I took a week off. I'm sure you noticed, right?

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I journaled about skipping last week and the need for self-compassion. I shared it in my writer's log for the Writing Original Works 22-day sprint we're doing. I'm glad I'm participating like a student in WOW. I'm writing so much!

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Here's what to expect in this newsletter: ChatGPT 5, Google Genie 3, Obsidian users, Obsidian Bases, my battle with the train, and what to expect in the LYT Workshop this October...

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AI

ChatGPT 5 just released

They are framing it as “chatting with a helpful friend with PhD‑level intelligence.”

Here are the most important notes:

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• One unified system: Instead of the most horrid naming conventions in the history of modern successful services, it now is just ChatGPT 5, with an intelligent router to use “GPT5-Thinking” when needed for deeper research. Oh, and there’s GPT5-Pro too. But it’s simpler than before.
• Hallucinations are reduced by 45–80%
• Less sycophantic
• Better performance (as you’d expect)

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​Read the update yourself »​

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But the bigger news might be Google Genie 3

Move over Large Language Models.

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Hello GPWMs (General Purpose World Models)!

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​Read and watch it yourself »​

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• Real-time interactive world generation: It generates fully navigable, dynamic 3D environments in real time—at 720p and 24 fps—from simple text prompts.
• Strong memory and environmental consistency: It can maintain physical and visual consistency for several minutes, remembering objects and terrain—even when they leave the frame—thanks to emergent memory capabilities rather than prebuilt structures. Emergence baby!
• Promptable world events & interactive flexibility: Users can dynamically modify the environment mid-simulation—e.g. introducing a dude running in a chicken suit. This is nuts.
• Allows AI to learn, presenting a new path towards AGI (uhoh): Gives AI a physically plausible, immersive environment to test anything.

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Obsidian

How many users do you think Obsidian has?

No one knows.

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My guess is 7 million.

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How soon until Bases is completely public?

No one knows. My guess is August 18th.

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It's getting powerful with formulas.

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I'm going to wait until it's fully baked before digging in.

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Prepare for our next epic workshop

Our flagship 30-day cohort—The LYT Workshop—starts October 13th!

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You will be able to enroll starting September 16th. Join the waitlist.​

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In addition to the core experience, I'm leading a brand new “AI track.” We’re covering the best practices and the new IDI framework for wisely using AI on your personal notes. All of that will be exclusive to the LYT Workshop this fall.

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• What specifically do you want covered around AI and PKM?
• What questions do you have?
• What would make a difference for you to learn?

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What would be valuable to you? Tell me.

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​Email me about the AI track »​

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Personal updates

My friend, the train

I’m finally settling into some decent rhythms here in Montana, where we’re spending the summer, and if I wasn’t writing a book, I would write a longform essay on “How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Train.”

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For context, Helena, Montana has trains passing through it at all times of the day and those train horns are LOUD…HOOOOORN HOOOOORN HOOT HOOOOORN…Sound carries right up the hill. For miles. It’s been driving me absolutely bonkers. If you think I’m a good-natured guy, it’s a good thing you haven’t been around me at my most stressed out moments when fresh train blasts echo through my body.

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Literally, infrasound waves from train horns penetrate the body and are felt within. Unfortunately, my body had developed an association with each new surprise train blast where it would tense up in the lower center of my chest, right at the solar plexus and two inches down.

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But one recent night at 3am, I lay awake and made a vow to myself. I said, “Nick, no matter what, you are going to sit in a meditation pose with your eyes closed facing the train for two hours tomorrow, no exceptions!!!” And if you know anything about me, you know I like a good phrase or acronym, so I called this No Escape Training, or NET for short.

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Suddenly, I couldn’t wait for tomorrow. Face to face with the train. Just me and its billowing blasts against my broadside. “Tomorrow, I’m going to let the train in,” I said. “And I’m going to rewire my response to it.” My mindset was to see how quickly I could transform a new series of blasts from annoyance into acceptance, and from acceptance into appreciation.

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The next day, at noon, I started. Two hours…what was I thinking?! It was hard on the body, but much harder on the mind. I had nowhere to run. No phone to grab. No distraction from anything. “Bring on the pain. The pain will set you free. This is a fast-acting form of rewiring my reward system.” I cooked up all sorts of angles for continued motivation.

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And you know what happened?

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​THIS IS GETTING LONG, READ THE REST ON SUBSTACK »​

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