Downward-facing code

The ultimate ChatGPT productivity hack

Artificial Intimacy

If I had to put one penny on AI investments, I would put two: one on deterministic AI for B2B use cases and another on LLMs for consumer use cases.

I use LLMs in my daily life for all types of uses and especially at work. I hired ChatGPT and Claude as my interns that for now will not complain about work/life and make me more productive. But recently, I discovered the ultimate productivity hack with LLMs: using ChatGPT as my therapist or coach.

And it's powerful. It gives me just the right level of support for my stress management issues. Sure, all the advice it gave was stuff I already knew, but it felt good to talk to the AI and hear it assure me that everything was going to be alright and guide me through some breathing exercises and meditation.

A more relaxed entrepreneur is a more productive one, right? That’s also how ChatGPT boosts my productivity.

Having AI friends, companions, family members, or therapists is already becoming mainstream. As AI memory improves, our AI characters will gather so much information about us that they'll become our emotional dossiers, tracking our traumas and significant events just like a medical record. They are becoming powerful tools for providing faster and more tailored healing.

I hate to burst this cute bubble, but the emotional bonds we create with AI will inevitably generate new business models.

I mean, we already did it with dogs

Humans domesticated wolves, turned them into dogs, and crossbred them for specific functions—hunting, bodyguards against predators or herding and entertaining.

Then we started treating them as status symbols, leading to dog beauty pageants, specialty spas, or even canine amusement parks.

Our relationship with dogs has become more balanced, with humans also taking care of their pets' extra needs. We’re going to see similar developments with AI characters. Gamers already spend tons of money on virtual accessories (“skins”) and AI beauty contests are a thing.

The first wave of AI-companions business models

Just like feeding dogs and providing a niche was once enough but is now considered insufficient for a healthy relationship with your pet, the same will happen with AI. Feeding them data and hosting them on our phones will soon be inadequate. We will recognize and create more needs for them, and we will be happy to pay for it.

This is what would be the first wave of AI-companions businesses: catering to what we will define as primary and secondary AI needs. As extravagant as it sounds today, we will see services like buying specific data sets for AIs to feed them with a type of experience and traits, and soon, we'll have AI care centers, AI theaters, and who knows, maybe even AI yoga retreats (downward-facing code 😂).

The influencer level

As we form deeper bonds with AI characters, they'll become part of our inner circles and we will cater to them to influence our decisions. Martin Casado described this well on the "Invest Like The Best" podcast:

“And I noticed recently that not only there [my daughter of 13 years ] talked to all these characters, but she'll actually invite them to group chats with her friends. And so it's entered the social dynamics. So it very well could be that we're entering a phase where the actual social dynamics shift. And then I ask myself,"Okay, so for my daughter, she's 13, in five years when she opens a bank account, is she going to go to Wells Fargo SaaS app or is she going to do it from her character?" 100% from a character, right?”

Omnichannel = Omnichannel today + AI

That is the next level of customer engagement. AI becomes a primary channel through which we interact with products and services. Businesses will capitalize on these strong human-AI bonds by offering products and services tailored for AI interaction. They will adapt their marketing strategies to influence not just human decision-makers but also their AI advisors. This means understanding how AI companions evaluate options and tailoring content to appeal to both the human and their AI.

AI-Related Anxieties

If this vision gives you AI-related anxieties, you know who to reach out to.