In 2007, the iPhone—the world’s first smartphone—was introduced. It had its share of skeptics: Tech news site CoolTechZone’s editor in chief, Gundeep Hora, is on record saying “The iPhone is going to be nothing more than a temporary novelty that will eventually wear off.” 

In hindsight, though, we know smartphones transformed everything, from how we communicate to how we find information to how we document our lives.

I think we’ll look back at today's AI and see something like that. Most people right now are using AI to do the things they did before, just a little better or more efficiently. But I think that using AI as just another productivity tool is a mistake. Instead, it should be the key to unlocking your most wildly ambitious projects.

Here's how you can use AI to see how far you can push your creative self.

How AI removes the difficulty of tasks

AI is supposed to be intelligent, so it's no surprise we've already been using it to offload our mental tasks. But even though AI has been around for a while, to me, at least, it feels like this moment is a tipping point rather than more of the same. After all, we've moved from hugely expensive AI systems that do one thing to cheaper, widely capable systems that are useful for many different kinds of tasks. One tool can summarize complex ideas, brainstorm new concepts, organize messy notes, generate templates, and draft entire documents. Even five years ago, those capabilities would have seemed decades away.

AI doesn’t make everything easier and faster, but for many tasks, it reshapes the difficulty curve entirely. 

Too many people focus on the bottom three. But if you want to truly unlock AI's potential, you should be working in the top two.

AI in four roles

I find it easier to think about these categories in terms of different ways that AI can show up: 

• AI as a Destroyer: What used to be valuable that AI tools make no longer valuable? 
• AI as an Equalizer: What used to be rare and expensive that AI tools can democratize? 
• AI as a Pathfinder: What is valuable but used to be inefficient that AI tools can turn into opportunities? 
• AI as a Magician: What used to be impossible that AI tools make possible?

In the first category, AI the Destroyer, AI makes what used to be valuable completely redundant. Think about how grammar checkers have reduced the need for professional proofreading or how chatbots are replacing basic customer service roles. AI is great at making tasks we used to value somewhat less valuable—because now they’re easy.

Then there’s AI the Equalizer. This is where AI democratizes skills or services that were once reserved for experts. For example, tools like Canva make graphic design accessible to non-designers, and ChatGPT allows anyone to analyze data that might have required an expensive data scientist or consultant before. AI takes upmarket skills and brings them within reach of everyone.

These first two roles of AI—Destroyer and Equalizer—are interesting, and they’re also the most talked about. But honestly, they’re not the most exciting. Where it gets really exciting is when we start to look at the last two categories: AI as a Pathfinder and AI as a Magician.

AI the Pathfinder

A remarkable story made headlines recently: a University of Waterloo math student used AI (Anthropic's Claude) to build a nuclear fusion prototype at home for just $2,000. This story captures the essence of AI as a Pathfinder: taking projects that once seemed too time-consuming, inefficient, or complex and making them achievable.

Think about those projects you’ve set aside because they seemed like “too much work.” AI shifts that equation. Suddenly, the impossible becomes possible.

For years, I’d been toying with a podcast concept—a passion project—but the idea of pulling it all together was overwhelming. My notes were a disorganized mess, scattered across a lengthy text document filled with research, examples, quotes, and random brainstorming ideas. Then, out of the blue, I was invited to apply for funding—under a tight deadline. My best shot was to submit a completed pitch deck with everything: concept, format, episode list, pilot treatment, and more. But I’d been struggling with this show for so long that I’d almost given up. I hadn’t even separated the series into episodes.

But, emboldened by my AI buddies, I decided to set a timer and see how far I could get in one day, and then re-evaluate. Working with ChatGPT to help me organize and brainstorm the show, I finished a fairly passable pitch deck in three days. AI took the project from "too much work" to "totally doable."

AI as a Pathfinder also accelerates skill-building. I've always been interested in fashion but have never had the time to pursue making my own custom clothing. On a work trip to New York two years ago, inspired by the skyline and art deco designs, I used Midjourney to generate ideas for a shirt pattern. I refined them in Photoshop until they were perfect, and then had a shirt made with that fabric pattern.

Fast forward to now and I just ordered a dress shirt with a new pattern—one that I made entirely in Illustrator. Would I have ever started right in Illustrator learning how to make a pattern? No way. Working with AI helped me build the skills to achieve this in a way I wouldn’t have imagined starting from scratch, and let me tackle projects I would once have thought were out of reach.

To discover your own Pathfinder projects, ask yourself:

• What projects have I dismissed because they seemed too inefficient or time consuming to pursue?
• If I could do X in 1 hour [or 1 day, or 1 month], would I do it?
• Would X be worth my time if I could finish it in a fraction of what I originally thought?
• If I could wave a magic wand and cut my workload in half, what new initiative would I start with that extra time?
• What valuable task have I avoided due to its data intensity, scale or complexity?
• What skill or area of knowledge have I always wanted to master but thought would take too long?
• What creative endeavor (art, music, film) have I dreamed of pursuing but believed it was beyond my abilities?
• What passion project is always on the back burner that I wish I had time to explore?

AI the Magician

AI as a Magician takes ambition even further. Instead of making elite work merely difficult, think about how you can push the boundaries of what's possible. Just look at how quickly things have changed—capabilities that seemed impossible just two years ago are now mainstream. And with AI evolving so rapidly, it’s hard to predict what new superpowers might emerge next.

You might wonder: "How can you ask me to imagine things that seem impossible?" Fair enough. But there's a simple way to start: use AI to challenge your assumptions, and to add insights from outside your bubble.

Ask your AI:

• What assumptions am I making that might be false?
• What hidden patterns or connections exist between these ideas that I haven’t noticed?
• What are some ideas I haven't considered?
• What’s a unique perspective I might be overlooking?
• How would this problem be solved in a completely different industry or field?
• What are the unintended consequences of this idea?
• What is the most counterintuitive solution to this problem?
• If I had no constraints, how could I solve this problem?
• What analogies from unrelated fields can help me understand this better?
• How could I make this idea 10x bigger or more ambitious?
• What would the moonshot version of this idea look like?

These kinds of questions can help you have more breakthroughs on creative or strategic insights that are near-impossible to tackle effectively because they deal with your own blind spots and with areas of unfamiliarity. AI is uniquely suited to this—its vast training set allows it to analyze data from different perspectives, identify patterns across large datasets, and offer suggestions you might have overlooked.

To truly tap into this magic, though, you have to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty. Try out new tools as they emerge. Dive deep and really understand the ones you're using. AI tools are evolving at breakneck speed, with new features and improvements popping up all the time. What seems impossible today might become achievable tomorrow, so keep experimenting.

The real magic comes from humans, not AI. Creative minds like yours are the wizards, and AI is the wand that helps you push boundaries, make discoveries, and innovate in ways we’re only beginning to understand. There’s so much potential to explore, and we’ve barely scratched the surface of what’s possible.

Tips for widening your AI ambition gap

Many of us use AI to speed up our existing tasks, but it's time to escape the efficiency trap and expand the gap between what you used to do and what's now possible with AI. Here's how I've shifted my thinking.

Prompt AI for ideas on how to think bigger

Start with simple prompts like "How can I make this more impactful?" or "What if we doubled our goal?" or "How could I achieve this 10 times faster?" Let the AI's suggestions push you beyond your usual limits.

Encourage cross-pollination

If you manage your chat memory wisely (you are doing that, right?), ChatGPT will automatically connect insights across your projects. You can also explicitly prompt to get the tool to consider your work holistically. You might be surprised at the connections it makes!

Add ambition to your custom instructions

I regularly tweak my custom instructions, and one of my favorites is Kismet, which helps generate unexpected ideas. Recently, I’ve been using this one: "Wildly Ambitious: After every prompt, suggest a way to make it wildly ambitious." This instruction has sparked some of my most creative breakthroughs.

Set a timer

It's hard to estimate how long things will take with such powerful tools. To challenge your assumptions, set a timer and work for a set amount of time. When it’s up, assess: Did you get further than expected? How much is left? Is it worth continuing?

Don't waste efficiency gains

I've been tough on the productivity nerds, but being more efficient can definitely be a plus for ambition...as long as you use the extra time for, well, extra. Maybe it's a new project, or maybe it's just letting your mind wander. (Just don't waste it on TikTok!)

Experiment with different tools

We all have our favorite tools, but new capabilities are constantly emerging. Explore different tools, as they have unique strengths that can be useful for tasks or projects you might not have considered.

Get AI to prompt you

ChatGPT knows my goals, and asking it to prompt me with small creative exercises has been surprisingly effective for generating new ideas. Let it guide you and see what new concepts emerge. Here are some prompts I've liked: "Your turn: Give me a prompt" and "What do you think we should do?"

Time to think bigger

So here's my challenge to you: start seeing AI not just as a tool for speed and efficiency, but as a tool for ambition. What's that big, audacious goal you've always had in the back of your mind? What's that project that seemed too daunting to even start? With AI, it might be time to dust off those dreams and start turning them into reality.