Hey Conscious Church Fam

From countries handing out free GPT subscriptions to robots that roll around your living room, the boundary between tech and human experience is getting blurrier. Let's slow down, breathe deep, and take a Spirit-led look at what's unfolding.

In today's recap:

• UAE gifts ChatGPT Plus to its entire population 🏙️

• Claude joins the voice AI game 🗣️

• The New York Times signs its first AI deal 📜

• AI editing images with almost spooky consistency 🖼️

• Samsung launches a rolling home robot powered by Gemini 🤖

Let’s dive in 👇

💭 Josh’s Musings

The dishwasher didn’t give us more time to relax. It just raised the bar.

I listened (twice) to the recent Diary of a CEO episode with Simon Sinek this week.

Sometimes you hear something that makes you hit replay—and this was one of those moments.

Here are three things he said that I can’t shake:

• Trying hard (and failing a bit) is actually good for us.

• AI might make us more productive, but it won’t make us more connected.

• And being human? Still matters. A lot.

The growth happens in the journey—not just the “ta-da” moment.

You’ve probably said it to someone else (or had it said to you): transformation doesn’t just happen on the mountaintop. It happens in the mundane. The mess. The valley. The middle bit where it’s not flashy but something in us is being shaped.

AI, on the other hand, is often all about the end result. Fast, polished, done.

And that’s where we’ve got to be careful we don’t skip the good stuff. The holy stuff. The slow stuff.

Honestly, the episode is worth a watch or listen.

I also caught another talk this week where the speaker reminded me—when dishwashers, dryers, microwaves first arrived, we didn’t suddenly get more rest. We just raised the expectation. Washing clothes went from twice a week to daily. Dinner could now be ready in minutes, so we started filling those minutes with more.

Same thing’s happening with AI.

People thought ChatGPT would take care of the admin while we chilled on the beach with a cold drink. Instead, it’s given us more possibility. More problems we can help solve. More space to build things we used to only dream about.

AI isn’t handing you a hammock. It’s handing you a power tool.

Which brings me to something I’ve been playing with: Bolt.

It’s a no-code “vibe coding” playground I’ve mentioned before, and right now they’re running a global hackathon aiming to break the world record for participation.

This isn’t an affiliate thing or sponsored post, just something that might be intriguing for those that want to explore a little more beyond the bounds of things like Gemini and ChatGPT.

You don’t have to launch anything public. Just get curious.

Build a tool for your family. Curate your favourite cafés. Create a prayer tracker. Prompt something into existence that helps your community.

If you join the challenge, they’re giving away full Pro access (loads of free tokens to create). Just sign up, cancel straight after registration, and you won’t be billed. Easy.

Anyway! We’re off as a family to Wales this week—no Wi-Fi, no phone service, no screens.

And honestly? I can’t wait.

🙌Stay Curious, Stay Conscious, Stay Wild
Josh

LATEST NEWS

✨ THE UAE GOES ALL-IN ON AI ACCESS

Recap:
The United Arab Emirates just became the first country to gift every citizen a free ChatGPT Plus subscription—normally $20/month. It’s part of a larger push to embed AI across the nation and make it part of everyday life.

The Details:

• The initiative stems from a new partnership between the UAE and OpenAI

• Citizens will get access to GPT-4o via ChatGPT Plus at no cost

• This accompanies the launch of a major data centre project called Stargate UAE

• The centre will begin with 200MW and scale to 1GW in Abu Dhabi by 2026

Conscious Take:
This is no longer just about tools for the tech elite. When an entire country hands out premium AI access like it’s public WiFi, it shows just how foundational this tech is becoming. As nations become AI literate through access to tools. Do we as churches/ministries/teams have a plan for integration among teams and volunteers?

🗣️ CLAUDE GETS A VOICE (FINALLY)

Recap:
Anthropic’s Claude now lets you talk to it naturally—joining the AI voice assistant party alongside ChatGPT and Gemini.

The Details:

• Voice mode launches in the coming weeks for English users

• You’ll be able to switch between typing and speaking mid-chat

• Claude will offer 5 voice options and live transcription during chats

• Free users get 20–30 messages a month; paid users get much more

• Paid plans also include integration with Google Workspace

Conscious Take:
The voice race is heating up—and it’s not about novelty anymore. Voice, over typing, and screens seem to be the future. Latency, integration, and model quality are key. It’s good to finally see Claude get amongst it, although their rate limits (on the free plan) mean I use it less and less.

📰 NYT STRIKES DEAL WITH AMAZON

Recap:
The New York Times has inked its first major AI licensing agreement—teaming up with Amazon to allow use of its content across AI tools.

The Details:

• The deal includes NYT articles, Cooking content, and The Athletic

• Amazon plans to weave this into Alexa and other AI interfaces

• It’s a clear pivot from the NYT’s previous lawsuits against OpenAI and Microsoft

• Attribution and links will be included in AI responses

Conscious Take:
A paper once suing AI companies is now joining them. Fascinating. Journalism is adapting to the inevitable. And what a huge amount of data for Amazon to train it’s AI models on.

🎨 IMAGE EDITING GETS A MASSIVE UPGRADE

Recap:
Black Forest Labs has launched Kontext—an AI editing system that deeply understands both image and text prompts. Think: Photoshop, but with instant command-based transformation.

The Details:

• It edits faster than rivals (up to 8x) while preserving character and context

• Perfect for creators needing consistency across scenes or styles

• Two versions: Kontext [pro] for quick tasks and [max] for quality + control

• Businesses can test it online before using the API

Conscious Take:
Photo and video generation has taken a HUGE leap in 2025. The challenge though can be retaining important details in an original photo or certain characters. This release has been a big step up in maintaining consistency.

🔗 Trending Tools/Tips

• Neon — Opera’s futuristic AI browser

• Gemini in Drive — Ask questions about your video files

• Gemini Tricks Video — Useful Gemini hacks that actually stick

Jesus, thank You that we don’t build alone.
While the world rushes to create, remind us that we co-labour with the Creator of all things.
Amen.

Stay conscious,

Josh

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