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. Bengaluru-built business management and accounting software, now pitched as AI-powered, with GST invoices out of the box. tallysolutions.com Tool TallyPrime Tally Solutions
  2. An Indian HR and payroll suite priced in rupees per employee, with an AI helpdesk, hiring, screening and interviews, and HR... keka.com Tool Keka pricing Keka
  3. The Indian HR platform's AI-native version, with agents that carry out HR workflows from hiring to operations. darwinbox.com Tool Darwinbox Cortex Darwinbox
  4. A sourcing agent free for the first 100 profiles and $100 a user a month on Pro, plus an interview notetaker and application... metaview.ai Tool Metaview pricing Metaview
  5. An applicant tracking system with recruiting, outreach and analytics in one place, from $400 a month for growing companies. ashbyhq.com Tool Ashby pricing Ashby
  6. The rules that govern how employers collect, keep and delete candidate and employee personal data, the line every HR AI tool... meity.gov.in Article Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 Ministry of Electronics and IT, Government of India
  7. A summary of Upwork's Future Workforce Index 2026: AI work paid 34% more on average, generative and creative work fell 13% per... staffingindustry.com Article Skilled AI freelancing becomes more abundant, lucrative Staffing Industry Analysts
  8. YouTube's rule that monetised content must not be mass-produced, generic or repetitive, renamed the 'inauthentic content'... support.google.com Guide YouTube channel monetization policies YouTube Help
  9. The thresholds before YouTube shares ad revenue: 1,000 subscribers with 4,000 public watch hours in a year, or 10 million... support.google.com Guide YouTube Partner Program overview and eligibility YouTube Help
  10. Operation AI Comply: cases against Ascend Ecom, Ecommerce Empire Builders and FBA Machine, which sold 'AI-powered' online... ftc.gov Article FTC announces crackdown on deceptive AI claims and schemes US Federal Trade Commission
  11. Included free in all Google Workspace for Education editions; lesson plans aligned to standards, and exams, quizzes,... edu.google.com Tool Gemini for Education Google for Education
  12. Khan Academy's always-available teaching assistant, free for teachers to sign up, with a tutor for students that guides rather... khanmigo.ai Tool Khanmigo Khan Academy
  13. Free forever for individual teachers; Plus at $8.33 a user a month billed yearly or $12.99 monthly; custom plans for schools... magicschool.ai Tool MagicSchool pricing MagicSchool
  14. A self-paced course built for teachers on using Gemini and Gemini Notebook for lesson planning and admin, including the limits... grow.google Course Generative AI for Educators Google
  15. A writing app for authors whose writing and formatting features are completely free, with print-ready PDF and EPUB export and... reedsy.com Tool Reedsy Studio Reedsy
  16. The long-form writing app for macOS, Windows and iOS that keeps notes, research and chapters in one project, with a free trial... literatureandlatte.com Tool Scrivener Literature and Latte
  17. AI built for fiction: from $10 a month for 225,000 credits, Professional at $22 a month for longer works like a novel, with a... sudowrite.com Tool Sudowrite pricing Sudowrite
  18. Plans a book's characters, outline and series from $4 a month; AI arrives on the $8 Hobbyist plan with your own key; a 21-day... novelcrafter.com Tool Novelcrafter pricing Novelcrafter
  19. Amazon's rule that AI-generated text, images and translations must be declared when you publish, and how that differs from... kdp.amazon.com Guide KDP content guidelines: AI-generated content Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing
  20. The official guide to Playwright's planner, generator and healer agents, free and open source, run from your AI coding tool of... playwright.dev Guide Playwright Test Agents Microsoft (Playwright)
  21. KaneAI, an end-to-end QA agent that writes tests from plain language, from $17 a month billed annually for Starter and $89 for... testmuai.com Tool TestMu AI pricing (formerly LambdaTest) TestMu AI
  22. Real-browser and real-device testing for web and mobile apps, AI-driven low-code automation and visual testing, with plans from... browserstack.com Tool BrowserStack pricing BrowserStack
  23. Agents, infrastructure and human experts that create, run and maintain end-to-end tests for you, for teams that would rather... qawolf.com Tool QA Wolf QA Wolf
  24. Unity's AI: a free official plugin and command-line tool for controlling Unity from the agent you already work in, and an... unity.com Tool Unity AI Unity

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 →