5 Things 01.05.26

When is a pivot not a pivot? | Is Claude's new Opus 4.7 really no good? | AI-driven personas (webinar) | You're the bread in the AI sandwich | Do birds have accents?

Author

Gideon Barker
May 01, 2026

5 Things

From Gideon Barker, founder of Customer iQ. View the newsletter archive.

Hi reader

It’s May already, that certainly came around quickly. You have some exciting plans for May? Let me know, would love to hear from you.

But that’s not the topic of today’s email. Nah, today I want to talk about referrals.

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Your selection of 5 Things for this week:

  1. When is a pivot not a pivot? When it’s such a seismic shift in what you’re doing that the word pivot is pretty redundant. Example: Allbirds pivots metamorphoses from shoemaker to leasing AI chips. Wtf is going on here? Read my LI post for more.

  1. “By god is it bad. I've never seen a model hallucinate this badly and this often” - one Reddit user’s verdict on Claude’s new Opus 4.7 - nicknamed Gaslightus. How can AI companies build trust when their products are seen as this untrustworthy?

  1. Want to know all about how AI-driven personas are helping brands to innovate and make more confident decisions? Me too! This MarketingWeek event on May 13th may be of interest to both of us.

  1. If “You’re the Bread in the AI Sandwich” got you as intrigued as it did me, then this podcast (opens in Spotify) by Dan Shipper might be for you.

  1. Gosh, this week it seems all about AI - let’s balance this out with an article from The Conversation about whether birds have accents.

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Thanks for reading 🖖