A few days ago I wrote that I was slowly sunsetting the newsletter and that more was coming very soon. Here it is.

For the last 6 months, I have been building an app called The Framework. The name comes from the argument I have been making here for some time: that the most useful thing you can have, in an age of AI, is a way of thinking about it that holds up. Something with a longer half-life than the latest hot take or the latest model announcement.

Last year, I published a book on AI in Switzerland. It appeared in German (Kompass Künstliche Intelligenz) and French (IA : Comment ne pas perdre le nord ?). To my great delight, the German edition has been on the Swiss bestseller list for half a year now, peaking at #3. The French version is doing well too, but nobody publishes bestseller lists in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, so I can’t give precise numbers.

Importantly, there has never been an English version of the book. For a while I assumed I would just translate it, find a publisher, and that would be that. But the more I thought about that idea, the less it felt right. The book holds up well; most of what I argue in it is the kind of hopefully durable thinking I wrote about a few days ago. What it needed was a different form. Something that could reach a wider audience, grow with the field, and that you could listen to while doing other things. Something that specifically focuses on the mental models, on ways to think about AI. That is how The Framework came to be.

I took the book’s content and worked it into fifty short, sequential audio lessons about what AI is, how it works, where it’s going, what it could mean for jobs, for education, for science, etc., and for how we think about ourselves. The lessons build on each other, the way a course does. Alongside the lessons there are what I call explorations, shorter audio reflections on emerging topics, written and recorded only when I think they are actually worth the listener’s time. As time goes on, new explorations will be added continuously.

It is audio-only by design, for two reasons. The practical one: you can listen while doing other things like walking, cooking, commuting. You cannot really read while doing sports, or driving a car. The other reason is more personal: there is something about a voice that does not transmit the same way in writing. The lessons are read by me, with my voice - and yes, my Swiss accent. Though, for those who would prefer something more “polished”, there is an option in the app to switch to an AI-generated voice reading the same content.

What I always valued about Substack was the chance to write things meant to last longer than a post on social media. The Framework is exactly that, done properly, in the medium I think suits it best. Everything I have posted here will stay where it is, and I will be winding the newsletter down gradually over the rest of the year, with the final post by the end of December. Until then I will continue to write, including about AI, The Framework, what I am learning, and the things that don’t quite fit into the app. The more reactive thinking and commenting I do tends to be on LinkedIn, as usual.

A note for paid subscribers. I have turned off the paid tier. As a thank-you for supporting the writing over time, here is what I would like to do for you when The Framework opens:

• If you are on a yearly subscription, you will get a full year of The Framework on me. No charge. I will reach out directly with the details.

• If you are on a monthly subscription, you will get the same for a month. I’ll reach out to you as well.

Either way, you do not need to do anything right now. I will email you separately once the app is open.

If you have been reading this Substack: thank you for being here. I started creating this shortly after ChatGPT came out, because I felt that the world would change. Now, as we are exiting the chatbot era and entering the agent era, things will change even more, the speed will increase - but reactive commentary is not what I want to spend my time on, and probably not what I am best at. The hypothesis is that the Framework app is the better format. Only time will tell.

If you are interested, please visit www.theframeworkapp.com, where you can get on the waitlist. The app itself is ready, but not on the app stores yet. I am still recording the lessons, and I want to take the time to do this carefully. It should be live within the next few weeks.

Thank you for reading along all this time. I hope what comes next is worth your time too.

— Marcel