A Weekly Upskill for Yourself, Your Data, Your Team

July 16, 2026

Issue 120

Ode with Anthropic

This week, Anthropic finally announced a name for the 'fractional AI' services firm they acquired earlier this year: Ode with Anthropic. ​

OpenAI also has it's own implementation firm, The Deployment Company.

This is further proof of what we all know: better models alone don't create results. The CEO of Ode, Chris Taylor, explains it like this:​

Taylor goes on to say, “and that requires top-caliber applied AI talent, which is not something most companies have." As it turns out that level of talent is hard to find.

Agreed. That's exactly why our clients work with us. Not only CAN we become your team, we CAN build your team. Learn more about our BE your team, BUILD your team process. ​

Human-Only Ghost Font

Chances are you've seen the viral Ghost Font created by designer Eric Lu.

Lu posted a video of the experimental font to X, and by the next morning, the post had over 17 million views.

Eric Lu @ericlu I created a font called Ghost Font that only humans can read. Tested it in Fable and GPT 5.6 Sol Ultra and neither was able to decipher it correctly. 9:35 AM • Jul 11, 2026 1558 Retweets 24760 Likes Read 1089 replies

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But it turns out, AI can read it. It just needs the context "that the background of the video was moving at a steady, constant rate. Once it had that piece of context, the model could mathematically subtract the background motion from the total motion, isolating what remained, which was the message itself."

It took less than 24 hours to crack Ghost Font (which technically isn't even a .ttf font file that you can install.)

So, did the font ever work in the first place? Or was it just not tested well enough to claim AI couldn't read it?

Popular opinion is split.

​Keep reading on Medium if you want to know "Why This Matters More Than a Font Should"​

Honorable Mentions

How Expedia Group Builds AI That Lasts at Scale

Are you optimizing your AI for today, or for scale? That's the question Xavier Amatriain helps the reader explore in this Medium article.

From which outcomes to measure, to how to build systems that scale beyond the teams that build them, Amatriain shares the framework for how the Expedia Group builds, deploys, and evolves AI systems for impact and scale.

"Some great practices and guidelines at a high level here, a lot of what we do." - Preston Badeer, Chief AI Engineer at Contemporary Analysis

Notes from an AI Ethics Expert

AI Ethics Expert, Catharina Doria shares her key takeaways from 5 AI research papers, including:

• "Across 11 top Al models, Al agrees with users 49% more often than humans do, EVEN when users described illegal or harmful actions. A single chat with a sycophantic Al made people less willing to apologize and more sure they were right." Research: Sycophantic AI decreases prosocial intentions and promotes dependence​
• "Across 4 surveys + 6 studies, the LESS people know about Al, the MORE they want to use it. The more you actually learn about Al, the less it dazzles you, and the better you can use it safely." Research: Lower Artificial Intelligence Literacy Predicts Greater AI Receptivity​

Our entire tech team will be in Norfolk later this month for the Tech Nebraska Build Here MicroSummit

This microsummit is designed to explore the question:

"What does the future of Northeast Nebraska look like?"

We're excited for this one because it spotlights some of our favorite industries to work in:

• Manufacturing and industrial innovation
• Agriculture and agribusiness
• Workforce development and education

These industries have historically been left behind in the tech and app era. Now we're seeing our clients in these spaces implement AI solutions faster than software-heavy industries, simply because they don't have the tech debt to work around. We're looking forward to seeing what else Nebraska is building.

​Get Your Ticket Today​