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Why Are We Obsessed With Virtual Assistants? (Figma's Config 2025)
I had the opportunity to listen to John Lewenstein of Anthropic give a talk at Figma’s Config event in early May 2025 in San Francisco....

Julie Ask
3 days ago2 min read
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GenAI Services Will Redefine Personalization
Augie Thumm took over his father’s bike shop (Thumm’s) in my home town of Warren, Ohio when I was just out of college. My parents bought...

Julie Ask
4 days ago3 min read
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Anthropomorphism of AI Agents: Yes? No?
There has been a lot of buzz this year surrounding AI Agents - how they code, will replace humans, how humans will manage teams of AI...

Julie Ask
4 days ago2 min read
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Should We Outsource Our Thinking To Machines?
I recently reviewed two pieces of academic research on the impact of use of GenAI tools on a human's critical thinking abilities. The...

Julie Ask
Apr 115 min read
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A Perspective on CEO Andy Jassy’s (Amazon) 2024 Letter To Shareholders
Amazon (including AWS) is investing heavily (billions - hundreds) in generative AI. This is no secret given its public plans for chips,...

Julie Ask
Apr 114 min read
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AI Funding Is Growing - And Bringing Entrepreneurs to San Francisco
The San Francisco Examiner published a summary of Pitchbook’s Q1 2025 Global VC First Look . A few key take away’s: 1) VC fundraising is...

Julie Ask
Apr 92 min read
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Use Your Words: Teaching Prompt Engineering (Google's Whisk)
Whisk is a "new experimental tool that lets you use images as prompts to visualize your ideas and tell your story." Everyone knows the...

Julie Ask
Apr 42 min read
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Nvidia Keynote 2025: Missing: Consumer Use Cases
Technologists leave consumers out of the agentic AI conversations - still.

Julie Ask
Mar 193 min read
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Retain Human Element In Sports’ GenAI Use Cases
Background: I had the privilege to host a panel of female executives in sports management for a panel discussion at Oakland Roots and...

Julie Ask
Mar 192 min read
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Apple Reinforces Measured Approach to GenAI In Consumer Services With 16E
Apple launched its smartphone portfolio's latest device (16E) on February 19, 2025. As an analyst, I’ve covered Apple for nearly 20...

Julie Ask
Feb 244 min read
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Virtual Agents (and Assistants) Aren't Ready for Mass Consumer Use Cases
To be clear, the technology is impressive - its aspirations, capabilities, and more. Using it involves too much friction today for most...

Julie Ask
Feb 102 min read
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Bring Humans Back Into Agentic AI Discussions
Too many genAI stories lack a human component. It feels a bit like Kevin Costner’s 1995 movie Field of Dreams. “Build it, and they will...

Julie Ask
Jan 253 min read
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Context Will Make Conversational Interfaces Better Sources of Answers Than Search
Search is a big business. Google has grown its revenue from search ad revenue from $45B in 2014 to $175B in 2023. During the same time...

Julie Ask
Nov 11, 20243 min read
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Robots: Are Consumers Ready for GenAI-Powered Agentive Machines?
Physical Intelligence raised $400M in “early stage funding” in November 2024. In doing so, they pulled the spotlight back towards...

Julie Ask
Nov 10, 20245 min read
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Ascension to Modern CX Leadership
I had the privilege and opportunity to attend NICE’s annual analyst summit last week. NICE assembled a world-class team to accompany...

Julie Ask
Nov 3, 20243 min read
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The Gifts of GenAI for Consumers
GenAI headlines scream about the “unprecedented productivity gains” that this transformational technology will deliver to the workforce...

Julie Ask
Oct 17, 20244 min read
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Figma Config 2024Figma Config2024: Transparency and Truth About Design Today - Including GenAI
Had the privilege and opportunity to attend Figma’s Config 2024 event at the end of June in San Francisco. I attended so many inspiring...

Julie Ask
Jul 1, 20243 min read
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Apple's 2024 WWDC Shows Off How Evolutionary GenAI Is - Less Revolutionary
Apple may not have its own large language model (LLM), but it will be just fine. Apple has long tapped into artificial intelligence to...

Julie Ask
Jun 9, 20245 min read
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Power and Limitations of GenAI in Consumer Applications Today
Illustrations of the power and limitations of genAI are rapidly evolving. I had the opportunity to attend Snowflake’s Developer Day on...

Julie Ask
Jun 9, 20244 min read
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Will Virtual Assistants Be The Killer Consumer App for GenAI?
Possible, but not plausible in the near term. Sam Altman believes they are poised to do so (see article from MIT Tech Review.) I've been...

Julie Ask
May 28, 20242 min read
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