How Am I Using AI in 2026?

How many years ago did ChatGPT come out? For some reason it feels like we’ve been using AI forever, but at the same time it feels like we just got this crazy tool. Honestly, I’m still finding out new ways to utilize AI every single day. Yes, it does help that I subscribe to about four or five AI podcasts...but still.

At this point, I’ve used it (or tried to use it) for nearly everything. I’ve created really crappy videos like Snow Fish, I’ve created campy funny theme songs like Step By Stepisode, and I’ve also generated some slop with images (I just wrote about this). These are some of the failures of generative AI - but there are a ton of useful ways I’ve used AI this year. Shall I share?

Podcasts and More

Jim Hill Media Show Titles and Social Posts

For anyone who’s chatted with me over the last few years, you know that one of my new obsessions is podcasting. Ever since I hooked up with Disney historian Jim Hill, I’ve been knee deep in podcasting. Strong Minded ended up taking over production duties a few Novembers ago - and there’s a lot of work to be done each week. Jim is producing 5-6 hour long podcasts per week.

With that, we need to format the titles and descriptions for the RSS feed. ChatGPT (and more importantly - Custom GPTs) have helped us create repeatable processes that take the transcript of the recording and give us a great variety of titles and the show notes. Once approved and adjusted by a human, we can then take these and create promo posts on social media.

This entire process would have taken hours. Chat has made this manageable and effective.

Dis & Hers, Meeting of the (Strong) Minds, and Epic Universal Podcast

My favorite podcasts are conversational. Yes, there are some scripted podcasts - but the majority of what I like are a few people sitting around talking. But even the best conversations have somewhat of a script. We’re in charge of creating a lot of podcast scripts. And since we don’t want them 100% scripted, we created a Custom GPT that allows us to easily format shows.

Sometimes we grab news stories from online and run them through our system to make it bite sized chunks for the hosts to reference if necessary - other times it’s literally some opening and closing lines.

Since the meat and potatoes are actually the thoughts of the hosts, we really appreciate making this process quick and easy.

Emails and Organization

Gemini with Emails

I don’t use Gemini for everything, but I will tell you the game changer for me was finding out it can access my Google Workspace and find messages that I’ve sent. I don’t know about you, but the finder in most emails is complete trash. I use a Mac and I can never find an email. I used to file these in individual folders for easier access, but that became a time suck. Using the native Gmail app is better, but still not perfect.

Now I go to Gemini and explain what I’m looking for. If I sent it (or they sent it to me), Gemini finds it. Such a great hack.

Renaming Files

I referenced this in a previous blog and talked about how Claude Code was helping me rename files for better organization. Since that blog, I’ve jumped in Codex and this is even better.

First thing - way more tokens. I almost ran out for one week (had 3% left) - and that’s after me renaming thousands of photos for the week.

For anyone that needs to be organized for media work, creating a naming convention and having Codex or Claude rename your files in batches - game changer.

Work Hacks

Growth Plan for Goldman Sachs

Earlier this year, I was selected to be part of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business program. Thirty business professionals from all of West Virginia were selected out of over four hundred entries. I was honored, but slightly scared. We are busy at Strong Minded Agency. I wasn’t sure if I could dedicate 20 additional hours for training and meetings.

I said yes, because I always make it work, but wasn’t sure what the workload was going to be. Thankfully, I’ve set myself up for success years ago without even knowing.

A lot of the work is building a growth plan for your business. There is homework each week. Often you have to reflect on your business and answer questions. Honestly, since I’ve created projects in ChatGPT for my business (CEO, CFO, and CMO), I’ve been asking questions and feeding AI information for several years. Chat knows my business better than I know it myself.

So homework has been a lot of “copy and paste question into chat and seeing what they say first.” From there, I make my adjustments and additions.

Paid Ads on Social and Google

For anyone who’s placed paid ads before, you know how confusing it can be. It’s super confusing because they change the interface and add new features all of the time.

When some clients would ask for paid ad support, often I would say, “Nah - we don’t have time to do your paid ads.” Not because we don’t know how to do them, but because it’s a full time job keeping up with the backend.

Now - we say yes.

If I get tripped up, I take a screenshot and tell Chat to take the wheel. It’s that easy.

Better and Faster Research with Sources

One of the better uses of AI has been easily finding sources for our blogs. Using Claude, I can start writing the blog and ask it to fill in some of the blanks (or spice things up if needed).

The best part is that it will give me sources when I push back. Granted, I don’t always trust what AI sends me, so easily finding the source they quoted or grabbed the information from is far easier than me heading to Google and searching on my own.

Faster and more accurate blogs for everyone.

Dumb Little Activities for Personal Enjoyment

Daily Quiz

If you follow me on Facebook, you’ve noticed that every single day I’m posting a question about me (and my life). These questions are super inside and honestly, there’s not a single person that could guess all of these correctly. My sisters do the best job, but these multiple choice questions are really just made for my own amusement...and testing my ability to post daily. We are nearly five months into the year and it’s getting tough.

I’m not using AI to create the questions. That’s all me. Instead, I am using AI to make sure I vary up the questions and don’t repeat.

I have a conversation going that is simply me putting the question into the chat and it cleans it up for me so I can copy and paste. And when I need to go back in and reference something, it tells me if I used the question or if it’s similar to something else I’ve asked.

Music by Year

Every year I decide to do something silly with music. Last year I messed with Spotify and the algorithm by playing the same three songs every day.

This year, I challenged myself to listen to 15 albums from each year starting at 1960. I want to listen to ten albums each year that are fairly mainstream. I also want five albums that are culturally impactful. Could you imagine the research I would have to do to make this on my own?

Instead, I had a conversation with ChatGPT in December and it created a list for each year. I didn’t have to print this list. Instead, I have a running chat that simply gives me the next album when I finish up.

I head to the chat and say “Next” and Chat gives me an album to listen to.

Currently, I’ve made my way to 1998. I often ask Chat to tell me how my progress is and when I will get to the current year. It can do the basic math and figure out how frequently I’m finishing albums and give me dates.

At first, they figured I wouldn’t get done until February of 2027. Let’s just say I’m way ahead of schedule. We think we will finish up in July.

AI Isn’t Replacing Me - It’s Speeding Me Up

At the end of the day, I still want human thoughts, human creativity, and human personality behind the things I create. AI hasn’t replaced that for me.

What it has done is remove a lot of the repetitive tasks, speed up research, help organize information, and make some overwhelming projects feel manageable. Some of it is incredibly useful. Some of it is complete nonsense.

But if you learn how to use the tools correctly - and still apply your own taste, experience, and judgment - it can absolutely make your work and hobbies more productive and a lot more fun.