[AI SPRINT] Winning Future Customers and Recent AI Advances

Whew! The past few weeks have been nonstop—traveling for talks, landing new clients, and building AI software. I’ve been flat-out helping people and companies jumpstart their AI journeys. That means I missed the last AI SPRINT newsletter, so today I’m catching up and have plenty to share. First up: big-picture strategy. Then, the most interesting new AI updates you should know about, especially from Google.

How Will Future Customers Find Your Business?

We’ve always relied on Google searches, online ads, or a clever social post to help people find our businesses. But there’s a seismic shift underway: AI assistants—like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and the latest from Google and Apple—are fast becoming the new front doors to the internet.

The game is changing from “How do I rank on Google?” to “What answer does the AI give when someone asks about businesses like mine?” As Fortune recently pointed out, these AIs are giving users direct answers, often without ever showing them a website. ChatGPT recently rolled out its Shopping functionality following Perplexity’s Shopping launch late last year, keeping shoppers within their AI applications instead of finding products via normal web search or business websites.

A recent study of 391 SMB websites showed a 130% increase in traffic from AI apps, while Google Searches appear to be dropping—enough that Google recently made a statement they continue to see “overall query growth” as the viability of their search business is questioned.

For business leaders, this isn’t just a trend for the Marketing department. It’s a fundamental change in how new customers will discover you (or not!) in the coming years that requires a deep evaluation of the viability of your business.

The Future Customer: Discovery Is Just the Start

Here’s the thing: the shift isn’t just about how your future customer finds you—it’s about what happens after they do. AI-powered discovery is just the entry point. The next wave is about how your future customer will want to engage, transact, and be served. That’s all likely to change as well, and this is a core issue few businesses are discussing.

Let’s make this real with a few examples:

• AI as the Customer’s Personal Agent:
  Imagine a traveler looking for a boutique hotel. Instead of searching websites, their AI assistant asks, “What’s the best hotel in downtown Austin for a business trip?”—then not only recommends yours, but also books the room, requests a late check-in, and adds local dining suggestions, all without the customer ever visiting your website.

• Healthcare and Appointments:
  A patient’s health assistant recommends top-rated clinics nearby, checks insurance compatibility, books a slot, and sends over relevant medical records—all AI-to-AI.

• B2B Distribution: Automated Replacement Parts Ordering:
  Picture a facilities manager whose building automation system detects a failing HVAC component. Their AI automatically queries approved distributors, compares stock and prices, places an order for the replacement part, and arranges for delivery—no emails, no phone calls, just instant fulfillment behind the scenes.

In every sector, your future customer’s AI will expect to be able to search, interact, transact, and solve problems—often without direct human interaction.

And note: this is not a far off vision—these capabilities are here now.

AI companies have standardized on how AI agents will securely coordinate with the Model Context Protocol, and Microsoft announced yesterday it is building the capability directly into their Windows operating system and AI products.

The first question to answer is: will your business be ready to serve customers in this way?

Now Is the Time to Position to Win

There are very few non-tech companies that are prepared for how future AI-powered customers will want to work with your business. The good news is that you don’t need to be there, yet.

But you do need a plan.

This brings us to the big question:
Are you positioning your company to win the next phase of your industry—one where AI-driven discovery, interaction, and service are the norm?

Most companies today are still experimenting with AI, while the ground is shifting beneath them.

The organizations that win will be the ones who act now to align their strategy with how future customers (and their AIs!) find, choose, and engage with them.

At Amazon, when thinking big about future products and services we wanted to create, we often started with the question: “What will future customers want?”

This is a perfect question to orient your leadership team to today’s changing, AI-enabled world: you can start to look at the trends playing out to see how your organization may need to enhance its positioning, products and services, and customer acquisition strategies.

Yes, it might feel early to make solid decisions on exactly how to implement these changes. The landscape is evolving quickly, and there’s still a lot we don’t know about how every tool will work.

But it’s not too early to get clear about what your future customer looks like, what services you want to offer, and when you’ll need to be ready to support them.  

The winning companies are already moving—imagining the next phase, mapping new customer journeys, and positioning themselves to show up where it matters most.

Don’t wait for certainty—prepare for opportunity.

The AI SPRINT POSITION Step: Your Playbook for the AI Future

In the AI SPRINT framework, the POSITION step is built specifically for you to explore who your future customers are, how they’ll find you, and what they’ll want from your business, both in traditional and through AI-powered channels.

This step shouldn’t be just a thought exercise. It’s the beginning of your real strategic shift:

• Choose a direction: Define the kinds of customers you want to serve in the future and the role your business will play in their AI-driven journeys. Consider: are your customers likely to change? Can you win new customer segments, or adjacent services with AI?

• Set timeframes: Decide when you want to be ready: will your company lead, follow, or risk being left behind?

• Assign ownership: Make it someone’s job—not everyone’s. Give a leader clear responsibility for mapping future customer needs and building AI-ready engagement, from discovery to fulfillment of your services via AI.

• Take action: Start piloting new ways to be discovered, engaged, and transacted with both humans and AI assistants.

 To start, just ask:

• How will your company show up in an AI-powered world?

• What experiences and services will future customers expect from you—and from their AI assistants interacting with you?

• What needs to be true for your company to become the obvious answer—no matter how the question is asked?

The POSITION step is about making your future vision real. The sooner you start, the more likely you’ll be the one setting the pace for your industry.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is now being replaced by “Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), where websites and other content are built for AIs rather than search bots. You can get started now to improve your AI visibility with these initial steps:

1. Ask the AIs: Try asking ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google’s Gemini about your business or industry. Where do you show up? What’s missing?

2. Get your data house in order: Make sure your business information, product feeds, and customer reviews are accurate, accessible, and visible to these new answer engines. Put as much data as you can online to support your brand, positioning, and products.

3. Extend beyond your own borders: AIs will give more credibility to brands that have presence across the internet, not just your own website. Distribute information about your company across many channels to create the most visibility and credibility.

4. Stay curious: The field is moving fast. Keep an eye on how AI recommendations are evolving in your space, and experiment early.

The future customer is closer than you think. Let’s make sure they (and their AI assistants) can not only find you—but love what they experience when they do.

Key AI Product Updates

As always, there are many new AI product features being announced each week. Here are some key announcements you should know about:

1. AI Software Developers: Following the success of Cursor and Vercel, OpenAI announced “Codex”, their first software development agent. Google just followed, announcing their “Jules” agent. Both plug natively into the Github code repository, making it simple for any software developer to use AI to augment their work.

   Leader Take-Away: Your technology team should be exploring these tools now—they can increase productivity by up to 50%. Expect and require your team to become familiar to improve how they support your organization.

2. Google Tries to Show AI Progress: After a slow start, Google has launched multiple new AI features—these are still a bit fragmented, but show real progress and keep Google in the AI race:

   1. Google Gemini Updates: Highlights include: live screenshare, upcoming Agents, embedding Gemini within the Chrome browser, and using Deep Research against your uploaded files.

   2. Search AI Mode: This summer, Google search AI overviews will be replaced with an “AI Mode” tab with customized results and other capabilities, blending search and Gemini features.

   3. Veo 3: Video Creator with Audio: Includes voice, background, and other effects, synchronized to video. High quality AI Video has now arrived.

   4. Imagen 4: Updated Image Generation: Better, faster to compete with OpenAI and Midjourney.

   5. Google Flow: New Video Creation Software Studio: Video and marketing professionals now get a studio to do their AI-generated video development.

   6. Google Shopping AI: Now agent-ified, Google Shopping will watch for price reductions and buy products on your behalf, along with other features.

3. ChatGPT: You can now export Deep Research results to PDF (awesome), and GPT-4.1 was released within the App (under “More Models”). GPT-4.1 beats GPT-4o generally in my experience, but time will tell.

4. Microsoft Announcements: At its “Build” developer-focused event this week, Microsoft announced many AI product updates, all oriented toward building better AI applications within the Microsoft stack. For companies who want to stay locked into Microsoft for the future of their AI-enabled business, there is a compelling ecosystem being developed.

Final Word

For Leaders: Start shaping your future customer strategy now—with clarity, curiosity, and the courage to lead. Set the vision, empower your people, and show them how AI can help your business win—not just survive.

For Individuals: Consider your own brand, and how it will be discovered, and then how you can support your organization in finding and servicing your future customers!

Need help bringing this mindset into your team? Let’s chat about how to position your company for the future—faster.

About Trent: Trent Gillespie is an AI Keynote Speaker, CEO of Stellis AI, former Amazon leader, and advisor on building AI-Native, AI-Enabled businesses. Book Trent to speak to your group or book a call to discuss using AI within your business.

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