December 23, 2025

I used to be a data visualization expert. I’m not sure I still am. When Anthropic published an article about how AI is transforming their engineers’ work, I ran this prompt: Suggest how the following engineer productivity patterns can be illustrated using interactive animated charts, graphs, or infographics. Be diverse. Xenographics are welcome. Novel animation* / *interaction styles, artistry, xenographics, and diverse chart types are encouraged. Be intuitive. A single glance should tell them exactly what insight we are trying to convey. ...

AI agents are messing up software tool learning. Normally, we need to pass stages of competence: KNOW what you can do LEARN how to do it EXECUTE it. Excel: KNOW you can summarize by category, LEARN pivot tables, EXECUTE an Insert → PivotTable → select data range → drag … Photoshop: KNOW you can erase objects, LEARN Content-Aware Fill, EXECUTE Lasso tool → select → Edit → Content-Aware Fill → … ...