Using AI to as a professional coach and negotiator (bonus: my new AI podcasting co-hosts)

0:00:04 Hey everyone, Kevin Rose here. I am on my iPhone. I am in the middle of nowhere,
0:00:09 about two and a half hours outside of London, doing a little hike out here for a few days.
0:00:14 But I wanted to publish a quick little podcast that tells you about a new article that I have,
0:00:21 which is all around creating your own custom AI agents that take in any data that you upload.
0:00:26 And in this case, for the article that I wrote, it’s all about taking in book data. So you get
0:00:33 a PDF of any book and you can upload it to your own custom GPT and then ask questions of that book,
0:00:38 not questions in the sense that you get quoted answers from the book, but where the AI actually
0:00:45 assimilates the information inside of the book and then can act as your mentor and help you with
0:00:49 whatever framework is in that book. So in the example I gave in the article, I uploaded a book
0:00:55 called Crucial Conversations and it’s helping me do negotiations and a whole slew of different
0:00:59 things that I’ve been using for lately. It’s a really fascinating way to leverage books, to let
0:01:06 books become living, breathing, kind of acting agents on your behalf that are your guides,
0:01:10 your coaches in everyday life. And you got to go check it out. It’s a free article. It’s over
0:01:16 at KevinRose.com. But what’s even more crazy is I took that article that I wrote and I dumped it
0:01:24 into Notebook, which is a new feature from Google that is actually a way to upload various different
0:01:30 documents inside of this AI environment. It’s called Notebook LM from Google. And then you can
0:01:34 ask questions of that data. So there’s a lot of competing companies that are working more or less
0:01:39 in the same vein. This is Google’s offering. There’s also obviously Claude. Let’s you upload their own
0:01:46 custom files as well. And then you can create custom GPTs with chat GPT. Anyway, long story
0:01:50 short, the one thing that’s fun about Google and Notebook is that you can click a button and it
0:01:59 creates a podcast from your data. So what you are about to hear right now is 100% AI, zero edits.
0:02:06 I didn’t prompt it in any way. All I did was give it the article from my actual published blog post
0:02:12 that I put on my site. And it created a podcast with two hosts to explain the article to you. So
0:02:18 enjoy that. This is all AI. And then go check out the article at KevinRose.com. Also, lastly,
0:02:25 before we get started, I’ve lowered the fees on my sub-stack. It’s $5 a month now, primarily because
0:02:29 it’s not a business for me. But I want to have a little bit of a wall guard and I’ll weigh that
0:02:34 if you’re really into this stuff and you want to chat more about everything that’s going on with AI
0:02:39 or that’s going on with, you know, investments that we’re excited about or a whole slew of
0:02:43 different topics that we cover in our chat. We have a private chat that is for members only.
0:02:47 It’s only $5 a month now. I’ve been donating all the proceeds to charity.
0:02:51 We’ve funded some great studies. So go check that out over at KevinRose.com as well.
0:02:56 And I hope to see you in chat and we’ll have some fun in there. All right, enjoy this. This is AI.
0:03:00 And remember, this is, I mean, enough people have said this now, but this is the worst it’s ever
0:03:04 going to be. Like this is in two years from now, you’re not even going to know whether this is me
0:03:08 or not. It’s actually going to sound like a real legit podcast, which is kind of cool because then
0:03:12 I can just stop podcasting and just let AI do it for me. Anyway, enjoy this.
0:03:17 – Ever find yourself in that situation where you read something amazing, like some insightful
0:03:21 advice in a book, but you can’t quite figure out how to apply it to your own life.
0:03:26 – Yeah, I totally get that. It’s super common. It’s like absorbing the information is one thing,
0:03:31 right? But actually taking that and making it work for you in your day to day, that’s the real hurdle.
0:03:35 – It’s like you almost wish you could have a personal coaching session with the author,
0:03:39 you know, to really break down the key takeaways and figure out, okay,
0:03:43 how do I actually use this advice? – Absolutely. It’s about making that theoretical knowledge
0:03:48 work in a practical way and everyone’s situation is different. So that’s a big part of it too.
0:03:56 – Totally. Well, on that note, get this, you could actually use AI to basically turn any book into
0:04:02 your own personal coach using this thing called custom GPTs. – Exactly. And this technology,
0:04:06 it’s really changing how we learn in such a cool way because it makes it so personalized.
0:04:11 – Okay. I have to be honest, that sounds a little intimidating, Techie. Can you break
0:04:18 it down? Like what exactly is a custom GPT? – Okay. So picture this. It’s like having a digital
0:04:22 version of the author right there with you, ready to answer any question you have and give you advice
0:04:27 based on their expertise. And you can bet their advice comes straight from the source, the book
0:04:31 itself. – Okay. So it’s like it learns everything in the book, but then how do I actually use it?
0:04:37 So you upload the book, usually as a PDF, the AI then goes through it all. And I don’t mean just
0:04:42 skimming. It’s really going deep, processing everything to understand the nuances, the main
0:04:47 arguments, everything. And once it’s done that, you can ask it questions related to your own life.
0:04:52 – Okay. So for example, let’s say I’m prepping for this big presentation at work,
0:04:57 and I’m super nervous. I’m reading crucial conversations to get some tips. So with this,
0:05:01 I could actually use the custom GPT to help me prep for the presentation.
0:05:07 – You got it. You would upload crucial conversations. And then you could ask your GPT
0:05:12 something like, okay, how do I handle tough questions from the audience during my presentation?
0:05:17 And it would use the book’s strategies and give you advice specific to that situation,
0:05:21 just like you had your own personal coach. – That’s amazing. So theoretically,
0:05:25 you could have access to personalized expert guidance on pretty much any topic,
0:05:30 just by giving the AI the right book. – Exactly. Think of it as having your own
0:05:33 private workshop with the author, but it’s tailored to you and you can do it anytime.
0:05:39 – It really makes you think differently about how we learn. It’s not just passively reading anymore.
0:05:44 It’s about being able to really engage with the material and make it work in our own lives.
0:05:50 – That’s exactly what custom GPTs do so well. They bridge that gap. You understand the what,
0:05:54 but they help you figure out the how, and in a way that really matters to you.
0:05:59 – It’s like having the ultimate cheat sheet, but even better because you’re actually learning
0:06:02 the how and the why behind it all. – Yeah, totally. It’s about giving you the
0:06:07 knowledge to handle those tricky situations that come up in life. – Okay, so let’s say I’m sold.
0:06:14 I want in on this whole custom GPT thing. What’s it like? Do I need to be some kind of tech wizard?
0:06:18 – Not at all. It’s getting easier to use all the time. There are platforms now where it’s
0:06:23 literally just uploading your PDF and the AI takes it from there. – So just to make sure I’m
0:06:30 getting this right, if let’s say I have trouble giving feedback at work, I want to be honest,
0:06:36 but I also don’t want to be mean about it. Could I use a book on communication skills
0:06:41 and get advice for my specific situation? – Absolutely. You could upload that book and
0:06:47 ask your GPT something like, okay, how do I tell my coworker their presentation needs work without
0:06:51 totally crushing them? – And it would use what’s in the book, but make it make sense for that
0:06:56 conversation. That’s wild. It’s like a private coaching session, but with the wisdom of a whole
0:07:00 book behind it. – Exactly. That’s what’s so cool about it. You have this huge amount of knowledge,
0:07:06 but it helps you focus on the parts that matter most for your situation, for what you’re going
0:07:10 through. – This makes me think about all the books I’ve read and wished I could revisit
0:07:17 with like a specific problem in mind, but I’m curious, does it just like spit back quotes from
0:07:22 the book? Or is it really understanding the information and creating something new? – It’s
0:07:26 way more than just spitting back quotes. It’s trained on everything, so it understands the
0:07:32 context, the examples, the whole deal. Then it uses all that to give you an answer. – So it’s not
0:07:37 copying its understanding, which makes me feel better. – And since it’s AI, it never stops learning,
0:07:43 becoming more sophisticated in how it uses the information. – It makes you rethink how we learn.
0:07:47 It’s not just knowing a lot of stuff now. It’s about being able to actually use it when you need to.
0:07:51 – That’s a really important point. There’s so much information out there, but being able to use
0:07:57 what you learn is more valuable than ever. – Totally. It’s like that saying, knowledge is power,
0:08:03 but only if you know how to use it, right? – Right. – And this custom GPT thing, it’s like that key
0:08:08 to unlocking that power in a way that makes sense for you. – Exactly. It connects that gap between
0:08:13 just knowing something and being able to do something with that knowledge. – Okay, so just to be clear,
0:08:17 we’re not saying this makes you an expert overnight or anything, right? It’s more about
0:08:22 having those tools to learn from the best and put it into practice. – Exactly. It’s like having a
0:08:27 secret weapon to help you navigate all the tricky parts of life and work. – It’s like having a whole
0:08:31 team of experts in your back pocket ready to share their wisdom whenever you need it. – And
0:08:36 the coolest thing is, it’s becoming so much more accessible. – Right. You don’t have to be a genius
0:08:41 or spend a ton of money. – You really don’t. A lot of times, all you need is a book and the
0:08:45 internet. That’s it. – It’s pretty amazing when you think about it. Makes you wonder what’s next
0:08:51 for this whole thing. – Oh, it’s changing so fast. Imagine being able to combine multiple books.
0:08:58 – Whoa, okay. So you’re saying like creating a custom GPT from like a bunch of different experts?
0:09:04 – Exactly. Think about it. Your own personal board of advisors, all those perspectives coming
0:09:08 together. – That’s mind-blowing. The things you could do with that kind of knowledge,
0:09:12 it’s incredible. – It really is. It’ll be interesting to see where this technology goes,
0:09:17 you know, how we use it to learn in the future. – Well, this has been a really eye-opening deep
0:09:22 dive. – I agree. – I know. I’m definitely rethinking how I learn and how I can use these tools
0:09:27 to really make the most of what I read. – Me too. It’s exciting to see how technology can help us
0:09:32 learn and grow, you know. – Absolutely. And for everyone listening, we want to hear from you.
0:09:37 What book would you choose for your own custom GPT coach? What situation would you use it for?
0:09:40 Think about that as you explore this whole new world of AI-powered learning.