SEPTEMBER 12, 2025

• PromptCraft: 5 System Prompts for Deep Work; Startup Validation; Why Models Hallucinate; and 7 ChatGPT Shortcuts for Faster Results
• My AI Weekend​
• THE HEADLINES
• Tool Spotlight: Try Tripo 3.0 for 3D Models in One Click

5 System Prompts for Deep Work; Startup Validation; Why Models Hallucinate; and 7 ChatGPT Shortcuts for Faster Results

• ​Five deep-work prompts as systems: Covers the whole cycle: identify highest-leverage tasks and schedule, build a distraction-proof preflight checklist, script a start ritual, deploy a mid-session rescue when stuck, and run a short retrospective to compound improvements.
• ​Prompt Guru: browser prompt lab (open-source): Lightweight, in-browser chat UI for prompt experimentation. Ships an optimization kernel (MARM), validation gates, streaming, and transcript export to JSON/Markdown. Supports multiple models and a clean mobile layout for testing and teaching prompt patterns.
• ​Startup Validator 3000 feasibility prompt: “VC-style” validator analyzes ideas across market size, timing, competition, monetization, unit economics, risks, and pivots. Designed to expose fatal assumptions before you invest; includes guidance to iterate toward a stronger angle.
• ​OpenAI explains why language models hallucinate: New paper (OpenAI + Georgia Tech) argues hallucinations stem from training/eval incentives that reward confident guessing over calibrated “I don’t know.” It recommends changing benchmark scoring to favor uncertainty when appropriate—useful context for designing prompts and review policies that tolerate abstention.
• ​Seven ChatGPT shortcuts for faster results: Handy labels—Outline, Critique, Rephrase as [style], Step-by-step, Contrast, ELI5/ELI12, and TL;DR—act as lightweight “modes” to structure answers without long instructions. Great for quick scaffolding, tone shifts, side-by-side comparisons, and succinct summaries.

AI Weekend Plans: Here's How I Will Be Spending My Saturday

Weekends are sacred moments for me when it comes to non-newsletter work. I use that time to experiment, create, and assess new tools that I don't get to use every day when I'm churning out mAIn Street.

Today, I'm going to do a little thinking aloud about what I hope to accomplish.

This was a heavy week nationally as well as locally, and I need some quiet time to reconnect with myself and my ambition. I feel that every time I do, I come out of it renewed and ready to improve. This week, I'm going for this:

Building my first automation: I'm going to start with something very simple so I can see, follow, and understand the moving parts in action. Once you can understand how the connections are made and functions are triggered on a small scale, it becomes much easier to create on a large scale. My previous efforts with automation weren't the best because the models I used made a lot of mistakes. Eventually, I got frustrated and fell back. With GPT-5 and tools like Make or Zapier, I think it's time to revisit. The real challenge will be finding the appropriate use case.

More fun with Veo 3: I've used Veo 3 before. The creation was much better than anything I could have done on my own (and superior to Sora), but it was nothing more than an experiment. I'd like to connect two or more video renderings so that they move logically within the same environment and characters.

NotebookLM: It's one of the best tools on the market. I'm paying for the upgraded version, and yet I never touch it. For those of you who don't know what it is, it allows you to ground Gemini in nothing but your data. I think parsing back through the almost 500 newsletter editions I've published in the last two years and extracting key insights and building an evolutionary timeline might be good objectives.

Launching a digital product: I've got some ideas, but just need to settle on one and focus. Although it doesn't have much to do with the daily newsletter, I'm thinking about packaging the first-draft novel I created with ChatGPT last month alongside the prompts and instructions and setting up something like How to Write a Novel with ChatGPT in 24 Hours or Less on Gumroad.

​CHECK OUT THE REST ON X​

HIGHLIGHTS: AI's Impact on the Job Market; FTC Launches Inquiry Into 7 Popular Chatbots; How Thousands of 'Overworked, Underpaid' Humans Train Google's AI to Seem Smart

• ​FTC launches inquiry into AI chatbots of Alphabet, Meta, five others​
• ​Microsoft’s AI Chief Says Machine Consciousness Is an ‘Illusion’​
• ​AI tool detects LLM-generated text in research papers and peer reviews​
• ​Thinking Machines Lab wants to make AI models more consistent​
• ​AI wants to help you plan your next trip. Can it save you time and money?​
• ​The Question All Colleges Should Ask Themselves About AI​
• ​How thousands of ‘overworked, underpaid’ humans train Google’s AI to seem smart​
• ​OpenEvidence Acquires Google Ventures-Backed AI Startup, Amaro​
• ​Despite calls to postpone decision, Harwood greenlights $3 billion AI center​
• ​Alibaba, Baidu begin using their own chips for training AI models, The Information reports​
• ​AI software developer Replit raises $250 million at $3 billion valuation​
• ​Nvidia unveils AI chips for video, software generation​
• ​Weighing Risks and Benefits as Kids Turn to AI Companions​
• ​How thousands of ‘overworked, underpaid’ humans train Google’s AI to seem smart​
• ​OpenEvidence Acquires Google Ventures-Backed AI Startup, Amaro​
• ​Despite calls to postpone the decision, Harwood greenlights $3 billion AI center​
• ​Is AI To Blame For The Lousy Job Market?​
• ​Wall Street strategists pile on S&P 500 upgrades as AI mania bolsters ‘glass-half-full’ view of US economy​
• ​How to generate protocol and timeline figures with AI​
• ​The AI Trade Picks Up Steam After Oracle’s ‘Truly Historic’ Quarter​
• ​AI gaming startup Born raises $15M to build ‘social’ AI companions that combat loneliness​
• ​ByteDance unveils new AI image model to rival Google DeepMind’s ‘Nano Banana’​
• ​‘A burgeoning epidemic’: Why some kids are forming extreme emotional relationships with AI​
• ​ServiceNow CEO on AI impact and business strategy​
• ​Introducing AI Watchdog​
• ​Search Millions of YouTube Videos Used to Train Generative AI​
• ​Stability AI Introduces Stable Audio 2.5, the First Audio Model Built for Enterprise Sound Production at Scale​
• ​The latest Google AI literacy resources all in one place​
• ​NDSU president announces full scholarships in AI in State of the University address​
• ​Oracle soars on AI cloud gains, Ellison closes in on Musk as world’s richest​
• ​Smarter, Faster, More Personal AI Delivered on Consumer Devices with Arm’s New Lumex CSS Platform, Driving Double-Digit Performance Gains​
• ​AI software developer Replit raises $250 million at $3 billion valuation​
• ​Oracle to Bring New AI Capabilities to its Patient Portal, Making It Easier for People to Understand Their Medical Records​
• ​I Tried Ralph Lauren’s AI Styling App​

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Standout tools like Sketch-to-3D and auto-rigging (T-pose) speed game and film workflows, while fast one-click or build-and-refine modes keep iteration snappy.

Ranked #1 Product of the Day on September 8, 2025, Tripo also offers free options and a 50% launch discount to get you started.

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​Read All mAIn Street Back Issues Here​

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