How I Use AI to Keep Up With AI: Real Work, Real Value

And how easy it is to do it while you're on a conference call

The AI News Firehose (and How Not to Drown)

One of the most common questions I get—right after “Is AI going to take my job?” and “Can AI write my emails for me?”—is: How do you keep up with everything happening in AI? The truth is, even for someone who lives and breathes this stuff, it’s overwhelming. There are more headlines, breakthroughs, and think pieces than there are “AI will change everything” conference panels.

So, what’s my secret? I did what any self-respecting AI nerd would do: I had an AI platform build a news site for me (I used our native AI platform Limni from Frontier Foundry, which runs securely on my laptop without an internet connection). Not just any news site—a bespoke aggregator that surfaces the most-discussed AI stories from tier 1 news outlets, then cross-checks what’s echoing across social media. It’s like having a Bloomberg terminal (or OpenBB, but for AI, and with fewer existential crises.

Introducing: AI Trend Tracker

This little experiment is now my go-to dashboard for:

• Top AI headlines from sources that actually check their facts

• Stories trending on social media (so I know what everyone’s arguing about)

• A clean, distraction-free UI (no pop-ups, no “One Weird Trick” ads)

And yes, it updates itself. No more doomscrolling through a dozen tabs or chasing social rabbit holes.

EDIT: Here it is!

What Does It Look Like?

Below are a few screenshots from my AI Trend Tracker test app:

Confession: This Is What I Do on Conference Calls

Let’s be honest: we all multitask during conference calls. Some people doodle. Some people check their fantasy football scores. Me? I’m refreshing my AI news dashboard, pretending to nod sagely while actually reading about the latest LLM drama or regulatory kerfuffle. If you see me looking extra thoughtful on Zoom, now you know.

Pro tip: If you’re ever asked a question mid-call, just say, “I’m sorry you broke up there, can you ask me that again?” Works every time.

Why Build My Own?

Sure, there are plenty of news aggregators out there—Feedly, Google News, Flipboard, News360, you name it. But none of them quite nailed the combination of:

• Tier 1 news only (no clickbait)

• Social signal boosting (what’s actually being discussed)

• AI-powered curation (not just RSS feeds)

• Minimal distractions (my attention span is precious)

• Slightly humorous summaries (see my previous bullet lol)

So, I did what any builder does: I built (well, had AI build) my own. It’s not perfect, but it’s already saving me hours a week—and a few brain cells.

This also allows me to continue to iterate on it (note the 2.0 in the screenshot above)… there are some fun new features coming (ranking/rating posts relative to my interests, automate putting drafts into social media, push notifications for certain things to my phone directly or run it locally on my phone as a private app as a few examples).

This entire app build and deployment took me less than 3 hours, half of which I did while on a beach while getting a tan. I’ve built over 10 apps like this that run in the background of my life keeping me sync’d and moving forward while carving out time to be a good husband, father and (occasionally) even relax.

Like What You See?

Should I open source this and put it on Github? Curious about your thoughts dear reader

Coming Up Next

This is the first in a series of real-world examples of how modern AI isn’t just hype—it’s delivering real value, right now. Next up: how I use AI to automate the world’s most boring compliance tasks (and why my legal team both loves and fears me).

Stay tuned. And if you see me on a conference call, know that somewhere, an AI is making sure I’m up to date—even if I’m not.

— Sultan