Understanding the five waves of AI incoming

Read Time: 6 minutes

Welcome to BE THE EXPERT! In today’s issue:

• Getting ready for the five waves of AI
• Which waves will define 2025
• How to build an AI-Proof online business

Understanding the five waves of AI incoming

OpenAI has told us where the AI path leads, the question is whether we listen and leverage…

Recently, we’ve discussed how AI will destroy traditional course / membership / information businesses in 2025 unless we take extreme action right away to get ahead of the AI curve.

Last week, we showed that there will only be two types of successful creators in 2025 and beyond: AI-only and AI + Human.

Why?

Because AI will speed up nearly all areas of online business so much that if you are not using it to the maximum, you will be so far behind those that do, you won’t be able to compete.

If it’s ever taken you weeks, months, or years to get a funnel, course, or program built and launched, you absolutely NEED this information now.

I’m NOT talking about fancy ChatGPT prompts that save some time.

Those are the equivalent of an early video game like Pong (70’s) vs. today’s Grand Theft Auto and VR.

In this issue, I will make that more real for you and show the state of the art now and how much more is coming in 2025.

Before we dive in, I wanted to announce that the doors are open for a special 90-minute, no-pitch workshop where I will deep dive into ALL these topics and work with you to create YOUR plan for success in 2025:

In the media these days, you hear about artificial intelligence (AI), artificial general intelligence (AGI), and artificial super-intelligence (ASI).

Roughly, that equates to:

• Some intelligence (AI)
• Human-like intelligence (AGI)
• Super-human intelligence (ASI)

But those still don’t mean a lot in practical terms, so OpenAI has discussed five levels of AI that are easier to understand and that show the evolution from one to the next.

After a quick description, I’ll put each of these in terms of online business and how we need to leverage them or get left behind.

Level 1: Conversational AI

This level represents AI systems capable of engaging in basic conversations with humans using natural language. Examples include chatbots, AI assistants, and models like ChatGPT. This is the current level of many AI applications in use today.

You prompt, and you get back (hopefully) a semi-intelligent and useful response.

As you learn more and upload more of your content and thoughts into conversational AI you get better results.

We are using conversational AI for creating content based on our knowledge, answering questions in sales and support, and writing copy for funnels, ads, etc.

This is already a force multiplier that many of us are using.

But you have probably seen that this only goes so far.

As an example, conversational AI can help write sales page copy.

But I can’t really ask GPT4 or similar models to help me analyze my existing sales page, figure out what type of new sales page to create, what structure to use for my audience, and what to write in each section for the best conversion results.

That requires reasoning, multi-step thinking, and other critical capabilities that the current large language models (LLM) don’t have.

That is where Level 2 starts…

Level 2: Reasoners

At this level, AI systems can perform human-level problem-solving tasks comparable to someone with doctorate-level education, without access to external tools. OpenAI believes it is approaching this level with its current o1 models. This series of models is focused on capabilities like planning ahead and solving multi-step problems.

You can see the difference when you use the o1 model where it “thinks” before responding, trying to map out the best path to a solution.

This is different from the GPT/Claude/etc. models where it starts answering immediately in a more “stream of consciousness way” without pre-planning and multi-step thinking.

Both have their advantages and combining them together can deliver MUCH better results in a lot of cases.

This is what we are starting to see now at the end of 2024.

In my sales page example, here’s what that can look like:

• Use o1 reasoning model to analyze the current sales page (visual, copy, metrics, etc.) vs. competitors
• Use o1 reasoning model to propose a new sales page outline and structure
• Use GPT 4o to write the sales page copy
• Use GPT 4o to generate images and graphics
• Use o1 to plan out an associated email campaign
• Use GPT 4o to write the emails

This is the current state of the art (at least in our world here, where we’re looking at no-code solutions vs. big companies with armies of developers that can do a lot more, obviously)

Where this approach starts to stall out is when it comes time to DO ANYTHING with the text and images it’s created.

Wouldn’t it be great if it could just go set up the emails in your email tool?

Build the pages in your funnel platform?

Do the hundred other tasks required to fully finish a working sales funnel?

That is where we need AI to be able to take action, and today’s term for that is agents.

Level 3: Agents

Level 3 AI systems, called “Agents,” can act autonomously on behalf of users for extended periods. These systems can make decisions and carry out tasks with minimal human intervention.

This is where it gets REALLY interesting. This will happen in 2025.

Today, we have tools like Cassidy AI and others that help you create “agents,” but these are not autonomous.

They are more like workflows where you still have to tell them the specific steps you want done, but since they can tap the Level 1 and Level 2 capabilities, you can put them together in interesting ways.

We have “agents” for content repurposing, copywriting, support, and other areas, which are basically workflows + knowledge bases.

That is not really level 3 yet.

Right now, “agentic platforms” exist that do enable some autonomy and connections to other systems (via Make, Zapier, APIs, etc.), but they are developer-focused and require coding and advanced skills.

But soon…

In the sales page example, imagine asking AI to take on the original challenge: analyze my sales page vs. competitors and create a better one for me with the tools I use.

Then imagine it spinning up multiple agents that work on this over a couple of hours or days (some doing research, some doing implementation, some doing testing)

Then, after a bit, it shows you the real-world results of the split test and the new higher-performing page that is already live.

Queue Neo in the Matrix: Whoa…

Imagine the same for content. “Go plan a full-year content calendar and generate it using my knowledge base, create the posts, schedule them, and monitor their results to improve over time”

Or for sales, “look at all my sales and support data and figure out who our ideal prospects are and create some ad and email campaigns to reach them. Set up and run those campaigns.

Once AI can start DOING the work vs. just HELPING with the work, it’s an entirely different ballgame.

That ballgame is called 2025. All of the above will be possible in 2025.

Level 4: Innovators

“Innovators” are AI systems that can aid in invention and generate new ideas. At this level, AI actively contributes to creativity and technical breakthroughs, collaborating with humans to drive innovation.

Right now, levels 4 and 5 are more speculative. But here’s how this plays out.

In our ongoing example, you are still directing the AI and telling it to do certain things. It was you who identified the need to improve the sales page, and all the AI-suggested improvements were based on the EXISTING knowledge it was trained on.

But at level 4, AI itself will analyze everything in your business and in the market and suggest the best areas to improve.

Not only that, but it may also be able to invent entirely new solutions that didn’t exist before.

It may be able to originate an entirely new type of sales funnel.

It may be able to recognize when existing funnels and copy have been over-used and create new ones.

It will be able to take your knowledge and create apps, platforms, and solutions on its own to help your customers.

Level 5: Organizations

The highest level in OpenAI’s classification is “Organizations.” These AI systems are envisioned to be capable of performing the work of an entire organization, managing complex organizational tasks, strategic decision-making, and optimizing processes across departments.

Some people speculate that eventually, there will be hundred-million-dollar or even billion-dollar companies comprised of a single person and a lot of AI agents/innovators.

Where the AI does almost everything across the entire business.

This would be the final stage of our sales funnel example where I could say, “I don’t really like the platforms out there right now, hey AI, build me a company that will create and sell a new funnel platform that is better than all the rest”

Then, over weeks, months, and even years, the AI would create product, sales, marketing, and support organizations (of other AI agents) and continuously improve all of them over time.

There would be the CEO then everything else is AI.

Sound far-fetched?

I think this is possible in the 10-year time horizon. Maybe sooner if a couple of key innovations happen faster.

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So where does that leave us?

We’re going to see a massive increase in the speed of ITERATION.

Right now, most of us struggle go even get the first version of our funnels, marketing, content, and products all built and launched.

Right now the people with teams and agencies behind them are successful because they can build, learn, and improve much more quickly.

No one’s first funnel, product, and marketing is successful. It’s the third, fifth, or tenth version that is successful.

The faster you go through that learning phase the faster you see success.

AI will enable us to do that, even just with Levels 1 – 3, which will all be in place in 2025.

But it will also enable many more competitors to enter our niches as well.

That is why we need to be on the front end of the adoption curve of this technology.

Those in front will iterate and improve at a rate the rest won’t be able to catch.

This is why you need to join me in my upcoming workshop: ​How To Make Your Online Business AI-Proof In 2025​.

Imagine if you could:

• Leverage AI to Enhance Your Offerings: Use AI tools to improve your courses, coaching, and memberships.
• Build Deeper Trust and Connection: Lean into your unique skills and experiences to offer something AI can’t replicate.
• Stay Ahead of Competitors: Be among the first to adapt your business model for the AI era.
• Scale Efficiently: Build a “team” of AI agents to automate and delegate work to.
• Future-Proof Your Business: Develop a clear plan to not just survive but thrive in the coming changes.

When you ​join the workshop​, that is exactly what you’ll learn how to do and create YOUR plan for success in 2025!