Will PKM Survive AI?

My passion and business revolves largely around personal knowledge management.

I have a stake in this answer.

My knee-jerk answer is just to say "no."

But that's not good enough.

I want to speculate on how AI will impact the space of PKM for different people, both now and into the future.

Some of those currently in the thralls of AI have said something to the effect of, "in the future, PKM will be dead." This is a provocative statement, and I'll admit, a scary one that I hope doesn't happen.

But as I reflect on the thesis, "PKM will die because of AI," I realize that it comes from a fundamental misunderstanding what PKM is. Or perhaps it's better to say what the role of PKM is.

If we consider the roles of PKM and compare that to the roles of AI, we will be able to discover what roles AI may take over and what roles AI will never be capable of taking over.

Long story short, AI can do more of the donkey work of PKM ("donkey work" is a phrase from David Sparks that fits perfectly). Metadata organization. Getting tasks sorted and accomplished. Many other things too.

Now you might be thinking, "But that's all there is. That's all there is in life. Life is just things that we need to do and then actually getting them done."

And I would say that is a very sad worldview.

That overlooks, is blind to, or just discounts what makes a life worth living. When everything is reduced down to a task or a project, the human is stripped of their humanity. There is no humanism in this formula. Only utilitarianism.

Knowledge management is not just a means to external ends. It's a mean unto itself. It's the often invisible aspect of our lives that allows us to enrich it in ways big and small.

More to come. This is an ongoing exploration, an attempt at understanding, a true essais.

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📺 Obsidian just won

Obsidian has officially won the note wars.

Everyone seems to be scrambling to install complex protocols, paying for plugins or built-in AI subscriptions—or just switching apps once again—as their current app fails to catch up to the latest AI developments.

Meanwhile, over in Obsidian, AI integration looks like this:

Point AI at a folder.

And you're done.

Here's the whole video, brand new!

​Watch »​

​

Or, if you're like many reading this, don't integrate AI at all.

Either way, with Obsidian, it's your choice.

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I dream of floating

Over my lifetime, but in a more accelerated fashion in the last four years, I've been developing the skill in my sleep of being able to float in the air. Not quite fly, but float. The last two days, that skill has turned a corner. I have more control over my floating. It's almost "flying" but it's still more of a float. Am I alone in these dreams? I would love to hear what anyone can share about their experiences floating/flying in dreams and what their interpretations might be.

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Idea Updates

AI Assistant Bootcamp

Last week, I asked if you would you be interested in having a practical bootcamp on how to safety set up an AI employee, which includes all the documentation you need to have it know exactly how you work in your shared Obsidian vault.

800 people said yes.

But it's not really 800 people. Some email services auto-clicked my link, so I don't know what your actual interest is. So... Are you actually interested in a practical bootcamp to set up an AI employee, including setting up a shared Obsidian ideaverse.

It would be effective as a four sessions spread over two weeks. That would give everyone time between sessions to work through the kinks and get help through the difficult spots.

If you are interested, click below, and I'll ask you a few questions.

​I really am interested in a practical bootcamp to set up an AI employee »​

LYT Workshop 2026

We kicked off the workshop this week. Amazing energy and interactions.

I led Super Session 1 on Tuesday, and followed it up with Workflow Session 1 on Thursday. I lead two workflow sessions during the workshop. One on "organization" and the next on "ideation." Feel free to join the waitlist for next year. Just email me. ​

For organization, I introduce a universal mental model for knowledge management called ACE. Here's a slide I shared during the workshop:

Email me if you'd like t

Idea Exchange

Groundhog Day
​Monday was Groundhog Day in the US. A strange and niche holiday that somehow gave us a really memorable Bill Murray time loop movie in the 90's (with the help of Harold Ramis). It's actually in my top four favorite movies of all time.

In the LYT Community, we spent some time talking about media notes in our PKM systems because both Keaton and I have a note on this movie, a favorite for both of us. Ned Ryerson might be one of the most memorable loveably annoying characters in the history of film. Don't say you don't remember him, because he sure as heckfire remembers you!​

OpenClaw is a security nightmare

The bot formerly known as ClawdBot is dangerous if you don't know what you're doing (and even then it's scary). I talk about this in depth for 30 minutes in a video that I want to share somewhere, but it's not quite right for public YouTube, so I'm going to share it in the YouTube Members place soon. (And in the LYT Community of course.) Learn about OpenClaw's security vulnerabilities.​

Stay connected,

Nick

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