😸 You're Using AI Like a Tourist (And Wasting 80% of Its Power)

Welcome back,

Do you know that most people using AI right now are basically tourists?

They visit ChatGPT, type "write me a tweet about AI," get their paragraph of text, maybe chuckle, and leave.

Meanwhile, there's a completely different species of AI user building systems that scrape viral content, analyse what makes it work, generate 10 variations in their voice, and serve up ready-to-post drafts every single morning.

The difference between these two groups isn't intelligence. It's system design.

Think about it: one person asks ChatGPT to summarise a meeting.

Another person built a workflow where their Zoom calls auto-transcribe, extract action items, update their project management board, draft follow-up emails, and ping them on Slack, all without touching a single button.

Same AI. Completely different results.

Stop Treating AI Like a Blob: The 4 Categories That Actually Matter

Ever notice how everyone just says "AI" like it's one thing?

It's not. It's four completely different tools, and mixing them up is why your automation attempts keep failing.

Here's the breakdown you actually need:

Category 1: Generative AI (The Creator)

What it is: Creates new stuff, text, images, code, audio from patterns.

Role: Your intern. Your draftsman. Your idea machine.

Examples: ChatGPT, Claude, Midjourney, Grok.

The trap everyone falls into: Trusting it with facts.

Generative AI is a "dreaming machine," not a knowledge database. It hallucinates because it's designed to complete patterns, not verify truths.

Stop asking "what's the capital of France" and start using it for ideation, drafting, coding, and reformatting.

Category 2: Analytical AI (The Analyst)

What it is: Processes massive amounts of data to find patterns, insights, and predictions.

Role: Your data scientist.

Examples: SocialBee for social metrics, Julius.ai for data visualization, predictive algorithms.

The trap: Thinking it gives you a strategy.

It gives you numbers. You provide the context. Ask it "which of my tweets had the highest conversion rate vs. engagement rate?" Don't ask it "what should my content strategy be?"

Category 3: Conversational AI (The Interface)

What it is: Natural language interfaces for interacting with systems.

Role: Customer support rep. The concierge.

Examples: Intercom Fin, custom support bots, voice AI agents.

The trap: Overestimating empathy.

It mimics politeness but understands nothing. Perfect for handling Level 1 queries (FAQs, scheduling, routing) to free humans for Level 2 complex issues. Terrible for edge cases that need actual understanding.

Category 4: Autonomous Agents (The Employee)

What it is: Systems that execute actions across multiple apps without human intervention.

Role: The employee. The Holy Grail.

Examples: n8n workflows, AutoGPT, agentic workflows in Make.

The trap: Infinite loops and runaway costs.

An autonomous agent that gets stuck can burn through your API credits in 4 minutes flat. But when it works? Magic.

"If a lead fills out a form, qualify them, add to CRM, draft a personalised email, and schedule a follow-up" happens automatically while you sleep.

Why this matters: The Tourist asks ChatGPT to write one email.

The Power User built a system where their inbox auto-classifies messages, drafts responses based on sender type, and queues them for one-click sending.

Same AI tools. Completely different results.

To get more clarity on this

The Matrix That Tells You What to Actually Automate

Here's the brutal truth: you cannot automate everything. Trying to is the mark of an amateur.

Use this Repeatability vs. Criticality Matrix before building anything:

The Golden Rule: If you cannot write down the steps of the task on a napkin, you cannot automate it.

AI amplifies clarity. It does not fix confusion.

Real-world example: Data entry into Google Sheets from emails? High repetition, low risk. Automate 100%.

Drafting client proposals? High repetition, high risk. AI drafts, you review.

Deciding whether to fire an underperforming VP? Low repetition, high risk. You do this yourself.

The Decision Framework: Before You Open Any AI Tool

Stop getting distracted by shiny objects. Run your task through this logic gate first:

Question 1: Is this a "Zero Error" task?

• Yes: STOP. Do it yourself or use AI only for research (Analytical).

• No: Proceed.

Question 2: Do I have to do this more than 3 times a week?

• No: Just use a simple prompt (Generative). Don't build a workflow.

• Yes: Proceed.

Question 3: Does the task require external real-time truth? (e.g., "What's the Bitcoin price right now?")

• Yes: Ensure your tool has "Grounding" (web search capability). Pure GPT-4 will fail.

• No: Proceed.

Question 4: Can I define the "Success State"? (e.g., "The row is added to Google Sheets.")

• Yes: Build an Autonomous Agent (n8n/Make).

• No: Use Conversational/Generative to help you think.

Why this works: Tourists skip this framework and waste weeks building the wrong thing. Power Users spend 10 minutes on this decision tree and save months of effort.

Tip of the Day

The 30-Day Power User Roadmap (for people who like n8n and content creation)

Most people read this, nod, and go back to blindly prompting ChatGPT. Don't be most people.

Phase 1: The "Content Engine" (Days 1-10)

Problem: Content creation is inconsistent and reliant on "inspiration."

Solution: Build a system that separates Ideation from Creation.

Days 1-3: Set up an n8n workflow that scrapes your top 3 favorite creators (using Apify or Twitter API) and saves their top-performing posts to a Google Sheet.

Days 4-7: Add a Claude/GPT-4 node to analyze why those posts worked (hook structure, emotional trigger) and generate 5 new ideas for your niche based on those patterns.

Days 8-10: Finalize the "Drafting Bot." It takes an idea from the sheet and produces a rough draft tweet/LinkedIn post.

Outcome: You never stare at a blank page again. You start every morning with 5 high-quality drafts waiting for you.

Phase 2: The "Research Assistant" (Days 11-20)

Problem: Deep research takes too long, leading to shallow content.

Solution: An Analytical Agent that digests information for you.

Days 11-14: Create a workflow where you drop a YouTube URL or Article URL into a Slack channel/Telegram bot.

Days 15-17: The agent visits the link, transcribes (if video), and extracts: 1) Key Arguments, 2) Counter-arguments, 3) Three Quotable Stats.

Days 18-20: Format this output into a "Knowledge Card" in Notion or a text file.

Outcome: You ingest information 10x faster. You build a "Second Brain" automatically.

Phase 3: The "Sales/Lead Specialist" (Days 21-30)

Problem: Engaging with leads is manual and slow.

Solution: Autonomous qualification.

Days 21-25: Connect your DM source or email to an AI Agent.

Days 26-28: Build a "classifier." The AI reads the message and tags it: "Cold Lead," "Warm Lead," "Spam," or "Partner Opportunity."

Days 29-30: For "Warm Leads," have the AI draft a personalised reply (using their bio/profile data) and save it as a draft for you to hit send.

Outcome: You stop wasting time on spam and never miss a warm lead.

Final Warning: The roadmap is simple. The execution is hard. The majority will read this, nod, and go back to blindly prompting ChatGPT. Don't be the majority.

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One Last Thing….

Coming This Sunday: The Prompting Vault

Here's the deal: on Sunday, we're dropping something special.

A complete guide to prompting techniques that actually work, not the basic "be specific" advice you've seen a thousand times.

We're talking about the frameworks, templates, and advanced techniques that separate tourists from power users.

Everything's 100% free. No paywalls, no upsells, just pure value.

What you'll get:

• Battle-tested prompting frameworks from real implementations

• Copy-paste templates for common workflows

• Advanced techniques for multi-step reasoning

• The exact prompts that built the workflows in today's roadmap

If you're not subscribed yet, hit that button below.

And if you know someone who's still prompting like it's 2023, share this with them. They'll thank you.

Don't miss it. This Sunday. Your inbox.