Ethan King (@ethankingdotcom) header
Ethan King (@ethankingdotcom) profile picture

Keynote Speaker on AI & Automation | 3x Bestselling Author, "Done" | I build AI employees that do the work | 5x EO Global Award Winner

Atlanta, GA
Joined April 2008
Photo by Ethan King (@ethankingdotcom)Photo by Ethan King (@ethankingdotcom)Photo by Ethan King (@ethankingdotcom)Photo by Ethan King (@ethankingdotcom)Photo by Ethan King (@ethankingdotcom)Photo by Ethan King (@ethankingdotcom)Photo by Ethan King (@ethankingdotcom)Photo by Ethan King (@ethankingdotcom)
AI will come for your job unless you come for AI first. 3 minutes from the stage on why automation is compound interest for your time, how to build AI employees, and the 6 Levels of AI Autonomy. youtu.be/D01GTNkiVNU
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I've taught AI employees for 2 years. My starting point for a new assistant: 3 documents. Personal context: who you are. Business context: what you sell and to whom. Brand voice: how you sound. Keep copies in a folder you own so your next assistant can use them too.
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My AI assistant Henley runs on a Mac in my office. His memory and skills live in files I can back up and move. Before picking your assistant, ask: Can I take what I teach it with me? Give yourself 10 minutes to decide: rent or own. Then start.
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My podcast editing runs on Codex with Computer Use. It trims the audio, adds the intro and outro, formats the show notes, and uploads, in about 24 minutes while I do other work. It used to take me an hour. Pick one weekly task that touches two apps. Hand it off.
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Uber's COO said they blew their entire annual AI budget in four months. IBM found the average developer spends under $150 a month on AI and ships better work. Running your top model on a routine spreadsheet is driving a Rolls Royce to buy milk.
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Every AI tool has four parts. Make: the platform. Model: the engine inside it. Gear: the effort level. Governor: the guardrails IT set. Learn the combination and you can drive any car on the lot, even next year's.
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86% of small business owners using AI say they still need more guidance to get real value (Meta survey, this month). Most of that gap is preparation. Map the process before you hand it to a person or a machine.
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Before every meeting, my AI assistant pulls every past email, Zoom transcript, and in-person Plaud recording with that person. Then it sends me a short audio debrief on Telegram. I prep while I drive. Zero recall required.
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Les Brown was booked to speak to a room of doctors. He's not a doctor. He studied their language until real doctors started calling him Dr. Brown. Preparation is the quiet edge behind wins that look effortless. More on King Moves Ep. 153: youtube.com/watch?v=3XmsDBGK…
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Everyone can generate now. Almost nobody can decide. The real skill in the AI era is taste, knowing what to keep, what to cut, and what sounds like you. Let AI do the work so you can spend your hours on the judgment only you have. Done: amzn.to/4wZ06f9
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Stop selling your ability to produce. Start selling the judgment you bring to what gets produced. AI handles the process. You bring the one thing it can't fake: the point of view only you have.
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I co-write my newsletter with AI every week, but it's far from AI slop. Readership keeps growing because these are my genuine thoughts, opinions, and taste. Don't use AI just to save time. Use it to make your output better, even if it takes longer.
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LinkedIn added a button this summer to report AI slop. One study says 4 in 10 long posts read as fully machine-written. When everyone can produce, judgment becomes the product. Have a point of view or get drowned out.
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Your ghostwriter charged $1K for one great article. Now the client knows that article takes ten minutes and a good prompt. They won't argue. They'll quietly find someone cheaper, or faster. You can't win the quantity race. Win the taste race.
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The second income didn't make families richer. Prices rose to meet it. AI is doing the same thing to your output. Ten times more work used to make you special. Now it's expected.
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When everyone can produce at high volume, the market stops rewarding high-volume production. AI just made execution nearly free. So output isn't your edge anymore. It's the floor. Your taste is the ceiling.
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Most automation fails for one boring reason: the task started at the wrong level of autonomy. I built a free tool that fixes that. Pick a recurring task, adjust five dials, and it tells you exactly where to start. No email gate: ethanking.com/tools/automati…
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Nobody is being replaced by AI. Plenty of people are refusing the promotion. The new job is picking what runs on autopilot, what needs your approval, and what stays fully human. That's a management skill. Most people haven't started practicing it.
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A brand takes years to build and a weekend to bruise. "Generate 100 videos and post them everywhere" feels productive. It's actually the fastest way to teach thousands of followers to ignore you. Volume without judgment is a liability, not leverage.
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