Read time: under 8 minutes
Hey there, Product Creator. 👋 T-minus 3 days until Halloween strikes. Do you have your costume ready? Or maybe you’re doing a cozy night in? Check out my weekly picks section for the perfect Halloween movie recommendation. What’s more scary than the movie is all this innovation in AI that’s happened in the past few weeks! Let’s dive in.
In this edition:
Creator Spotlight: an AI chef that helps you cook with whatever’s in your fridge.
Tech Tools: ChatGPT’s browser, Clippy’s glow-up, and an “AI junior PM” startup
Prompt Playground: Let AI chart your next five years with a career horoscope
CREATOR SPOTLIGHT 🎤
Meet Manasi Mehta, a Master’s student at Carnegie Mellon University and an advocate for combining AI with user-centered design. She built SnackHack, an AI-powered app that helps you figure out what to cook using whatever’s already in your kitchen. It’s made for the tired student or busy professional staring into the fridge at half an onion, some pasta, and leftover chicken. While most recipe apps assume a fully stocked pantry, SnackHack starts with reality—and turns it into dinner. Just type in your ingredients and it generates meal ideas that are practical but still a little surprising.
When I tested it myself, I tossed in a few random pantry items and was instantly hooked. I couldn’t wait to see what it would come up with next. I kept swapping out ingredients and regenerating until I landed on something that felt right.
That’s exactly what Manasi observed in her own user tests. People weren’t blindly following the AI’s suggestions—they were negotiating with it, co-creating the outcome like a sous chef who actually listens. The real insight? People don’t just want AI to decide for them. They want to collaborate with it. Try it here!
Tools used: Lovable (frontend), FastAPI (backend), Google AI Studio (recipe generation)
Time to MVP: ~36 hours (spread over two weeks of testing with 10 real users)
Top tip: Start messy and ship fast. “Your MVP isn’t done when the code works. It’s done when you understand how people actually want to use it.”
💡 Building something yourself? Share here to be featured in an upcoming newsletter!
TRENDING TECH TOOLS 🔨
1. OpenAI Atlas — your browser with a built-in mind: It’s like having a built-in ChatGPT that actually understands the page you’re on. In the promo video, the user’s browsing a VRBO cabin in the woods and casually asks Atlas about nearby hiking trails — and it instantly scans travel blogs, maps, and reviews to answer right in the sidebar. Available for macOS, Atlas turns passive browsing into an interactive research session. It’s early days, but this feels like a glimpse into how we’ll read, search, and plan trips (or PRDs) in the near future.
2. Microsoft Copilot Mode + Mico — Clippy’s cooler cousin: Remember Clippy? The little paperclip who popped up during the dot-com era saying “It looks like you’re writing a letter”? Yeah, he’s back — kind of. In this video, Microsoft unveils Copilot Mode for Edge, complete with a lightweight AI assistant named Mico that summarizes, searches, and even brainstorms across your open tabs. Try it out here. It’s the browser update no one asked for but everyone secretly needs — because juggling 47 tabs while Slack pings is officially a thing of the past.
3. ThriveAI — the “AI junior PM” that raised $1.2M: Fresh off its launch, ThriveAI is built by ex-Google, Slack, and Palantir PMs to take over your least glamorous tasks: analyzing feedback, writing summaries, and surfacing next steps. It plugs into Slack and Teams, quietly acting like the intern who actually reads everything. You can check it out here. It’s early, but if it works, your next standup might just include an AI teammate that already did the prep for you.
LEARN A NEW TERM 🧠
Image generated with ChatGPT.
Endpoint → The exact spot where your app talks to another system. If an API is the waiter taking your order, the endpoint is the kitchen window where that order actually gets handed off.
Each endpoint is a specific URL that performs one action — like /menu, /order, or /payment. When your app “hits” an endpoint, it’s saying: “Hey, I need this thing.” The server replies with data or confirmation, like handing back your latte.
Why it matters for PMs: Endpoints define what your product can do and how it connects to the world. If the endpoint is down, the conversation stops. No data. No update. Just a grumpy customer tapping “retry.”
FROM THE ARCHIVES 📁
One of my most popular carousels describes an API interaction with the Friends cast. Rachel is the API, the customer (say Joey or Chandler) is the client, the coffee is the response, and the espresso button is the endpoint.
One of the best comments I got was, “I thought the whole shtick was that Rachel is a terrible waitress.” 😄 Honestly? Touché. (watch this scene to see how bad she truly is).
So in my newest carousel, I cover what happens when things go wrong at Central Perk. It’s a realistic look at 4 common API errors and how to debug them, one coffee order at a time. ☕️ Check it out here.
PROMPT PLAYGROUND 🤖
This edition’s featured prompt: AI career coach meets horoscope generator.
Paste in your current role, a few sentences about your background, and where you want to be five years from now. The AI will act like a career coach and cosmic guide—mixing product strategy with a little stardust. ✨
You are an AI life coach and product strategist.
Ask me to share:
1. My current role and responsibilities
2. My background (skills, industries, side projects)
3. My definition of “success” five years from now
Then create a personalized “Product Destiny Report” that blends practical PM career advice with playful horoscope energy.
Include:
- A headline prediction (e.g., “2026 will be your year of experimentation”)
- 3 guiding themes (e.g., Metrics > Myths, Build Before You’re Ready, Delegate Like a CEO)
- 1 tactical next step to take this week.
Write it in a tone that’s inspiring, a little mystical, but grounded in action.JACKIE’S WEEKLY PICKS 💖
✅ Something to read: Having “product craft” means more now than ever in the AI era. Read Karri Saarinen’s (Linear CEO) 10 rules for crafting products that stand out.
✅ Something to watch: Staying in for Halloween? Give Weapons a watch (if you can bear it). Out now on HBO.
✅ Something to listen to: An inspiring podcast episode on How to create a successful mindset and the science of passion & perseverance. Perfect for anyone building or starting something new.
NEW PM ROLES 💼
Solace is hiring an Associate Product Manager for its healthcare advocacy product.
IBM has opened its 2026 Associate Product Manager program open for anyone to apply.
Anthropic is hiring a Product Manager, APIs, a great fit for technical PMs who love want to work on the cutting edge
SHARE THE LOVE 💌
Like what you read in this week’s edition?
Copy & paste to refer a friend!
https://jackie-the-product-girl.beehiiv.com/subscribe
Till next time 👋 — Jackie