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The Wishbone Tradition is adorable.
Two people fight for a future where neither of them will keep those resolutions anyway.
00:00 - Opening Joke: The Wishbone Tradition 00:20 - Studio Upgrades & Audio Note 01:00 - Junior Staff & AI Job Displacement 02:00 - The Problem with Losing Entry-Level Talent 02:50 - Prompt Bias & Innovation from Juniors 03:40 - ChatGPT-5.1 Update and Chatty Mode 04:30 - Weird ChatGPT Responses (“Okay, babe” incident) 05:30 - Instant vs. Thinking Modes in GPT-5.1 06:10 - Business Insider Story: Tim DeSoto’s AI Pivot 07:00 - From No-Code to Real Startup 08:10 - AI as a Multiplier for Business Strengths 09:00 - Common Misconceptions about AI Accessibility 10:00 - AI Journey: From 60% to 95% Effectiveness 11:00 - Practical Examples: Workflow, 3D Printing, and Strategy 13:00 - Clarifying AI Use for Small Business Leaders 14:20 - Introducing Polarity’s AI Playbook 15:30 - Tailoring AI Roadmaps for Every Business Type 16:40 - AI Strategy vs. AI Hype 17:30 - Outro: Try the Playbook and Share Feedback
”AI Made Easy for Small Business” by Polarity.biz is a lively podcast hosted by successful small business owners, Jim Donio and Jeremy Ryan, offering practical insights and strategies to help fellow entrepreneurs harness the power of AI, boost competitiveness, and drive growth—all with a dash of humor and fun. No prior AI experience is necessary.
Jeremy (00:00)
The wishbone tradition is adorable. Two people fight for a future where neither of them will keep those resolutions anyway.
I mean, think evil AI is getting
Jim (00:20)
So after much process and reworking and we're still reworking some stuff but so bear with us if the we're working on some enhancements. ⁓
Jeremy (00:20)
So, much process, reworking it was a good thing. So, bear with us. For those who are watching the video
portion, we have these new battleship... B3.
Jim (00:35)
in place to try and continue to upgrade our audio.
So for you that can't see that, hopefully audio is better or worse. So we cooped up in the studio for all day. It is, it is. I do need a... I do. do. Okay, so a couple things, a couple little pieces, little tidbits in the news that are out there. There's an item in CNBC that...
Jeremy (00:45)
This is this is very special episode for Jim Jim needs a hug. I'm retitling this episode Jim needs a hug. Okay. So things pieces news that are out there. don't mean to see that.
Jim (01:02)
talked about junior staffers, junior employees, junior staff getting wiped out by, and we've talked about it on different episodes already
Jeremy (01:02)
Talk about the talk about junior staffers like junior junior employees, junior staff wiped out by different episodes.
Jim (01:11)
over the years, and that's getting wiped out by AI, right? And that in theory, it's like this is a great cost saver, it's gonna make big corporations a lot more money and more efficient. The problem is ⁓ there's no pipeline now. You have no talent pipeline who understands your culture, who understands...
Jeremy (01:14)
getting wiped out by AI. In theory, it's cost saver, it's corporations, money and the problem is, there's no pipeline. You have no talent. You know,
Jim (01:32)
all sorts of different aspects about your company and your customers or your clients or even your vendors or your workflows and how are you going to ask people to retire and get out? How are you
Jeremy (01:35)
or clients, or even defenders or and how are you going to hire get out?
Jim (01:42)
going to kind of feed them in? So that was kind of an interesting piece.
Jeremy (01:44)
I also want to point out and maybe this is a little bit of a dig on senior staff who are entrenched
management, but I will say this. Sometimes the most fantastic ideas come from juniors. They're fresh. They're not seeing things the same way that everything should be done or always be done this way. Which is actually another issue with AI is when you bring in your prompt biases, you're prompting it for an expected outcome.
Jim (02:06)
Yeah, yeah,
Jeremy (02:09)
a junior staff or somebody who's coming at an idea fresh, they're going to bring innovation. ⁓
Jim (02:10)
yeah Definitely so so it gets into a few different points. We're not gonna get too deep into it, but but just this
Jeremy (02:20)
Just this
Jim (02:21)
rush to say let's wipe all the entry level jobs out. Okay, yeah, helps the bottom line, but long term. Yeah, it's got to be a balance because you need to have at least a core of people, whether they're young in age or young with your company and in spirit. Absolutely, without a doubt. Another piece in a venture beat for just but just in general, I came out.
Jeremy (02:21)
rush to say, let's work on the entry level jobs now. Okay. Short-sighted. Foolish and short-sighted. Yeah, it's got to be about whether they're engaged with the company. And they're going to be the ones who carry the banner of culture. a doubt. This is one that think you probably do read more regularly. do.
Jim (02:45)
I do, yeah,
I do, a little bit. But just in general, like, it's just a piece about OpenAI coming out and rebooting ChatGPT with ⁓ ChatGPT 5.1, right? And so, 5 came out and people were a little testy about it. We covered that a little bit. ⁓
Jeremy (02:49)
Can I still be testy by the way like I feel like this is the slow death march of chat GPT like the all the look you were the one who pointed out to me how fantastic it is
to talk with Chachi PT right the banter that was because
before had all the warmth. I don't think so. Do you really think so? is your experience?
Friend of the podcast. blame all our mistakes today on him. Sorry Luke.
Jim (03:45)
Or help Any technical issues today are on Luke,
but Luke yesterday I think it was was like hey ⁓ He's texting me because we're going over stuff. He said what? ⁓ Look at the screenshot and he showed me how how chat GPT had ⁓ Had said had responded to him. He asked a pretty basic question and he'd never he doesn't use this term in conversation or with a chat and he got back a basic question and he got back ⁓
He goes, okay, babe, like it literally called him babe, which is weird. And so he's like, that's peculiar. I don't talk like that. No, not his vibe at all. Definitely. You're around enough to know that's not his, that's not his vibe, but like man, I don't even, but what I'm saying is bro, bro. ⁓ no, but not his vibe, also no, never, never uses it. And then he questioned it. I said, you got to ask it if it was related to, whatever.
Jeremy (04:21)
I was gonna ask does he say that kind of thing all the time?
We're
not that familiar Exactly. It oh yeah, guess I got a late. It was like apologetically humorous about it. was anyway, that brought up it. said, oh, you know, I just keep now whatever I said, we'll yard. be standing outside the podcast today. So I'm like, oh, we should cover that because that's something that I just take for granted or be false.
Jim (04:43)
Exactly. It's like, oh yeah, I guess I got a little like loose on you a little too. It was like apologetically humorous about it. was like kind of like, anyway, that brought up and I said, oh, well, you know that 5.1 just came out and whatever I sent a little link to the article. said, and that's why it's in the podcast episode today. Cause I'm like, oh, we should cover that because that's something that I just take for granted. Everybody follows this
stuff and no one follows it. Did you, I mean, you followed it. Yeah. Yeah. Of course. You have a lot of people don't. So a little, little piece in there and it gives you the difference between
instant and thinking modes. That's the enhancements. It's like a release. It's like, hey, so the instant like, give me the short of it, give me the short, you know, short answer. And then the thinking mode is just more in depth. So it will kind of process through in slightly different ways now. It does also like very, like very chatty when it wants to be too.
Jeremy (05:24)
Does it get in its own head? It does. I think the biggest problem that I have
from a
technology point of view, and this may be geekier than most people want to go, and I can own that, but I think the real worry for me is that all of those models that everybody said, well, what's the difference between 4.1 and 3.0? And I think in the back end, you still have those models, it's just auto switching. I think that's where you run the risk because sometimes it doesn't make a good guess.
Jim (05:38)
is that all of those powers that everybody said, what's the difference between the four V1 and the three O? And I think in the back end, it has stress of all these powers. And I think that's where the key part is because it's sometimes a good thing to have. No, and and that's actually a really good point because it did get too confusing
for people and people weren't switching and so for very complicated things They were you know asking the simple version and vice versa
We're getting into the bigger piece here and that's Business Insider. Another thing that I do actually, I read a lot of Business Insider. These are not, you're like, what is this? But this one made sense to you, I think, right? And that's the... Yeah, this was a piece that was recent, just a few days ago and that was... ⁓ Okay, good to know. So I switched from a corporate career...
Jeremy (06:08)
Getting into the... These are right up your alley, definitely not up mine. More like stemfriends.org, that's my bag. It should be, I'm gonna go out get the domain stemfriends.
Jim (06:35)
to launching an AI native company with no tech background. I do love, love, love these kinds of articles. No, but this guy was kind of down to earth. So here's the deal. Here's the deal. This guy named Tim DeSoto who transitioned from a non-technical job was actually the one part of reason. Hope worries him a little bit. And he worked for a big Fortune 500 company and he was 49 years old. So it's close to, know, like we're in iris age. So I kind of saw this and thought, Oh, that's kind of interesting.
Jeremy (06:37)
Yeah, okay, wait, wait, Am I emanating pain at this point? you little bit and he was years old and he
Jim (07:05)
And he jumped in and he thought, you
Jeremy (07:05)
jumped in and we thought
Jim (07:06)
know what, if I don't do this now, he started using Chachi BT three years ago when it first came out and as did I. so there were a lot of similarities. And then he's like, I have to stop what I'm doing and I have to immerse myself in this and new technologies in general related to AI. This is going to be generational change that's happening. And I don't want to miss the boat. And that's a kind of communicated in a clear way exactly how I felt. And I know I've kind of told that story.
Jeremy (07:06)
I don't ⁓
Jim (07:33)
but I felt like this was like a really good depiction. And obviously there are others
who've done this, but it was kind of cool seeing somebody who's almost 50 kind of go through it and that, you don't necessarily need your PhD in computer science to use AI effectively. I know you're going to get into the downsides because you love, love, love, but he built up, it's a small team. It's just him and him and maybe a helper or whatever. And he's built up a little, basic little system, but listen, we did kind of the same thing at first. We, we, he kind of,
Jeremy (07:52)
I'm no hater sir and he's built up a little, basic little, listen, we did kind of the same thing. He kind
of dappled into it once and for all.
Jim (08:02)
dabbled into a bunch of different things, thought through
Jeremy (08:05)
and use the technology to help him figure out what the best strategy would be and then use the tools to help him figure out which tools he can use and how he can use them best to let his company. We took that AI tool and went well right.
Jim (08:06)
and used the technology to help him figure out maybe what the best strategies would be, and then used the same tools to help him figure out which tools he could use and how he could use them best to build out his company. We took that AI first model as well, right, for our own company in every aspect, and we talk about that a lot, and that's how we learned. First, before we had clients. ⁓
Jeremy (08:22)
a lot and that's how we learned first before we had clients. You what I like about this article? I like that he demonstrated that if you lean into your strengths
and use AI to, if your adventure begins, in this case venture, but if your adventure with AI begins with what are you already doing well and how can I get into that further, I think you'll find a lot of success. think if you, like the problem, you know, as you pointed out, the things that I have an issue with,
Jim (08:39)
Right. Yeah.
Everything. All the things. the things. Coffee in the break room.
Jeremy (08:52)
is where people,
that drives me crazy. no, with all of the ⁓ AI pushers out there that talk about AI as being the one single savior of the Western Hemisphere and all of our economies, ⁓ it is not.
Jim (09:07)
the one ⁓
Jeremy (09:14)
going to solve all your problems. And the problem with this article is this guy did have some technology background, so he leaned into the things that he knew. Maybe he wasn't a developer like a hardcore computer scientist, but he wasn't afraid of it. And I think that there's something called Dunning-Kruger, which is a study, a psychology study that says, well, if it's easy for me, it's gotta be easy for everybody else.
And that's a real
fallacy. That's a problem when people push that kind of thing because then when they go to try it and they can't do it, they say, well, that must be me. So AI is not going to code your applications for you without you having some understanding of how to put it together.
Jim (09:37)
⁓ In his ⁓ case, right, but the barrier to entry is
lower. That's number one. And you can use these tools to help you learn how to use these tools. That's a major difference. And yes, you can go to TikTok, YouTube, or even our own platform and get insight and advice. But the simple reality is, ⁓
Jeremy (09:57)
That is fantastic.
and get insight and advice. But the simple reality is
Jim (10:07)
you now have more access to information and not just information and knowledge and tutorials free, plenty of them, almost all of them, many of them free or very low cost, but also ⁓ you have access to incredible tools that you can get either for free or low cost that let you help work through some of those strategies and also step-by-step actual, just write some of this code. He
Jeremy (10:07)
you now have more access to information and have information and knowledge and tutorials and you can do plenty of things for free for very low cost. But also you have access to incredible tools that you can use for free for low cost. And let you help work through some of those strategies and also step by step, we'll just write some of this code.
He highlighted how at first was like, got
Jim (10:31)
highlighted how, how at first it was like it might've gotten
60 or 70 % of the way there and then up to 80 then up to 90. We're seeing it here. We saw it even here just today when we were for four to five hours working out the logistics and AI automation of this podcast. I mean, I like being in this tomb all day. I
Jeremy (10:35)
him 60 or 70 % from there, I went to 90%. As your own skills grow, of course. We're seeing it here. saw it here just today when we were four or five hours. For those of you listening in at home, that was Jim's dig at me for taking him sit for four hours in the studio while I worked on some hardware and technical things.
Jim (10:58)
doom scrolled mostly. was largely I was doom scrolling. I was, I was.
No, we run into it too, right? Where we first started with a lot of these things, they were maybe 60%. I'm going to say 60 or 70%, 60 to 60 to 70 % there, got to 80, 90. And now in some cases are 95, 98%. And whether that's an LLM like Jatch EBT, it's like what we're seeing with embedded AI tools into like Riverside or things of that nature.
Jeremy (11:10)
60 or 70 percent and whether that's
Jim (11:33)
that automatically help with our streaming and our broadcast.
Jeremy (11:37)
You know, I don't ⁓
I'm not a hater really and I'm trying to be level-headed and realistic about it and so me the Finishing point on all of my ⁓ Would-be hater really isn't preamble there is that he leaned into? What he was already really good at and the reason why that's important is you then know the right questions to ask AI So if I'm like well
I want to go into thoracic surgery. AI teach me. I have not the first, I have no idea where to start. But if I were to say, hey, ⁓ you know, I have this idea in technology. Can you help me to automate whatever, you know, I want to make some automation platform for my 3D printer at home that I can just speak in an idea.
Jim (12:12)
But I would say, hey, I have this idea that technology can help me do auto-meaning, whatever. I want to make some auto-meaning content for my 3D printer at home that I can just speak in an idea,
operate something, put it in 3D, it sends that to my watch. if my printer runs out of power, can report this episode. It'll all be on the printer. That would be something that I would
Jeremy (12:28)
I'll create something, a little workflow that creates a 3D image, sends that to my Wi-Fi enabled printer, and by the time I get home from recording this episode, it'll be on the printer ready for me. That will be something in my
wheelhouse to do. Make me a thing, here are the dimensions, go ahead and do it. But thoracic surgery, it's not gonna happen.
Jim (12:41)
Right Right, and I would say not the best thing for a small business owner, but as a small business owner what you can do is is is work through ⁓
and Again talk through the steps in the journey and I think that's that's a lot of times the problem for a lot of small business owners They don't know where to start, but they also don't necessarily know all the steps in the journey or many of them
So they just think, well, this is what I want at the end. And this fast talking guy or woman on TikTok or somewhere is telling me it's easy or a post on Facebook said, I can, I've told my way to solving all my problems or one magical AI tool is going to fix every aspect of my business. Even the ones I don't know I need to fix. It's not true. It's not true. Yeah. If you are a coder, you can buy it. Sure.
Jeremy (13:28)
But if you're already that's it for me that last
A tag on that sentence was the most important part. If you are a coder, you can vibe code your way to success.
Jim (13:39)
But if you are a business leader, you can check, you can take your way to more efficiency with strategy and documentation to finally have a great strategic partnership. And if you're not a business owner and you just want to become one, you now have a great business mentor or opportunities for business mentors and the tools to go along with it to help you strategize, also
Jeremy (13:39)
But if you are a business leader, you can chat GPT your way to more efficiency with strategy and documentation as you finally have a great strategic partner that sort of got ideas. And you just want to become one. Now have business mentors or opportunities for business mentors and the tools to go along with it. Just try this guys.
Jim (14:01)
to help you think through and talk through. Look, I do that for a lot of potential business owners and budding entrepreneurs or...
and also even just existing business owners, just do it because I like doing it. And what I'm finding more more is I'm telling them, yeah, here's some, frame it out this way and use either our tool, the playbook, or go through and use some other tools that exist out there as well. Well, that's a great set up. you guys can talk about. It wasn't a set up, by the way. Well, 46 of us, we did, talked a great deal about security. We finally have a product that has been built. I'm super proud of it. I'm really proud of it.
Jeremy (14:22)
Well, that's a great segue, I think, to talk about. 46 episodes in, we've talked very little about polarity.
We finally have a product that I'm super proud of, I know you're really proud of, ⁓
and it's also free to get started. It's completely free and it has amazing
So normally we highlight a tool. It's really never been ours. It's been ⁓ lots of other amazing AI tools out there, but now we have something to throw into the mix of tools as a small business owner.
Jim (14:50)
It's never been awkward. been lots of fun. We always say we're
agnostic. In this case, this is a tool to help you find the right tools and the steps of the journey. you have been saying to me all along, Jeremy, most small businesses don't know where to start with the high. And then even if they do, it's hard to set priorities.
Jeremy (15:06)
That's it. So you have been saying to me all along, Jeremy, most small businesses don't know where to start with AI. And then even if they do, it's hard to set priorities.
And those are the two biggest challenges. The setting priorities that's going to give you real ROI if you actually know what you're And if you don't, where do I get started? So we built a tool that's a playbook. And your AI playbook is free.
Jim (15:28)
The playbook And your AI label is free.
You don't have search for it on our website, free.dos. And when you go there, you just pick one of the three types of labels you want if you're an existing business owner. If you have an idea of our business, you can pick the legendary. And if you're just...
Jeremy (15:33)
you just have to go to our website, Larry.biz. And when you go there, you just pick one of three types of playbooks you want. If you're an existing business owner, you pick Accelerator. If you have an idea for business, you pick Visionary. And if you're just
Jim (15:48)
curious, you're exploring your needs. As you said before, you're at a job and you're thinking about a name. a shingle on your own. You're an explorer. that track, answer a couple questions,
Jeremy (15:48)
curious, if you're exploring or maybe as you said before, you're in a job and you're thinking about hanging ⁓ a single and going out on your own, you're an explorer, you pick that track, answer a couple of questions.
It dials it in specifically to you. are going to be no two playbooks alike. We have infused this SLM, Small Language Model, knowledge base with all of your expertise, expertise of other business leaders that we know. Put my background in there. And we've really created this brain that
Jim (15:59)
and dials it in specifically to you. are no two labels to like. You infused this excellence, knowledge-based, with all of your expertise of other business leaders that we have. Put my background in there. And we really agree in the brain that...
Jeremy (16:18)
functions as a strategic counselor.
Jim (16:18)
Functions and a strictly different Well, we
talk about it sometimes like a second brain I I often talk about things like this is like a second brain and I know that there's different differing opinions on that but it basically it distills a lot of our knowledge in simple ways so that if you're scared or confused not just about AI but just about business in general and society and all the things going on and shifting and I'm saying as it impacts your business though
Jeremy (16:28)
So that if you're confused, that's just about AI, business and society. Well, maybe not society. not going to solve those macro problems. It looks at environmental.
Jim (16:46)
For sure, yeah, no, get that back. For your career or your profession or your potential business opportunity you want to start, it looks at those macro factors. And that's what we did. We looked at the
Jeremy (16:47)
⁓
Jim (16:58)
big picture, but customized it for your particular needs.
Jeremy (16:58)
a picture, customized it. And you know, I'm looking at the clock on our little podcast counter and it's taken us longer to explain it than you would actually need in order to get a fantastic report where to get started with AI and it gives you very
concrete suggestions about how to identify what are the biggest ROI opportunities? Where are you going to get the biggest return on your investment?
Jim (17:15)
⁓
Jeremy (17:24)
for just investing your time and maybe a little bit of money in AI to help your business.
Jim (17:27)
You could check it out for free at polarity.biz. And that's our website. We'll be rolling it out in other ways as well. But for now, we're still in beta. There's a little red button on it. So if you'd to give some feedback about it too, we'd appreciate that. It helps us as we're...
doing some additional testing and then you could if you wanted to go from the light version to the deep version or just choose to you could upgrade. is definitely more robust yeah. Look it'll help you start fast, stay focused and get the clarity that you want. Find the clarity with Polarity.
Jeremy (17:52)
It is worth it. mean there's
But you get tremendous value with it. I would say you get more than you pay for with the Lite version. is of great value. But the Deep version, we really try to give people their money's worth.