Dave Gambrill

06/01/2026

These two binders explain a lot about what’s happening with AI inside organizations right now.

If you’ve spent any time in a corporate environment, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

There is often a gap between documented process and actual process.

The manual says one thing.

Reality says something else.

Here’s why that matters in the age of AI.

Many organizations are rushing to deploy AI against the documented workflow. They’re feeding the policy manual into the AI, training assistants on official procedures, and optimizing processes that look great on paper.

The problem?

The paper version isn’t always how the work gets done.

The organizations pulling ahead are the ones talking to the people actually doing the work.

They’re mapping the real workflows.

The shortcuts.

The workarounds.

The handoffs.

The exceptions.

The tribal knowledge.

The stuff that never made it into the manual.

To be clear, I’m not advocating for violating policies, compliance requirements, or governance standards.

I’m talking about understanding reality.

Because AI doesn’t create leverage from fantasy.

It creates leverage from truth.

If your AI is trained on what the company says happens, while your competitors are training AI on what actually happens, guess who’s going to move faster?

The biggest AI advantage isn’t the model.

It’s understanding the real work.

The companies that close the gap between Binder #1 and Binder #2 are going to have a significant advantage over the ones pretending the gap doesn’t exist.

👊🏻

05/21/2026

I think a lot of people still fundamentally misunderstand what’s happening with AI right now.

They think this is mostly about:
- writing emails faster
- making funny images
- generating social media posts
- automating customer service

And yes, AI can do all of those things.

But that’s the surface layer.

The real story is discovery.

The real story is exploration.

The real story is what happens when you point massive compute, reinforcement learning, simulation, probabilistic reasoning, and relentless iteration at problems humans either:
- couldn’t solve,
- stopped trying to solve,
- or never realized had another path forward.

And honestly, we’ve been watching this unfold for years already.

A little over a decade ago, one of the biggest AI milestones in history happened when AlphaGo defeated world champion Lee Sedol in the game Go.

Now if you’re unfamiliar with Go, it’s an ancient strategy game that’s dramatically more complex than chess in terms of possible board states.

The number of possible game positions is so absurdly large that people often compare it to the number of atoms in the observable universe.

In other words:
you cannot brute force Go the same way old-school chess computers brute forced chess.

The search space is too large.

There are too many possibilities.
Too many branches.
Too many paths.
Too many combinations.

For years, people thought Go would remain one of those deeply human games that computers couldn’t truly master because intuition mattered so much.

Then AlphaGo showed up.

And what shocked experts wasn’t just that it won.

It was HOW it won.

There were moments where the AI made moves professional players thought were mistakes.

Some commentators literally thought the machine had malfunctioned.

Until 20 moves later when they realized:
“Oh no… it saw something we didn’t.”

That’s the important part.

The system wasn’t merely copying human behavior.

It was exploring solution spaces differently than humans do.

It found moves humans rarely considered.
Strategies humans undervalued.
Paths humans overlooked.

And after enough games, human players themselves started learning from the AI.

Think about that for a second.

Humans taught the machine.
Then the machine started teaching humans.

That was one of the first big public glimpses into what this era might become.

And now we’re seeing the same pattern emerge in science and mathematics.

A few years ago, there was a massive challenge in biology called protein folding.

Scientists knew proteins were critically important because proteins basically drive life itself. But understanding how proteins fold into their final 3D structures was incredibly difficult.

And that structure matters.

It determines behavior.
It determines function.
It determines interaction.
It determines whether something heals, harms, activates, blocks, repairs, or breaks.

For decades, protein folding was one of the grand scientific challenges of biology.

Then DeepMind created AlphaFold.

And AlphaFold essentially solved a problem that had bottlenecked scientific progress for decades.

But here’s the part that really matters:

They didn’t stop at solving a few proteins.

They essentially said:
“What if we solve ALL the known proteins we can?”

And they did.

Millions of protein structures mapped and released publicly for scientists around the world.

Think about the scale of that shift.

What was once a years-long bottleneck became a searchable resource.

That’s not just automation.

That’s acceleration of human discovery itself.

And now we’re seeing yet another example.

I just read about an AI model helping make a breakthrough on a geometry problem first posed by Paul Erdős back in 1946.

Nearly 80 years ago.

Generations of brilliant mathematicians worked on this thing.

Tiny incremental progress.
Lots of dead ends.
Long-standing assumptions nobody could fully crack.

Then AI helps uncover a path researchers hadn’t seriously considered before.

Again:
this is not really about geometry.

It’s about search space.

Humans are extraordinary at reasoning.

But we are limited by:
- time
- energy
- memory
- assumptions
- cognitive bias
- experience
- pattern recognition capacity

We tend to stay relatively close to known territory.

AI can explore differently.

Not because it’s conscious.
Not because it’s magical.
Not because it “thinks” exactly like humans.

But because it can:
- iterate endlessly
- simulate millions of outcomes
- optimize continuously
- identify hidden patterns
- test weird possibilities humans dismiss
- connect ideas across domains at enormous scale

Sometimes it brute forces.

Sometimes it stumbles into elegance.

Sometimes it discovers paths humans never even noticed.

And when the possibility space becomes massive enough, this becomes transformational.

That’s why this matters far beyond games and math.

Because now apply this to:
- manufacturing
- chemistry
- materials science
- medicine
- energy systems
- logistics
- aerospace
- genetics
- robotics
- agriculture
- climate science
- battery technology

There are solutions hidden inside these giant possibility spaces that humans alone cannot realistically explore fast enough.

New medicines.
New materials.
New engineering designs.
New manufacturing methods.
New energy systems.
New optimization models.
New treatments.
New supply chain efficiencies.

Not because AI replaces scientists or engineers.

But because it becomes an exploration engine for them.

A tireless collaborator.
A simulation partner.
An idea generator.
A pattern recognition system operating at superhuman scale.

And I still think most people are underestimating this.

A lot of the public conversation is still focused on:
“Can AI write my emails?”
“Can it make a logo?”
“Can it generate content?”

Meanwhile, these systems are beginning to help humanity navigate possibility spaces we literally could not traverse before.

That changes everything.

Because once discovery itself accelerates, civilization accelerates.

Some of the most important breakthroughs of the next decade may not come purely from human intuition anymore.

They may come from humans working alongside systems capable of exploring more possibilities in a day than entire teams could explore in a lifetime.

That’s why I keep saying this isn’t just another technology trend.

This is a foundational shift.

👊🏻

05/07/2026

Build the Audience Before You Need the Audience

One of the smartest things you can do right now, even if you have a full-time job and zero interest in becoming a “full-time entrepreneur,” is start building an audience.

Seriously.

You do not need a massive following.
You do not need a perfect brand.
You do not need expensive equipment.
And you definitely do not need to quit your job.

What you *do* need is to start planting seeds.

Because the people who are going to be in the best position over the next few years are the ones who already have trust, relationships, and attention.

And I’m watching this play out in real time.

People are reaching out saying:

“Dave, my company downsized.”
“Dave, AI is changing everything where I work.”
“Dave, I have severance and I need to figure out my next move.”

And look, when that happens, we get to work.
We map out a path forward.
We figure out what they know.
We identify what they can teach.
We build offers.
We create content.
We put systems in place.

But I’ll tell you this:

It is infinitely easier when somebody already has even a small audience.

A few hundred people on an email list can create momentum.
A few hundred people who know, like, and trust you can open doors.
A few hundred people paying attention can completely change your options.

That’s why I keep talking about email lists.

An email list is one of the few digital assets you truly own.

Social media algorithms change.
Platforms come and go.
Companies restructure.
Industries evolve.

But if you have direct access to people who value your insights, your experience, or your expertise, you have leverage.

And here’s the part a lot of people miss:

You do not need to be some world-famous expert.

You just need to know something useful.

Maybe you know fitness.
Maybe you know nutrition.
Maybe you know leadership.
Maybe you know parenting.
Maybe you know relationships.
Maybe you know gardening, woodworking, golf, meal prep, productivity, spreadsheets, fishing, photography, sourdough, organization, or mindset.

There are people out there right now searching for help in areas where you already have experience.

And AI is making it easier than ever to share what you know.

You can use AI to brainstorm.
You can use it to outline newsletters.
You can use it to organize ideas.
You can use it to create lead magnets, social posts, landing pages, emails, workshops, and simple offers.

We are entering a time where one person with expertise, AI tools, and a trusted audience can create an incredible amount of leverage.

But the key piece is still the audience.

Because if you wait until you desperately *need* income to start building trust and attention, everything feels heavier.

Now you’re trying to:

* figure out your offer
* learn the tools
* create content
* build an audience
* establish credibility
* get attention
* generate revenue

…all while stressed and overwhelmed.

That’s hard.

Much harder than slowly building something while life is relatively stable.

There’s an old phrase I love:

“Dig your well before you’re thirsty.”

That’s exactly what this is.

Start building the relationships now.
Start sharing value now.
Start learning now.
Start experimenting now.

Because future you may someday be very grateful that present you decided to start.

And no, you do not need millions of followers.

Kevin Kelly wrote a famous piece years ago called “1,000 True Fans.” The basic concept is that you do not need internet celebrity status to create meaningful income.

You simply need a group of people who genuinely value what you do.

Think about it.

1,000 people paying $100/year for something helpful or valuable is $100,000 gross revenue.

That could be:

* a membership
* a newsletter
* group coaching
* templates
* workshops
* consulting
* courses
* implementation sessions
* community access
* digital downloads

The math changes depending on your model, but the principle stays the same:

A trusted audience creates options.

And in a world changing as quickly as this one is, options are incredibly valuable.

So if you’ve been thinking about creating content, starting a newsletter, teaching what you know, or building a small personal brand online…

Take this as your sign.

Start now.

Not because you’re panicking.
Not because you’re desperate.
But because building something before you need it is almost always the smarter move.

👊🏻

05/06/2026

Now I get it.

The people who truly understand the power of AI are the people who have been in the arena for years.

The solopreneurs.
The entrepreneurs.
The creators.
The people who have stayed up late trying to figure things out.
The people who failed, learned, adjusted, and tried again.

They understand AI because they’ve done the dirty work.

They’ve manually written the emails.
Built the landing pages.
Edited the videos.
Researched the markets.
Handled the customer support.
Created the systems.
Done the tedious repetitive stuff that just came with the territory.

So when AI shows up and starts eliminating friction, automating workflows, accelerating ex*****on, and acting like leverage on demand… they instantly recognize how massive this moment really is.

Because they know what life looked like before.

Ironically, a lot of the people dismissing AI are the people who never fully got in the game to begin with. Sometimes because the process felt too overwhelming, too technical, too frustrating, or too time consuming.

But honestly?

There has never been a better time in the history of the world to build a thriving one-person business.

The tools are better.
The leverage is higher.
The overhead is lower.
The margins are fatter.

If you’ve been sitting on the sidelines, this might be the best opportunity you’ll ever get to step into the arena.

👊🏻

05/04/2026

It’s time we have a serious conversation.

Right now.

Because the gap is widening, and most people are pretending it isn’t.

There have always been two types of people.

The ones who take action.
And the ones who get ready to get ready.

That’s not new.

What’s new is the speed at which this gap is exploding, especially with AI.

Let me be blunt.

The people who are winning right now are not the smartest.
They’re not the most prepared.
They’re not the ones with the perfect plan.

They’re the ones in the game.

They’re clicking buttons.
Breaking things.
Trying tools.
Taking courses.
Getting coaching.
Shipping imperfect work.

They’re not ready either.

They just move anyway.

Meanwhile, there’s a massive group of people convincing themselves they’re “in it”…

Because they signed up for the webinar.
Because they grabbed the lead magnet.
Because they registered for the free challenge.

But they never log in.
They never watch.
They never implement.

They confuse access with action.

And that’s where this gets dangerous.

Because the people who are actually doing the work are compounding.

Daily.

While everyone else is sitting on a pile of unused information wondering why nothing is changing.

You’ve heard the phrase, “knowledge is power.”

It’s not.

If it were, librarians would run the world.

Knowledge without implementation is just noise.

The real power is ex*****on.

And right now, ex*****on is separating people faster than ever.

This isn’t about AI tools.

It’s about behavior.

AI just exposes it.

So here’s the question you need to sit with:

Are you actually doing the work…
or are you just collecting opportunities to maybe do it later?

Because one of those paths leads somewhere.

The other just feels productive.

And those are not the same thing.

👊🏻

04/17/2026

The AI space is moving fast right now.

In just the last couple of days, OpenAI rolled out major Codex upgrades, Google pushed a stack of new Gemini features, Anthropic released a new model, and Perplexity made another strong move toward AI that can actually operate across apps, files, and workflows, not just answer prompts.

That’s the part that matters.

We’re not just watching smarter chatbots show up.

We’re watching the interface to work itself start changing.

This is where it usually breaks down for people:

They keep treating AI like a novelty instead of a skill.

They watch from the sidelines.

They wait until the tools feel “settled.”

That’s a mistake.

The people who win with this stuff are not the ones who waited for perfect clarity.
They’re the ones who got in the game early, built reps, and learned by doing.

You do not need to master everything overnight. But you do need to start.

Pick a tool.
Pick a workflow.
Pick one real use case in your business.
Then start building familiarity now, while most people are still just spectating.

Because once these tools move from “interesting” to “expected,” the gap between users and non-users gets very real, very fast.

👊🏻

04/16/2026

Most people are playing with AI right now.

A much smaller group is figuring out how to actually use it to create leverage.

That gap?

That’s where the opportunity is.

Because the game is shifting…

It’s no longer about who has the biggest team.

It’s about who knows how to use AI to get the output of a team… without needing one.

But here’s the problem I see over and over:

People know AI matters.
They just don’t have a clear path to apply it in their business.

That’s why I look for people who are actually doing it, not just talking about it, like my friend Russell Brunson.

I’ve known Russell for over a decade.

I’ve partnered with him on launches, taught inside his programs, spoken at his masterminds, and seen how he builds and teaches from the inside.

He’s exceptionally good at taking complex ideas and turning them into something practical you can actually use.

And he consistently overdelivers.

So when he told me he was putting something together around AI, he got my attention.

He and his co-founder Todd are hosting a free 5-day AI Secrets Challenge starting April 27.

They’re walking through the actual AI systems they’re using inside their business right now.

Not concepts. Not future predictions. Real workflows.

Here’s a quick look:

• Your AI “Chief of Staff”
• An AI-powered marketing engine
• The opportunity most people are missing
• A content system that keeps running
• Building a simple software product without coding

Plus guest experts throughout the week.

If you’re serious about using AI to grow your business instead of just experimenting with it…

This is a strong place to start.

👉 https://gambrill.com/ais2026

P.S. Change is coming, and it's a lot easier to be a proactive part of the change instead of getting changed when you aren't expecting it. Do this. Future you will be so glad you did.

What If You Could Do In 3 Days What Took Them A Decade To Learn?

03/25/2026

Unappo.

It’s a term I created to describe something I think is going to become a lot more common over the next few years.

Unappo means “an app for one.”

It’s the idea that instead of relying only on existing software, you can start creating small, simple tools for yourself to solve your own problems.

Not for a big audience.
Not for a startup.
Not to impress anyone.

Just to make your own life easier.

Think about how many little things you do every day that feel… inefficient.

Rewriting the same types of emails.
Organizing notes after calls.
Turning ideas into something usable.
Jumping between tools to get one outcome.

Most people have just accepted those things as “part of the process.”

But now, with AI and modern tools, a lot of that friction is actually optional.

That’s where this idea comes in.

An Unappo could be:

A simple prompt that helps you think or write more clearly.
A small workflow that takes messy input and gives you structured output.
A script or automation that removes a repetitive task.
A personal system that helps you make better decisions faster.

None of these need to be perfect.

They just need to work for you.

That’s the shift.

For a long time, software was something you used.

Now, it’s increasingly something you can shape.

And the interesting part is… the best place to start isn’t with some big idea.

It’s with your own friction.

The little things that slow you down.
The steps you repeat.
The processes you wish were easier.

Those are signals.

Each one is an opportunity to build something small that makes everything just a bit smoother.

And when you stack enough of those small improvements together, the impact is not small at all.

It compounds.

That’s what Unappo is really about.

Not building software for the world.

Building the right tools for yourself.

Because in a world where everyone has access to powerful tools…

The advantage goes to the people who know how to use them to reduce friction and create leverage in their own lives.

👊🏻

03/21/2026

AI Right Now Feels a Lot Like Early GPS

Remember printing directions from MapQuest?

Or walking into AAA to get that paper TripTik?

Then those early GPS units showed up. Garmin. TomTom. Suction cup on the windshield.

And most people still didn’t trust them.

That’s exactly where we are with AI right now.

We are not in the "AI is fully embedded and invisible" phase.

We are in the "early GPS device sitting on your dashboard" phase.

Some people are using it.
Most people are aware of it.
Very few people are using it well.

Let’s break it down.

Back then, you had the MapQuest crowd.

Print the directions.
Follow them step by step.
Miss a turn? Good luck.

That’s how a lot of people are using AI today.

They’re:

* Copying and pasting prompts
* Treating it like a search engine
* Hoping for a perfect answer

Helpful? Sure.
Transformational? Not even close.

Then you had the early GPS adopters.

Separate device.
Kind of clunky.
Not always accurate.

And most importantly, not fully trusted.

So what did people do?

They used it… but they didn’t blindly follow it.

They double-checked.
They compared it to what they already knew.
They kept their hands on the wheel.

That is exactly how AI needs to be used right now.

Because early GPS had limitations:

* No real-time traffic
* Outdated maps
* No awareness of local patterns

If you knew a high school was letting out at 2:30pm, you avoided that road.

Even if the GPS told you it was the "fastest" route.

AI is the same way.

It can get you 70 to 80 percent of the way there.

But it doesn’t have taste.
It doesn’t have full context.
It doesn’t know your business, your audience, or your standards.

That part is still on you.

You have to guide it.
Refine it.
Decide when something is good and when it’s not.

Now here’s where this gets interesting.

Eventually GPS evolved.

Real-time traffic.
Automatic rerouting.
Fully embedded in your phone.

You don’t even think about it anymore.

That’s where AI is going.

More context.
Better memory.
More automation.

But we are not fully there yet.

So here’s the takeaway.

The people who win right now are not the ones ignoring AI.

And they’re not the ones blindly trusting it either.

They’re the ones who learn:

* When to use it
* How to guide it
* When to override it

AI is not your replacement. It’s your co-pilot.

But you’re still flying the plane.

Start using it daily.
Get reps in.
Pay attention to where it helps and where it falls short.

Because right now?

The tool is here.

The skill gap is the opportunity.

And most people are still printing MapQuest directions in 2026.

👊🏻

03/08/2026

There has never been a better time in history to build a business as a speaker, trainer, coach, consultant, or digital creator.

The tools are everywhere.
The platforms are everywhere.
The playbooks are everywhere.

You can build a course.
You can run a group coaching program.
You can launch a membership.
You can sell digital products.
You can automate your marketing.

And if you want to, you can run just about any playbook you can imagine.

Want to grow through content? You can do that.
Want to run webinars? You can do that.
Want to build an email list and sell through funnels? You can do that too.

There are dozens of paths that work.

But here is the part people miss.

You actually have to run the playbook.

You have to do the beginning, the middle, and the end.

You have to get attention.
You have to move some people into interest.
You have to build desire.
You have to ask for the sale.
And then you have to deliver.

In other words, you have to run the whole funnel.

What I see a lot of people do instead is run Step 1… then abandon the playbook.

Or they run Step 2… then decide the strategy "doesn’t work."

It reminds me of a science experiment we all did in elementary school.

Remember the one where you put a seed in a cup?

You add some dirt.
You put it on the windowsill so it gets sunlight.
You water it every couple of days.

If you do those things consistently, after a few days the seed sprouts.

Then it grows.

Then it keeps growing.

But imagine doing that experiment and digging the seed up after two days.

"This must be a bad seed."

So you throw it out and plant another one.

Then two days later you dig that one up too.

Then another.
Then another.

That is exactly how a lot of people run their businesses online.

They plant the seed.
Then they dig it up.

They start the funnel.
Then they abandon it.

They launch the idea.
Then they pivot before it even has a chance to grow.

The key to success online is not finding a magical seed.

The key is planting one… and actually letting it grow.

Run the playbook.

See it through.

Water the seed.

🌱