Jul 31, 2026

Ending AI Slop — Thais Castello Branco, Taste Labs

Thais Castello Branco of Taste Labs tackles 'AI slop' in subjective domains like design and creative writing. She proposes a framework to make 'taste' measurable by decomposing subjective concepts into verifiable elements, countering the 'collapse to the mean' that stifles creativity. The approach emphasizes high-signal human preference data, expert-driven feedback tied to specific choices, and a 'quality over quantity' mindset to train AI that understands and generates nuanced, multi-preference outputs.

Nov 20, 2025

Mental models for building products people love ft. Stewart Butterfield

Stewart Butterfield, co-founder of Slack and Flickr, shares the product frameworks and leadership principles that guided his success. He delves into concepts like "utility curves" for feature investment, the "owner's delusion" in product design, and why focusing on "comprehension" is often more important than reducing friction. He also introduces powerful mental models for organizational effectiveness, such as combating "hyper-realistic work-like activities" and applying Parkinson's Law to team growth.