Perspective.

https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/2026/01/02/an-ai-playbook-for-working-with-non-human-minds/

An AI playbook for working with non-human minds

… For a long time, it was comforting to describe AI as a “tool”, like a spreadsheet or a search engine. But tools wait until a person chooses to use them and only act when told. And, given the high penetration of AI use in some industries, the metaphor underestimates how deeply AI is now woven into everyday processes.

Many AI models run in the background all day and night. Generative systems, which create content by learning patters from training data, can draft documents and code in seconds. None of these systems has intent or consciousness. But they act with a kind of continual presence that changes how decisions are made and executed.

Think: an AI Erector set.

https://www.makeuseof.com/lego-announces-smart-play-at-ces/

Lego is putting tiny computers inside its bricks, starting with Star Wars sets

Lego bricks are, well… Lego bricks. They’ve stayed largely the same for decades and are simply plastic pieces designed to be combined, rebuilt, and imagined into just about anything. While this isn’t changing, the company just announced the Lego Smart Brick at CES, which puts a tiny computer inside a standard Lego brick.

Prognostication.

https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/five-trends-in-ai-and-data-science-for-2026/

Five Trends in AI and Data Science for 2026

MIT SMR columnists Thomas H. Davenport and Randy Bean see five AI trends to pay attention to in 2026: deflation of the AI bubble and subsequent hits to the economy; growth of the “factory” infrastructure for all-in AI adapters; greater focus on generative AI as an organizational resource rather than an individual one; continued progression toward value from agentic AI, despite the hype; and ongoing questions around who should manage data and AI.

Interesting. Useful?

https://www.bespacific.com/a-political-atlas-of-the-world/

A Political Atlas of the World

1st Experiments with WebMapperGPT. Steven Feldman reports on his experiments with mapping LLMs. The result is available here. [h/t quantum of sollazzo]