Ethan Mollick

One Useful Thing: research-based view on the implications of AI

Author

Paolo Salvetti
February 26, 2025

I used to get lost in the ocean of AI information: countless news articles, posts, you name it! Then I set a simple goal: follow the top five blogs/newsletters about AI.

That was a game-changer (and needless to say, it cut out a lot of repetitive news!).

Ethan Mollick is at the top of that list: one of the best sources for research-based AI content: well-written, easily digestible, and always up to date.

BIO
Why Ethan Mollick?

Ethan Mollick is a Co-Director of the Generative AI Lab at Wharton School, where he studies the effects of artificial intelligence on work, entrepreneurship, and education.

He has become the go-to authority on Artificial Intelligence, Advising the White House, JPMorgan, Google and the Rest of Corporate America.

He mainly writes on X, LinkedIn, and on his blog One Useful Thing.

PS: I am listing here some of his ever-green posts, while for everything concern AI news, I recommend reading his last articles.

Topics: Artificial Intelligence, tech, ethics, work, education, life

3 ESSAYS TO GET YOU STARTED
1 - Four Singularities for Research

In Four Singularities for Research, he explores four ways AI is reshaping how we write, review, and innovate in academia.

It’s pretty hard to publish articles about AI that remain relevant and don’t become outdated after a few months, but I think this one is even more relevant these days, especially after Google introduced its AI co-scientist last week.

“ Even before ChatGPT, something alarming was happening in academia. Though academics published ever more work, the pace of innovation appeared to be slowing rapidly. In fact, one paper found that research was losing steam in every field, from agriculture to cancer research. More researchers are required to advance the state of the art, and the speed of innovation appears to be dropping by 50% every 13 years. The reasons for this are not entirely clear, and are likely complex, but it suggests a crisis already occurring, one that AI had no role in. In fact, it is possible that AI may help address this issue, but not before creating issues of its own.”

It’s his very first post, and the topic is my personal favourite.

I’ve always been fascinated by creativity (ever since I first read Bruno Munari in high school), and I found this article to be well-researched, filled with interesting old and new facts… and a bunch of funny insights.

“Some people are really good at generating ideas, and they can apply this ability in almost every context. Indeed, recent research has shown that the “Equal Odds” rule is true, which is that very creative people both generate more ideas (fluency, in the graph), and better ideas (creativity, in the graph), than other folks. Interestingly, creativity is not correlated with intelligence, it is just a trait that some people seem to have.

But that doesn’t mean that increasing your own creativity isn’t important. Among entrepreneurs, within-person differences in creativity over the course of a week are greater than across-person differences. That means that maximizing your own creativity may be more important than being a “naturally creative” person.”

I couldn't include one of his latest articles, as one of the best things about Ethan Mollick is that he consistently publishes detailed, well-researched pieces whenever a new AI breakthrough occurs or a new model is released.

Autonomous AI agents are reshaping how we gather, analyze, and interpret knowledge. This article provides a great overview of how AI systems like OpenAI’s Deep Research are shifting from simply retrieving information to conducting complex research with expert-level depth—and considering its impact on the way we work and think.

“ You can start to see how the pieces that the AI labs are building aren't just fitting together - they're playing off each other. The Reasoners provide the intellectual horsepower, while the agentic systems provide the ability to act. Right now, we're in the era of narrow agents like Deep Research, because even our best Reasoners aren't ready for general-purpose autonomy. But narrow isn’t limiting - these systems are already capable of performing work that once required teams of highly-paid experts or specialized consultancies.” 

BONUS
# Self-Aware Snake

From his latest post on X: worth checking out if you haven’t seen it yet.

WHAT IS WORTH CHECKING THIS WEEK?

Some of the most interesting things we found on the internet this week:

  • This Oscar-nominated movie, it’s the best thing I’ve seen in a while in Indie Animation [Variety]

  • The Lord of the Rings does not take place on an imaginary planet - it's Earth. [Culture Critic]

  • Can Claude play Pokémon? [Anthropic]

  • A pure celebration of great writing! From Katy Perry to David Foster Wallace [Writing Examples]

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Enjoy Ethan Mollick’s writing & see you next week! 🙂