The Top 10 AI Stories of All Time

This Week: 100 Editions of Zero to Unicorn

Zero to Unicorn turns 100 today (don’t worry, I’ve only aged slightly in the process). 

When I sent the very first issue, I had no plan. 

Just curiosity, a love of writing, and a hunch that AI was going to change the way we work. Writing this newsletter forced me to pay attention, experiment with new tools and think more deeply about the impact AI was having on work. 

What followed was harder than I expected. Hours spent reading hundreds of blogs and newsletters to decide what mattered. Late nights rewriting drafts, agonizing over every sentence. Weeks when subscriber growth felt like a trickle. 

More than once I thought about stopping.

But then someone would write back to say an issue helped them, or ask a thoughtful question. That feedback is what kept me going. From a handful of readers to nearly 1,000 today, this little experiment has grown into a community I never imagined.

So this week, instead of sharing something new, I’m looking back. I’ve pulled together the Top 10 most popular stories of all time, the ones you read, shared, and talked about most.

Zero to Unicorn has always been a labor of love (with an assist from my trusty AI sidekick), but it’s your curiosity and support that make it worth every hour. 

Thank you for being here. 

Here’s to the next 100.

Tahnee

1. ChatGPT Just Saved me $3,000 in SEO Analysis

I’ve been testing ChatGPT’s Deep Research feature, and decided to throw it a real challenge: a full SEO audit for a client’s site.

Instead of jumping straight into a response, it paused and asked a few sharp questions—what tools I use, who the competitors are, the target audience. Then it got to work.

Fifteen minutes later, I had a clean, detailed, 20-page report of very specific feedback. It ran speed tests, flagged broken links and rewrote metadata.

Some of the better recommendations it surfaced:

• Tighten up CTAs on high-traffic pages

• Remove jargon that’s likely confusing new users

• Refresh older blog content to stay competitive

I sent it to a couple SEO friends to double-check. They said it was a solid starting draft with some rough edges, but workable.

One big gap? No mention of AI search.

It missed things like optimizing for AI Overviews or ChatGPT’s browsing features. But when I followed up and asked how to adapt it for generative search, it quickly added a solid section covering that too.

Check out how I did it on YouTube.

2. It’s Time to Reset Your AI Setup

You know that moment when you try to run a quick task and end up clicking through five tabs, reconnecting three tools, and rewriting a prompt for the fourth time?

That’s a sign.

Over the past few months, I’ve seen this happen to founders, marketers, people leaders and ops teams who started strong with AI but didn’t stop to streamline. What began as a handful of helpful tools slowly turned into a Frankenstack of overlapping features, half-baked workflows, and “just in case” tools no one actually uses.

If you are experiencing any of these “red flags” you need an AI spring clean:

• You’re copying and pasting between tools more than you’re creating.

• You can’t remember what each tool is for (or who on the team is using it).

• You have multiple tools doing the same thing (because no one wanted to decide).

• Your outputs aren’t getting better. They’re just getting… longer.

• If your setup makes everything feel slower, it’s time to simplify.

Want to know how to fix your tech bloat? Read the full article Zero to Unicorn.

3. Do I need to be nice to my AI?

No, it’s not going to sulk if you’re blunt, but polite, conversational prompts often lead to better results . Why?

Politeness usually means clarity. When we ask nicely, we naturally give more detail: “Could you write a 200-word blog intro about AI trends?” is better than just typing “AI intro.”

It matches how the AI was trained. LLMs learn from billions of examples of human conversation, and polite phrasing often mirrors the patterns they’re best at responding to. It sets the tone. If you want a friendly, natural-sounding response, framing your request conversationally helps the AI match that tone.

So, while “please” isn’t mandatory, treating AI like a helpful teammate usually pays off.

You can see the other top 10 questions on AI here.

4. How to Create Content Personas Using AI

If you're posting on LinkedIn but don’t have detailed persona documentation, there’s an easy way to build one—straight from your own LinkedIn analytics.

Here’s how:

• Take screenshots of your follower demographics

• Upload them to your LLM of choice

• Ask for a persona and content plan (and any other details you’d like)

I ran this exercise and got Sophia Strategist from ChatGPT and Tech Savvy Tracy from Claude—same data, slightly different takes. Running both can give you richer insights into who’s engaging with your content.

Watch the step-by-step video over at my YouTube channel. 

5. Three Secrets to Avoiding AI Detectors

AI tools are changing the way we create content, but with the rise of LLMs comes a new challenge: creating content that doesn’t sound like it came from a robot. 

I’ve been writing content with the help of LLM’s for years now and have discovered a few tricks for avoiding AI detection and creating content that your audience will think is worth reading.  

Here’s how:

1. Watch for repetitive or generic phrasing.

2. Check your facts. LLMs don’t always have the latest info—and sometimes they just make things up. Double-check everything.

3. Test your text. Run it through a plagiarism/AI detector like Copyleaks or Originality.ai i to see how much of it sounds machine-made.

4. Add your own stories. The personal touch is something no model can replicate.

Just for fun I ran a few of my writing samples through Originality.ai and it did a decent job of flagging the AI text. 

Here’s an example of a summary I pulled from ChatGPT before I rewrote it for the newsletter:

And here’s an example of a segment I wrote without any help from my AI:

I’m a huge fan of using AI to speed up your process, but it’s still on you to make sure the final draft feels authentic and sounds like you. 

6. How AI Changed My Life

I always knew AI would be big. I just didn’t realize how big.

The first time I used ChatGPT, I thought it was a quirky and fun way to ask questions. My first experiments with DALLE were comically bad. I struggled to get optimal outputs and find truly useful workflows. Every AI platform I used was clunky, and its outputs were subpar.

And then everything changed.

Want to know what? Read on at Medium.

7. The RACE Formula

One of the biggest mistakes people make when using AI is being too vague. If you just type a quick request into ChatGPT, you’re leaving a lot up to chance. The trick is to give it the right structure.

That’s why I like the RACE formula—it’s simple, easy to remember, and helps you get better, more accurate outputs.

R – Role → Define the role you want AI to take. (e.g., “You are a travel manager”)

A – Action → Specify the task. (e.g., “Write an email about our new policy”)

C – Context → Add details for depth and relevance. (e.g., “Make it engaging, under 200 words, and link it to our knowledge base”)

E – Execute → Give clear instructions on what the output should look like. (e.g., “Use a conversational tone and short paragraphs”)

Yes, you can get fancier with your prompts, but if you’re in a hurry, this will do the job.

8. Using ChatGPT Might be Making You Dumber

ChatGPT won’t make you slower. But letting it think for you will.

That’s what researchers at MIT’s Media Lab found in a new study that tracked how people write essays with and without AI. Participants were split into groups—one used ChatGPT, and another relied on their own brains. All were asked to write SAT-style essays while wearing EEG headsets that monitored activity across their brain.

The ChatGPT group had the lowest cognitive engagement. Their essays were less original, more formulaic, and visibly weaker across neural, linguistic, and behavioral markers. By their third attempt, many had stopped trying entirely, copying and pasting ChatGPT’s answer without edits. When later asked to rewrite an earlier essay without help, most could barely recall what they’d written

The brain-only group performed differently. Their EEGs showed stronger connectivity in areas linked to memory, creativity, and semantic processing. Their writing reflected more ownership and variation. And when given access to ChatGPT after writing unaided, they stayed engaged, using it to support their thinking, not replace it.

Some pundits have spun the study into a warning that ChatGPT rots your brain. That’s not what the data says. The problem isn’t the tool, it’s how you use it.

As Paul Roetzer of the Marketing AI Institute puts it, the real imperative is to teach people how to use AI to accelerate learning and thinking, not outsource it.

That means:

Starting with human comprehension

Using AI to test, refine, or expand ideas—not to generate entire outputs blindly

Creating environments that reward cognitive engagement, not just finished deliverables

9. How to Build an Outbound Sales Strategy Using AI

If you’re trying to survive the high-paced environment of a startup, you’re undoubtedly familiar with the demands of outbound sales. Not that long ago, I joined a series A company and found myself a marketing department of one.

I was responsible for everything from campaign development and demand gen to sales enablement and lead qualification. The to-do list seemed never-ending: managing email cadences, crafting marketing materials, and coordinating with sales teams. The sheer volume of tasks was, to put it mildly, overwhelming.

Despite the exhilaration of running all our programs, the complexity and urgency of tasks left me wishing for more hours in a day. The manual labor of sifting through hundreds of leads and attempting to qualify them was particularly time-consuming. I often found myself thinking, “If only I had a more efficient way to do this.”

When I discovered the capabilities of today’s AI-powered tools for sales and marketing, I couldn’t help wish they’d been available during those earlier, frenetic days.

You can keep reading at Medium. 

10. How to Work, Hire, and Lead in an AI-First World

When Duolingo cut 10% of its contractors, they didn’t sugarcoat it. They said AI could do the work faster and better. 

Shopify took a different approach but sent the same message. Before any team can request a new role, they have to prove a human is essential. As Shopify CEO, Tobi Lütke put it, “No new hires without proof AI can’t do the job.”

What both companies are signaling is something bigger than cost-cutting or tool adoption. Some call it “AI-first,” and it’s changing who gets hired, how teams function, and what people are expected to deliver. 

And it’s not limited to a few tech outliers. According to McKinsey’s latest State of AI report, the percentage of organizations using AI in at least one business function is climbing fast. The chart below shows just how sharply adoption has accelerated.

Continue reading at Zero to Unicorn. 

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