Three years ago, somebody asked me if I really thought this AI thing was going to be the future. My answer: I don’t even think this is the future. I think this is the right now. Everybody is just going to wake up to it at their own rate. And Everybody’s Having Their Own AI…
Back in 2014 Rick wrote that it’s not really a good excuse to plead ignorance about where your shirts are made. He linked to a Guardian story about feminist t-shirts allegedly produced by exploited women workers a precautionary tale about the gap between the message on the garment and the conditions behind it. Eleven years…
According to Harvard Business Review’s 2025 Gen AI Use Case Report, therapy and companionship is now the number one use case for generative AI, not coding, not content creation. People are processing grief, managing loneliness, and navigating mental health with chatbots. That demands a level of skepticism most users aren’t bringing to the conversation. It…
You’ve probably seen the headline: one AI-generated email costs a whole bottle of water. It’s a stat that gets clicks. But the real picture of AI water consumption is more nuanced, and the question of what you can do about it deserves a straight answer. The Big Picture Is Alarming U.S. data centers consumed roughly…
And an AI Company Just Said No This week, Anthropic, the company behind Claude, drew a line against the Pentagon. Their position: we will not allow our AI to be used for mass surveillance of American citizens or in fully autonomous weapons. The Pentagon’s response? Drop those guardrails or lose your $200 million contract, get…
For this Throwback Thursday: Made in the U.S. A., Let’s take a look back and a look forward at Apparel Made in the U.S. A.: Unionwear: Thriving in a New Manufacturing Landscape Unionwear, located in Newark, NJ, remains the real deal in union-made, USA-made hats, bags, and accessories. Their president Mitch Cahn continues to be…
Regulations today A new Senate bill for creators to find out if their work was used to train AI, the Transparency and Responsibility for Artificial Intelligence Networks (TRAIN) Act. This act would enable copyright holders to subpoena training records of generative AI models if the holder can declare a “good faith belief” that their work…
Black Friday AI: Black Friday shoppers have a growing interest in generative AI. In a recent survey, four-in-10 (38%) shoppers said they have already used or plan to use generative AI when shopping on Black Friday. Among younger consumers, 46% of millennials and 52% of Gen Z respondents already use or plan to use generative…
Adobe released NEW Content Credentials as a “nutrition label” for digital content. This system offers users a comprehensive view of the content’s components and provides information about the creator, creation time and date, tools utilized, and subsequent edits. The strength of Content Credentials lies in their permanence. Through metadata and watermarking techniques, even if the…
In this Shop Talk Rick talks about the many different ways he implements sustainable practices in his shop, Mirror Image. From using eco-friendly packaging to giving old shirts a new lease on life, there are many ways to turn what might seem to be trash into treasure. Sustainability and waste reduction are complex issues that…
