How are real businesses using AI right now? In this episode of Real AI Use Cases Business Owners Roundtable, Elizabeth Gearhart and Richard Gearhart are joined by Michael Housman of AI Performance Lab and Chris Fabregas of Chris Fabregas Fine Art Prints for a candid discussion about practical AI applications, AI agents, automation, creativity, marketing, copyright, AI tools, jobs, and the rapidly changing business landscape.
Michael Housman explains how AI agents automate his speaking engagement process, saving him two to three hours every day by tracking inquiries, contracts, travel, follow-ups and preparation. He also shares how businesses are using AI to automate repetitive work, increase marketing output, reduce costs and give employees opportunities to focus on higher-value work.
Chris Fabregas explains how he is using AI to enhance photography, create massive fine-art prints, animate photographs, streamline Shopify product descriptions and transform his creative business. He also shares how he used Suno AI to help produce his song “Fireflies on I65” after writing the lyrics himself.
The conversation tackles a major question for creative professionals: Can AI be both a threat to creative work and a powerful new tool for creators? The guests discuss AI-generated art, photography being copied or used to create derivative artwork, copyright concerns, and how creative professionals may need to adapt their businesses as AI becomes more capable.
The roundtable also explores AI agents that can access computers and perform tasks, including drafting emails, creating presentations, browsing the web, managing calendars and interacting with files. The group discusses the importance of safeguards when AI has access to sensitive business information.
Elizabeth Gearhart shares how she uses AI for content creation, deep research and answer engine optimization (AEO), including researching how businesses can become more visible in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and other AI answer engines.
The discussion also compares different AI models and tools, including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Grok and Microsoft Copilot, and explores their different strengths for research, writing, multimedia, automation and business tasks.
The episode goes beyond the hype to examine what AI actually looks like inside businesses today—and how entrepreneurs, small business owners, creatives and professionals can use AI to save time, increase productivity, develop new capabilities and adapt to rapid technological change.
TL;DR
Real businesses are already using AI to automate repetitive work, improve marketing, enhance creative projects, create content, analyze business data and operate AI agents. Michael Housman discusses AI agents that save hours of administrative work, while Chris Fabregas explains how AI is helping him expand photography and music projects. The roundtable also examines AI copyright concerns, job disruption, AI literacy, model comparisons, computer-using AI agents, data privacy and the challenge of keeping up with rapidly evolving AI technology.
FAQs:
What are some real-world AI use cases for small businesses?
Small businesses are using AI for marketing, content creation, repetitive task automation, business analysis, customer communications, product descriptions, creative work, research and administrative workflows.
How can AI agents automate business tasks?
AI agents can move work through multi-step processes, identify when follow-up is needed, provide reminders, draft communications, work with calendars and files, browse the web and perform other computer-based tasks. Michael Housman describes using AI agents to automate his speaking engage...
Chapters
- (00:00:00) - Intro and Guest Introductions
- (00:00:57) - Michael's AI-Powered Speaking Business Automation
- (00:02:24) - Chris's Photography and AI Print Enhancement
- (00:03:52) - Richard's Legal Practice AI Strategy Use
- (00:04:50) - Elizabeth's Use of AI for Content and SEO
- (00:06:30) - Michael's Background and Democratization of AI
- (00:07:14) - Chris Writes a Song Using AI (Suno)
- (00:10:16) - Business Innovation Examples and Job Impact
- (00:12:02) - Pace of AI Change and Adaptation Challenges
- (00:13:36) - AI and Creative Ownership Debate
- (00:15:48) - Photographer's Perspective on AI Disruption
- (00:17:55) - Email Overload and Agent-to-Agent Communication
- (00:19:31) - Claude's Snarkiness and Model Comparisons
- (00:21:11) - Chasing the ChatGPT Answer Engine
- (00:23:13) - Claude's Agentic Computer Control
- (00:24:22) - Data Privacy and Trust in AI Agents
- (00:26:25) - Chris's Favorite Tools and AI in Business Apps
- (00:28:31) - AI Sparking New Creative Ideas
- (00:30:58) - Favorite LLMs and Copilot Complaints
- (00:32:50) - MCPs, Token Waste, and AI Business Models
- (00:35:14) - Energy Use and Data Centers Debate
- (00:38:48) - Data Center Location and Latency Discussion
- (00:40:02) - AI Image Generation Tools Comparison
- (00:41:37) - Book, Song Plugs, and Closing Remarks
