Most people I talk to use AI for writing and research. That’s fine. But there’s a whole other layer of AI capability that almost nobody is using yet — and it goes well beyond typing prompts into a chat window.
Here are five things I’ve started doing that surprised me when I first tried them.
🎁 Free download: The AI Unexpected Uses Kit15 prompts and techniques for the professional AI uses most people never discover — including voice, vision, and roleplay.
Talk Through a Business Problem on Your Commute
Claude, ChatGPT, and Grok all have a voice mode. You open the app, hit the microphone, and have a real back-and-forth conversation — no typing, no screen. I’ve started using mine on the way to work to think through decisions, strategy problems, or things I need to figure out before a meeting.
The difference from just thinking out loud is that AI responds. It asks you questions you hadn’t considered. It plays devil’s advocate. It summarizes where you’ve landed.
I walked into a difficult client conversation last month having already worked through every scenario in the car. It was one of the most prepared I’ve felt for anything in a while.
To try it: open Claude, ChatGPT, or Grok on your phone, find the voice or headphone icon, and start talking.
One thing worth knowing about Grok specifically — it has a Live Camera mode that the others don’t. You can point your phone at something while talking to it. A broken appliance, a document in another language, a competitor’s pricing board, a piece of equipment you’re trying to fix. Grok sees what you see in real time and responds. No photos, no uploads.
Point Your Phone at a Competitor
This one still surprises people. Open Google Lens or your phone camera, point it at a competitor’s product, menu, pricing board, flyer — anything printed — and it reads and analyzes it in seconds.
From there, take a screenshot and paste it into Claude or ChatGPT:
Here's my competitor's [pricing / menu / product page]. My equivalent offering is [describe yours].
Tell me:
- Where they're positioned vs. where I am
- Any gaps or weaknesses I could address
- One thing worth changing about how I present my offeringI used this at a conference last year when I walked past a competitor’s stand. Photographed their pricing sheet, had an analysis before I left the building.
Roleplay the Conversation Before You Have It
Before a salary negotiation, a difficult client call, a performance review, or any conversation where you need to be sharp — run it with AI first.
I need to [negotiate my salary / handle a difficult client / push back on a decision / ask for something].
Play the role of [my manager / the client / the other person].
Be realistic — push back the way they actually would. Don't make it easy for me.
I'll start: [open with whatever you're planning to say]Go back and forth until you’ve handled every version of the conversation. By the time the real one happens, you’ve already had it three times.
I’ve done this before board presentations, investor conversations, and client renewals. It’s the closest thing to a practice run you can get.
Photograph the Whiteboard After a Meeting
You’ve just finished a meeting. The whiteboard is covered in half-finished diagrams, sticky notes, and things you definitely won’t remember tomorrow. Before you wipe it:
Take a photo. Open Claude. Use the image upload button. Then:
Here's a photo of our whiteboard from a meeting we just had about [topic].
Give me:
- A clean summary of what was discussed
- A list of decisions that were made
- Action items with owners if you can identify them
- A draft follow-up email I can send to attendeesSixty seconds from whiteboard to follow-up email. The whole meeting captured before you’ve left the room.
Write a Press Release From the Future
This one sounds strange but it works. Before you start a new project, a product, a campaign, or anything you’re building — write the press release announcing that it succeeded.
Amazon actually uses this internally. They call it “working backwards.” Before a single line of code gets written, someone has to write the press release that would run on launch day.
I'm working on [describe the project, idea, or initiative].
Write a press release announcing that it succeeded — dated one year from now.
Include:
- A headline that captures what we actually achieved
- What problem it solved and who it helped
- One quote from me about why it mattered
- The specific result or outcome we're celebrating
Don't be vague. Make it concrete and specific.What comes back usually tells you two things immediately: whether you’re clear enough on what you’re building, and whether the outcome you’re working toward is actually worth announcing.
I’ve used this before pitching new projects. It’s a faster way to find the gaps in your thinking than any strategy document.
💡 “The people getting the most from AI aren’t just writing better emails. They’re using it to prepare, to practice, and to think.”
Ten more techniques — including how to use AI vision to analyze documents and contracts, how to use voice mode for learning anything faster, and how to combine these with saving time at work — are all in the free download above.
And if you’re using AI to make extra money on the side, this kind of voice and roleplay work is exactly how the pros run client calls.
🎯 Try this today: If you’ve got a difficult conversation coming up this week, run Prompt 3 before it.
