The skinny on what's happening in AI - straight from the previous live session:
They turned off comments, deleted the video, but the internet never forgets. Turns out physical comedy without physics doesn't work.
Here. I downloaded a copy and have added it back to Youtube. Well worth the watch:
Kyle's take: McDonald's put out an AI-generated Christmas ad for the Netherlands and they got absolutely demolished for it. Comments turned off instantly, video deleted, but I downloaded it first. Go watch.
IMO The problem is they tried physical comedy with AI - people getting blown out of windows, cats doing weird physics-defying things. Physical comedy needs actual physicality to work. And this sorta falls flat because of it.
BUT: that’s minor. The big Q here is that of AI in creative spaces.
Could be McDonald's testing one AI ad among 50 Christmas campaigns, or cynically they knew it'd get attention. The Sweetshop (the production company) said "we worked really hard on this" and got roasted - "you just typed prompts!"
Personally I'm not pro using AI in creative endeavours. AI should automate work we don't want to do, giving us more time for creative pursuits - writing, music, film. It should remove the mundane so we have more time for creativity, not replace creativity itself. That’s my personal opinion.
But the creative industry will use these tools for lower cost production to make more money. The economics are just too attractive not to use these tools. I used to work in film and TV and good god it’s expensive to produce anything.
We all need to work out what parts of AI we support. I get accused of supporting AI destroying music and Hollywood - no, not me personally. There are (in my opinion) good uses and there are bad uses. You need to decide where you draw the line yourself as it’ll be different for everyone. And that’s fine!
Whilst we are here I want to point you to one of my favourite anti-AI / AI-skeptical accounts:
Sergio does casting call / audition videos with AI actors and the results are spectacular.
Source: Independent coverage
WSJ reports nobody wants to buy Microsoft's AI. Google Gemini surging ahead while Copilot struggles.
Kyle's take: Yesterday on the Live someone asked why I don't talk about Copilot and I said it's not very good…
Then I read this: "Microsoft has a problem - nobody wants to buy or use its shoddy AI products." from Windows Central. Very related!
Microsoft just told their sales division they can halve their AI sales targets. The reason? There's no demand, according to The Information.
Microsoft doesn't have their own frontier model - they're building on ChatGPT and Claude. Under the hood it's ChatGPT but with additional guardrails that make it feel like AI from years ago.
The alternative to running your business on Microsoft is Google, specifically Google Workspace. Moving your company from Microsoft to Google is incredibly difficult, but if Microsoft doesn't get competitive, people will get annoyed and the idea of migrating becomes more attractive.
Google's implementing top level AI well while Microsoft doesn’t even have their own model. This gap will likely widen and lead to some big questions being asked in IT departments.
Source: Windows Central coverage
OpenAI executives overruled employees who wanted more time. AGI development paused for 8 weeks during code red. And Thursday we get GPT5.2.
Kyle's take: GPT 5.2 releasing this week, probably Thursday (OpenAI's usual day). According to the WSJ executives overruled employees who wanted to push it back for improvements.
They're releasing TWO models: one this week (5.2) for coding/business, another in January with better images and personality to "end the code red."
They've paused Sora and AGI development for 8 weeks. The new image model's been spotted - it can do celebrities and has no "piss filter" but still not up to Nano Banana Pro if you ask me.
January's model probably 5.5 so expect this one to be a bigger improvement than what we get this week. Based on timeline, GPT 6 probably summer 2026?? Just in time to launch just as I go on holiday I’m sure…always happens!
Source: WSJ report, New image model spotted
Kyle's response: If you've never done any coding before, start with Lovable - it's really good for beginners. Eventually you might want to look into Cursor which is what I use personally.
For learning check out Marcin's school - it's called AI Builders. He has a 21-day challenge to help you get your first app built, and then it's a very supportive community with people actually building, which is fantastic. It's 500 members, $50 a month, very active and supportive. I'm in there answering questions - in fact I was there yesterday talking about SEO in Lovable.
I also have my own free community where I talk about vibe coding, plus mini courses on my website. Here’s a direct invite link: join AI with Kyle Community.
But honestly, just start building. You'll learn quickly by doing. Come up with a project idea, go to Claude or ChatGPT, tell it what you want to build and your technical level. Ask it to help you put together a project plan. Take that to your vibe coding tool and work through it bit by bit. When you hit problems, take the error codes back to your AI and ask how to fix it. That's how you actually learn.
Kyle's Community Launch: The 5 Day AI Readiness Challenge is now open. Come to https://community.aiwithkyle.com/c/challenge/ to start.
Want the full unfiltered discussion? Join me tomorrow for the daily AI news live stream where we dig into the stories and you can ask questions directly.
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AI with Kyle Daily Update 172 Today in AI: Beginners Guide to Claude Code Kyle Balmer April 17, 2026 https://youtu.be/RG04qMlZz_s You've seen the viral…
