AI does THAT?

Happy Thursday!

Welcome back to HOW TO // AI — glad you're here!

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Most people I talk to use AI for writing and research. That's fine. But there's a whole other layer of AI capability that almost nobody is using yet — and it goes well beyond typing prompts into a chat window.

Here are five things I've started doing that surprised me when I first tried them.

Claude, ChatGPT, and Grok all have a voice mode. You open the app, hit the microphone, and have a real back-and-forth conversation — no typing, no screen. I've started using mine on the way to work to think through decisions, strategy problems, or things I need to figure out before a meeting.

The difference from just thinking out loud is that AI responds. It asks you questions you hadn't considered. It plays devil's advocate. It summarizes where you've landed.

I walked into a difficult client conversation last month having already worked through every scenario in the car. It was one of the most prepared I've felt for anything in a while.

To try it: open Claude, ChatGPT, or Grok on your phone, find the voice or headphone icon, and start talking.

One thing worth knowing about Grok specifically — it has a Live Camera mode that the others don't. You can point your phone at something while talking to it. A broken appliance, a document in another language, a competitor's pricing board, a piece of equipment you're trying to fix. Grok sees what you see in real time and responds. No photos, no uploads.

This one still surprises people. Open Google Lens or your phone camera, point it at a competitor's product, menu, pricing board, flyer — anything printed — and it reads and analyzes it in seconds.

From there, take a screenshot and paste it into Claude or ChatGPT:

I used this at a conference last year when I walked past a competitor's stand. Photographed their pricing sheet, had an analysis before I left the building.

Before a salary negotiation, a difficult client call, a performance review, or any conversation where you need to be sharp — run it with AI first.

Go back and forth until you've handled every version of the conversation. By the time the real one happens, you've already had it three times.

I've done this before board presentations, investor conversations, and client renewals. It's the closest thing to a practice run you can get.

You've just finished a meeting. The whiteboard is covered in half-finished diagrams, sticky notes, and things you definitely won't remember tomorrow. Before you wipe it:

Take a photo. Open Claude. Use the image upload button. Then:

Sixty seconds from whiteboard to follow-up email. The whole meeting captured before you've left the room.

This one sounds strange but it works. Before you start a new project, a product, a campaign, or anything you're building — write the press release announcing that it succeeded.

Amazon actually uses this internally. They call it "working backwards." Before a single line of code gets written, someone has to write the press release that would run on launch day.

What comes back usually tells you two things immediately: whether you're clear enough on what you're building, and whether the outcome you're working toward is actually worth announcing.

I've used this before pitching new projects. It's a faster way to find the gaps in your thinking than any strategy document.

Ten more techniques — including how to use AI vision to analyze documents and contracts, how to use voice mode for learning anything faster, and how to combine these with saving time at work — are all in the free download above.

And if you're using AI to make extra money on the side, this kind of voice and roleplay work is exactly how the pros run client calls.

🚨 Your AI is lying to you
How to catch AI hallucinations before they cause a problem. Three prompts worth running on anything important. Free AI Fact-Check Kit included.

☀️ What I do before 8am
A 10-minute AI routine that changes how the whole day goes. Free AI Daily Habit Kit included.

👉 Why Your AI Keeps Giving You Generic Answers — And the Fix
10 before/after prompt rewrites that show exactly what changes. Free Better Prompts Kit included.

Everything in today's newsletter — the voice mode commute, the roleplay practice, the photographing whiteboards, the press release from the future — points at the same thing.

There's a gap forming between people who use AI as a search engine and people who use it as a thinking partner, a workflow, a competitive edge. And the gap is widening every month.

I built a free 5-minute quiz to help you figure out where you actually sit. Seven questions, no email required, you get your result instantly. It tells you which level you're operating at right now, what's working, and the one shift that would move you forward the fastest.

I've had people send me their results with a "this is uncomfortably accurate" reply, which is exactly what I was going for.

→ Take the AI Amplified Quiz (5 minutes, free)

Have a question you want answered? Email [email protected] and you just might be featured in an upcoming issue!

This newsletter is your starter kit for mastering AI with confidence. We keep things simple, show real examples, and focus on quick wins you can repeat.

Stay curious, stick with it, and watch your skills grow week by week!

Until next time :)

— David

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