Claude Cowork – wonder and sadness
“Hey Claude Cowork, take this PDF of my school’s curriculum. Turn it into a Word doc with the same layout, and translate to Chinese. Check all the words online to make sure they are current.” The job was done in…
Ian Tan
Newsletter 61 – Seek out the Sifus
I once knew a person who trained others in the retail trade. After observing this person for some time, I realised that he was just making things up as he went along. He had no formal training in retail marketing,…
MOE Canteen Chats
I was recently invited to be part of the video podcast Canteen Chats with Lion Mums to talk about the education arms race in Singapore. Thank you to the Ministry of Education, Singapore (MOE) for giving me the opportunity to share my…
a16z Top 100 apps report – Mar 2026
The latest Andreessen Horowitz a16z report on the top 100 Gen AI apps is here, and there is so much to unpack I could write a week’s worth of posts. What caught my eye: 1. AI-enabled apps like Canva and…
Newsletter 58 – I have a robot master
A month ago, I began serving a robot. I bought my first robot vacuum (Xiaomi S40 Pro) after years of never thinking about buying one. There’s an annoying residential construction project going on next to my apartment block and it’s…
ChatGPT 5.4 vs AI Detectors
So ChatGPT 5.4 finally arrived in my app and I put it to the test with a current project that I’m working on. The initial output was already pretty good but I still had to guide it along with my…
CNA Commentary – Using AI at work does not have to be daunting
There are many people who feel daunted by the increasing call to use Generative AI at work. It can feel overwhelming and confusing, especially with the rapid advancements in Gen AI apps. I wrote this article for CNA to help…
Newsletter 57 – Threaded Thoughts
Gong Xi Fa Cai! For those who celebrate Chinese New Year, I hope you had a fun time visiting relatives and friends. In the AI world, Nano Banana 2 has launched and I hope more marketers learn how to use…
Gen AI progression
After a great discussion with Alvin Ng yesterday (we’re collaborating on lots of exciting things), I sat down and worked out my perspective on the tiering for Gen AI learning today. Here’s the fun version of my complex table. Most people are…
CNY Greetings 2026
Here’s a CNY visual I generated with Gemini. FYI, 恭喜发财 means “Congrats, Get Rich!” and use AI to create rich visuals with your imagination!