Two places AI is huge that most people miss

If you’re still using AI as a simple chatbot, you’re missing out on the power and productivity it can bring into your life.

Lately I have been looking at AI as a means to enhance the things that I do and customize workflows to work the way that I think they should work. For as long as software has been around, it’s followed this pattern. Software is created by someone with an intended purpose and is built to function in a specific way that makes the most sense to them (but not necessarily in a way that makes the most sense to the end user or is usable in the way we want to use it). Software has been built as a round hole, and you’ve got to be a round peg in order to fit into it and use it correctly. I’m never the round peg, not my style, and likely not yours either.

The beauty of AI is that it flips that on its head. We are now able to create software with features, function, and style that works the way that we work and that follows the workflows that we follow, serving us better than any big-box software ever could.

I’ve personally looked at my software stack, and I’ve rebuilt my own productivity software. I’ve built my own CRM to keep up with my relationships and better integrate with my email. I’ve built my own calendar booking tool that has elements of whimsy and fun that I wanted to add to it for the sake of entertaining the people that book time with me. I’m slowly rebuilding each piece of software to better suit my needs than a big-box piece of software ever could. And in doing so, I’m creating things that work better for me and that I genuinely enjoy using. At this point, I’ve probably replaced 10 to 20 pieces of software that I used to use regularly.

The other thing people are missing with AI is the ability to have it become your own personal assistant or chief of staff. The tools that come to mind for this are Instinct, Muse, and, to some extent, Duet or Dots. Each of these tools can integrate with your calendar, scan your inbox, and proactively bring alerts to you when something happens.

For example, a couple of weeks ago, I had a coffee plan with a friend, and I had not been in my email box in a while. I got a text message from Instinct letting me know that I’d received an email canceling that coffee and that I shouldn’t leave yet. If I had not gotten that text message, I very well might have gotten in my car and driven to a coffee meeting that no longer existed. I’ve also recently used an AI tool to purchase a gift for a client. It did a fantastic job and saved me a bunch of time.

So, back to my original premise: if you’re still only using it as a chatbot, there’s more out there. There are tools that can massively increase your productivity and also be pretty entertaining to use at the same time. I highly recommend tools like Lovable, Instinct, Duet, Dots, and Muse to further extend what AI can do for you.