AN OPINIONATED GUIDE TO USING AI

Summary from the TLDR AI newsletter

The biggest mistake people make with paid AI subscriptions is staying in auto mode, where the system picks weaker models instead of manually selecting agentic modes that are far more capable and less error-prone for real work. This guide covers practical choices like when free models suffice versus paying $20 monthly, why prompting techniques that worked on older models no longer matter, and why explicitly telling AI to act as a critic is necessary to avoid talking to a sophisticated yes-man.