Ep. 35: Put Your Money Where Your Prompt Is

ByMaestro
LISTEN TO THE EPISODE

The Prompting Curiosity rebrand is officially here and this episode breaks down exactly why the switch happened. I cover the three big reasons for the name change, take a detailed look at OpenAI’s behavior that made staying with them feel untenable, and share a clear-eyed take on Anthropic as the alternative.

We Did It!

The name change is complete, the migration has happened, and I’m genuinely stoked with how it came out. It’s not a huge overhaul of the rest of the site, mostly just a color scheme update, but if you’ve never checked out the website before, this is a great opportunity because it’s got all the things. Everything is searchable, and there’s that Curious Finds page which, for the AI nerds, might be super interesting as it lists out all of the resources I’ve encountered along the way that I’ve found to be helpful and worth paying attention to.

But yeah. We did it, we made it, the change is complete, and I’m grateful to be on the other side. Thank you for the support!

Why the Switch? Glad You Asked.

So, why the change? Why the switch? Let’s head to the main topic for today’s episode: Putting your money where your prompt is.

I switched the name of the podcast/website/brand from ChatGPT Curious to Prompting Curiosity for three reasons:

  • Reason one: It became impossible to ignore OpenAI’s bad behavior. What in the actual fuck. More on that in a minute.
  • Reason two: I honestly don’t trust OpenAI to not go after brands or businesses using the name ChatGPT, and that’s totally fair on their end. CrossFit has always done this and I could absolutely see OpenAI cracking down on it. I wanted to future-proof myself.
  • Reason three: This name just fits better with what I’ve been doing all along, which is talking about AI tools in general, not just ChatGPT.

Why ChatGPT in the First Place?

I went with ChatGPT as part of the name originally, because it was, and still is, the household name. I wanted to help people learn about AI, and part of that was choosing a name that people would actually search, which was ChatGPT.

For what it’s worth, ChatGPT was also better. They had the lead, they had the advantage, they had the product…and then they shit the bed.

Claude has absolutely caught up with ChatGPT, and in many ways, surpassed it. Episode 33 takes a deep dive into my honest opinion about Claude after using it exclusively for a few weeks, but the TLDR is that it does all the same things as ChatGPT, it works great, and the only downside is that it doesn’t have custom GPTs. So if you’re thinking about switching to Claude but worried about the lift, or worried about whether it can do what you want, just switch. Yes, Claude can and will do what you need. Yes, you’ll be fine.

OpenAI’s Bad Behavior: The Receipts

Alright, let’s get into it. This is reason number one I changed the name of the podcast, and it’s the part of today’s episode I want to spend the most time on.

If you want to stick with ChatGPT, stick with it. I’m not here to force anyone to do anything or tell anyone what they have to do. Live your life.

But for me, OpenAI’s values, as interpreted from their actions, became so unaligned with my own that it really came down to putting my money where my prompt was, which looked like discontinuing my subscription and moving over to Claude. So, about those receipts:

  • OpenAI’s president, Greg Brockman, donated $25 million to Trump. Fuck that.
  • ICE uses a GPT-4-powered resume screening tool. In January 2026, ICE began using GPT-4 for an AI-assisted resume screening tool to score job applicants and speed up hiring decisions. The tool misclassified the majority of new applicants by flagging anyone with the word “officer” on their resume as having law enforcement experience. Compliance officers, loan officers, people who wanted to be ICE officers. The error wasn’t caught for over a month, during which affected recruits were routed into a shortened 4-week online training instead of the full 8-week in-person academy. Which is still too gotdamn short.
  • OpenAI signed a Pentagon contract that Anthropic refused. Anthropic refused because the Department of War wanted them to agree that their tools could be used for “any lawful purpose,” including mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons. Following the refusal, the Pentagon designated Anthropic a “supply chain risk” in response, and Trump ordered federal agencies to stop using their products. OpenAI then stepped in and signed the deal. Whack AF.
  • OpenAI is lobbying against AI regulation. They helped launch a $125 million lobbying operation specifically to stop states from regulating AI. Y’all, this stuff needs laws, and regulations, and rules. Big time.
  • And then there’s Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, what a weird fucking dude. His public statements paint a picture of someone who is genuinely more excited about what comes after humans than about humans themselves. He is 100% not the type of person I want in charge of anything, nevermind a technology this powerful and a company this influential.

On Anthropic

Now, I’ve said this the whole time as well: I don’t view Anthropic as some angel company. Their pushback against the government did earn them some brownie points, for sure, but they’re still in cahoots with Palantir (at least for now) and they’re still a big company that needs funding.

But, if we just look at the lists objectively and approach this from a do the least amount of harm standpoint, OpenAI is the clear loser, and it would be against my personal value system to continue paying them, supporting them, and having a podcast and a website and a brand with the name ChatGPT in it.

You, my friend, do what you want. I’m just here to present information and share my take, with the overall goal of creating more informed consumers.

What You Can Expect Going Forward

Very simply stated, moving forward you can expect the exact same content you were getting before. 

During the rebranding process I did briefly wonder if calling it Prompting Curiosity would pigeon hole me into talking only about LLMs, but…that’s honestly all I talk about anyway. So, all good.

Hopefully my departure from ChatGPT solidifies the fact that I’m LLM agnostic, I have no agenda, and I’m truly just here to share the things I’m finding helpful (that are in alignment with my values) that I think might be helpful for you.

How I Used AI This Week

Each episode I share a quick example of how I used AI that week.

This week, you guessed it: I used Claude to help me with ALL the pieces needed to make this name change and rebrand happen. I asked it all the questions on the steps required. I had it map out a list of to-do items because there were so many moving parts. I had it code up the animated sections on the website. I had it hold my hand big time with the super tech-intensive portions that come with having a self-hosted WordPress website and changing the domain.

So yeah, big BIG help from AI, and honestly I wouldn’t have been able to do some of it without AI. Which is yet another reason I rebranded this podcast for longevity: Me and my love for AI aren’t going anywhere.

Da Wrap-up

There you have it. The reasons for rebrand and the departure from ChatGPT. As per always, do what feels best for you, all that I ask is that you stay curious.

Catch you next Thursday.

Maestro out.