Ideas generator

Meowy Monday. We’re talking about Lex, a new AI writing tool that comes from a notable tech writer who doesn’t seem worried about AI taking his job.

But first... ⚡️ CAT NIPS ⚡️

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• Fillout.com combines no-code and AI to instantly generate a form for you to customize.

Plaid has joined in on efforts to help more people onboard to crypto with Plaid Onboard Wallet.

Clay Allsopp, PM for crypto and web3 at Plaid, writes: “Instead of manually integrating many wallets at a time, Wallet Onboard helps developers manage one simple SDK integration and unlock connectivity to hundreds of self-custody wallets.”

Those who can’t do, use AI.

Right?

Not so much with Lex. The new AI-powered word processor is generating Twitter buzz in part because of its creators, the founders of the writing collective Every (we are big fans of their work here).

Nathan Baschez shared on the launch last week: “I tried some of the existing tools based on GPT-3 and the AI was awesome, but nothing had the features I needed from Google Docs that would enable me to use them daily.” That’s the main feature that Baschez says sets Lex apart: a full-featured word processor, but if you get stuck you can type “+++” for an idea of what could come next. Hopefully these ideas will prevent context-switching and help you stay focused on what you're writing.

Realistically, it shouldn’t be surprising that everyone gets writer's block. Still, it's noteworthy when career writers use AI for their craft. Skepticism and concern around AI that started with “AI will take your job” has diverged into the complexities of using AI in the classroom as kids start to use AI tools for writing school papers. Lex adds some weight to the idea that AI writing tools are the equivalent of calculators in math class. Teachers may decide against them, while others may be challenged to find ways to work with them.

Maybe the latter is not as bad as it sounds. “The point is not actually that [Lex] is perfect,” Baschez explains. “A lot of these AI writing products — I think the biggest mistake they make is that they’re really focused on generating entire pieces. And the AI is not quite good enough to do that.” Lex won’t try to compete with human writers (at least not yet). Instead, it's there to help you decide what to write about and remember things that can help you craft your piece.

Baschez has been actively sharing updates on Twitter. He posted after Lex's launch on Tuesday that the waitlist was up to 26k, and again on Saturday to say he was “getting aggressive” with invites.

Now’s a good time to watch the demo and get on the list (i.e. BEFORE writer’s block hits).