The free AI your staff use gets weaker on October 9

Do this: List every workflow on a free AI tier and mark the ones that break if the model changes.

PASTE THIS

You are an IT asset reviewer. Below is every AI tool my team uses for work, who uses it, and what the work is. For each tool answer four lines: 1) is it on a free or unpaid tier? 2) name the model or plan it depends on today. 3) rate the blast radius if that tier is cut: low, medium or high. 4) name the cheapest paid plan that removes the risk, with its price per seat. Output one table sorted by blast radius, highest first, then the workflows with no paid upgrade path.

You'll get: A ranked list of the workflows that would break, the cheapest fix for each, and the gaps with no paid upgrade at all.

The letter you send the day the model changes

Send this the day a vendor downgrades a model, removes a feature or moves a price. Ask for answers in writing, and treat silence as the answer.

1. Which model or plan did we have on the date below, and which one are we on now?
2. What notice do you owe us before a model, feature or price change, in days?
3. What is our price at the next renewal, including any per-seat increase?
4. What happens to our data when a model is retired, and how do we export it?
5. What is the shortest exit you will put in writing, and by what date?

Keep every reply in one folder. A vendor that will not put a model name and a date in writing intends to change it again without telling you.

The attack speed is now the weapon

Interpol says AI is making existing cyberattacks faster and harder to detect, and agentic tools are adding a new risk surface, CNBC reports. So what: ask whoever holds your cyber cover this week to confirm in writing that detection does not depend on a person noticing an alert in time.

The safety bench at your AI vendor got thinner

OpenAI fired three staff over alleged mishandling of sensitive information, and a safety lead resigned in public, saying the culture is broken, per the BBC and The Verge. So what: before your next renewal, get the name and contact of the person accountable for your vendor's security in writing, and put a review date in the contract this month.

The bank used by 175K small firms just got bought

Valley National agreed to buy Bluevine, a digital bank serving 175K small businesses in the US, for $340M, per Techmeme. So what: export your transaction history and read the assignment and data clauses in your banking contract this month, before an integration quietly rewrites your terms.

Which free AI tool would hurt most if it changed tomorrow?

A. The one drafting emails

B. The one reading documents

C. The one handling customer replies

D. None, nothing critical runs free

Reply with one letter — results next issue.

Which volunteer-written encyclopedia reported an 8% drop in page views this year, blaming AI answers?

Answer tomorrow — and no, we are not printing it here.

YESTERDAY'S ANSWER

Which technology company told county officials this week that it has stopped using non-disclosure agreements for its data centre projects? Take a guess before you scroll on.

Amazon. It published a blog post saying it had stopped the practice and acknowledging that local backlash is turning into outright building moratoriums.

Forwarded this from a friend? This is where owners put AI to work without the enterprise price tag.