Key points
- Ruby Thelot argues AI coding tools erase the technical moat, letting creators recreate an effect within a week.
- Thelot defines paratechnology as technology you buy or install to change how you use another technology, and predicts a rise in calmer individual-made interfaces.
- Thelot says companies should let creative technologist programs run their course because artists reveal a tool's latent potential.
Choosing Texas Ruled the Charts and Nobody Noticed
Guest interviews
- Sofia Puccini, writer and musician. She says a selling-out sentiment keeps artists out of tech, and that older musicians see AI as a way to stay relevant while many younger ones reject it outright. She calls hyper beat-synced Reels edits a new medium and makes her own TouchDesigner promo edits rather than paying a team, saying that is what music marketing has become. She wants big tech creator programs to give more back and is most excited about live coding as a new performance form.
News
- Choosing Texas Topped Charts for 26 Weeks. The country song spent 26 weeks at number one on roughly 20m weekly US streams, against 50m to 100m for Drake's God's Plan in 2018. Ruby Thelot credits a thin release calendar and splintered audiences for the gap.
- Billboard Drops YouTube Views From Its Counts. In January 2026 Billboard stopped counting YouTube views toward its chart, a change Ruby Thelot says favours radio-driven country over hip hop and rap, which do far better on video platforms.
- AI Coding Tools Erase the Creator Moat. Ruby Thelot says larger models can now recreate a clip's visual effect within a week, so the technical moat that once made an interactive site impressive is gone. Sofia Puccini says trends get copied within three days.
- Etsy Witch Searches Jump 150% in Five Years. Google Trends interest in occult services rose about 150% over five years. More than 100,000 sellers traded on eBay before its 2012 ban and Etsy followed in 2015, with a career spell costing $12.05.
- Tools That Limit Phone Use Keep Growing. Ruby Thelot describes paratechnology as tools bought to change how you use another technology, from the Brick and Yondr pouches to Punkt, the Light Phone and Screen Time. He predicts a rise in calmer interfaces built by individuals for themselves.
- Creative Technologist Searches Jump in 2025. Google Trends interest in the title was steady until a 2025 jump Ruby Thelot links to AI unlocking creativity, since limited technical skill once capped ideas for novel interfaces. Google launched the role in 2014.
- Artists Build Datasets AI Training Missed. Minne Atairu and Alexia Adana found their communities absent from training data and built alternative datasets. Adana, now at Luma AI, was OpenAI's video artist in residence during the Sora program, which was later wound down.