s a little cleaner.

I’m personally pretty pleased with the CLI updates. This resolved a few longstanding issues I had with the previous implementation, including the fact that it was just really ugly. With the open weight models being quite cheap and good these days – I’m really liking GLM 5.3 Flash – I’m harboring a few automation fantasies on my life. Not quite there yet, a few more gaps to close, but I’m hoping to have some updates soon.