Cafe Crumbs: Vol 2
With words on my latest dinner party with Anthropologie, turning 27, a few restaurants I've been blown away by, and (the very real) AI ~psychosis~
Happy Monday! I thought about you guys so much the past two weeks that I actually considered switching this to a weekly newsletter, but in lieu of my most recent article about cleansing my brain and not getting overwhelmed, we shall (for now) continue to meet for coffee bi-weekly. But truly, every single little thing I ate, every product I tried, every random opinion I had…I simply couldn’t wait to share here with you all!
On a different note that might feel a bit disconnected from my usual topics, I want this newsletter to feel like a discussion related space for things that are probably on many of our minds, and even since we talked last two weeks ago, the power of AI continues to snowball further and further down the hill and into everyones mouth. You can’t really look at anyones screen anymore without seeing a tab with this little icon friend waving to you.
Don’t worry- as someone who has worked almost exclusively in technology and product management (surrounded mainly by friends and peers who are engineers) for the majority of my post-grad existence, I can tell you with the boldest strokes of confidence that this newsletter will never be centered around artificial intelligence, or how to optimize life or dining or habits with artificial intelligence.
But I also think that the past week alone, I’ve had more conversations with friends around how people are utilizing it than I have probably in my entire lifetime. I was over at my friend’s apartment on Friday night for pizza and wine with three of my friends and we each talked about how we were using AI in our jobs and our daily lives. It came up completely naturally and each one of us were using it in completely different, like polar opposite different ways.
My other two friends and I (who also write on Substack) were voice memoing back and forth about how we were feeling grateful for creative hobbies that we could do with our hands in this day of automation, but then talked about how very successful writers on here will rise to success with their abilities to train models, instead of putting pen to paper. And I’ve always stated how I will never use artificial intelligence to write an article- like surely people could tell if I used AI, but the scary thing is guys- you really can’t tell anymore. These things are getting damn good. Even in our cozy creative spaces. And I’m not saying that it’s necessarily negative, but it’s certainly a very fast and competitive shift.
Anyways- even to this day I have not used AI for any writing, but I’m bringing all of this up because the recent developments of what Claude (and many many other tools) can do and do well is something I want to better understand from a community perspective…
…Are you scared? Excited? Do you use it every single day? Do you never use it? What are the things you do use it on? How do you all feel about people now fully producing all of their Substack content using it? Because every person in my life has a completely and totally different answer to these questions. So leave a comment if you feel like sharing! Especially if you’re using it in a way that has boosted your quality of life.
And now, in completely other news….
Crumbs Card Winner of the Week!
I’m excited to announce that sari & jamie are the Vol 2 winners of the $150 Crumbs Card, which, this week, is $150 to Red Hook Tavern which was recommended twice in the last 14 days by other Crumbs readers as both a top burger and warmer-weather spot!
As mentioned in my first article, look out for a dining buddy pair in your inbox to enjoy this with :) - totally optional and always confidential unless you decide to be connected
Crumbs Community Chat- bi-weekly recommendations
My favorite threads, summarized from your incredible crowdsourced recommendations! All of these will also be living in a searchable tool to be accessed 24/7 very soon on my paid members hub on my website!
Best burger you’ve ever had in NYC: Pastis · Red Hook Tavern · Rolo’s · The Lions · Virginia’s · Inga’s Bar · Fairfax · Joseph Leonard · Peter Luger · Skinny Louie · Cozy Royale
Where to order a birthday cake in NYC: Tipsy & Baked · From Lucie · Saint Street · Gaby Scelzo · Isabella’s Cakes & Pastries · Lady M
