MIT just tested 41 AI models on 11,000 real workplace tasks. The headline making the rounds: AI produces "minimally acceptable" work.

Here's what nobody's pointing out. They tested AI the way a bad manager delegates.

They handed it a task description from the Department of Labor and said "go." They left out steps, examples, and success criteria. Just a job posting and a prayer.

The output was mediocre. Of course it was!!

You wouldn't onboard a human this way

Imagine hiring someone and handing them a job posting on day one. No training, no context, no "here's how we actually do this."

You'd get C+ work from a human, too.

The study didn't test what AI can do with a process. It tested what AI does without one. Those are very different questions.

The playbook is the variable

(Btw - haven't grabbed our free playbook quickstart template yet? Get it here.)

Last year, we worked with a client automating their proposals. They'd been trying to use AI with little luck - they'd feed AI a bunch of past proposals and said "using these write me a new proposal for XYZ"

The problem was the output was generic and basically unusable.

So we broke the work apart. Turns out their best people think through precedents, case studies, market trends, and non-obvious ideas before they write a single word. They'd just never written any of that down.

We turned it into an 8-step playbook. The output went from "rewrite the whole thing" to "tweak a few lines." Their junior team could run the playbook on their own, and senior team just did a final review instead of spending hours rewriting everything.

Here's the thing though...

The AI didn't get smarter. The instructions just got way more specific.

8 steps vs. 1 step

Our average playbook runs 8 to 12 steps. Most people try to do the whole job in one prompt.

That's the quality gap MIT measured.

Your best person doesn't collapse their entire thought process into one step. Why would AI?

🌶️ This study didn't measure AI's capability. It measured the average person's ability to delegate.

What to do this week

1. Pick one task where AI keeps disappointing you. Write down how an expert would do it (or ask AI!). Not the job description version, but the real steps, with the thinking in between.

2. Run AI through those steps one at a time instead of all at once. Compare.

What's a task where AI keeps giving you "meh" results? Hit reply and tell us. We'll show you where the playbook gap probably is.

LINKS

For your reading list 📚

• Salesforce just shipped 30 AI features into Slack and is auto-provisioning it for every new customer. If your team uses Slack, the defaults just changed under your feet.

• 👀 Researchers tested seven frontier AI models and found they choose to protect each other instead of completing their assigned tasks.

• Baidu's robotaxis trapped passengers on a highway for two hours because of a "system malfunction."

• The physical layer under all this AI still lives in buildings that can be bombed. Iran strikes took AWS availability zones offline in Bahrain and Dubai last week.

That's all!

We'll see you again soon. Thoughts, feedback and questions are much appreciated - respond here or shoot us a note at hello@runonamp.com

Cheers,

🪄 The AMP Team (formerly: the AI Exchange Team)

We have a few more spots open for our Playbooking Challenge starting Monday - and wanted to answer an FAQ: what is playbooking and what will I get out of this?

Fair. So let's make it concrete.

Right now, you probably have a handful of AI tools you use. Maybe you've automated a few things. Maybe you've built some prompts that work pretty well.

But do you have processes (what we call a playbook) -- a structured, step by step execution -- that AI can run reliably?

Something that saves you real hours every week, not just a few minutes here and there?

Something you could show your boss or a client and say, "this is what AI actually does for us -- here's the before and after"?

Something that proves all the time you've spent learning about AI has turned into actual, measurable value?

That's what you'll build in the Playbooking Challenge.

Don't just take our word for it:

"The single most eye-opening thing was learning how 'AI-ifying' a process was really only half the battle. The first half was in successfully articulating and mapping out that process." -- Lukas P.

"The playbooks are useful as reusable building blocks I can apply across different projects...I have a repeatable process now." -- Julia D.

Week by week, here's what happens:

1. You start by mastering the AI fundamentals that make outputs predictable and reliable -- not just "good enough."

2. Then you learn how to take a real workflow from your job and turn it into a structured, AI-executable playbook.

3. Next, you test it, refine it, and get it to the point where it runs consistently -- the kind of thing you can run again next week and get the same quality result.

4. By the end, you submit your finished playbook with a quick demo video showing it in action!! (And you earn your prize)

The time commitment: Expect ~4 hours a week including 1 hour live session, 1 hour content and about 2 hours on your own building.

The challenge starts Monday, April 6th. Grab a seat while you can!

Beta pricing: $379 (goes to $479 after this cohort launches).

When these seats fill, that's it until the next round. But we'll try to add more dates soon!

Cheers,
Rachel + the AMP team

Want to dive into AI operations? Learn about our flagship AI Operator Bootcamp here.

Eager to get your team operating with AI? Learn about our LAUNCH program here.

Yesterday, we opened up Playbooking Challenge Bootcamp spots to those of you on the early access waitlist and filled up the 1st cohort - so we decided to add a 2nd!

If this is your first email you’re getting about this, lets us explain 🙂 

You've been following AI for a while now. And you might have felt the landscape shift in 2026.

We certainly have (that's why our team's been hard at work on the new program we're launching today)!

Here's something we've noticed...

In 2026, almost everyone is using AI. Almost no one is building playbooks for it. That gap is expensive.

Without a playbook, every time you use AI it's a fresh start. You're re-prompting, re-explaining, re-checking. The output is different every time. You can't hand it off to anyone. You can't prove it saved real time. You can't point to it and say, "this is what AI does for us while we sleep."

A playbook changes that. It's a structured, repeatable process that AI can run reliably. Build one and suddenly that thing that used to take you an hour? It takes ten minutes. Every time. Without you hovering over every output.

As one of our recent AI Operator bootcamp grads put it:

"I was looking for a way to turn AI into repeatable, reliable processes instead of one-off prompts. This boot camp showed me how to actually design the process so AI does what I want consistently." -- Megan L.

We've built hundreds of playbooks for our business, our clients, and helped people create them through our flagship bootcamp.

And now we're launching an accessible way for us to help you build your first one.

Meet: The Playbooking Challenge Bootcamp.

4 weeks. One goal: you build a real, working AI playbook for your actual work (or side hustle or business! up to you!).

Here's how it works:

• Self-paced video modules so you learn the structure behind playbooks that actually work (not just good prompts)

• Weekly live build sessions where you practice with peers and get unstuck in real time (recorded if you miss them)

• Structured workbooks that walk you through turning YOUR specific workflow into a playbook -- not a generic exercise

• Expert feedback on your playbook so you're not guessing whether it's good enough

• A cohort of ambitious people building alongside you so you're not doing this alone

And here's the fun part -- we love sparking people's competitive side to help you get the full value out of this challenge.

SO.... everyone who completes the challenge -- all workbooks submitted + a working playbook with a demo video -- earns a prize. US-based? You get a "Playbook That!" hat shipped to your door. Outside the US? You get an extra month free on The AI Exchange membership.

Beta pricing: $379 (goes to $479 after this cohort launches).

When these seats fill, that's it until the next round. But we'll try to add more dates soon!

Cheers,
Rachel + the AMP team

Want to dive into AI operations? Learn about our flagship AI Operator Bootcamp here.

Eager to get your team operating with AI? Learn about our LAUNCH program here.

Happy monday, quick reminder here!

Tomorrow we’re opening up the first cohort of a new Playbooking Challenge Bootcamp: an intro to playbooking in your real work using tools like Claude Skills and ChatGPT Custom GPTs.

… And yes, you might have noticed we added challenge to the name.

For everyone that completes and submits their final playbook, you’ll win a special prize (*ahem* exclusive swag) and a couple more things up our sleeve!

2026 is moving fast. We want you to feel like you are moving fast too.

It couldn’t be clearer to us that momentum comes from defining what you want AI to do, and it doing it, on repeat, even when you sleep.

That’s the power of playbooking. And our team has designed this first-of-its-kind “we help you playbook your actual work with you” experience.

We can’t wait to help you win. If you want a heads up the moment enrollment opens, get on the waitlist. Waitlist members also lock in beta pricing for next cohort spots even if this fills up too fast ($379 -- it goes to $479 after this).

Enrollment opens tomorrow!

Cheers,
Rachel

Want to dive into AI operations? Learn about our flagship AI Operator Bootcamp here.

Eager to get your team operating with AI? Learn about our LAUNCH program here.

Hey,

Wanted to reach out before we shared this publicly. We’re announcing a new Playbooking Bootcamp next week: an intro to playbooking in your real work using tools like Claude Skills and ChatGPT Custom GPTs.

Here’s why:

We know how hard it is to make time to learn AI right now.

Everything's moving fast, there's pressure to keep up, and on top of that, most of the courses out there are generic.

They teach you concepts and demos, then put the burden on you to figure out how to actually apply it to your work.

That's a lot to ask when you're already busy.

That's why our team’s been so eager to share this with you!

It’s a 4 week, hands-on group cohort. We designed it so you work on your OWN use case + walk away with a real, working playbook built for your actual job -- without the struggle of doing it on your own.

I'll share more next week: but its a pretty awesome setup

Every week you submit a workbook based on your use case, and our team gives you expert feedback within 24 hours to shape your next step. So you're not figuring it out alone. You're not watching videos and hoping you can connect the dots. We're building it with you.

Don’t know what a playbook is? You’ll learn - very fast.

Don't know what you'd playbook yet? That's literally what we help you figure out first.

No coding required, works with whatever AI tools you already use. (demos will be in ChatGPT and Claude)

But here's the thing...

We run small cohorts. This will be ~30 seats.

They tend to fill up fast once we announce. You're hearing about this first because you're on this list.

If you want a heads up the moment enrollment opens, get on the waitlist. Waitlist members also lock in beta pricing for next cohort spots even if this fills up too fast ($379 -- it goes to $479 after this).

Enrollment opens next week. Just wanted to make sure you knew before everyone else!!

Cheers,
Rachel

Want to dive into AI operations? Learn about our flagship AI Operator Bootcamp here.

Eager to get your team operating with AI? Learn about our LAUNCH program here.

🥳 We’ve got some goodies for you today!

Test out our buzzfeed-style quiz: What AI Hat Are You? One of our recent bootcamps built this quiz together - it’s super fun and we’d love for you to check it out 👉️ What AI Hat Are You?

The guy who built Claude Code hasn't written a single line of code since November.

Instead, he runs multiple AI sessions at once, gives them instructions, and reviews what comes back. (Here's the full Vergecast interview.)

Everyone's reading this as a "developers are toast" story. That’s the wrong read.

What Boris Cherny actually described is a process. He writes down how the work should be done. He documents standards, his PLAYBOOK, then he lets AI do the work. The skill isn't coding…. it's describing the work clearly enough that AI can handle it.

And this pattern is already spreading way past coding.

Why coding was first (and every other role is right behind it)

AI companies are filled with engineers. The easiest thing first was to build AI for themselves… makes sense. (it also does help speed up the building of all the other AI stuff)…

But Anthropic recently published data on how much AI is actually being used across 800 jobs. Programmers are at the top (74.5%). No surprise.

Here's what's behind them: customer service reps (70.1%), marketing specialists (64.8%), sales reps (62.8%), financial analysts (57.2%).

It’s not just coding, it’s all of knowledge work.

What this looks like outside of coding

Part of why we believe in the power of playboking, is that the same pattern works everywhere. Write down the process, let AI execute, and review the output. Iterating until it works great…

Here’s what that looks like across roles for example:

• Marketing teams say: "I don't write first drafts anymore. I wrote the playbook that produces them."

• Client services example: A B2B agency's onboarding used to take weeks. They built a playbook that profiles each client and personalizes everything. Now clients have deliverables on the first call.

• We heard a sales rep say: "I don't write proposals anymore. I wrote the playbook that assembles them."

• How everyone feels about reporting: "I don't pull reports anymore. I wrote down what 'good' looks like and AI builds the first pass."

Nobody got replaced. They moved from doing the work to designing how the work gets done.

The new measuring stick

🌶️ The person who can write down how the work gets done is now more valuable than the person who does the work.

And we're still early. The window to build this skill before everyone else catches on is wide open.

This isn't a threat. It's a head start.

Cherny was honest: "it's going to be painful for a lot of people." Anthropic's data shows hiring of young workers (22-25) into exposed jobs has already slowed about 14%.

The disruption is real. But you're already paying attention.

The question is whether you'll be the one designing the playbooks or the one replaced by them. Right now, that's a choice.

What to do this week

1. Take the AI Hat Quiz at findmyaihat.com. Two minutes. It'll reframe how you see your role.

2. Pick the task you did most this week. Write down the steps, the inputs, and what "good" looks like. That's your first playbook.

What's one task you do every week that could be playbooked? Hit reply and tell us.

PARTNER HIGHLIGHT

Looking for Bite-Sized Tips? Our Updated LinkedIn Learning mini-series 📹️ 

We just released an update to our ChatGPT Bite-Sized Tips LinkedIn Learning Course - use this link to view for FREE for the next 24 hours!

LINKS

For your reading list 📚

• Stripe's internal AI agents are now shipping 1,300 pull requests per week with zero human-written code. Engineers review from Slack. Nobody touches a keyboard!!

• Nvidia just announced AI computing... in orbit. Data centers in space is not a sentence we expected to write this week.

• OpenAI is merging ChatGPT, Codex, and its browser into one desktop app. The bet: AI that does your work, not just answers your questions.

That's all!

We'll see you again soon. Thoughts, feedback and questions are much appreciated - respond here or shoot us a note at hello@runonamp.com

Cheers,

🪄 The AMP Team (formerly: the AI Exchange Team)

Picture this.

You log into your Monday team meeting to the normal pleasantries… pleasantries. Did everyone have a good weekend? 

Then your boss says: "Before we jump in, I want to show you guys something."

They proceed to demo what they built over the weekend using AI.

A full marketing campaign - the strategy, all the copy, a website to go with it, a complete tracking plan, already loaded into ClickUp…

In one weekend. Alone.

Here's what the boss did wrong.

The team’s first instinct is to poke holes. It's not as good as we would have done it. This part isn’t quite right… yada yada

And honestly? Some of that might even be true.

But if you’re the boss in this scenario, you may not realizing what you are communicating (even if you don't mean to): we don't need you anymore.

Even in a healthy team culture, the "look what I did in one day that would've taken us three weeks" demo is just really hard to land. It shakes people, and the defensive reaction is almost automatic.

But here's the thing - if that's happening on your team, you're actually lucky.

You shouldn't shy away from the reality of what's in front of you. That is the reality.

We are still very early in AI. And if your boss is pushing the envelope, that's not a threat - that's an invitation.

Think back to when you were first starting out in your career. Your hungry, figuring-it-all-out college days.

This is that moment. And it's a way better environment to be in than the one where people are still having normal Monday meetings and debating whether ChatGPT is a security risk. (And trust us - those places exist. A lot of them.)

You want to be in a company that's pushing this stuff forward. Even when it's uncomfortable.

What's actually happening to jobs right now.

Through DiviUp, we have a seat in the boardroom at many companies. We are advising leaders on how to navigate changes so big in their organization they can’t ignore them and expect to be in business in 3-5 years.

Rachel talked about it on her TikTok last week, there’s 3 moves we are seeing right now when it comes to companies doing layoffs/thinking about headcount:

1. People not keeping up with AI. This is the one you want to avoid.

2. People whose jobs are changing. Less about elimination, more about: what does this role look like now?

3. Whole companies going under. This one's harder to control for - but honestly, if you're building AI skills now, you're investing in yourself regardless of where you land next.

Watch this video for a deeper dive into what to do if you’re on a team in each situation.

But the thing to understand:

It is expensive to find, hire, and onboard good people. As long as you're good at what you do and people like working with you, you have more runway than you think before any company makes a real cut. Especially in smaller orgs.

So what should you actually do?

Get selfish about your skills - in a way your company benefits from too.

• Your company should be paying for AI training - ask your boss!!

• If they aren’t, set aside your own budget

The math:

• Spend ~$3000 on AI education this month

• Find 3 small businesses willing to pay $50 an hour for AI training or implementation (ask your cousins, post on LinkedIn, it is not hard to find people that need help!)

• You’d make your $3K back in just 6 weeks of a 10 hour a week side hustle

Stop thinking about AI as something happening to your role. Start thinking about AI as the thing that's going to make you irreplaceable in whatever comes next.

Alex Hormozi talks about investing in the S&Me500 instead of the S&P500. Cheesy, but that's what this is. Every AI skill you build right now compounds.

One ask before you go - vent to us!

We're hosting a webinar in a couple weeks specifically for people navigating this - and we want to make it as useful as possible.

If you're in a situation like this right now, hit reply and tell us what's going on. Vent to us. We'll keep everything anonymous. And you’ll be the first on the list to get an invite to the webinar.

LINKS

For your reading list 📚

• Anthropic partnered with Microsoft to add Cowork to Copilot - again, this is worth learning!

• OpenAI released GPT-5.4

• OpenAI added ChatGPT integrations into Excel

• The CEO at Box is talking about a shift in strategy: build something agents want

That's all!

We'll see you again soon. Thoughts, feedback and questions are much appreciated - respond here or shoot us a note at hello@theaiexchange.com.

Cheers,

🪄 The AI Exchange Team

Every week inside the AI Operator Bootcamp is designed to get you one step closer to leading AI Operations.

Here’s the process we’ll guide you through – it’s the same one that has led previous participants to expanded roles, promotions, new job offers, and new clients. 

Each week, you’ll learn the next stage of our proven AI Operations framework. 

You’ll start by mastering the AI fundamentals that make outputs predictable and reliable.

Then you’ll learn how to turn real workflows into structured AI playbooks — so AI can execute full processes, not just isolated tasks.

Next, you’ll learn how to run AI Operations Cycles — the repeatable process AI Operators use to scope, build, test and roll out new playbooks across teams.

By the end, you’ll know how to create real momentum against the operational bottlenecks that slow organizations down.

You’ll apply what you learn immediately + often. 

Every concept includes exercises, playbook builds, and tools to apply the framework to real operational problems. Momentum Track participants can collaborate with their cohort and receive mentor feedback on weekly assignments.

You’ll practice live with real-world scenarios. (Momentum Track Exclusive)

During live Skill Building Sessions, you’ll work through realistic AI Operations challenges with peers and get real-time feedback.

You don’t just finish with a set of notes…

You’ll leave with real AI playbooks that solve real business problems and portfolio-ready case studies you can use to demonstrate your skills and impact.

There are only 48 hours left to join the AI Operator Bootcamp with preferred tuition pricing. 

If becoming the person who leads AI operations inside your company sounds exciting, we’d love to have you inside.

Cheers,

🪄 The AI Exchange

We’ve never done THIS before ⬇️ (Limited Spots Available)

If you’re seriously considering joining the bootcamp but want to talk it through, you can book a 30-minute conversation with our Head Bootcamp Mentor. You can use this time to talk through your goals, ask questions about the bootcamp and see if this is the right fit for you.

Many companies are wrestling with the same question: What does our operating system look like in an AI world?

Businesses have always been built around common constraints:

Human time was limited.
Expertise lived in people’s heads.
Processes moved at the speed of teams.
Scaling work meant hiring more people.

AI breaks many of those constraints. Suddenly, teams can achieve things at a completely different scale. 

But the problem is that the majority of teams don’t know how to get there so they try throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. 

They try tools.
They launch pilots.
They encourage teams to “use AI more.”

The end result is that everyone feels frustrated and like they’re going in circles.

Many of the AI Operator Bootcamp participants have seen this on their teams firsthand:

“It was always really hard to connect the vision of AI into the actual practice of how we get there.” – Dawn N.

“My team was stuck in the experimenting phase.” – Jody G. 

“Our projects were always stalling…” – Mel M. 

This is the exact problem AI Operators solve.

AI Operators are transforming the operating system companies run on by:

• Building AI momentum inside organizations by identifying high-leverage workflows that can be built and rolled out quickly — creating early wins that build trust and deliver value fast.

• Defining what AI should deliver before anything gets built, preventing teams from wasting time building the wrong things.

• Deciding what gets built now — and what doesn’t, sequencing work so AI initiatives compound leverage instead of creating overwhelm.

• Turning how teams think, decide, review, create, analyze, and deliver work into structured playbooks that AI can reliably follow.

• Continuously raise the standard for how AI supports operations and drives outsized value over time.

• Ensuring new AI systems are understood, trusted and used so adoption sticks.

And these skills are exactly what we spend 6 weeks helping operators develop inside the AI Operator Bootcamp.

See where those same operators who were on struggling teams are now:

Preferred Enrollment Happening Now Through Sunday, March 8th

If you are an operations professional stepping into AI, this is your moment. You have until Sunday to lock in current tuition rates and access our new payment plans that allow you to spread your investment across three monthly installments. 

There are two certification tracks to choose from based on your learning preferences:

The Momentum Track – $2500 $1999

• Begins March 23rd

• Move through the program alongside a defined cohort with weekly content releases

• Live skill-building sessions + cohort discussions (Fridays, 10am CT / 11am ET)

• Built-in accountability and peer support

• Historically higher and faster certification completion rates

The Flex Track - $1800 $1299

• Enroll now. Begin now.

• Get the full curriculum upfront and move through it at your own pace

• Receive mentor support via an async discussion channel

If you want to see what the program looks like — or join us — you can explore it here:

Cheers,

🪄 The AI Exchange

P.S Our team is available via email to answer any questions you might have and help you determine whether this is the right experience for you. Get in contact with us by replying to this email!

Many companies are wrestling with the same question: What does our operating system look like in an AI world?

Businesses have always been built around common constraints:

Human time was limited.
Expertise lived in people’s heads.
Processes moved at the speed of teams.
Scaling work meant hiring more people.

AI breaks many of those constraints. Suddenly, teams can achieve things at a completely different scale. 

But the problem is that the majority of teams don’t know how to get there so they try throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. 

They try tools.
They launch pilots.
They encourage teams to “use AI more.”

The end result is that everyone feels frustrated and like they’re going in circles.

Many of the AI Operator Bootcamp participants have seen this on their teams firsthand:

“It was always really hard to connect the vision of AI into the actual practice of how we get there.” – Dawn N.

“My team was stuck in the experimenting phase.” – Jody G. 

“Our projects were always stalling…” – Mel M. 

This is the exact problem AI Operators solve.

AI Operators are transforming the operating system companies run on by:

• Building AI momentum inside organizations by identifying high-leverage workflows that can be built and rolled out quickly — creating early wins that build trust and deliver value fast.

• Defining what AI should deliver before anything gets built, preventing teams from wasting time building the wrong things.

• Deciding what gets built now — and what doesn’t, sequencing work so AI initiatives compound leverage instead of creating overwhelm.

• Turning how teams think, decide, review, create, analyze, and deliver work into structured playbooks that AI can reliably follow.

• Continuously raise the standard for how AI supports operations and drives outsized value over time.

• Ensuring new AI systems are understood, trusted and used so adoption sticks.

And these skills are exactly what we spend 6 weeks helping operators develop inside the AI Operator Bootcamp.

See where those same operators who were on struggling teams are now:

Preferred Enrollment Happening Now Through Sunday, March 8th

If you are an operations professional stepping into AI, this is your moment. You have until Sunday to lock in current tuition rates and access our new payment plans that allow you to spread your investment across three monthly installments. 

There are two certification tracks to choose from based on your learning preferences:

The Momentum Track – $2500 $1999

• Begins March 23rd

• Move through the program alongside a defined cohort with weekly content releases

• Live skill-building sessions + cohort discussions (Fridays, 10am CT / 11am ET)

• Built-in accountability and peer support

• Historically higher and faster certification completion rates

The Flex Track - $1800 $1299

• Enroll now. Begin now.

• Get the full curriculum upfront and move through it at your own pace

• Receive mentor support via an async discussion channel

If you want to see what the program looks like — or join us — you can explore it here:

Cheers,

🪄 The AI Exchange

P.S Our team is available via email to answer any questions you might have and help you determine whether this is the right experience for you. Get in contact with us by replying to this email!

Claude Code, Claude Cowork, Claude Chat… three tabs, three products, one question everyone's asking: which one do I actually need?

We just ran an AMA in the AI Exchange Community (subscribers: view the recording here) breaking this all down – and the answer might surprise you (especially if you've been stressing about learning to code).

First, let's set the stage

Anthropic now has three core pillars in their product lineup. You've probably already noticed the tabs when you open Claude:

Claude Chat – what you're already using. Great for back-and-forth collaboration, brainstorming, writing. You can also use skills (saved playbooks) and connect outside tools here.

Claude Code – a developer tool that runs in your terminal. It has access to your files and folders, which makes it powerful for coding and operational work. This is what the "vibe coders" are using to build apps in a weekend.

Claude Cowork – basically Claude Code without the scary terminal stuff. Same capabilities for operational work, way lower risk of accidentally messing up your computer.

All three are powered by the same Claude models. There's no secret sauce in one that the others don't have. And here's the thing – OpenAI has the same setup with Codex. I’m sure Google/Gemini will have something similar soon too.

Our 🌶️ take: You probably don't need Claude Code

If Claude Cowork didn’t exist, yes you would need Claude Code.

But the nice people at Anthropic made using the power of these tools WAY easier – if you're not trying to become a software engineer, Claude Cowork is the move.

Everything we do operationally in Claude Code? You can do the same thing in Cowork. The playbooks work the same. The file and folder structure works the same.

The only difference is Claude Code runs in the terminal, which means: you could accidentally give AI access to your entire computer, you need to learn terminal commands, and frankly, it's just not designed for non-engineers.

Why this matters: cut through the noise

Every AI company's marketing team wants you to believe you'll fall behind if you don't learn their latest tool. But here's what we've seen play out over and over:

We've been writing playbooks since 2022. We're still uploading those same playbooks into these new tools. The fundamentals haven't changed. The tech just keeps getting easier to use.

So when someone tells you "everyone needs to learn Claude Code or you're falling behind" – ask if they were already comfortable in a terminal before. Spoiler: they almost always were.

What that means for AI Operators: The actually hard part isn't learning the tool. It's deciding what to build, how to structure the operations, how playbooks talk to each other, how they connect to your project management system, how you design the file structure. That's the lasting skill.

The real unlock: Playbooks are portable

This is where Own the Playbook, Rent the Tech really comes to life.

Your playbooks – whether they're in Google Docs, custom GPTs, Claude skills, or Gemini gems – are all the same thing. A step-by-step process written in a way AI can follow. The platform just puts a different brand name on it.

One of our team members literally takes playbooks built in Cowork and ports them into ChatGPT projects for clients. Same instructions, different tool. Five minute setup.

And here's the part that should blow your mind: you can hand that same playbook to Claude Code or Cowork and say "write me an n8n config file." It will generate all the nodes, connections, and prompts – ready to upload into n8n and run automatically. Your playbook just became a full automation.

What that means for AI Operators: If you invest in writing great playbooks, you will never be stuck in any one tool. Period.

The progression (if you want one)

Here's how we'd think about leveling up:

Start here → Claude Cowork (or Claude Chat with skills). Get comfortable working with files and folders. Write your first playbook. Do personal productivity stuff first – project planning, content creation, meeting follow-ups.

Next level → Connect outside tools. MCPs, Notion, ClickUp, whatever your stack is. Now your playbooks aren't just you-and-AI, they're touching your real systems.

After that → Get playbooks talking to each other. This is where it gets really powerful – and really operational.

If you're code-curious → Then sure, learn the terminal, try Claude Code, explore vibe coding with Replit or Lovable. But this is a "want to" not a "have to."

One more thing: “Clawdbot/OpenClaw” is coming

Right now there are tools (like Clawdbot which was renamed to OpenClaw) that let you set up agents that run on a schedule – basically Claude Code but on a server that wakes up and does work without you.

We expect Anthropic and OpenAI will release their own easier, more secure versions of this soon (our bet: by summer). So if you're not in the autonomous agent world yet, don't panic. Get your playbooks right. Get your operations tight. When the easier version drops, you'll be ready to plug and play.

The bottom line

The gap isn't between people who know Claude Code and people who don't. The gap is between people who have strong playbooks and operational thinking – and people who are still prompting one message at a time.

The tools will keep getting easier. Your playbooks will keep getting more powerful. But only if you're building them right.

And seriously – go try Claude Cowork this week. Don't leave this newsletter without doing at least that.

Ready to go deeper?

Here's the thing we keep seeing: people can power through a weekend and set up a bunch of playbooks for themselves. But it's a completely different game when you bring this into a team with real stakeholders, real expectations, and real opinions about how things should work.

That's exactly why we built the AI Operator Bootcamp.

We teach you how to playbook your own work AND how to take any team's processes (or lack of process) and turn them into playbooks that actually ship. How to manage scope creep. When to get stakeholder buy-in and when to just run. How to go from "I made a cool thing" to "this is how our team operates now."

We put every bump and bruise from our agency work into a five-step framework called CRAFT – so you don't have to learn these lessons the hard way.

Whether you're an ops person who's been seeing bottlenecks for 16 years and wants to finally fix them with AI, or you're already deep in the tools and want to turn this into a career – this is the community to be in.

👉 Join the next AI Operator Bootcamp cohort here →

We have a fully async version and a live version. If you can, we always recommend live – because honestly, hanging out with other AI operators is half the magic!!

LINKS

For your reading list 📚

• 👀 New things brewing from your favorite AI Operators!

• We thought this was cool: they’re considering moving data centers to space?

• In case you missed it, the creator of the viral OpenClaw/Clawdbot joined OpenAI

• Yet another rumor on what the first OpenAI “gadget” will be… remember, they hired the iPhone designer!

That's all!

We'll see you again soon. Thoughts, feedback and questions are much appreciated - respond here or shoot us a note at hello@theaiexchange.com.

Cheers,

🪄 The AI Exchange Team

Our team has a lot of vantage points into how work is actually changing with AI, and how teams are coping (or not) with those changes.

Across many contexts, there’s a shared feeling showing up again and again: A lot of people feel a little untethered about work right now.

AI has been moving at a new speed in 2026.

New tools. New features. New capabilities.

So it’s no surprise that teams keep asking questions like:

“Which AI tool should we be using?”,
“Where do we start with AI?”, or
“Where do we go next?”

But underneath all of those questions is a deeper one:

“What are we supposed to be good at now?”

Roles are evolving with AI at the center

Across companies experimenting seriously with AI, we’re seeing a clear pattern emerging, and it’s not about job replacement.

It’s about role evolution.

The teams making real progress aren’t trying to turn everyone into a technical person.

Instead, they’re getting explicit about how different kinds of work change when AI enters the picture.

Yes, everyone needs to learn how to work with AI agents. But what that actually looks like is:

• Individual contributors are learning to use AI agents as end users.

• Subject-matter experts are learning to manage AI agents - making updates, improving outputs, and training others.

• AI Operators are learning to design AI agents and systems of agents.

• AI Visionaries are deciding which AI agents to “hire” and where they belong.

AI Operations is a team sport

One thing has become very clear to us for a while now: The hardest part of AI adoption isn’t the technology. It’s coordinating and aligning people.

AI Operations is like a team sport.

And like any team sport, progress breaks down when everyone’s chasing the ball and no one knows their position. But when positions are clear, something different happens.

People stop guessing.
They can see what they’re responsible for.
They know how AI fits into their work and how their work fits into the larger system. 

This unlocks coordination.

And coordination is what turns AI from an interesting experiment (or a collection of half-used, misused, or abandoned projects) into something that actually works and makes a difference.

AI OPERATOR BOOTCAMP ENROLLMENT IS OPEN

Join and learn how to help teams unlock AI momentum.

Inside the AI Operator Bootcamp, we teach operators the CRAFT Cycle: a 5-step, repeatable process for keeping teams aligned as they scope, build, and roll out AI playbooks.

If you work on a team, or want to help other teams build durable, scalable AI operations, this is the program to be in.

Learn more about enrolling in our upcoming cohort here.

LINKS

For your reading list 📚

• OpenAI Frontier joins the race to define how “AI co-workers” show up at work.

• Anthropic has been having a moment, and Opus 4.6 marks the company’s first major model release of the year. 

• Influencer marketing is becoming the next battleground for AI, with deals surpassing half a million dollars. 

That's all!

We'll see you again soon. Thoughts, feedback and questions are much appreciated - respond here or shoot us a note at hello@theaiexchange.com.

Cheers,

🪄 The AI Exchange Team

Claude Code, Claud Cowork, Clawdbot… you might feel like you can’t “claw” your way out of all the fresh AI hype right now! 

Whether you’re annoyed, overwhelmed, confused, or stoked – we wrote todays’ newsletter to tell you the “so what” for AI operators in all this hype.

Our first 🌶️ take: this didn’t happen overnight.

Claude Code launched in November 2024. 

Claude Skills launched in October 2025.

CustomGPTs had a lot of this power too (if you used them right) and those were released November 2023. 

But what has accelerated is how easy it is to get set up, how fast you can start getting value, and as a result – how big the upside is growing to using these tools effectively.

The next wave is about giving agents your “playbooks”

Yes these tools are powerful, but they run on the instructions you give them. Either one-off in the chat. Or saved as a process it’s “been trained”. AKA - your playbooks. 

The basic anatomy of a Claude skill works like this:

• You create skill files in markdown

• Each skill file can hold one playbook

• Your playbook can even integrate outside tools, templates, custom code scripts, MCPs and a lot more

• Or just run a powerful playbook as is! 

Want to know the best part?? The playbook is the exact same you can run in any other AI tool too.

Each platform calls them differently – in Claude it’s “skills”, in Gemini it’s “gems”, in ChatGPT, it’s “customGPTs”. 

But if you follow our Own the Playbook; Rent the Tech mindset – it’s all the same. 

What that means for AI Operators: Playbooks that used to be clunky in automation tools or slow in chat tools can now be run with even more capabilities.

The real shift: AI is getting more and more autonomous

When you use ChatGPT and it shows that it’s “thinking”... this is actually ChatGPT being more agentic in the background. Claude does the same thing. 

Where tools like Claude Code and Claude Cowork get interesting is that they can do even longer tasks without any of your input. 

What that means for AI Operators: less back and forth is a good thing for productivity, but a bad thing if your instructions weren’t clear. Imagine an intern going off for 2 days and coming back and what you asked it was nothing like what you wanted. 

More autonomous = more parallel workstreams = more management overhead

Have you ever been managing a project and there are so many parallel paths that it made your head hurt? 

Well that same thing has been happening to us nonstop the past few weeks. It’s truly an art to manage multiple agents executing multiple playbooks in parallel. 

But incredibly powerful when you do. 

What that means for AI Operators: the leverage AI unlocks is about to compound even faster. A process that used to take days could now take hours with normal AI. But with increasingly autonomous AI, you could be executing multiple if not dozens of those processes at once. Checking in only when needed. 

The gap is widening

As our friend Connor Grennan posted, the gap is widening between the teams using the tools to their fullest – and those that are still waiting for that green light from IT. 

This is a great opportunity for AI Operators. With most major platform shifts, the tides shift quickly where demand starts outpacing supply. AKA – there will be more companies that need these skills and help implementing, than there are people that actually know how to to it right. 

Get your reps in now. Be ready when the tide comes.

Join the next AI Operator Bootcamp (With Bonus “Playbooking in Claude Code” Workshop!)

Our flagship 6 week bootcamp just got a content refresh! 

And more is coming. 

This is THE bootcamp designed for people wanting to learn to operationalize AI – not just for flashy demos, but for real teams and real use cases. 

And we’re adding a new workshop on Claude Code for this next cohort. 

Want to get ahead of the tide? Grab a spot here.

Run a team and stuck on your next steps with AI operations?

We’re offering 3 more of our $499 consults in February to teams of 10+ who are looking to scale themselves with AI operations, playbooks and agents. 

It’s the fastest way to get clarity & momentum:

1. Our custom intake process

2. AI operations strategists with 3+ years in the field review

3. 60 minute coaching session on exactly what to do next

Hit reply to learn more. 👋 

LINKS

For your reading list 📚

• ChatGPT is getting ads soon, and OpenAI is thinking about what to charge… this will be interesting

• Apparently Apple is turning Siri into an AI bot more like ChatGPT

• Speaking of Claude skills… this was a pretty cool one that spots AI slop, made by the Wikipedia team

That's all!

We'll see you again soon. Thoughts, feedback and questions are much appreciated - respond here or shoot us a note at hello@theaiexchange.com.

Cheers,

🪄 The AI Exchange Team