Good morning future-focused leaders.

Allow me to open this week’s newsletter with a bit of philosophy, and particularly the reflection on how technology has always challenged our understanding of human ability. In Phaedrus (275), Plato tells of the Egyptian god Thoth offering the invention of writing to King Thamus, who responds not with praise but with concern:

“This discovery will create forgetfulness in the learners’ souls... They will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves.”

It’s an old fear—that external tools will erode internal faculties. This came to mind as I read a recent MIT study showing that students using ChatGPT for writing exhibited significantly weaker brain activity and memory retention compared to those working unaided.

The study reminded me that with each new tool, some traits may diminish while others emerge. Early Homo sapiens had denser bones, stronger grips, and powerful upper limbs—adaptations for throwing, crafting, and physical endurance. We’ve lost much of that, but gained new capabilities better suited to our current environment. The same will be true for our cognitive evolution.

What else we cover this week:

• How to build your own AI assistant using custom GPTs

• Deloitte report highlights the power of the 50+ market

• Survey reveals lack of AI policies in healthcare workplaces

• Essay explores the crisis of depersonalisation in tech-driven care

• Free interactive guide to prompt engineering by Anthropic

• And more...

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READY TO USE TODAY 

🤹 Building your own AI assistant: what you can do with a custom GPT

In brief: A custom GPT is a personalised version of ChatGPT that you can design to understand your work, follow specific instructions, and use your own documents. It functions as a digital assistant tailored to your unique needs—and you can keep it for personal use or share it with your team. (You’ll need the plus version of ChatGPT to create a custom one.)

The details:

• You can customise how a GPT responds, what tone it uses, and what tasks it performs.

• Custom GPTs can be trained on your own documents, guides, or policies.

• You control access: make it public, private, or share it with a select group.

• They work inside the ChatGPT interface, meaning no coding or technical setup.

How to use it：

With a custom GPT, you can create an assistant that’s fluent in your lingo and workflows. Want to turn your policies into a searchable chatbot? Build a writing coach that uses your tone of voice? Or give your team an assistant that answers questions using the Quality Standards? All possible (and surprisingly easy).

Real-world use cases:

• Aged Care Policy Helper: You can create a GPT that answers questions about the Aged Care Quality Standards using uploaded government documents.

• Email Assistant: You can get the GPT to write, review, and polish professional emails based on user-provided examples.

• Newsletter Creator: You can build a GPT that helps draft newsletters to share with your clients or residents.

A couple of challenges to be aware of:

• Clear instructions are critical. A vague setup will lead to inconsistent or unhelpful results.

• If you upload documents, you’ll need to explain exactly how and when the GPT should use them.

🔗 Ready to create your own? I’ve got a simple 10-step guide linked here.

THE FUTURE OF AGED CARE

🧓 From invisible to influential: understanding the 50+ market

In brief: A new Deloitte report from Switzerland reveals that consumers over 50 are set to become the most influential demographic around the world, reshaping markets with specific demands—including around technology usability and value. 

The details:

• By 2050, the 50+ population will drive 61% of all consumer spending in Switzerland, and the trend is similar around the world.

• Despite this economic weight, only 5–10% of US marketing budgets currently target this group—suggesting a major gap between opportunity and execution.

• A staggering 85% of those over 50 identify more with their perceived age than their actual age.

• This group values product quality and country of origin.

• Technology adoption hinges on two key factors: ease of use (84%) and clear added value (85%).

Why it matters: For tech developers, especially in ageing and aged care, the message is clear: older adults are not tech-averse—they’re value-conscious and pragmatically selective. Successful adoption depends not just on functionality, but on intuitive design and visible benefits. From smart home devices to health apps, products must meet the standards of usability and relevance to unlock this powerful and growing market segment.

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📊 The bad news is that according to a Wolters Kluwer survey amongst healthcare workers, only 18% of respondents knew of formal AI policies at their workplace. The good news is that our free online session on 17 July on AI guidelines for Aged Care will walk you through a framework for responsible AI use in your aged care organisation. All attendees get a customisable AI policy template and step-by-step guide. With over half of workers misusing AI, now’s the time to build internal safeguards.

🫥 While this isn’t directly about AI or aged care, I came across a powerful essay that felt worth sharing. It explores a growing crisis not of loneliness, but of depersonalisation—the feeling of being unseen or treated like a machine. As tech and AI increasingly shape our daily interactions, including in care settings, this piece challenges us to rethink what genuine human connection looks like. I particularly liked this phrase: “In an era in which AI is being proposed to do many human jobs, it takes a human to bear effective witness to humanity.”

🚀 A reminder that for those of you based in Adelaide, there is another hands-on AI session for aged care professionals, this one taking place on 11 July at the City of Salisbury.This practical session (Learn and Lead with AI) is designed for aged care managers and coordinators who want to explore how AI can support daily operations and develop the skills to apply it directly in their work.

^LEARNING

⚡ Understand and master prompt engineering with Anthropic’s free interactive guide

Anthropic, the company behind Claude just released a free interactive tutorial to help you master prompt engineering. This is an incredible tool for beginner and intermediate users of AI and will guide you through techniques like Chain-of-Thought reasoning, formatting outputs, avoiding hallucinations, and structuring clear, reliable prompts. It’s built on Google Sheets. There is a static version that you can explore here. Highly recommended.

(If you want to experiment further and use Claude, you can connect this version to Claude and try out prompts hands-on and in real time. It takes a little effort to setup, but it’s certainly worth it.)

I'm not here to hype AI. I'm here to help you understand it, use it, and learn as it evolves. Whether you're testing a new tool, using it to lighten your workload, or keeping pace with the changes, I hope you found something here worth your time.

Feel free to forward this to your network or share it with your team.

See you next Tuesday,
George