As a reminder, each week I cover:

 🏕️ Summer camp accelerates. Audos is proving more capable than expected, and Polytoto's core functionality is already built

✍️ How we write in the age of AI. A somewhat taboo subject, and my take on where I stand

🪞 Sabbatical reflections at the halfway point. What James Clear says about giving things your full attention

🎓 Back to uni. Judging the University of the West of Scotland's student Innovation Challenge

Things really got going this week on my summer camp with INSEAD and Audos. We had a workshop on idea generation, followed by a session on vibe-coding and a group mentoring get-together.

I've been pleasantly surprised by Audos. It's best understood as a vibe-coding tool — think Lovable or Replit — combined with a business coach or highly capable co-founder. Rather than just building what you ask for, it works in partnership with you: deciding priorities, pushing back when needed, and keeping you focused.

The Polytoto prototype has moved on significantly, with core functionality already in place. The burden now is on me to complete the content assets needed to test it properly: daily video-slide briefings about cultural works.

I've also made a new promo video to drive waitlist registrations. Let me know what you think!

Reminder: I'm looking for people who love discovering new films, art, music and literature — sign up for the free Polytoto waitlist at Polytoto.com

I'm curious about how we all feel about using AI in writing. It's a somewhat taboo subject, perhaps because there are no established ethics or agreed rules. We each decide our own, and risk taking offence at someone else's approach.

I've found myself annoyed by others' use of AI. And yet — shock, horror — I use AI in my writing too.

Admitting this can cost you readers, because the perceived provenance of your work is devalued. But I've come to think about it like ingredients on a label: under the personal guidelines I've quietly developed for myself, I feel we should be able to know what's inside.

This week I was interested to discover ways other people use AI in writing that I hadn't considered. Things like acting as a commissioning editor and briefing an AI writer with an idea, or having AI interview you to generate a piece.

My own use is, I think, fairly conservative. I write a first draft, then use AI to check grammar, cut waffle, and suggest improvements. I apply a lot of judgement, because I don't fully trust AI in this area; it's prone to formulaic composition, marketese language, cryptic tone-of-voice shifts, and, of course, em dashes. Lots of em dashes.

While some uses of AI in writing do irk me, I'm also open-minded. I have an artist friend who is dyslexic and struggles with writing — yet they love books and have creative ideas they want to express as prose. They write down their key thoughts and let AI do the draft.

Why shouldn't they?

This landed in James Clear's newsletter this week: "The recipe for frustration is taking on something that requires a whole person, but only giving it half your time. Look at what you're trying to do. What is required? Some things can only be done well when they are pursued with full effort."

Clear's work was influential on how I approached The Complete Founder. His specialism is taking valuable but often technical or inaccessible ideas from academia and research and translating them into plain English with practical application. Atomic Habits is the most well-known example.

Passing the halfway point of my sabbatical, I'm starting to think about how I use the remaining time — and what comes after. What I'm doing with Polytoto at summer camp needs the majority of my attention, or the whole point of starting it won't be realised.

When the camp finishes in September, it will be the moment to draw conclusions and make new plans.

Mostly focused on summer camp sessions and developing Polytoto — but on Tuesday I'm looking forward to visiting the University of the West of Scotland's London campus to judge their student Innovation Challenge.

I’ve also put my name down to attend London Demo Day 2026 in September. I enjoy staying connected to the university startup space.

Have a good week!

Luke

🎩Hat-Tip Want to see what tools and startup launches are creating the most buzz this week in the world of AI? Launch Archive reports on what’s blowing up

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