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Epium Blog

Clear-eyed takes on AI and tech. Occasionally harsh, always grounded. Always honest.

An idea of how to improve usefulness of AI systems by utilizing a multi layered memory model

Beyond Context Windows: A Simple Idea for Real AI Memory

29 Nov 2025

AI assistants are getting bigger context windows, but they still forget everything that matters. This article lays out a practical idea for fixing that: a three-layer memory system – short-term, mid-term, long-term – that lets an assistant keep continuity over days, weeks, and projects without drowning in raw transcripts. It’s not a grand theory or a product spec, just a blueprint for how AI could move from a clever tool to a real long-term collaborator.
  • AI Assistants, AI Memory, context windows, Long-Term Continuity, Model Architecture
Stylized illustration of a digital secret agent in a trench coat labeled ‘Agent 001010,’ symbolizing agentic AI automation with a license to optimize.

Agentic AI Explained

30 Oct 2025

Agentic AI marks a practical step forward in automation - not a leap toward artificial general intelligence. It connects goals, memory, and tools around a simple loop of observe, decide, act, evaluate, repeat. This article explains how these systems actually work, what they can automate effectively, and why their real power lies in dependable execution rather than self-awareness.
  • agentic ai, AI Explained, Business AI Strategy, Intelligent Systems
Practical guide to using AI to optimize Amazon listings in 2025

Practical AI for Amazon Listings (2025): Writing for COSMO, Not Keywords

4 Oct 2025

AI isn’t magic - it’s an assistant. And like any assistant, it only delivers quality when you give it clear instructions. This guide shows how to use AI for something concrete: writing and optimizing Amazon listings in 2025. You’ll see exactly how to brief an AI so it produces usable, compliant copy that aligns with Amazon’s COSMO algorithm - instead of keyword-stuffed nonsense. If you want to understand how prompt engineering translates into real business outcomes, this is it.
  • amazon, ecommerce, practical AI
When we get AGI it's not going to run away overnight.

AGI Won’t Explode – It’ll Crawl (And We’ll Still Have Time to Pull the Plug)

12 Sep 2025

The Hollywood fantasy says AGI will wake up, rewrite itself in seconds, and take over the world. Reality says no. Training frontier models takes months, costs millions, and burns megawatts. Compute, math, and bandwidth don’t vanish because a script demands it. AGI won’t explode - it’ll crawl. The real threat isn’t machines escaping, it’s humans rushing to give them power before they’re ready.
  • agi, ai hype, ai safety, artificial general intelligence, Exponential Growth Myth, future, hollywood, Tech Reality Check
Retrieval Augmented Generation - RAG

If you want AI that actually knows your data, use retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)

19 Aug 2025

RAG (retrieval-augmented generation) connects AI models to your actual business data, products, and documents so you get accurate, context-aware answers instead of generic responses. This article explains what RAG is, how it works, and why it’s essential if you need an AI assistant that truly understands your company.
  • customize ai, documentation, faq, rag, retrieval-augmented generation
RAG Explained and problems with them

RAG Decay: Why Your Knowledge Bot Gets Dumber Every Week

14 Aug 2025

Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) can make your AI sound like it knows your business inside-out - until it quietly rots. This post explains what RAG really is, why it decays into stale, bloated answers, and the unglamorous maintenance work that keeps it sharp and trustworthy.
  • rag, RAG Maintenance, retrieval-augmented generation, Vector Database

AI in eCommerce: A Revolution or Just Another Overhyped Buzzword?

14 Jul 2025

AI is often seen as the cure-all for ecommerce problems, from customer service to inventory management. But AI is just a tool, not a magic bullet. While it can automate tasks and improve efficiency, it won’t fix a flawed business model or poor strategy. AI is most useful for optimization, like inventory sorting or personalizing customer experiences. Using it just to follow trends or avoid the hard work, like keyword research, is a waste. The real value of AI comes when it solves specific problems, not when it's used for everything. If used correctly, AI can revolutionize parts of your business; otherwise, it’s just another overhyped tool.
  • ai, automation, business, chatbot, data, ecommerce, inventory, keywords, optimization, technology

Hallucination Nation AI

20 Jun 2025

Most people use AI wrong, expecting brilliance from nothing and getting polished nonsense in return. Here’s the hard truth: AI’s great at summaries and rewrites, but leave it alone with a blank page and it’ll invent facts, companies, even your next Nobel Prize. Learn how to make AI useful, or enjoy your trip through hallucination nation.
  • ai, automation, content creation, hallucinations, language models, llms, post-processing, productivity, summarization, text generation

ChatGPT is your drunk startup wingman: Why AI validation is just liquid courage with fewer regrets

11 Jun 2025

ChatGPT is your drunk startup wingman - loud, supportive, and totally unqualified to judge your next big idea. It won’t tell you your “AI-powered platform” is old news or that your brilliant pitch already flopped in the App Store. LLMs complete patterns, not business plans. If you want actual validation, don’t expect it from an algorithm designed to clap for everything. Real research beats AI reassurance every time.
  • ai validation, business ideas, chatgpt, market research, startup advice
Senior Developer vs Vibe Coder.

“Vibe coding”: Why literal AI code fails in production

3 Jun 2025

Vibe coding is sending your teenager to buy milk. You’ll get milk. Only milk. Meanwhile, the fridge is on fire, the dog’s eating a USB stick, and the eggs are fermenting in the sink - but hey, the milk’s in the bag.
  • artificial intelligence, Junior Coder, Senior Experience, vibe coding
AI Training is held together by duct tape and hope

AI Development in 2025: Still Building the Plane While Flying It

27 May 2025

AI development feels like raiding a post-apocalyptic junkyard for beta tools, strapping them together with duct tape, and hoping your makeshift plane doesn’t explode midair.
  • ai development, DevOps, LLM Engineering, machine learning, Open Source Tools
taylor swift syndrome in IT: Calm the hell down.

The Taylor Swift Syndrome: Why Tech Freaks Out Over Every New Tool

20 May 2025

Tech needs to stop losing its mind over every new tool like it’s a Taylor Swift drop. Most “revolutionary” launches from Web3 to Clubhouse fizzled fast. Real progress isn’t loud, it’s layered, tested, and boring.
  • ai hype, automation, nft collapse, overhyped technology, tech culture, tool fatigue, web3
We're not training junior coders any longer.

We’re Raising Prompt Monkeys, Not Engineers

13 May 2025

AI is making junior devs faster, but also dumber. We’re killing the very grind that builds senior talent. That’s a long-term disaster in the making.
  • ai, coding, experience, future, junior, senior
Rational analysis of AI and why AGI is still far away

AGI Is Not Around the Corner: Why Today’s LLMs Aren’t True Intelligence

5 May 2025

Today’s LLMs like GPT-4 and Claude are impressive pattern-recognition tools, but they’re not anywhere near true intelligence. Despite the hype, they lack core AGI traits like reasoning, autonomy, and real-world understanding. This article cuts through the noise, explaining why fears of imminent AGI are wildly premature.
  • agi, ai, future, large language models, LLM, llm limitations, machine learning
News aggregation model

Real AI Automation Isn’t a Prompt. It’s a Pipeline

1 May 2025

AI isn’t about calling the biggest model. It’s about building smart, layered systems that use the right model for the right job. This real-world automation pulls, scrapes, filters, deduplicates, scores, summarizes, and publishes using GPT-4.1, GPT-4o, 4o-mini, and DALL·E 3 where they shine, not just where they’re trendy.
  • ai, automation, news
AI Middle layer is where the rubber meets the road

The Rise of the AI Middle Layer: Automation’s Final Boss

28 Apr 2025

The real power in AI isn’t the model: It’s the middle layer that wraps logic, automation, and infrastructure around it. If you’re not building that, you’re not building anything that lasts.
  • ai, automation, development

AI Is Killing the Junior Role. You’re Either Useful or You’re Next

2 Apr 2025

AI isn't just disrupting junior roles: It's replacing them right now. If you're not bringing value beyond what a model can do in 12 seconds, you're already obsolete. Get useful, or get out of the way.
  • artificial intelligence, jobs
Using AI to prepare for a meeting.

How I Use AI to Prep for Client Meetings (Without Sounding Like a Bot)

19 Mar 2025

I use AI to cut through the noise and prep smarter for client meetings: Fast, contextual research that helps me show up informed, not automated.
  • ai, business, preparation
AI Grifters

How to Tell If an AI Tool Is Worth Paying For

18 Feb 2025

Don’t fall for the $999 AI tools being pushed by Instagram bros and TikTok grifters: If it’s just a glorified ChatGPT call in a shiny box, you’re being upsold on laziness. Real value comes from integration, automation at scale, and actual technical depth. Not viral bullshit.
  • automation, instagram, tiktok, value
LLMs are smart parrots

Why LLMs Are Just Compression Algorithms with Delusions of Grandeur

11 Jan 2025

LLMs aren't intelligent: They're just advanced compression systems predicting the next word based on patterns, not understanding. Useful? Absolutely. Smart? Not even close.
  • artificial intelligence, large language models
Prompt engineering for ecommerce

Prompt Engineering for eCommerce: Worth It?

30 Nov 2024

Prompt engineering is useful at scale, but in eCommerce, it's a tool - not a strategy - and definitely not a replacement for knowing your customer or having a solid offer.
  • ai, automation, prompt engineering
Use the right tool for the job. Node.js vs Python

Why I Still Use Node.js While Everyone Else Is Playing with Python

5 Nov 2024

Everyone's using Python for AI, but when you're building real-world automation, orchestration, and API glue, Node.js still wins. It's faster for async, cleaner with JSON, and better suited for actual deployment than Python's tangled coroutine hell. This post breaks down why I’m still all-in on Node, and why I don’t need to follow the AI herd to get things done.
  • automation, coding, node.js, python