Hi, I'm Marc.
I test the AI tools everyone's hyping, and tell you which ones are actually worth it.
I'm an American tech writer. Most of my time goes into head-to-head comparisons of consumer AI, and lately into the strange, fast-moving world of AI entertainment: companions, interactive stories, AI voices, micro-dramas and game characters.
Latest · Comparisons
How I Test AI Video Generators (and Why Most Benchmarks Lie)
Cherry-picked demo reels sell subscriptions. A repeatable test sheet tells you what you're actually paying for.
Read the piece →Currently testing
AI video tools, with a focus on whether characters stay the same person from shot to shot.
Thinking about
Why a great AI voice makes bad dialogue more obvious, not less.
Open to
Tips, product briefings and commissions. Email me.
Writing
See everything →
AI Entertainment
AI Companions Are Entertainment Now. Here's What Separates a Good One From a Chatbot in a Costume
The category grew up fast. The products that last treat characters like a writers' room would, not like a prompt.
6 min read
Comparisons
Local vs. Cloud AI: A Practical Comparison for Creators
Running models on your own machine sounds freeing. Sometimes it is. Here's how to decide without spending a weekend on drivers.
7 min read
AI Entertainment
The Uncanny Valley Moved. AI Voices Are Why
Synthetic faces still trip alarms. Synthetic voices mostly don't anymore, and that changes how AI characters feel.
5 min read
AI Entertainment
Interactive Fiction Is Having Its AI Moment
Choose-your-own-adventure was always limited by how many branches a writer could afford. That limit is dissolving, and so are some of the old rules.
6 min read
Buying Guides
Five Questions to Ask Before Paying for Any AI Subscription
The free trial is designed to impress you. These questions are designed to keep your money from leaking out monthly.
5 min read
Gaming
AI NPCs in Games: The Hype, and What's Actually Shipping
Every studio demo shows a shopkeeper who can talk about anything. Very few shipped games let them. There are good reasons.
6 min read
A few things I believe
The short version of how I review things.
- The demo reel is the ceiling. Reviews should be about the floor.
- In AI entertainment, writing matters more than the model.
- Cost per usable result is the only price that matters.
- A character that agrees with everything isn't a character.
- If a product guilt-trips you into upgrading, it doesn't get my recommendation.
Building something I should look at?
Or think I got something wrong? I read every email, and the best corrections end up in follow-up pieces.