AI Field Notes - Issue No. 6

by Len Ward

1. From the Journal

This week made one thing clear: AI is no longer about automation — it’s about intelligence.

The release of GPT-4o (internally called “o3”) isn’t just a performance bump. It changes the depth, speed, and modality of how machines process information — and that shifts how leaders should build.

We’re not building teams of people anymore. We’re building systems that think with us.
To keep up, businesses need to develop an AI cadence — a consistent rhythm for how knowledge, decision-making, and execution flow through the organization.

2. Signals From the Noise

OpenAI Launches GPT-4o (aka “O3”) — Fast, Multi-Modal, and Context-Aware

Quick Hit: GPT-4o integrates text, vision, and audio — and it does it fast.

Why It Matters: The headline might be “real-time voice,” but the real story is comprehension. GPT-4o absorbs complex documents, data, and images with minimal prompting. That depth unlocks new use cases in research, ops, and customer intelligence.

Next Move: I’ll unpack what this means for marketers and operators in a blog/video later this week — especially how to use GPT-4o as a thinking partner, not just a task bot.

Stop Thinking in Terms of Software Stacks — Think in AI Systems

Quick Hit: Traditional SaaS stacks are proprietary and fixed. AI tools are modular, open, and fast-evolving.

Why It Matters: Locking into a long-term contract with a platform that “does AI” is risky. The real edge is building your own data flows and agent logic, not getting stuck inside someone else’s dashboard.

Next Move: Our advice: rent the tools, own the strategy. Be ready to rebuild in 6 months — because you will.

Automated Teams + Fractional AI Support Are the New Ops Model

Quick Hit: We’re not hiring more people — we’re building out agent-driven roles with a fractional support team behind them.

Why It Matters: Marketing, service, and internal ops are becoming modular. Think AI strategist, writer, analyst — all backed by a lean human layer.

Next Move: Commexis is building and maintaining these models for clients right now. It’s not staff augmentation. It’s systems management.

3. In the Lab

Here’s what our team at Commexis is building and testing this week:

GPT-4o for Research Workflows

Feeding long-form research into custom GPTs to generate deeper, cleaner strategy outputs for both client and internal use.

Internal Search Bots

Experimenting with AI search across large internal data sets for faster customer service, reporting, and SOP retrieval.

Private LLM with Snowflake

Early-stage build of a closed-loop marketing system — an LLM trained solely on a client’s data, isolated for full control and IP security.

Asset + Video Creation Platform

Testing a platform that generates and distributes creative assets (video, banners, copy) across multiple channels in seconds — directly from prompt to publish.

4. Action Steps for Leaders This Week

Start mapping out your AI cadence — where AI touches your ops weekly, not just during “transformation projects.”
Audit your tech stack. Ask: Which tools are actually proprietary? Which ones could be replaced with AI logic + open APIs?
Assign one team lead to build a GPT-based assistant — even if it’s basic — for internal or client-facing use. Learning is in the doing.
Don’t chase “full automation” yet. Chase augmentation first.