Hey friends and Happy Holidays!
This morning felt quieter than usual.
Christmas morning has a way of doing that. The inbox slows down. The noise fades a little. And you get a rare moment to just notice how much has changed over the year.
One small moment keeps replaying in my head.
A few weeks ago, I booked an entire hotel stay without opening Booking.com. No tabs. No filters. No endless scrolling. Just a conversation.
I told ChatGPT we were heading to Singapore. That we had a toddler. That we wanted something relaxed but still fun. It asked the kinds of questions a good travel agent would ask. The kind you only get from someone who has actually been there.
Theme parks or quiet mornings? Pool access or ocean views? Easy transport or a slower pace?
It did not feel like searching. It felt like remembering something together.
And that moment has stayed with me, because it quietly captures what this year has really been about.
Not smarter technology. More human technology. Talking instead of typing. One of the biggest shifts I have felt this year is how much easier it is to just speak.
When we type, we tighten up. We edit ourselves mid sentence. We overthink the wording. We hold back because we cannot quite find the right phrase.
When you talk, you do not do that. You ramble. You contradict yourself. You complain a bit. You get things off your chest. And that turns out to be incredibly powerful when AI is listening.
I use this all the time now. Especially when I am frustrated.
I will say everything I should not say. They ghosted me. This should have been done already. This is not acceptable.
Then I pause and say, okay, now do not send any of that. Write a calm, professional response that actually helps.
It is strangely therapeutic. Like screaming into a pillow and then handing the room back to someone who knows how to speak with grace.
This is where voice based interaction really matters. Tools like Whisper Flow have changed how I think and write. I speak. It transcribes. It cleans things up. It corrects me when I trip over my own thoughts.
The result is not just faster work. It is more honest work. This is also where prompting stopped being a chore for me.
The moment I stopped trying to be perfect and just started having a conversation, everything loosened up. Creativity came back. Curiosity came back. AI stopped feeling like a tool and started feeling like a thinking partner.
Planning life, not just tasks. The holiday planning was another reminder. AI did not just book a hotel. It surfaced things I would have missed.
It told me that the garden view rooms were actually better for families because they were closer to the pool. That ground floor access mattered more than a distant ocean view when you have a toddler who wants to swim three times a day.
It helped me choose flight seats based on quick exits and aisle access. It thought about luggage size when we were buying gifts for sixty plus family members. It even helped me figure out how to pack everything into three bags without losing my sanity.
At one point I literally took a photo of the luggage and said, okay, now Tetris this.
It suggested vacuum bags. Showed me what to buy. Explained how to pack so we could still close the zips.
This is not about convenience. It is about cognitive load. AI is quietly removing hundreds of tiny decisions so your brain can breathe again.
Using AI for joy, not just productivity. This time of year is also about play.
Davina and I talked about those old dancing elf videos everyone used to send around. Same template. Same dance. Same laugh every year.
Now you can go much further.
With tools like Nano Banana and VEO 3 inside Google Gemini, you can turn family photos into something genuinely funny, silly, or heartwarming. Elves. Reindeer. Santa speeches. Whatever you want.
No complex prompting required. You can talk to it. Adjust as you go. Let it surprise you.
If you want a fun Christmas assignment, this is it.
Make something ridiculous. Make something joyful. Make something your family will actually rewatch. Just remember the usual rules. Use images you have permission to use. Be thoughtful. Have fun without being careless.
This is one place where AI can bring people together instead of pulling them apart.
Suggested image placement. A warm, playful image near this section showing a festive AI generated scene like family members as elves or reindeer to visually reinforce the joy and creativity theme.
Looking ahead to what really matters. As we move toward 2026, the biggest change I see coming is not better screens or faster typing. It is voice.
We are moving toward a world where we talk to systems instead of wrestling with keyboards. Where ideas flow before we have time to censor them. Where thinking feels more natural again.
I hope we also get more robust AI. Less hallucination. More trust. More reliability. But if I could wave a magic wand, there is one place I would love to see AI make a real difference. Education.
AI has the power to remove language barriers, cost barriers, geographic barriers. It can teach in any format. Text. Voice. Video. Experience. It can meet people where they are.
Education has always been one of the greatest equalisers we have. AI gives us a real chance to scale it in a way we never could before. And maybe, just maybe, it can also help us listen better. Not just translate words, but meaning. Intent. Emotion.
Between cultures. Between industries. Between people who are trying to say the same thing in very different ways.
If AI can help us understand each other more clearly, that might be the most meaningful gift of all.
A quiet Christmas takeaway. This year reminded me that AI does not have to make life louder or faster. Used well, it makes things softer. It gives you space to think. Space to rest. Space to be present.
On Christmas Day, that feels like the right note to end on.
Enjoy your people. Enjoy the quiet moments. And if you do open an AI tool today, maybe use it for something joyful rather than productive.
We will see each other again in the new year.
— Aamir
📲 Resources & Links
🎧 Listen to the Podcast on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube
📘 Book: The CEO Who Mocked AI (Until It Made Him Millions) by Aamir Qutub