GPT-5 Is Here, But Users Want GPT‐4o Back

Hello!

Do you know why AI usage dropped 70% in early June?

Simple: school ended. Students use AI to learn, write, build, and think. I see it with my own kids, and it makes me wonder: what kind of future are we preparing them for?

Last week, OpenAI brought back GPT‑4o after thousands of users pushed back against GPT‑5. People still value familiarity in technology, but the next generation will need fluency to stay ahead.

To help you stay fluent, I've picked a few interesting reads from the past week, like the official GPT‑5 prompting guide I’ve already put to use, and news on Claude’s 1 million token upgrade. We'll also look at new tech releases, like React Native 0.81 and v0's transformation from AI assistant to app builder. 

And if you want to stay up to date with the news, you can read about the resignation of GitHub's CEO, and Perplexity bidding twice its value on Google Chrome.

Grab a coffee, and enjoy this week’s Frictionless.

In the Queue

• Musk Threatens to Sue Apple Over Grok

• Hiring Tips from an Engineer

• Sanity vs Contentful: Which is Better?

• Finding Strategy Problems in Your Company

• How to Catch AI Lies

• Designing Secure Cloud with 10 Questions

• Problems Managing Senior Devs

Reduce Friction

Common Problems Managing Senior Engineers

It might surprise you, but it’s often the senior engineers who need most of your attention, not juniors. They might know the ropes, but still need clear direction and growth opportunities. Learn who the four senior types are, and how to help them thrive in your team.

Diagnosing Your Company's Strategy Problem

Saying “let’s just get a strategy” is easy, but pointing out what needs to be fixed? That’s a different beast. Before proposing a pivot at the next company meeting, check where to find the real strategic issues, like conflicting priorities, projects with no measurable outcomes, and unproductive roadmaps.

Engineer's Perspective on Hiring

Sometimes the smallest details in your hiring process are the ones that scare off your best candidates. Here’s an engineer’s take on what feels encouraging and parts that turn candidates off during tech interviews.

Deepen Your Expertise

Headless CMS Guide: Sanity vs Contentful

Not all CMS platforms are made equal, and picking the right one depends on more than their features. Our comparison shows what Sanity and Contentful offer and how their pricing models line up against your budget.

React Native 0.81

The latest React Native release is here! 0.81 brings Android 16 support, faster iOS builds, Expo SDK 52 support, and better developer tooling.

Vercel: v0.dev -> v0.app

Vercel’s v0 has evolved from a code assistant into a very capable AI app builder. It can build full UIs, rewrite logic, and even spot edge cases. And best of all, it’s free (for now)!

10 Key Questions About Designing a Secure Cloud Environment

Good security shouldn’t slow your team down. These 10 questions cover everything from secrets management to policy enforcement, helping you design a cloud setup that’s secure by default and still flexible enough to move fast.

AI Corner

After User Backlash, OpenAI Is Bringing Back Older ChatGPT Models

Turns out, people don’t just want smarter AI models. After a wave of complaints about GPT‑5 feeling cold and robotic, OpenAI brought GPT‑4o back for paying users, though not without some grumbling from its CEO.

GPT-5 Prompting Guide

Want better results from GPT‑5? OpenAI released an excellent prompting guide for its newest model. It covers prompt patterns, tool use, workflow integrations, and more.

Claude Sonnet 4 Now Supports 1M Tokens of Context

Claude Sonnet 4 can now handle up to 1 million tokens. To paint you an image, that’s enough to toss in an entire codebase of 75,000+ lines or dozens of dense research papers in a single API call.

How To Tell When AI Is Lying To You

Catching AI hallucinations before they waste your time is quickly becoming a core skill. If you've been struggling with AI lies, this guide suggests tactics like rephrasing prompts and adding checks to help you spot false answers early.

Just Cool

Elon Musk Threatens to Sue Apple Over App Store Ranking of His AI App

Elon Musk claims Apple is burying his AI chatbot, Grok, in App Store searches, and he’s threatening legal action. With OpenAI name-dropped in his post, Sam Altman chimed in on X, setting the stage for a public feud.

GitHub Just Got Less Independent At Microsoft After CEO Resignation

After Thomas Dohmke’s surprise exit, GitHub won’t be getting a new CEO. Instead, it’s now reporting directly into Microsoft’s CoreAI team. The move raised questions about how much independence GitHub will retain under Microsoft’s firmer control.

Perplexity Offers $34.5B for Chrome

AI startup Perplexity shocked everybody by throwing its hat into the Google ring. The company proposed a bid of $34 billion, twice its projected value of $18 billion, in exchange for the tech giant’s popular browser.

Let’s Stay in Touch! 📨 

Do you have any comments about this newsletter issue or questions you want to ask? Drop me a message or book a meeting.