How Founders Use AI

How people use AI, and the tool for each job.

The AI map of which tool is for which job, checked on 29 October 2026, what changed since July, and every video, thread, guide, podcast and tool behind 278 answered questions on putting AI to work.

The AI map: which tool is for which job, as of 29 October 2026

Models and assistants AI assistants Frontier models Open-weight models Decision models

Building with AI Coding agents App builders Design and presentations Spreadsheets, data and internal tools

Agents and research Agents that do tasks for you AI browsers No-code automation with AI steps Research and search Meeting notes and everyday productivity

Making media Video generation Images Avatars and voice Music and audio Video editing

AI at work Prospecting and sales Marketing, ads and AI search Customer support agents Legal and contracts Finance and accounting Hiring and HR

What changed since July

  1. 28 Oct 2026 GitHub began including Copilot with GitHub Enterprise licences and added projects to the Copilot app, where several agents work across repositories. Coding agents github.blog
  2. 27 Oct 2026 n8n released the 3.0 beta, a reliability and security release with breaking changes; self-hosting now runs on Docker only and the stable release is due in early December. No-code automation with AI steps blog.n8n.io
  3. 27 Oct 2026 Hex released Hex 4.0, rebuilt for analysts and AI agents working together, with a $100 million raise. Spreadsheets, data and internal tools hex.tech
  4. 26 Oct 2026 Replit launched Replit for Business, and the next day Cloud Agents that let non-engineers propose changes to a company codebase. App builders blog.replit.com
  5. 26 Oct 2026 OpenAI released GPT-6.1 Terra at $1 / $5 per million tokens, half the price of GPT-6.1 Sol. Frontier models openai.com
All 108 changes

What founders use most, ranked by how many answers lean on it.

  1. The Wharton professor's original field report on why an AI that writes its own code beats memorizing formulas. oneusefulthing.org Article What AI can do with a toolbox: Getting started with Code Interpreter Ethan Mollick
  2. Shows AI restructuring messy PDF data and running models unprompted, the exact grunt work founders dread. x.com Thread Ethan Mollick on Code Interpreter's statistical common sense Ethan Mollick
  3. Mollick's line that things that took weeks in his PhD were done in seconds, with fewer errors than a human analyst. fortune.com Article Code Interpreter might be the most useful application of AI so far Fortune
  4. The balanced case for how much SQL a non-analyst actually needs now that AI writes queries. mavenanalytics.io Article Do You Still Need to Learn SQL in the Age of AI? Maven Analytics
  5. A veteran SQL author argues the skill shifts from writing queries to judging them. sqlpatterns.com Article Should you still learn SQL (in the age of LLMs)? Ergest Xheblati (Data Wise)
  6. The counter-argument: why a thin layer of SQL literacy still compounds even with AI on top. learnsql.com Article SQL in 2025: What's New and Why It Still Matters LearnSQL.com
  7. A clean mental model for stacking AI on top of traditional tools instead of choosing between them. blog.datawithbaraa.com Article Excel vs Power BI vs SQL vs Python vs AI Data With Baraa
  8. The sharpest industry writer on what AI actually changes about the analyst's craft. benn.substack.com Article Analytics is at a crossroads Benn Stancil
  9. OpenAI's own free walkthrough, including the framing prompt 'I'm trying to decide X, based on Y'. openai.com Guide Analyzing data with ChatGPT (OpenAI Academy) OpenAI
  10. A data-tool founder shows the practical ceiling of chat-based analysis, and how to work within it. definite.app Article Analyzing data in ChatGPT like your job depends on it Definite
  11. The canonical reference for file uploads, supported formats, and getting chart output. help.openai.com Guide Data analysis with ChatGPT (official help) OpenAI
  12. A university-grade walkthrough of a full exploratory analysis, not a toy demo. ai-analytics.wharton.upenn.edu Guide Exploring Data with ChatGPT: A Step-by-Step Guide Wharton AI & Analytics Initiative
  13. Ready prompts that turn 50 open-ended survey responses into themes and sentiment in a minute. zonkafeedback.com Guide Survey Analysis with ChatGPT: Prompts, Framework & When to Level Up Zonka Feedback
  14. A rigorous method for AI-assisted theme extraction that survives scrutiny. thematicanalysis.ai Guide How to Analyse Open-Ended Survey Responses thematicanalysis.ai
  15. Independent research on where AI survey analysis is reliable and where it drifts. campaigninnovation.org Article From Open-Ends to Insights: Leveraging AI in Survey Response Analysis Center for Campaign Innovation
  16. A respected marketer's concrete recipe for exporting GA4 data and interrogating it with AI. orbitmedia.com Article How to combine ChatGPT with GA4 for content marketing insights Andy Crestodina (Orbit Media)
  17. Practical GA4-to-ChatGPT patterns for founders who find the GA4 interface hostile. monsterinsights.com Article 8 Best Ways to Use ChatGPT with Google Analytics (GA4) MonsterInsights
  18. Honest about the failure modes of CSV-in-chat analysis, not just the wins. wisdom.ai Article Analyze CSV Data with ChatGPT: Tutorial, Challenges, and Limitations Wisdom AI
  19. A structured course if your growth data lives in GA4 and you want repeatable AI workflows. udemy.com Course ChatGPT For Google Analytics 4: Ultimate 2025 Guide Udemy
  20. Maps Claude's chat, code-execution, and Claude Code layers so you pick the right one per job. datastudios.org Article Claude for data analysis: files, charts, code, and context Data Studios
  21. The primary source on what Claude for Excel is built to do and for whom. anthropic.com Article Advancing Claude for Financial Services (Claude for Excel announcement) Anthropic
  22. Independent evidence of a full working spreadsheet built from a single prompt. x.com Thread Ethan Mollick: Claude's Excel ability is the best I have seen (406 formulas from one prompt) Ethan Mollick
  23. Why the same model gives different quality depending on how the spreadsheet agent works. x.com Thread Ethan Mollick: Claude in Excel vs Microsoft's own Excel agent Ethan Mollick
  24. A skeptical outside view on where the add-in fits against Copilot. techradar.com Article Anthropic's Claude just invaded Excel TechRadar Pro

Show the next 24

Playbooks

A goal, and the route through it a step at a time.

Start using AI well Pick an assistant, learn with it, hand it real work, and keep yourself and your data safe. 5 steps Build your product with AI From a prompt to a shipped product: prototype, build, and wire AI into what you ship. 6 steps Code and ship with AI Write, ship, and maintain real software as a founder, with AI as your pair. 4 steps Design and prototype with AI Go from idea to a clickable prototype without a designer. 3 steps Build AI agents and automations Wire up agents and internal tools that do real work for you. 3 steps Put AI inside your product Ship AI features users actually feel, not a bolted-on chatbot. 3 steps Research your market with AI Size the market, study competitors, and read data in hours, not weeks. 3 steps Market and grow with AI Content, creative, and distribution: fill the top of the funnel without a big team. 5 steps Create content with AI Write, film, and design a content engine that runs without a team. 3 steps Get found in AI search Show up when founders and buyers ask AI, not just Google (AEO/GEO). 3 steps Run ads with AI Brief creatives, read the numbers, and optimize spend with AI. 3 steps Find and serve customers with AI Research the market, prospect, close, and support, with AI doing the heavy lifting. 4 steps Sell and prospect with AI Find leads, personalize outreach, and run better sales calls. 3 steps Support customers with AI Answer faster and deflect tickets without losing the human touch. 3 steps Run the back office with AI The unglamorous grind: workflows, finance, legal, and hiring, automated where it counts. 5 steps Automate your workflows Stitch your tools together so the busywork runs itself. 3 steps Hire and manage your team with AI Source, screen, and onboard faster, and keep the team in sync. 3 steps Handle legal and finance with AI Draft contracts and stay on top of the numbers without a big spend. 2 steps Be more productive with AI Get more done and think sharper with AI as a daily habit. 3 steps Become an AI-native founder The meta-skills: build your stack, prompt well, and use AI to research, think, and decide. 6 steps Build your AI stack Pick the tools worth paying for and the prompts worth reusing. 3 steps

The questions, by topic

Building & Product

Vibe Coding 15 Databases & Internal Tools 11 AI Agents 15 Design & Prototyping 12 AI in Your Product 13

Research & Knowledge

Search & Research 13 Market Research 13 Data Analysis 13

Marketing & Growth

Content Creation 12 Video, Image & Audio 14 Getting Found in AI Search (AEO/GEO) 12 Ads & Performance Marketing 14 Social & Community 12

Sales & Customers

Sales Prospecting 13 Customer Support 6 CRM & Sales Calls 12

Operations & Back-office

Legal & Contracts 13 Finance & Accounting 3 Hiring & HR 3 Productivity 3 Workflows & Automation 3

Strategy & The AI-Native Founder

Fundraising 6 Prompting 3 Building Your AI Stack 3 AI as a Thinking Partner 4

Everyday AI

Choosing Your AI Assistant 8 Learning with AI 7 Working with AI Agents 7 Using AI Safely 8 AI in Indian Languages 7
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