Google AI Upgrades, YouTube Longevity, and What’s Next
Issue 20
Tech Vitals
Google IO happened this past week and of course Gemini and AI led the show.
There are new features with upgraded models for image generation, video generation with native audio and a new expensive AF $250/month subscription to Google AI called…Ultra.
My favorite thing out of the whole keynote was personal context and connections. Gemini in its various forms, live, chat and search will start to be able to connect to the other Google services like calendar, search history, drive and more.
This in my opinion is the biggest things these AI models are lacking at the moment. What you like, don’t like, how you work and write. You have to still enter a lot of this into custom instructions to really tailor your responses accordingly and the gap between how each company follows instructions and documents still varies widely.
Hopefully in the future I can just type into the models something more simplified and it gives me the results that I need.
Example: I have a project called creative advisor, in ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude. I have the same custom instructions about how the model knows a lot about YouTube, thumbnails, along with my channel details and preferences.
I also have documents from courses like Part Time YouTuber Academy, Ship30 and Colin and Samir’s Creator Playbook loaded in for reference. These contain best practices for thumbnails, titles, hooks and more. Basically everything you would need to structure a video that gets clicks and retains viewers.
Gemini does a great job of adhering to those documents, shares why it chose a specific title and cites the document it used.
ChatGPT and Claude have been hit or miss lately. Same documents, same custom instructions and information and worse results.
Now this will be out of date as soon as I publish this since the AI space is still moving so fast.
Claude also has two new models, Sonnet 4 and Opus 4 out now and I’ve re-subscribed for at least a month to ChatGPT plus to try out their new 4.5 and 4.1 models.
I’ll keep using whatever gives me the best results, lately it has been Gemini 2.5, pro and flash are both great.
Creator Heartbeat
There is no new video this week, but I have been busy working on a podcast and have 3 videos in works.
I’m looking to be a guest on podcasts this year. I enjoy talking Tech, Apple, apps, engineering, or YouTube, use the contact information at the bottom and let me know if you are looking for guests!
Content Radar
I’ve been stuck on longevity of YouTube and how this can become a profitable business long term.
This week I listened to the Creator Science podcast featuring Mark Manson.
The episode is titled “Why YouTubers Aren’t Making More Money”
He makes some good points about the lack of professionalism in early career YouTube, how to build long term relationships and diversify your income beyond adsense.
This conversation had me hooked from start to finish, I’ll be sharing more thoughts on Threads in the coming weeks.
Pulse Check
What’s coming up
For Perspective - Apple User’s thoughts on Google IO
iPhone 16 Pro 6 month review
There is no perfect notes app
June App of the Month
New short form series for Apple tips and tricks
Connect and Engage