Mads the chihuahua reading her newsletter

Mads Muse

Weekly AI intel — no fluff, no jargon, just the good stuff

A curated weekly newsletter bringing you the most useful AI news, tools and tips — filtered through the lenses that actually matter to you.

🖤 Named in memory of Maddie, 2013–2024 — tiny, tenacious, never gave up.

#charity #smallbusiness #VA #freelance #nonprofit #productivity

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Issue 002 · Friday 18th April 2026

The Ten Minute Warning

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Welcome to Mads Muse — your weekly dose of AI news, tools and ideas, curated for the people who need it most. No hype, no fluff. Just the bits worth knowing, sorted by what matters to you. Let's go. 🐾

#charity

92% of Nonprofits Are Using AI — But Most Are Winging It

Remarkable adoption numbers — but 81% have no documentation of what works and 47% have no AI policy at all. Here's the simple fix that takes ten minutes and costs nothing...

#smallbusiness

Someone Is Selling Your Old Slack Messages to Train AI

Failed startups are licencing internal employee conversations to AI developers — and those employees never consented. Here's what it means for your organisation and what to check...

#VA

Ten Minutes Is All It Takes — And Not In a Good Way

A new study found just ten minutes of using AI as an answer machine can measurably erode problem-solving skills. For VAs, this is worth sitting with — and here's how to avoid it...

#freelance

The Freelance Market Is Changing — Here's the Honest Picture

Fiverr downloads fell 18%, Upwork fell 22% — but demand for AI-skilled freelancers is up 27%. The uncomfortable truth and the practical response...

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What You Get

The Mads Muse format

Every week, same structure, zero waffle. Straight to your inbox, every Friday.

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Curated AI News

The most relevant AI developments of the week — filtered for charity, VA, freelance and small business. Not the stuff that only matters to Silicon Valley.

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Tool of the Week

One tool, properly looked at. What it does, who it's for, whether it's worth your time. Honest, practical, no affiliate nonsense.

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The Mads Moment

One idea, prompt or technique you can actually use this week. Small but mighty — just like Mads herself.

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Free Downloads

Subscribers get access to our growing library of free resources — templates, prompt packs, guides and more. Built for the people who actually use them.

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Who was Mads?

Mads — properly Maddie, also known as Mads the Bads and Maddie the Baddie — was a white chihuahua with the energy of something ten times her size. She was tenacious, opinionated, and absolutely convinced she was in charge.

She passed away in 2024 and left a gap that no amount of logic can explain. This newsletter, and the AnnaVA AI brand she inspired, exists in her honour. Small things can have enormous impact. She proved it every day.

Mads Muse carries her spirit forward — bringing the useful, the sharp, and the no-nonsense to the people who need it most.

🖤 Maddie · 2013–2024 · tiny, tenacious, never gave up