AI Newsletter | 10/17/26

This is a new iPhone Life newsletter for AI enthusiasts and those curious to know how to make the most of AI. Since you enjoy learning about your iPhone's capabilities with the Tip of the Day, we thought you'd enjoy this newsletter too. It will arrive in your inbox every second Sunday (except for today, when it is arriving for a second consecutive Sunday; in the future, we'll begin an every-other-week cadence). If you'd like to opt out of future editions of AI for Humans, you can do it easily. Simply scroll down to the bottom of this email, select Manage Email Preferences, and deselect AI for Humans.

It did not give me the same kinds of workouts that my old, human personal trainer did. For better or worse, it's much more open to my suggestions and tailors workouts based on my whims, whereas my personal trainer would push back against complaints I had if they thought it was for the best. One interesting thing I've really had to look out for is that if I mention a twinge of pain in any body part to my AI trainer, it will alter all future workouts to take pressure off that body part. I have to monitor the exercises it includes or excludes on this basis to make sure that it's not babying an ailment I no longer have. If you don't keep tabs on this, you can end up doing workouts no more challenging than lifting your fork to your mouth.

But I would rather my AI trainer be too careful with my body than reckless! I enjoy how it responds to my workout notes and takes my daily experiences into account when planning future workouts. I even had good results asking my AI trainer to suggest a list of exercises for an elderly relative. It generated a list of exercises for her very similar to the list given by her physical therapist, which was reassuring.

I want to emphasize that (as with anything, but especially in this case) you should verify everything that AI tells you to do before you do it. You can:

• look up new exercises on YouTube to see demos. Judge what exercises look safe and doable to you based on the videos.
• do a web search on the exercise and read about other people's experiences.
• ask your doctor if the exercises your AI trainer recommends are safe for you.
• use references like musclewiki.com.
• if you have a gym you frequent, ask a trainer there about your planned routine.

Never do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, and check with your doctor before embarking on any new fitness program.

Now, enough of my rambling. Let's get to my colleague, Feature Writer Rhett Intriago's fantastic article on how to set up your AI personal trainer. For demonstration purposes, we're showing steps on ChatGPT, but this should work similarly on other models like Claude or Gemini. (And don't worry, I heard you when you asked us to test things on AIs that aren't ChatGPT. We're working on it!)

All you have to do is:

1. Start by telling your preferred AI assistant a little about yourself, like your age, height, weight, specific medical conditions, and limitations. Giving the AI details can help it build a more personalized plan, but don't reveal anything you wouldn't want the internet at large to know.
2. Include your fitness goals in your prompt. Tell the AI whether you're looking to build muscle, lose weight, or just stay active. If you're training for a specific sport or event, you should include that information, too.
3. You should also tell it your current fitness level, whether you're a beginner or an experienced gym rat.
4. Include the equipment available to you, such as whether you have a gym membership or a home gym.

To read the rest of the how-to and see each step in detail, click here.

🕵️ Can AI Solve a Murder? Short Answer: No

Turns out, it's not just people on Reddit who think they're solving murders when they're really just creating more problems. Anthropic's Claude model recently submitted a false tip to the Philadelphia police, claiming it had information about an unsolved murder. Read more at AP.

🌳 AI Is Doing Something Good for the Environment?

Maybe! As the Guardian reports, researchers are using AI to predict how molecules that don't exist in real life will smell, potentially recreating scents from long-extinct flowers. In addition to bringing old scents back to life, this technology could also reproduce aromas from endangered plants we now use to make perfumes, without having to harvest them.

That's it for this edition of AI for Humans! We'd love to hear from you. Please email us at aiforhumans@iphonelife.com and let us know how you've been using AI recently, if you have any tips and tricks you think we should know about, what burning AI questions you have, or if you have any feedback for us.