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Mark Ross is Writing Trailhead Badges @markrossflownatic.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

(Ironically, I rushed the ending and wrote "14/14" when it was actually 15/15. ACCURACY!)

Mark Ross is Writing Trailhead Badges @markrossflownatic.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

We care about your needs, and that means we care about accuracy. We’re using AI where we can, but to get good quality work, work that helps empower our community… That takes time, and we’re proud of that work and the time we spend to get it right. 14/14

static.klipy.com

Fin

Alt: Fin

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Mark Ross is Writing Trailhead Badges @markrossflownatic.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Ultimately, it takes just as much (or more) time to correct the steps as it would to write them from scratch. We could decide to not care about accuracy, let the LLM write the content, and move quickly on to the next badge.

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Mark Ross is Writing Trailhead Badges @markrossflownatic.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Even when similar steps may be found in existing documentation (which usually isn’t the case, because we’re writing for new, undocumented features), the LLM tends to shuffle the steps or remove critical ones because it’s trying to be concise.

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Mark Ross is Writing Trailhead Badges @markrossflownatic.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

We've tried having an LLM draft this content, but in our experience thus far, asking an AI to generate a step-by-step badge results in haphazard steps that either make no sense or are just plain incorrect.

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Mark Ross is Writing Trailhead Badges @markrossflownatic.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Remember that LLMs are not actually intelligent; they do not think or reason, they cannot process cause and effect, and they can’t login to Salesforce and try things out. They can only repeat the language that has been fed into their training data.

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Mark Ross is Writing Trailhead Badges @markrossflownatic.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

And some kinds of content just aren’t compatible with AI drafting. Most notably, we’ve found that one of our most in-demand content types just cannot be created reliably by AI alone: step-by-step instructional exercises.

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Mark Ross is Writing Trailhead Badges @markrossflownatic.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Then, more than halfway through the badge, we realized that the AI draft had a bunch of incorrect information. The SME team hadn’t vetted the AI draft closely enough, and I had to rewrite 20-30% of the content. A lot of time was lost.

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Mark Ross is Writing Trailhead Badges @markrossflownatic.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

As for the writing process, AI drafting has its own issues. I recently finished writing a badge that wasn’t in my normal subject area, so I relied upon an AI draft provided by a team of SMEs. It worked well at first.

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Mark Ross is Writing Trailhead Badges @markrossflownatic.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

This ostensible plausibility makes editing even more difficult, as it requires more time, concentration, and mental effort to sift through the words, looking for errors and problems in passages that, on first glance, seem inoffensive.

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Mark Ross is Writing Trailhead Badges @markrossflownatic.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

On top of this, the drafts turned out by LLMs tend to be somewhat… uninteresting. That is to say, it’s easy to zone out while reading them, and easy to assume that what’s on the page is good because it’s written to sound plausible.

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Mark Ross is Writing Trailhead Badges @markrossflownatic.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Often, any time saved in writing the content is instead just passed on to the editor as their new time burden. They spend just as much time fixing problems such as unnecessary repetition, logical inconsistencies, rambling and/or meaningless language, and information that is outright incorrect.

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Mark Ross is Writing Trailhead Badges @markrossflownatic.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

The editor must read through all of the text and make sure it makes sense, suggesting changes and rewrites as necessary. Notably, we’ve found that badges which were heavily written by AI are the ones that need the most editing.

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Mark Ross is Writing Trailhead Badges @markrossflownatic.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

But human-in-the-middle is paramount. It’s critical for what we do, and it takes longer than you’d think for a number of reasons. The first, as Meridith mentioned, is editing. While AI can be used for a quick check for obvious problems, the job of an editor is not just to look for legibility issues.

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Mark Ross is Writing Trailhead Badges @markrossflownatic.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

The Trailhead team is always looking at ways to use AI. We have a person dedicated to it! There are lots of places throughout our process where AI is used to speed up the process, such as drafting, planning HOCs, and performing preliminary checks. We frequently use AI for all of this and more. 2/?

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Mark Ross is Writing Trailhead Badges @markrossflownatic.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

So somebody asked at True to the Core about using AI to build badges faster. Our leader Meredith’s answer was completely correct: we are using it, but some tasks, such as editorial duties, require human eyes. As a writer on the Trailhead Content team, I’d like to go a bit more in depth on this. 1/?

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Mark Ross is Writing Trailhead Badges @markrossflownatic.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Y'all aren't even ready for the Trailhead swag at Dreamforce this year... Make sure there's lots of room left in your suitcase...

static.klipy.com

Big Chungus Gives a Thumbs Up

Alt: Big Chungus dancing

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Ryan Estrada @ryanestrada.com · 29/05/2026

Paramount+ wanted to use the image on the left as a poster for the wrath of Khan, so they used everyone's least favorite technology to generate the rest of the image.

A close up of captain kirk getting his eyes scanned. It is cut off above the eyebrows and below his mouth.

The same image in a thumbnail for Star Trek, the wrath of Khan. But AI has painted the rest of the image so that Kirk is a balding man in a business suit.

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Mark Ross is Writing Trailhead Badges @markrossflownatic.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

HEADS UP This trail is being retired in just over a week as our product priorities are changing. These badges are pretty easy if you've got the time, so go get these Trailhead points before they're no longer available! trailhead.salesforce.com/content/lear...

trailhead.salesforce.com

Build a Travel Approval App

Learn to build a custom Lightning app for managing travel approvals with easy-to-follow steps. Streamline your approval process now.

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Joe Merrick @joemerrick.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

This is absolutely atrocious and a deathknell for many websites Serebii should be ok as a large portion of our traffic is direct due to our reputation, but this is horrendous for all individual sites everywhere. These things scrape our sites then kill us. I see no logic to it.

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Mark Ross is Writing Trailhead Badges @markrossflownatic.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

man, it just hits different when it’s made by actual people, so funny, I'm dying

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Mark Ross is Writing Trailhead Badges @markrossflownatic.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

So happy to be speaking at this year's London's Calling! Looking forward to meeting attendees there and sharing the awesomeness of reactive screen flows. #LC26 #LDNsCall

My picture and info for my London's Calling presentation, "Reactive Screen Flows That Wow Your Users"

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Mark Ross is Writing Trailhead Badges @markrossflownatic.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Hey Trailhead rangers, remember The Badge Formerly Known as Build a Simple Flow? We've completely revised it and renamed it as Create a Screen Flow That Checks for Duplicates. It's a much more realistic use case, more educational, and gives more points! trailhead.salesforce.com/content/lear...

trailhead.salesforce.com

Create a Screen Flow That Checks for Duplicates

This guide walks you through building a flow that manages contact creation and updates efficiently. Learn to capture user input and check for existing records to avoid

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Mark Ross is Writing Trailhead Badges @markrossflownatic.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

This may genuinely be the most evil thing I've ever heard said out loud.

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New Blood Interactive @newblood.games · 25/03/2026

Here are Dave and David's full unedited comments for those interested:

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doctober @docseuss.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

Society parried the ozone layer, acid rain, and Y2K back to back and instead of going "wow, parrying is badass" a lot of people went "society didn't even get hit so I guess there's no need to learn how to parry" and instantly took a thousand hits

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Nick Pettigrew @nick-pettigrew.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

I'm convinced AI is our generation's radium - a discovery with genuinely useful applications in specific, controlled circumstances that we stupidly put in everything from kid's toys to toothpaste until we realised the harm far too late where future generations will ask if we were out of our minds.

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Inmanis THE bull @inmanis.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

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Shanna Germain (she/her) @shannagermain.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

People-made games. Always. Doing our best to save the world, in-game and out. www.backerkit.com/call_to_acti... #Numenera #RPG #NoAI

It should go without saying, but we’ll say it anyway: There’s never any AI in MCG’s products. We make great RPGs because we love making great RPGs, and every word and image comes straight from our 100% human imaginations. We won’t insult your creativity, or ours, by delivering purposeless machine-generated drek, especially when we have so many great visions and ideas we’re excited to share with you!

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Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 07/01/2026

The National Weather Service used AI to create a forecast for Idaho. Low chances of wind for the nonexistent towns of Cocrerrireod, Orangeotild and Whata Bod www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2026...

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Mark Ross is Writing Trailhead Badges @markrossflownatic.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

Hey AI, make a bird but make it represent me all throughout 2025

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Brian G. aka urbanbohemian 🪩🥂💖 @urbanbohemian.com · 18/12/2025

Rather than rant about AI/GenAI again, I'm gonna repost this and go get a drink. This comic wasn't about AI, it was just about what makes human creativity so special and unique that assuming you can take it away leaves us bereft of something precious. AI pushers count on people not caring. 💖

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Phineas @phineas.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Guess I'll post this again

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Mark Ross is Writing Trailhead Badges @markrossflownatic.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Ho ho ho, Santa's got a Trailhead gift for you: a brand new Flow Builder badge! Loop Manually Through Multiple Choices in Flows is now available! If you've ever struggled to work with multiple choices in a screen flow, this badge is for you. trailhead.salesforce.com/content/lear...

media.tenor.com

santa claus is surrounded by snowflakes and a green circle

Alt: santa claus giving a shiny present to you

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Mark Ross is Writing Trailhead Badges @markrossflownatic.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

We invite all Trailblazers to take a quick Community Survey to share how we can continue improving, growing, & showing up for you in meaningful ways. Short, confidential, and open through Nov 21. Thank you for helping guide what comes next. Take a moment to add your perspective: sforce.co/4r58RBh

sforce.co

Salesforce Community Survey - November 2025

Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free.

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Mark Ross is Writing Trailhead Badges @markrossflownatic.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

It's that time of the year again... when everyone comes together from around the world to explore Salesforce... By completing a brand new Trailhead badge! trailhead.salesforce.com/content/lear... That's right, Flow Builder's biggest training gap has now been plugged! It's time to get loopy!

media.tenor.com

two men in suits and ties are standing next to each other and one of them is saying i love loop

Alt: The characters from the movie Anchorman saying "i love loop"

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Mark Ross is Writing Trailhead Badges @markrossflownatic.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Get your fresh new Flow Builder Trailhead badge, hot out of the oven! This one's about making flows that work with agents, and explains how to configure agents to work with your flows as well. Have a slice! trailhead.salesforce.com/content/lear...

media.tenor.com

a stainless steel stove with a digital display showing the time as 8:51

Alt: a puppet chef pulling a cooked pizza out of the oven

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Mark Ross is Writing Trailhead Badges @markrossflownatic.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

Me seeing the insane amount of flow updates coming in the next release and thinking about how much Trailhead updating I'll be doing help.salesforce.com/s/articleVie...

media.tenor.com

a close up of a cartoon character with one eye

Alt: a horrible monster staring in dismayed disbelief

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Rick de Ruiter @rickderuiter.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

Londen.

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Mark Ross is Writing Trailhead Badges @markrossflownatic.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

My brand new Flow Builder badge was just released on Trailhead yesterday! MULTIRECORD ELEMENTS AND TRANSFORMS IN FLOWS It's our first badge on the Transform element! We also cover the Collection Sort and Collection Filter elements. Come check it out! trailhead.salesforce.com/content/lear...

trailhead.salesforce.com

Multirecord Elements and Transforms in Flows

Transform, sort, and filter collection variables to create and update multiple records.

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Mark Ross is Writing Trailhead Badges @markrossflownatic.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

That's one of the most chip shop things I've ever seen

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Sane Lunatic @sanelunatic.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

I can't believe America has so degraded that I even have to post this...but I do. This is a very VERY SUPER-important guide. PLEASE READ AND SHARE. verfassungsblog.de/the-authorit...

verfassungsblog.de

The Authoritarian Regime Survival Guide

This text was published in social media in January 2017 in a series of improvised, spontaneous tweets, which reached 3 million views within one month. Their common element was their trademark signatur...

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