Kia ora {{ First name | friend }},
Welcome to Innerstand AI Newsletter. We’re here to help creators & brands do more with less by sharing insights on how to link AI tools together to create efficient workflows, make better decisions, and free up our time. We’re also having real conversations about the light and shadow of mass AI adoption.
Featured Workflow: Gemini inside Google Sheets
I mentioned this in a previous email, and it deserves another. Google Sheets just got a lot more powerful with Gemini’s integration.
Important: This feature requires an eligible Google Workspace or Google AI plan.
To use it just Type =AI, write what you want, select the cells, hit Run. That’s it. Use it to bulk-draft IG captions, translate columns, auto-calculate values, and clean up messy data. It’s not that great as a copywriter, but it’s great at logic, structure, and reasoning.
AI table creation is next level:
In the “Ask Gemini” panel on the right, you can ask it to “create a table for X with columns A, B, C,” and it’ll scaffold headers, formatting, and filters for you—perfect for quick trackers and dashboards. You can also have Gemini suggest charts from your data (it inserts static images), and ask it for formulas or actions like “highlight values below 100.”
Pro move: pair it with ChatGPT to generate complex formulas, then paste them into Sheets. Gemini runs the logic, and you keep control.
I can recommend this YouTube tutorial for the basics, and this one to explore some other capability.
Here’s a few interesting AI updates:
Google just introduced new Gemini AI integration across Chrome Browser for all U.S. desktop users, giving the platform new AI-powered capabilities for multi-tab context, an embedded AI Mode, and more. Give it a read.
Arc Institute just created the first AI-Generated virus genomes… Supposedly this is a good thing? Although one doesn’t have to look very far to dream up potential negative outcomes. Hmm… Read more.
Lovart is a new image generation platform that blends Google’s Nano Banana, Veo3, GPT-Image, and more. People say if ChatGPT, Canva, and Midjourney had a baby, this would be it. It has interesting comment and review features that designers/creators may find interesting. Have a look.
Anthropic’s CEO of Claude says there’s a 25% chance AI could end in disaster. Clickbait or not, it’s hard to ignore the paradox: why do tech leaders keep warning us about existential risks, yet continue pouring money into accelerating AI development? Watch here.
Guidde helps your team create video documentation 11x faster with AI-powered video tutorials. It’s free to get started (up to 25 videos), runs off a browser extension, and generates simple tutorials quickly, great for systemising repetitive aspects of your business. Have a look.
Google just entered the AI payments race with AP2, a system where AI agents handle shopping, offers, and bookings on your behalf. Some features include building custom bundles to coordinating flights and hotels within budget. Things are gonna get WEIRD when this becomes the norm. Read more.
Insight: Keep an eye out for AI Generated content on socials
AI-generated images and videos are slipping past people’s filters way more easily than expected. Stuff that still looks genuinely fake is being taken as real, with comment sections full of people reacting as if it’s legit. It’s like chronic gullible-ness from a whole society of people on social media.
The speed at which people are fooled is the real red flag, and shows just how low the bar for believability really is.
Here’s what’s at stake:
Deepfakes that warp reality
Fake news spreading faster than ever
Harder to verify brand trust
More polarization in politics and culture
A general loss of our ability to tell what’s true vs. fabricated
How to protect yourself:
Slow down and study what you’re seeing
Watch for copy that feels too polished or generic
Look closely at details—hands, lighting, reflections, text in images
Check the account/source history
Use tools like reverse image search
And most importantly, trust your intuition—but back it up with verification
The video below is a perfect example. It’s supposed to show horses eating carrots.. But their heads blend together, the horses never actually bite the carrots, there’s no movement under their feet, and the carrots just vanish into thin air. Watch the video here.
The bigger question: if people are already fooled by mid-tier AI content, what happens as the tech keeps leveling up? We’re heading into a world where discernment becomes a survival skill.
PS: Brand name change incoming
The name of this project, Innerstand, is changing to Upstream. Funnily enough, I have a friend with the same name for a project and didn’t realise. The next email will come from Upstream AI, and the new website will be hosted at https://theupstream.ai. You’ll stay on the mailing list.
(I was meant to do this last week, I’ve been busy moving house 🙂 )
Thanks for tuning in this week. I welcome ideas and feedback if you have any. Feel free to send any interesting things you’re learning or researching too.
Also, if you found this interesting, share it with 1 mate who needs simpler workflows. Hit forward or send them this link.
Stay human,
Billy