Person
Ethan Mollick
Ethan Mollick is a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the writer of One Useful Thing, the most widely read practical guide to working with AI. His running project — carried on in his 2024 book Co-Intelligence — is treating each new model as something to be used for real work first and theorised about second, and his "which AI to use right now" guides have become a fixture of the era.
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Commentary by Ethan Mollick
From the commentary rail — every link leaves the site for the original piece.
- 18 September 2026 · One Useful ThingThe OverhangUsing your deep knowledge, wide knowledge, taste, and agency
- 31 August 2026 · One Useful ThingAgency and AgentsFrom the Hugging Face Incident to Twilight Factories
- 23 July 2026 · One Useful ThingAn opinionated guide to which AI to use to do stuffThe Summer 2026 Edition
- 30 June 2026 · One Useful ThingThe twilight of the chatbotsHow work changes along the exponential
- 9 June 2026 · One Useful ThingWhat it feels like to work with MythosClaude Fable represents another big jump in AI
- 4 June 2026 · One Useful ThingCo-Existence and the End of Co-IntelligenceAlso: how pitch a book to an AI!
- 26 May 2026 · One Useful ThingChoosing to Stay Human...means choosing when and how to use AI.
- 23 April 2026 · One Useful ThingSign of the future: GPT-5.5One impressive step on the curve
- 31 March 2026 · One Useful ThingClaude Dispatch and the Power of InterfacesWe often lack the tools for the job, even if the AI is capable enough
- 12 March 2026 · One Useful ThingThe Shape of the ThingWhere we are right now, and what likely happens next
- 18 February 2026 · One Useful ThingA Guide to Which AI to Use in the Agentic EraIt's not just chatbots anymore
- 27 January 2026 · One Useful ThingManagement as AI superpowerThriving in a world of agentic AI
- 7 January 2026 · One Useful ThingClaude Code and What Comes NextWith the right tools, AI can accomplish impressive things
- 20 December 2025 · One Useful ThingThe Shape of AI: Jaggedness, Bottlenecks and SalientsAnd why Nano Banana Pro is such a big deal
- 18 November 2025 · One Useful ThingThree Years from GPT-3 to Gemini 3From chatbots to agents
- 12 November 2025 · One Useful ThingGiving your AI a Job InterviewAs AI advice becomes more important, we are going to need to get better at assessing it
- 19 October 2025 · One Useful ThingAn Opinionated Guide to Using AI Right NowWhat AI to use in late 2025
- 29 September 2025 · One Useful ThingReal AI Agents and Real WorkThe race between human-centered work and infinite PowerPoints
- 11 September 2025 · One Useful ThingOn Working with WizardsVerifying magic on the jagged frontier
- 28 August 2025 · One Useful ThingMass IntelligenceFrom GPT-5 to nano banana: everyone is getting access to powerful AI
- 7 August 2025 · One Useful ThingGPT-5: It Just Does StuffPutting the AI in Charge
- 28 July 2025 · One Useful ThingThe Bitter Lesson versus The Garbage CanDoes process matter? We are about to find out.
- 7 July 2025 · One Useful ThingAgainst "Brain Damage"AI can help, or hurt, our thinking
- 23 June 2025 · One Useful ThingUsing AI Right Now: A Quick GuideWhich AIs to use, and how to use them
- 1 June 2025 · One Useful ThingThe recent history of AI in 32 ottersThree years of progress as shown by marine mammals
- 22 May 2025 · One Useful ThingMaking AI Work: Leadership, Lab, and CrowdA formula for AI in companies
- 1 May 2025 · One Useful ThingPersonality and PersuasionLearning from Sycophants
- 20 April 2025 · One Useful ThingOn Jagged AGI: o3, Gemini 2.5, and everything afterNew models and new thresholds
- 30 March 2025 · One Useful ThingNo elephants: Breakthroughs in image generationWhen Language Models Learn to See and Create
- 22 March 2025 · One Useful ThingThe Cybernetic TeammateHaving an AI on your team can increase performance, provide expertise, and improve your experience
- 11 March 2025 · One Useful ThingSpeaking things into existenceExpertise in a vibe-filled world of work
- 24 February 2025 · One Useful ThingA new generation of AIs: Claude 3.7 and Grok 3Yes, AI suddenly got better... again
- 3 February 2025 · One Useful ThingThe End of Search, The Beginning of ResearchThe first narrow agents are here
- 26 January 2025 · One Useful ThingWhich AI to Use Now: An Updated Opinionated Guide (Updated Again 2/15)Picking your general-purpose AI
- 10 January 2025 · One Useful ThingProphecies of the FloodWhat to make of the statements of the AI labs?
- 19 December 2024 · One Useful ThingWhat just happenedA transformative month rewrites the capabilities of AI
- 9 December 2024 · One Useful Thing15 Times to use AI, and 5 Not toNotes on the Practical Wisdom of AI Use
- 24 November 2024 · One Useful ThingGetting started with AI: Good enough promptingDon't make this hard
- 4 November 2024 · One Useful ThingThe Present Future: AI's Impact Long Before SuperintelligenceYou can start to see the outlines of an AI future, for better and worse
- 22 October 2024 · One Useful ThingWhen you give a Claude a mouseSome quick impressions of an actual agent
- 20 October 2024 · One Useful ThingThinking Like an AIA little intuition can help
- 16 September 2024 · One Useful ThingScaling: The State of Play in AIA brief intergenerational pause...
- 12 September 2024 · One Useful ThingSomething New: On OpenAI's "Strawberry" and ReasoningSolving hard problems in new ways
- 30 August 2024 · One Useful ThingPost-apocalyptic educationWhat comes after the Homework Apocalypse
- 12 August 2024 · One Useful ThingChange blindness21 months later
- 1 August 2024 · One Useful ThingOn speaking to AIVoice changes a lot of things
- 22 July 2024 · One Useful ThingConfronting Impossible FuturesWe shouldn't be certain about what is next, but we should plan for it
- 4 July 2024 · One Useful ThingGradually, then Suddenly: Upon the ThresholdSmall improvements can lead to big changes
- 20 June 2024 · One Useful ThingLatent Expertise: Everyone is in R&DIdeas come from the edges, not the center
- 11 June 2024 · One Useful ThingWhat Apple's AI Tells Us: Experimental Models⁴Siri versus the machine god?
- 6 June 2024 · One Useful ThingDoing Stuff with AI: Opinionated Midyear EditionAI systems have gotten more capable and easier to use
- 26 May 2024 · One Useful ThingFour Singularities for ResearchThe rise of AI is creating both crisis and opportunity
- 14 May 2024 · One Useful ThingWhat OpenAI didA new model opens up new possibilities
- 12 May 2024 · One Useful ThingSuperhuman?What does it mean for AI to be better than a human? And how can we tell?
- 2 May 2024 · One Useful ThingFreeing the chatbotIntelligence, of a sort, is going to be all around us
- 22 April 2024 · One Useful ThingInnovation through promptingDemocratizing educational technology... and more
- 9 April 2024 · One Useful ThingWhat just happened, what is happening nextThe tasks AI can do well are expanding rapidly
- 30 March 2024 · One Useful ThingOn the necessity of a sinWhy treating AI like a person is the future
- 18 March 2024 · One Useful ThingWhich AI should I use? Superpowers and the State of PlayAnd then there were three
- 14 March 2024 · One Useful ThingI, Cyborg: Using Co-IntelligenceHow I used AI in my book about AI
- 4 March 2024 · One Useful ThingCaptain's log: the irreducible weirdness of prompting AIsAlso, we have a prompt library!
- 20 February 2024 · One Useful ThingStrategies for an Accelerating FutureFour questions to ask your organization.
- 8 February 2024 · One Useful ThingGoogle's Gemini Advanced: Tasting Notes and ImplicationsAnd then there were two.
- 31 January 2024 · One Useful ThingWhat Can be Done in 59 Seconds: An Opportunity (and a Crisis)Five analytical tasks in under a minute
- 16 January 2024 · One Useful ThingThe Lazy Tyranny of the Wait CalculationTaking AI timelines seriously
- 6 January 2024 · One Useful ThingSigns and PortentsSome hints about what the next year of AI looks like
- 19 December 2023 · One Useful ThingAn AI Haunted WorldIntelligence, everywhere.
- 7 December 2023 · One Useful ThingAn Opinionated Guide to Which AI to Use: ChatGPT Anniversary EditionA simple answer, and then a less simple one.
- 27 November 2023 · One Useful ThingReshaping the tree: rebuilding organizations for AITechnological change brings organizational change.
- 20 November 2023 · One Useful ThingNot much is changing, a lot is changingOpenAI, Microsoft, and the OpenOffspring
- 7 November 2023 · One Useful ThingAlmost an Agent: What GPTs can doAlso, my book has a cover (also I have a book coming out)
- 1 November 2023 · One Useful ThingWorking with AI: Two paths to promptingDon't overcomplicate things
- 22 October 2023 · One Useful ThingThe Best Available Human StandardWhat are the imperatives of the upside?
- 12 October 2023 · One Useful ThingWhat people ask me most. Also, some answers.A FAQ of sorts
- 3 October 2023 · One Useful ThingThe shape of the shadow of The ThingWe can start to see, dimly, what the near future of AI looks like.
- 24 September 2023 · One Useful ThingEveryone is above averageIs AI a Leveler, King Maker, or Escalator?
- 16 September 2023 · One Useful ThingCentaurs and Cyborgs on the Jagged FrontierI think we have an answer on whether AIs will reshape work....
- 5 September 2023 · One Useful ThingEmbracing weirdness: What it means to use AI as a (writing) toolAI is strange. We need to learn to use it.
- 20 August 2023 · One Useful ThingNow is the time for grimoiresIt isn't data that will unlock AI, it is human expertise
- 13 August 2023 · One Useful ThingAutomating creativityThere is now strong evidence that AI can help make us more innovative.
- 2 August 2023 · One Useful ThingIn Praise of Boring AIAutomation has always been about killing tedious work. AI can do the same.
- 23 July 2023 · One Useful ThingOn holding back the strange AI tideThere is no way to stop the disruption. We need to channel it instead
- 15 July 2023 · One Useful ThingHow to Use AI to Do Stuff: An Opinionated GuideCovering the state of play as of Summer, 2023
- 7 July 2023 · One Useful ThingWhat AI can do with a toolbox... Getting started with Code Interpreter [Now called Advanced Data Analytics]Democratizing data analysis with AI
- 1 July 2023 · One Useful ThingThe Homework ApocalypseFall is going to be very different this year. Educators need to be ready.
- 23 June 2023 · One Useful ThingOn giving AI eyes and earsAI can listen and see, with bigger implications than we might realize.
- 18 June 2023 · One Useful ThingDetecting the Secret CyborgsThe AI Trap for Organizations
- 12 June 2023 · One Useful ThingAssigning AI: Seven Ways of Using AI in ClassAlso prompts! And things to watch out for!
- 3 June 2023 · One Useful ThingSetting time on fire and the temptation of The ButtonWe used to consider writing an indication of time and effort spent on a task. That isn't true anymore.
- 26 May 2023 · One Useful ThingWhat happens when AI reads a book 🤖📖And some prompts that might be useful when it does.
- 20 May 2023 · One Useful ThingOn-boarding your AI InternThere's a somewhat weird alien who wants to work for free for you. You should probably get started.
- 14 May 2023 · One Useful ThingCatastrophe / EucatastropheWe have more agency over the future of AI than we think.
- 9 May 2023 · One Useful ThingAI is not good software. It is pretty good people.A pragmatic approach to thinking about AI
- 2 May 2023 · One Useful ThingIt is starting to get strange.Let's talk about ChatGPT with Code Interpreter & Microsoft Copilot
- 26 April 2023 · One Useful ThingA guide to prompting AI (for what it is worth)A little bit of magic, but mostly just practice
- 21 April 2023 · One Useful ThingDemocratizing the future of educationWe are all EdTech designers, now
- 17 April 2023 · One Useful ThingOne sentence.Prompting for maximum impact (and why that is a bad idea)
- 9 April 2023 · One Useful ThingThe future of education in a world of AIA positive vision for the transformation to come
- 5 April 2023 · One Useful ThingThinking companion, companion for thinkingSome simple ways to use AI to break you out of biases
- 29 March 2023 · One Useful ThingHow to use AI to do practical stuff: A new guidePeople often ask me how to use AI. Here's an overview with lots of links.
- 25 March 2023 · One Useful ThingSuperhuman: What can AI do in 30 minutes?AI multiplies your efforts. I found out by how much...
- 23 March 2023 · One Useful ThingAcceleration.7 days of new AI technologies shows us that everything is happening very fast.
- 17 March 2023 · One Useful ThingUsing AI to make teaching easier & more impactfulHere are five strategies and prompts that work for GPT-3.5 & GPT-4
- 14 March 2023 · One Useful ThingHow to... use AI to unstick yourselfWe often lose momentum because of something small. AI can help.
- 8 March 2023 · One Useful ThingSecret Cyborgs: The Present Disruption in Three PapersThe future is already here, we just need to figure out a few details.
- 5 March 2023 · One Useful ThingFeats to astonish and amazeA compendium of things I didn't think AI should be able to do
- 2 March 2023 · One Useful ThingPower and Weirdness: How to Use Bing AIBing AI is a huge leap over ChatGPT, but you have to learn its quirks
- 26 February 2023 · One Useful ThingHow to Get an AI to Lie to You in Three Simple StepsI keep getting fooled by AI, and it seems like others are, too.
- 23 February 2023 · One Useful ThingBlinded by AnalogiesWhat is this AI thing? The wrong model can lead us astray
- 19 February 2023 · One Useful ThingThe future, soon: what I learned from Bing's AIWe had a brief glimpse of two different types of AI. Both are significant
- 17 February 2023 · One Useful ThingMy class required AI. Here's what I've learned so far.(Spoiler alert: it has been very successful, but there are some lessons to be learned)
- 15 February 2023 · One Useful ThingI hope you weren't getting too comfortable.I just got access to the new Bing AI. My initial thoughts are that our assumptions about the limits of AI were wrong.
- 10 February 2023 · One Useful ThingA quick and sobering guide to cloning yourselfIt took me a few minutes to create a fake me giving a fake lecture.
- 8 February 2023 · One Useful ThingMagic for English MajorsProgramming in prose in an AI-haunted world
- 5 February 2023 · One Useful Thing"Do not fear AI, puny humans... that is not meant as a threat."What we can learn from a completely AI written & illustrated lecture
- 1 February 2023 · One Useful ThingThe Machines of Mastery"Anyone can learn anything they want..." and how technology can help
- 28 January 2023 · One Useful ThingA prosthesis for imagination: Using AI to boost your creativityAI can already beat humans in many measures of creativity. Let's use that to our advantage.
- 24 January 2023 · One Useful ThingThe practical guide to using AI to do stuffA resource for students in my classes (and other interested people).
- 21 January 2023 · One Useful ThingBecoming strange in the Long SingularityA sudden increase in AI capability suggests a weirder world in our near future
- 17 January 2023 · One Useful ThingAll my classes suddenly became AI classesWe can't beat AI, but it doesn't need to beat us (or our students)
- 10 January 2023 · One Useful ThingHow to... use ChatGPT to boost your writingThe key to using generative AI successfully is prompt-crafting
- 7 January 2023 · One Useful ThingAnd the great gears begin to turn again...Progress in two vital areas had slowed, AI could change that
- 3 January 2023 · One Useful ThingYou can't brute force the unsolvableBut a little finesse can help
- 22 December 2022 · One Useful ThingWho believes more myths about humans: AI or educated humans?ChatGPT should do badly where human information is most wrong. But is that true?
- 20 December 2022 · One Useful ThingThe street finds its own uses for things, AI EditionBreakthrough innovations often come from people who use technology, not create it. So, how are students using AI?
- 15 December 2022 · One Useful ThingChatGPT is my co-founderCommon barriers hold entrepreneurs back, AI can help founders cross them
- 13 December 2022 · One Useful ThingHow to... use AI to teach some of the hardest skillsWhen errors, inaccuracies, and inconsistencies are actually very useful
- 8 December 2022 · One Useful ThingFour Paths to the RevelationGive me 10 minutes, and I think I can make you obsess over AI
- 6 December 2022 · One Useful ThingThe Mechanical ProfessorI take a job I know well, and try to see how far I can automate it with AI.
- 3 December 2022 · One Useful ThingHow to... use AI to generate ideasAI can make you more creative right now, and here are some ways to do it...
- 30 November 2022 · One Useful ThingAI has a strategy.And we can learn a lot from how it is going to win.