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. A tested roundup of the specialist writing tools (Jasper, Anyword, Writer and others), each with who it suits and its price. zapier.com Article The 6 best AI writing generators in 2026 Zapier
  2. The scaled content abuse policy in full, so you know where AI-assisted publishing crosses the line. developers.google.com Guide Spam policies for Google web search Google Search Central
  3. Free: the queries you already show up for, your pages' clicks and impressions, and indexing problems. search.google.com Tool Google Search Console Google
  4. A free plan, the SEO plan at $139 a month ($117.33 billed yearly), and SEO plus AI search tracking from $199. semrush.com Tool Semrush pricing: SEO and AI search Semrush (Adobe)
  5. What the $99-a-month toolkit tracks: prompts, brand performance and mentions in AI answers; no free trial. semrush.com Guide AI Visibility Toolkit Semrush
  6. Ahrefs Free for your own site, Starter at $29 a month, and full plans from $129 for keyword research and backlinks. ahrefs.com Tool Ahrefs pricing Ahrefs
  7. An AI writing and SEO assistant inside WordPress at $71.88 a year, for founders whose site runs on WordPress. rankmath.com Tool Rank Math Content AI Rank Math
  8. Shows that Pika's free plan runs on credit packs with no commercial licence, and that Starter at $10 a month gives 600 credits... pika.art Tool Pika pricing Pika
  9. Luma's studio for brand work starts at Plus, $30 a month for 10,000 credits with commercial use, and lists the credit cost of... lumalabs.ai Tool Luma plans and pricing Luma AI
  10. Recraft makes vectors, icons and brand graphics; its pricing page says free-plan images are owned by Recraft, shown publicly... recraft.ai Tool Recraft pricing Recraft
  11. An independent ranking of text-to-speech models by blind listener votes, led by Eleven v4, with each model's price per million... artificialanalysis.ai Tool Text to Speech leaderboard Artificial Analysis
  12. Indian-language voices, Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Hinglish and Indian English among them, with samples you can play before you build. sarvam.ai Tool Bulbul text-to-speech API Sarvam AI
  13. Hands-on picks with prices: ElevenLabs as the all-in-one choice (from $6 a month), Hume Octave for designing a voice from a... zapier.com Article The 8 best AI voice generators in 2026 Zapier (Miguel Rebelo)
  14. Google's free editor with more than 30 pro tools, film simulations and smart masking, with no in-app purchases. apps.apple.com Tool Snapseed: Photo Editor (App Store) Google
  15. How to edit a photo in Google Photos by describing the change, and where the feature is available so far. support.google.com Guide Use Ask Photos to search, edit and get assistance Google
  16. A free AI photo and video editor, an App Store Editors' Choice, with Generative Expand and paid extras as in-app purchases. apps.apple.com Tool Adobe Lightroom (App Store) Adobe
  17. Hands-on picks with prices: Photoshop for full-featured editing (from $19.99 a month), Luminar ($129 perpetual licence), Canva,... zapier.com Article The best AI photo editors in 2026 Zapier (Harry Guinness)
  18. YouTube's own specification: 3840 x 2160 for videos and 2160 x 3840 for Shorts, a 640-pixel minimum, JPG or PNG, the file-size... support.google.com Guide Add custom thumbnails on YouTube YouTube
  19. How to test up to 3 titles or thumbnails in YouTube Studio; the one with the highest watch time is shown to everyone, and who... support.google.com Guide A/B test titles and thumbnails YouTube
  20. Ideogram's image models, built to get the words in an image right; every plan, free included, can use all of them. docs.ideogram.ai Guide Ideogram models Ideogram
  21. Music for ads, branded content and video, built in partnership with artists, labels and publishers; tracks are cleared for... elevenlabs.io Tool Eleven Music ElevenLabs
  22. Free at 50 credits a day with no song downloads and no commercial rights; Pro at $8 a month billed yearly for 2,500 credits a... suno.com Tool Suno pricing Suno
  23. Google's music model, making tracks from a 60-second clip to a full 3-minute song, in Google Flow Music and the Gemini app. deepmind.google Tool Lyria 3.5 Google DeepMind
  24. Flow Music's core features are free; Google AI Plus, Pro and Ultra members get its Starter, Plus and Member plans. support.google.com Guide Manage your AI credits and Google Flow Music plan Google

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
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