In this issue:

1. Changes to your Confirmed Achiever

2. Google’s latest AI decision means you should take prompt action

3. News that affects you

4. Time Management in the Age of A.I.

Hi folks –

As the world continues to evolve faster than ever around Artificial Intelligence and other emerging technologies and how they affect our lives and careers, we determined that we should be evolving the Confirmed Achiever newsletter as well.

Over the next few issues, you’ll see that evolution – from publishing more often so we can keep up with the developments that happen so fast – to including guest articles and interviews with thought leaders that impact the industries that, in turn, impact our lives – to more tips that you can use to make your lives easier as you achieve more daily. Most importantly, we’ll continue to distill the info into items that you can implement for your own benefit.

We thank you for trusting us with this task. Please feel free to send us your suggestions, questions and requests. And of course, share this with your colleagues, friends and family so they can also get in on this for free.

Yours,

David

Now – on to today’s highlight…

Google’s latest AI decision means you should take prompt action

You might have missed this subtle, but important Google announcement in a busy week

•  Elon Musk merged his social media and AI companies.

• 23 & Me implodes to the point that your health data is more likely than ever to change hands

Both these news stories have implications for you…

Millions of people rushed to delete their 23 & Me data because they don’t know whose hands will have access after the company’s assets are auctioned in bankruptcy proceedings. This crashed systems and made it difficult to reclaim that data.

At X (formerly Twitter), the data of its 650 million users will officially be owned by x.AI, a data hungry artificial intelligence company. As a result of the merger (actually an acquisition) and a change of privacy policy that X/Twitter made last quarter, x.AI now has the right to use your data to train its AI.

[Both these news items in the news section below]

If you didn’t pay attention to the email that The Google Workspace Team sent to its administrators today (April Fools Day, no less – the same date of the year they announced Gmail), I wouldn’t blame you. And if you’re a Google Workspace USER without administrative privileges, you might not even know the email went out.

In the email, Google announced that it is turning its Gemini app on BY DEFAULT “by the end of April”.

That is, you’ll be interacting with Gemini and feeding its AI this month. According to the email, “This change will enable the Gemini app to interact with Calendar, Docs, Drive, Gmail, Keep, and Tasks.” That’s right – the places you keep your personal information and conduct your business and personal conversations. Not just search or queries that you purposely ask AI.

It tells your administrator “What you need to do – No action is required if you want Workspace apps to remain “ON” for users with the Gemini app enabled.”

Are you a Google Workspace User and Don’t Know It?

Many companies use Google Workspace to manage its key tools. According to a query of Google’s own AI-powered search, it has 50% share of market, with 45% going to Microsoft 365. (That data actually came from Statistica, although it was shown to me in Google’s “AI Overview”.)

Your email address doesn’t have to be @gmail.com; you have a one-in-two chance of being a Google Workspace User even if your company uses its own domain for email. Even if you use Outlook to access email and calendar.

What to do?

If you want to keep Gemini active in the applications mentioned above, do nothing – just like The Google Workspace Team suggests. But make that a deliberate decision; don’t just go along with it because it happens automatically.

If you don’t want Gemini active in those applications, tell your organization’s IT administrators. They can turn it off for your whole organization – but they need to know whether you want it on or off to make a good decision that includes your input. 

In case they let the notice slip by them, you can find Google’s instructions to “Turn Workspace apps in Gemini on or off (Beta)” here. It’s not hard; but Google is not going to hit you in the face with it to make sure you notice it.

•  Musk's social media firm X bought by his AI company (Reuters)

• 23andMe bankruptcy: With America’s DNA put on sale, market panic gets a new twist (CNBC)

• The New Ivies, as announced this week by Forbes. (I’m proud to be a product of both the traditional Ivies and The New Ivies.)

• ChatGPT’s image-generation feature gets an upgrade (TechCrunch)

Tell us how we did today

Time Management in the Age of A.I.

Time Management in the Age of A.I. Workshop/program – find out why executive MBA programs and leading corporations are incorporating this into their skills development programs.

• "Such a great session! Very interesting on all the different styles of time management. I can't wait to start.”

• "Amazing session. Totally loved it.”

• "This session is essential in life.”

• “You hit the nail on the head”

• “The time flew by — so much info. When I noticed the time, the session was almost over”

The last word

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David