Getting the Most Out of Your AI Agents
As a business owner who uses AI tools on a daily basis, I have to admit that the results I’m getting are not always up to my expectations. Sometimes it’s amazing, and sometimes it’s just flat.
The tech isn’t the problem, it’s how I use it. And when I use it as a fancy copy-paste machine that’s when I realize it is underperforming. I prompt it, get a response that sounds okay, and move on. That’s when I realized that I’m not pushing the frontier of what’s possible. And if you are doing the same, In reality, we may be just automating mediocrity.
For me, the real potential with AI productivity is sticking your neck out and getting beyond surface-level outputs. When you push yourself, and the chatbots you rely on, to think harder, you can produce better, more unique and more valuable, results. But to get there, you need to use your critical thinking skills when working with AI, otherwise it’ll just create more of the same.
What Most People Are Actually Doing with AI Agents
You’ve probably used chatbots like Claude or ChatGPT by now. Statistics show that 34% of Americans used ChatGPT in 2025, and that number’s even higher, 58%, for people under 30.
This is obviously a key trend. But, what are people actually using these AI agents for? In the majority of cases, we’re using them for things like:
- Scanning or responding to email threads
- Writing and optimising resumes, posts, and content
- Brainstorming ideas
- Conducting an analysis of your competitors – or ‘AI competitive analysis’ as it’s called.
- Working out article or presentation ideas
- Automatizing sales messaging
- And loads more, of course.
Don’t get me wrong, these are useful time-savers, but if that’s the extent of how you’re using AI for business, you’re probably leaving value on the table.
The Way We Use AI at Odyyc
At Odyyc we take a slightly different approach to AI. We continue to see this tech as an AI agent, but with a very specific set of skills. For example:
- AI helps with getting a collective view of personas – useful for journey mapping.
- And then there’s the data. It can do some amazing stuff with the information it has access to – it can quickly come up with results for even the most complex questions.
- Plus it’s great for calculations, and in some cases it even tries to teach me how to make those calculations. That comes in handy for our data-driven projects.
- It’s also a good source of inspiration when I’ve got writer’s block and need to get going again. However, this is largely where the benefits of AI stop – and we need to be careful not to get too comfortable with it doing all the work.
In short, AI is a great assistant, but when it comes to the ideas for sales, content, business and all the rest, AI has its limits.
“Good Enough” Is The Biggest Risk With AI Use
Don’t get me wrong, AI has its risks – misinformation has to be one of them. But for me, it’s complacency that is the biggest risk. Sure, AI can produce writing that sounds impressive and the ideas seem reasonable on the surface.
But if you take a closer look, AI without direction is just using patterns and following what everyone else is doing.
AI also tends to fluff over nuances and complexity. Most of its ideas are based on existing ideas since, at the end of the day, AI is just a fast database searching engine. So if you accept its output without question, you’re just going to be parroting what everyone else is saying.
AI makes life quick and easy but sometimes you’ve got to put in some work to get real insights.
3 Tips to Get Real Value Out of Your AI Agents
The thing with AI is that if you give it generic prompts, you’re going to get generic answers. You don’t want to be generic – you want to make a difference. I get more out of my AI by:
- Getting it to argue against my line of thinking: If I think an idea is strong, I ask AI to tell me why it’s wrong. That’s a great way to test out your position, uncover weaknesses and in the end make a stronger argument.
- Getting it to identify blind spots: AI is surprisingly good at spotting things you might miss. That’s especially helpful when you’re doing an AI competitive analysis or trying to map customer experiences across touchpoints.
- Asking it to challenge assumptions: One of my favorite prompts is irritatingly simple: “What’s wrong with that?” I’ll upload a strategy or messaging framework and ask AI to take it apart. Not every critique is worth it, but it nearly always spots areas for improvement.The biggest trap with AI is getting lured in by slick writing that doesn’t really amount to much. Keep a critical eye on what seems like “good enough”, because in real life, “good enough” is just, well, average.
Don’t Let Your Instincts Go Out The Window
Too much AI kills AI.
I recently found myself using ChatGPT to help draft a sales plan to send an offer to a prospect. I knew the prospect’s demand was quite complex, but I knew I couldn’t just propose some massive project overnight. I thought I’d come in with just a small opening project. I turned to ChatGPT for some ideas to fine-tune it. I asked it to focus on my unique value, and it came up with some good ideas. I was sold on the premise that the service I was offering was worth a lot more than I was asking. The AI agent convinced me that the demand was for way more than I initially wanted to send. Which, to be honest, is what happened. I ended up writing some fancy sales pitch, jacked up the price, & sent it off. Needless to say, I didn’t win. I lost sight of something very important: my own instincts.
Why did I lose? Mainly because I got carried away with the idea. The pricing was just too far out of what the prospect was willing to engage on. I should have scaled it back, made it more reasonable, and left the fancy writing for another day. The customer ultimately cares about the bottom line – they’re not going to look beyond that if the price isn’t right.
Anyways, does AI have instincts? That’s probably just something we humans have (though one may beg to differ). Don’t ever forget to trust your own judgement when working with these tools. Your instincts aren’t always right, but at the very least, it’s better to listen to them than to ignore them.
AI Should Help You Raise Your Game, Not Let You Slump
One thing that’s really stood out to me with most AI tools is they always kick things off by asking you for an idea. That’s no accident, of course – the idea has to come from you in the first place.
The truth is, AI can’t just conjure up something brand new out of thin air. All it can do is react to, or spin on, the ideas you bring to the table. If your original idea is weak, the results are gonna be pretty underwhelming. But if you’ve got a solid idea & a clear vision for where you want to go, an AI can really help you challenge it & refine it.
Now, the beauty of AI is that it can be a game-changer, but only if you’re willing to question what sounds good to you, challenge your own assumptions, & really dig into what you’re trying to achieve. Just viewing it as a quick shortcut won’t bring out the best. AI’s real power comes from being a catalyst for new ideas from you. Ideas that really go beyond your expectations & challenge the status quo.
That’s where Odyyc comes in. We help brands build content systems that actually perform. Contact us and build your content modules with Odyyc.
Leave a Reply