🐱 The CIA Really Tried to Spy, with Cats

Hey there 👋 The headlines today are wild—AI dev assistants, national security crackdowns, and a literal spy cat experiment. But underneath it all? A pattern. We’re moving faster than ever, and the people who know how to direct that speed—how to spend their time wisely—are the ones shaping the future. Let’s dig in.

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Amazon is going all-in on AI, again. They’re testing two new assistants: one to help you shop with better context (think: “gifts for a 10-year-old who loves science”) and another to surface health info that’s actually vetted by medical pros. It’s part of their broader push into generative AI, and honestly, it makes sense—search is getting messy, and whoever simplifies it best stands to gain a lot. Amazon’s test run is limited for now, but the direction feels big yet not surprising.

U.S. cracks down on quantum and AI exports. The U.S. just blacklisted 80 companies to block access to advanced tech—specifically quantum computing, AI, and high-performance chips tied to military use. Over 50 are based in China; the rest span Iran, Taiwan, South Africa, and others. The move is part of a continued push to keep American innovation out of foreign weapons programs. The Verge has the full story, including how China’s top AI lab responded.

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There’s a new phrase buzzing through dev circles: vibe coding. It sounds like a meme—but it’s quickly becoming one of the most practical shifts in how software gets built.

Instead of writing every line yourself, vibe coders guide AI tools like ChatGPT or Cursor using prompts—letting the AI write code, fix bugs, and handle requests. It’s more like collaborating with a brilliant but overly literal assistant.

Andrew Ng, former head of Google Brain, just launched a free course with Replit to help beginners get fluent in this workflow—prompting clearly, debugging AI output, and avoiding the trap of asking for too much at once. Non-engineers can start here too: no CS degree required—just curiosity.

And according to Garry Tan, CEO of Y Combinator, vibe coding is letting teams of 10 do the work of 50–100. Startups in their current batch are writing 95% of their code using LLMs like Cursor or Windsurf. “You just talk to the model,” he says. “Sometimes you can accept all the changes without even reviewing them.”

This shift is reshaping how products get built—and who gets to build them. If you’re looking for an edge, learning how to work with AI might be the most efficient move you make.

Key Insights:

Want to level up? Check out Ng’s free class, watch this YC video, or catch Greg Isenberg’s take.

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Do I need to learn how to code to stay relevant in the age of AI?

Short answer? Maybe not in the way you think—but the mindset behind coding still matters. And if you already know how to code? The game is shifting.

OpenAI’s Sam Altman recently said mastering AI tools is the new tactical edge—just like coding was a decade ago. AI already handles 50% of coding in some companies, and Anthropic predicts that could hit 90% soon. So it’s less about writing every line, and more about guiding, debugging, and deploying AI to build smarter, faster.

Still, Cisco’s Liz Centoni makes a strong case for keeping coding in your toolkit. Even if AI writes the code, people who can break down problems, connect them to real-world needs, and apply the right tools—those people are gold. “We’ve got thousands of employees working on the boring problems,” she said. “And they need to know how to use the tools to solve them creatively.”

Whether you’re fluent in Python or just learning to prompt, the takeaway is the same: the edge isn’t in doing everything manually—it’s in knowing how and when to use AI to solve real problems. In this era, the most valuable people won’t just use the tools—they’ll think strategically with them.

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Part 2: Your Most Valuable Asset. Last time, we unpacked how shaky self-knowledge can lead to reactive living—and then cyclical setbacks. But here’s the thing: there’s one resource that quietly shapes whether we grow or stay stuck—and it’s often overlooked. Not just how we use it, but how much we value it. That’s the difference between progress and another venture around the same old cycle.

A revelation hit me a while back as I was evaluating my behavior—both what I was doing and what I wasn’t. I kept asking: “Why do I feel so busy but so unaccomplished?” “Why do some people seem so much more productive than me?”

To get real answers, I had to dig a bit deeper. That’s when I started noticing some patterns.

I was naturally more of a listener than a speaker, more of an optimizer than an initiator. Those traits weren’t bad—but too much of a good thing made me more reactive than I wanted to be. I was used to responding to others, not wrestling with my own ideas from the heart. That quietly limited what I was capable of. I was hearing plenty—but rarely overflowing creatively from my identity.

I was spending time on things I wasn’t convicted about—because I hadn’t stopped to think about what truly mattered. That’s the trap of not valuing this asset: you drift into other people’s priorities without even realizing it. Consumer brands & social media play into this big time btw (consume vs create is a whole other topic, for another time).

People-pleasers know the drill—we avoid tension, try to keep things smooth, and end up overextending ourselves. As a founder I also craved quick wins—happy people, easy tasks, things that looked like progress. Especially in startup life, where wearing a lot of hats was a requirement, it was easy to confuse “being busy” with “progress.”

But the results? Shallow progress. Burnout. Procrastination. Fake harmony. Even if that’s not your exact story, I bet part of it still lands.

So what was the problem? Unintentionally, I was okay with misusing my time.

We touched on this briefly in Part 1—proactive vs. reactive living. We need to realize how limited time really is and start acting like it matters by taking control of it back. “Successful” people aren’t working harder—they’re just more intentional with their time. That internal shift has huge implications.

And to dispel misconceptions—passing on an opportunity isn’t about being rude; it’s about being honest. Does this thing move me in the direction I want to go? If not, then respectfully decline.

People who value their time reflect, plan, and pray. They make space to figure out what matters. Because of that, their time naturally gets spent directionally on the right things—even if it’s not perfect in every moment. It’s the direction that matters most.

But when we don’t value time, we drift. We say yes to too much and wonder why we’re not where we want to be.

If you treat time like the scarce, powerful resource it is—that’s how you start to break the cycles. That’s when momentum builds. That’s when change begins to stick.

Are you happy with your use of time? What would you change? Pause and think about that for a few minutes…

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Want to supercharge your productivity? List the top 1-3 tasks you must complete before the day ends.

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A new study reviewing data from 96,000 adults found that walking just 7,000 steps a day is linked to lower rates of depression.

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In the 1960s, the CIA launched Operation Acoustic Kitty—an actual attempt to use cats as spies by surgically implanting listening devices. Shockingly, it didn’t work.

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