Happy Wednesday, Lattice Community!
We’ll dissect big stories in AI this week, provide insights to keep you informed in your industry, and share updates on the work we’re doing at Lattice Partners. We’re an AI implementation company that helps businesses with AI strategy and custom solutions.
This week’s TL;DR:
• There’s ACTUAL debate over whether AI models have consciousness like humans do.
• A shadowboxing Frenchman went viral, but psych! he’s 100% AI.
• Are general AI tools or industry-specific products better for serving you at work?
• The 20/60/20 rule for using AI without sound like… AI.
You better be nice to Claude… because it may have feelings.
According to the New York Times, Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah proposed pulling the company out of the Vatican launch of Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, after reading an advance copy that rejected the idea of AI consciousness.
For context, Olah told the Times he isn’t sure whether AI models are conscious. Anthropic has flown religious leaders from Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Latter-day Saint, Sikh and Greek Orthodox traditions to their offices since fall 2025 to discuss Claude’s consciousness, all under NDAs.
Takeaways
1. Sentient AI doesn’t feel like sci-fi anymore…
The Pope’s argument is consciousness, morality and feelings come from lived human experiences. AI doesn’t have a body, a brain or a heart, so how can it feel joy or pain, or develop a moral conscience? Nobody actually knows whether AI can feel anything, but let’s just say the Pope and Anthropic can agree to disagree.
2. And here comes Anthropic’s new usage policy
On October 8th, Anthropic updated its usage policy to ban abusive behavior toward Claude. Other restrictions included election interference, surveillance, and weapons development. The policy takes effect November 12th and only applies to repeatedly cruel users on Claude. So if you’ve ever used a spicy tone with Claude when experiencing everyday workflow frustration, don’t worry, you’re probably fine.
3. Why is Anthropic investing so much time on AI consciousness?
Anthropic has researched what it calls “model welfare” since at least 2025. Nobody knows yet whether AI can be conscious, but it thinks digital sentience as a future reality should be taken seriously.
If that’s the case, our co-founder Christian’s been saying “please” and “thank you” to Claude lately, so hopefully we at Lattice Partners are on Claude’s good side!
Have you met Jean Phil? Oh wait, he doesn’t exist.
Jean Philanthrope is an AI-generated character who sports a brown suit, bowl cut and a handlebar mustache while shadowboxing silently in random locations. His first Instagram post was on September 17th and he’s amassed 228,000+ followers since then.
Takeaways
1. Fake influencers truly are hard to spot.
Our very own Colin and Christian thought Jean was a real person in the first few days of seeing his account… and we work at an AI company!
Instagram is laying down the law. On August 31st, the “AI creator” label was renamed to “AI-generated profile.” Instagram is limiting the reach of any AI-generated profiles that don’t use the right label.
2. How is someone like Jean Phil created?
Jean Phil was reportedly made with Higgsfield AI’s Genjutsu tool, though his creator hasn’t confirmed it.
To create a Jean Phil-like character, you would first film a real person shadowboxing. You’d then design the fake person using AI images and run it through Higgsfield’s Genjutsu tool. The AI keeps every punch and head turn from the real video, then swaps the fake character in on top. The video is essentially the same as the original, but the real person you filmed is now replaced by your AI-generated character. Now you can simply change the background so your AI person is shadowboxing anywhere.
We dive into all these topics more on the Lattice Partners podcast, the AI Playbook, linked here.
Something you can use
Should you buy an industry-specific AI tool, or just stick with Claude or ChatGPT?
1. Assess whether your industry-specific tool has data, features or setups that a general chatbot can’t access.
2. Pick tools that connect to the AI model you naturally use, so you’re not having to re-explain yourself in three different places.
3. It depends on your use cases. If you want to click a button to get the job done, an industry tool may suit you. If you’re more AI-pilled and a power user, ChatGPT or Claude will help you go further.
Try using the 20/60/20 rule when using AI
The first 20% - start the task yourself, write the outline, voice-memo or brain dump it out.
The middle 60% - let AI do the work, with the context from the 20% you provided.
The last 20% - use the output and make it yours. Rewrite sentences and reformat with your own personal taste, flair and judgment.
This week at Lattice Partners
Christian spoke at the Liberty Road Summit.
Lattice Partners partnered with Liberty Road to build an app for women in midlife that takes expert knowledge and tailors content to users based on a personalized audit. Christian had the wonderful opportunity to share about the app, attend workshops, and celebrate with the Liberty Road community.
You can join the waitlist for the app here!
Bella attended Advertising Week New York to learn about how marketing and the digital ad space is evolving in the age of AI.
Our marketing strategist Bella attended panels hosted by ElevenLabs and Higgsfield AI, focused on AI-generated voices and video. OpenAI and Home Depot talked about the importance of meeting your customer where they live - right now in the shopping world, that means chatbots. Salesforce and Sparks highlighted the value of IRL experiences. Surprise! Nothing beats in-person, human connection.
See you next Wednesday!
Cheers,
Lattice Partners
