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 360 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. Clear explanation of AI Max for Search versus Performance Max, plus feed prep. channable.com Article Google AI Max: What It Is, How It Works, How to Prepare Channable
  2. Includes the finding that under half of AI Max's 'new' queries were actually new. groas.com Article Google AI Max Explained: Complete Guide for Search Campaigns Groas
  3. Covers the shift from black-box auto mode to per-module automation control. segwise.ai Article TikTok Smart+ Upgrade: New Controls, Creative & Budgeting Segwise
  4. Video Are Keywords & Landing Pages DEAD in Google Ads? AI's Impact on PPC with Fred Vallaeys Fred Vallaeys (interview)
  5. A working practitioner debates exactly when to trust Google's automation. optmyzr.com Video PPC in the Age of AI: Amy Hebdon on Control vs. Automation Optmyzr PPC Town Hall
  6. A $300M-spend practitioner on why creative and offer now decide outcomes, not targeting. entrepreneur.com Article The Future of Advertising: Ben Heath's Insights on Innovation, AI and Consumer Behaviour Entrepreneur (feat. Ben Heath)
  7. Independent reporting on the efficiency gains and the rising CPM tax that comes with them. marketingdive.com Article Meta's AI bets supercharge marketing efficiency, and costs Marketing Dive
  8. An India-lens view of what advertisers give up when the platform runs everything. exchange4media.com Article Behind Meta's AI ad push lies a bigger shift in platform power Exchange4Media
  9. A week-by-week AI-powered competitive research system you can copy directly. toffu.ai Article Meta Ad Library Competitor Research with AI Toffu AI
  10. Covers the new impression-range data that reveals which creatives competitors scale. adlibrary.com Guide How to Use Meta Ad Library for Competitor Research AdLibrary.com
  11. AI transcription of competitor videos with hook, body, and CTA pulled out as text. adlibrary.com Tool Meta Ads Library: Search & Analyze Competitor Ads AdLibrary.com
  12. Practical tricks for extracting far more signal than casual Ad Library browsing. brandsearch.co Article Meta Ad Library Competitor Analysis: How to Get 10x the Data Brandsearch
  13. Agency-grade five-dimension analysis framework: creative, angle, format, duration, refresh. midsummer.agency Article How to Use Meta Ads Library to Analyze Competitors and Find Winning Creatives Midsummer Agency
  14. Beginner-friendly walkthrough with the run-duration heuristic for spotting winners. simplified.com Article Meta Ad Library: How to Use It to Spy on Competitors Simplified
  15. Automates the tagging and pattern-recognition layer over the public ad libraries. adriselab.com Tool Competitor Ad Analysis: AI-Powered Meta Ad Library Intel AdRiseLab
  16. Always-on competitor tracking with creative velocity and transcription built in. foreplay.co Guide How to Use Spyder in Foreplay Foreplay
  17. What changed when ad spying went from screenshots to structured AI insights. foreplay.co Article Spyder 2.0: Your Creative-First Ad Spy & Insights Platform Foreplay
  18. A current tools-plus-strategy map across Meta, Google, and TikTok libraries. get-ryze.ai Guide How to Spy on Competitors' Ads (Tools & Strategy Guide) Ryze AI
  19. Step-by-step on Google's transparency tools for video ad research. adlibrary.com Guide YouTube Ad Library: How to Search Competitor Video Ads AdLibrary.com
  20. Cross-platform spy tool for founders whose competitors live on YouTube. adspyder.io Tool AdSpyder YouTube Ads Spy Tool AdSpyder
  21. Tracks a billion-plus ads across ten platforms for wider competitive sweeps. bigspy.com Tool BigSpy YouTube Ad Library BigSpy
  22. Unifies four ad libraries in one feed and AI-tags the hook and angle of each creative. adeye.ai Tool AdEye: See Every Ad Your Competitors Run AdEye
  23. A repeatable framework for translating competitor patterns into your own briefs. trendtrack.io Article How to Spy on Competitor Ads: Complete Framework Trendtrack
  24. Category map of spy tools with what each layer adds beyond the free libraries. bestever.ai Article 11 Top Tools to Spy on Competitor Ads Bestever

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 20 Databases & Internal Tools 11 AI Agents 15 Design & Prototyping 14 AI in Your Product 15

Research & Knowledge

Search & Research 16 Market Research 13 Data Analysis 13

Marketing & Growth

Content Creation 14 Video, Image & Audio 27 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 5 Workflows & Automation 3

Strategy & The AI-Native Founder

Fundraising 6 Prompting 4 Building Your AI Stack 5 AI as a Thinking Partner 5

Everyday AI

Choosing Your AI Assistant 15 Learning with AI 8 Working with AI Agents 8 Using AI Safely 9 AI in Indian Languages 8 Quick Fixes for Files, Photos and Video 26 AI for Your Line of Work 12
eChai Partner Brands The partnership →