🔵 5 Ways to use AI to Shape Markets Instead of Just Reacting

Published about 1 month ago • 5 min read

Connecting the AI Dots: Patterns I'm Noticing

Lately, I’ve been piecing together some intriguing patterns in how AI is evolving and more importantly, how we can use it to rethink the way we work, create, and strategize.

These aren’t just random thoughts; they’re dots I keep noticing, connecting, and circling back to as I explore what’s possible. From the way AI can tap into timing and sentiment to shift conversations, to how it’s becoming a creative partner that goes far beyond text, there’s something bigger emerging here.

These 5 ideas are what I’m seeing right now, practical, powerful ways AI is changing the game for anyone paying attention. Let’s dive in and connect the dots together.​
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🔵 Dot 1: Timing & Sentiment Are Underrated AI Superpowers

Connection: Shift from reacting to the market to shaping it in real time.

It's something I keep coming back to... this idea that AI's biggest advantage isn't just processing data but its timing.

Everyone's drowning in information, but the real unlock comes from seeing what's bubbling up right now and even anticipating what's next.

This feels incredibly relevant for anyone trying to stay ahead, whether you're launching a product or just trying to connect with an audience.

I talked about this in a recent presentation...tools like Grok can give you a pulse check on social sentiment almost instantly.

Just asking, "What's the vibe on X about [my project] this week?" actually works, and it's easy to do regularly. The potential upside is huge...
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Imagine shifting your messaging or even your strategy before everyone else catches on, moving from just reacting to actually influencing the conversation. You are now playing offense instead of defense.

Of course, there's a catch...you need the agility to actually use that insight quickly, and there's always the risk of misreading the tea leaves or jumping on a trend that fizzles out just as fast.

It demands not just awareness but action.

🔵 Dot 2: Deep Dialogue with AI Unlocks True Value

Connection: Don't just use AI to speed things up. Learn to have a real conversation with it, and it becomes a powerful partner for thinking and creating

So many people are focused on AI for automation, just getting stuff done faster. And yeah, that's useful. But the moments where I've felt like I really unlocked something powerful weren't about automating tasks but about having these long, back-and-forth conversations with AI.

Knowing how to genuinely talk with these models is still one of the best meta-skills you can learn.

It’s about treating it less like a vending machine for answers and more like a thinking partner. This feels like a more novel perspective than just focusing on prompt templates. When you get good at the dialogue, understanding its quirks, pushing back, refining ideas together... that’s when you move from a simple productivity hack to something closer to a creative partnership.

The actionable advice here isn't about learning a specific tool but about practicing that conversational skill. It takes effort, and you risk getting generic fluff if you don't guide it well.

But the potential upside is accessing a level of strategic thinking or creative brainstorming that might otherwise be out of reach, especially for solo entrepreneurs or small teams.

🔵 Dot 3: Repurposing Content on Steroids: Beyond the Summary

Connection: AI transforms raw content (transcripts, notes) into a multitude of marketing assets instantly.

This one feels incredibly practical and, honestly, kind of revolutionary for anyone creating content.

We spend so much time creating...podcasts, webinars, articles, and even just meeting notes. Usually, most of that effort just sits there after the initial use. But now you can feed a transcript into an AI and pull out not just a summary, but customer persona insights, key takeaways formatted for social media, draft email sequences, lead magnet ideas... all from that one piece of source material.

I was doing this just the other day after a call, developing new offer ideas while the conversation was still fresh. The evidence is right there when you try it.

It's so actionable...

The specific step is literally just asking the AI to transform the content in different ways. The potential upside is massive in terms of efficiency and getting more mileage out of everything you create.

🔵 Dot 4: Multimodal AI is Reshaping Creative Workflows

Connection: AI is moving beyond text to understand and generate images, audio, video, and complex data visualizations.

Things are getting really interesting now that AI isn't just about words. It's starting to see, hear, and create in multiple formats. We're seeing AI generate stunning images, realistic video clips (even if sometimes a bit weird), analyze audio... it feels like a fundamental shift.

For marketers and entrepreneurs, this opens up entirely new ways to communicate and create assets. Imagine quickly visualizing a concept for an ad, generating custom illustrations for a blog post, or turning boring data into an engaging visual story, all things that used to require specialized skills or tools.

The evidence is in the demos and tools popping up constantly.

This is a huge boost in creative capabilities and finding new ways to capture attention.
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The novel perspective is thinking about AI less as a text processor and more as a multi-sensory creative partner (notice this partner theme coming up over and over again.

🔵 Dot 5: Strategic Questions, Not Just Answers, Are AI's Edge

Connection: The real competitive advantage comes from using AI to ask better, deeper questions about your business and market.

It's easy to fall into the trap of just asking AI for answers:
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"What's the market size?" or "Summarize this report."

But I'm increasingly convinced the real strategic advantage lies in using AI to help us formulate better questions.

Using AI as a reasoning partner.

  • What assumptions are we making?
  • What scenarios haven't we considered?
  • What are the potential second-order effects of this decision?

This feels like a more impactful outcome than just getting quick facts. It's about using AI to probe deeper, challenge our own thinking, and uncover blind spots.

Try to consciously use it for this purpose, prompting it with:

  1. If we were starting from scratch today, knowing what we know now, would we build this same strategy?
  2. Describe three radically different ways we could approach this goal.
  3. From the perspective of our most skeptical customer, what's wrong with this idea?
  4. What long-term implications (positive or negative) are we potentially overlooking?
  5. If we simplified this approach by 80%, what would the core, essential element look like?
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Try this with one of the reasoning models (Sonnet 3.7, ChatGPT o3-min), pushing the LLM to think deeper.

You will find yourself making smarter, more robust decisions that weren't possible before.

Stay Curious,

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