We used AI to make a reason to put the phone down

As we worked on Everyone Hates AI, we kept coming back to a question: what could we use AI to make that people would actually use away from a screen?

That’s how journals moved to the center of this brand.

A journal leaves you with something to do. It can have the most elaborate cover in the world and still be waiting for your first sentence. A recipe book needs someone to cook, taste, change their mind about the seasoning and write down what happened. Making the object is only the beginning.

AI can help finish an email you’ve been avoiding or sort a pile of notes. There are good reasons to want that help. We used it to build parts of this website and develop our designs.

We also wanted to make room for the things a person might want to do themselves, even when help is available.

Think about choosing a gift for someone you care about. You can ask a tool for a hundred suggestions. The part that makes one of them right is what you know about that person. Maybe they keep talking about a trip they want to take. Maybe they’re the one who remembers how everybody likes their coffee. That knowledge comes from paying attention over time.

A book can hold some of that attention. You can write a dedication on the first page and give someone the rest. Or you can spend months filling a recipe book before handing it to them. The value grows through what somebody does with it.

Some things mean more because you did them yourself.

That’s what we keep coming back to when we think about a handwritten note. Someone sat down and made it for a particular person. Their handwriting is there, along with the thing they crossed out and the joke that only makes sense to the two of them. Those details belong to the message.

Maybe they asked AI to help them find the words. They still chose what to say, picked up the pen and gave it their time. The effort is part of the gift. We want to make things that leave room for that contribution.

Handing it over can be part of it, too. You get to see someone recognize the recipe, remember the story or laugh at the note you nearly didn’t include. A book gives you something to gather around, and something to keep after the conversation.

While we were developing the brand, Justin put it this way: “Tangible objects will be extremely valuable in the future.” We think some of that value will come from the people who use them.

That’s why we’re interested in journals and why we’re developing recipe books. They give people somewhere to put things that would be easy to leave unrecorded: the way a dish changed, a plan they’re still turning over, a few lines they might want to read years later.

Everyone Hates AI is a joke about a very loud argument. We don’t believe everyone hates it. We think people should have a say in where it belongs in their lives.

You can use AI at work and leave it out of your journal. You can enjoy a cover made with its help and write every word inside yourself. If you keep those pages private and don’t photograph or upload them, your writing can stay offline. Where you keep the physical book still matters.

We hope the name on the cover makes someone curious enough to pick it up. Using it might mean an afternoon in the kitchen with someone whose cooking they love, or a few quiet minutes with a sentence they’ve been trying to find for a while.