Hey👋,
I'm Giacomo

I help brands grow in the age of AI

Portrait of Giacomo Iotti with short dark hair and brown eyes, wearing a dark turtleneck and a dark checkered blazer against a dark background.

You make a lot of money, do you?

Sam Altman: "No"

"I'm paid enough for health insurance, I'm doing this because I love it."

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Scam Altman 😂

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Can't figure if this is all a joke or a computer simulation. Either way, it cannot be real.

...more
Editorial illustration of a tech executive presenting a health card before a vault and stacks of valuation papers
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Portrait of Giacomo Iotti with short dark hair and brown eyes, wearing a dark turtleneck and a dark checkered blazer against a dark background.

#AI use case of the day: make charts out of images 📊

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Yesterday I posted some data about Spotify. All charts were made with ChatGPT.

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No Excel, no PowerPoint, no copy-pasting numbers.

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1. Asked GPT to find Spotify's latest financial report.

2. Took a screenshot of the Annual Financial Summary table

3. Uploaded screenshot in ChatGPT and asked to make a chart out of it.

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Sure, it took me a while to chat my way through the final result, it was worth it!

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Would have I been faster by just copy-pasting numbers into Excel?

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maybe... but what if I was dealing with a more complex table? I guess I would have given up.

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AI helps:

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-> Make existing tasks faster.

-> Unlock tasks you would have never done otherwise.

...more
Spotify annual financial summary for 2020–2024 shows 675 million users, €15.7 billion revenue and €2.3 billion free cash flow.
Stacked bars show Spotify reaching 688 million users and €15.7 billion revenue in 2024, with premium producing 88% of revenue.
Spotify annual financial summary for 2020–2024 shows 675 million users, €15.7 billion revenue and €2.3 billion free cash flow.
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Portrait of Giacomo Iotti with short dark hair and brown eyes, wearing a dark turtleneck and a dark checkered blazer against a dark background.

If you’re not planning to run audio ads in 2025, you should start now 👇

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Young Americans spend over half of their daily listening time with ad-supported digital audio, whether it's podcasts or music streaming. I guess similar picture in Europe.

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Spotify reigns supreme.

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With 32% of the global streaming market and rapidly growing monthly active users, it’s the king of audio.

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In 2024, ad-supported users grew faster than premium ones, now making up 62% of its total user base (vs 56% in 2020).

Advertising revenue are up 7% year-on-year.

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Until recently, Spotify relied heavily on direct ad sales. But now, they’re expanding their programmatic solutions in partnership with The Trade Desk.

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And this is where the opportunity for brands arises!

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Advertisers can now reach 425 million ad-supported users in a programmatic and efficient way.

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And here’s the best part:

recording audio ads is cheaper than ever with tools like ElevenLabs and its AI-generated voices.

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And if this wasn't enough,

there's a massive gap in the market 💡.

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Audio consumption is growing, but it’s still under-monetised.

‍WARC estimates that while audio accounts for 24.5% of all ad-supported media consumption in the US, it represents only 8.4% of ad spend. 🤯

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This means less competition, lower costs and more opportunities "to be heard".

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Audio-only social media (like Clubhouse) tried and failed.

Spotify took it all. It now owns everything audio, user-generated music, podcasts, even audiobooks.

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In this landscape, music becomes "content" and musicians become "creators", just like YouTubers and podcasters.

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While this might not be good news for musicians, it is great news for advertisers!

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Do you have experience with audio ads?

...more
Stacked bars show Spotify reaching 688 million users and €15.7 billion revenue in 2024, with premium producing 88% of revenue.
Donut chart of US adults aged 18–34 shows radio at 47%, podcasts 32%, streaming audio 20% and satellite radio 1% of ad-supported audio time.
Bars show weekly podcast listening among Americans aged 12+ rising from 26% in 2022 to 34% in 2024.
Bars show monthly online audio listening among Americans aged 12+ rising from 47% in 2014 to 76% in 2024.
Stacked bars show Spotify reaching 688 million users and €15.7 billion revenue in 2024, with premium producing 88% of revenue.
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Portrait of Giacomo Iotti with short dark hair and brown eyes, wearing a dark turtleneck and a dark checkered blazer against a dark background.

🚨 Elon Musk offers ~$100 billion to buy OpenAI!

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Sam Altman politely declines: "no, thank you"

"but we’ll buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want."

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Two kids taunting each other on a playground. 😂

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Elon lowballs OpenAI at less than half its estimated $260B valuation.

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Sam reminds him of his $44 billion overpriced Twitter acquisition, now worth less than 1/10.

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Elon was right all along…

We do live in a simulation!

...more
Financial Times headline reports an Elon Musk-led consortium offering $100 billion to take control of OpenAI.
Sam Altman rejects Musk's OpenAI bid with a joke about buying Twitter for $9.74 billion; Musk replies 'Swindler.'
Financial Times headline reports an Elon Musk-led consortium offering $100 billion to take control of OpenAI.
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Portrait of Giacomo Iotti with short dark hair and brown eyes, wearing a dark turtleneck and a dark checkered blazer against a dark background.

NVIDIA’s stock crash last week was a glimpse of the next Black Swan.

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But what is a Black Swan? 👇

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In business, a Black Swan is a sudden unpredictable event with the power to disrupt an entire market, or even the global economy.

Think of the 2008 financial crisis, COVID or 9/11.

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People and markets try to predict and rationalise these events, but most Black Swans are just impossible to foresee. At least in the way they unfold.

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Only time will tell if last week’s drop was just a momentary panic or the first sign of something much bigger.

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In his later book, Nassim Taleb argues that people and companies can prepare for Black Swan events by developing Antifragility.

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Fragile things break under stress (like glass).

Resilient things survive stress but don’t improve (like steel).

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Antifragile things thrive under stress (like muscles that grow through exercise).

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The ability to iterate fast, change course and prepare plans B, C, D characterise Antifragile people and companies.

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💡Antifragility is the #1 skill for the next decade!

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Agreed?

...more
A glass tree shatters, a sturdy tree survives and an antifragile tree grows stronger in a storm.
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Portrait of Giacomo Iotti with short dark hair and brown eyes, wearing a dark turtleneck and a dark checkered blazer against a dark background.

Just by looking at demos of OpenAI Deep Search and Operator, I can totally see how AI Agents could kill Big 4 and MBBs.

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Unless...

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Big 4 and MBB will embrace AI agents to their advantage. Which they'll definitely do.

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But, they'll still get loads of competition from individual AI experts that will deliver as good jobs for 1/10 of the fees.

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For the first time in history, single-person companies might represent a serious threat to large businesses.

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Future is bright for individual creative entrepreneurs!

...more
A solo consultant and compact AI agents face four giant consultancy towers on a chessboard.
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Portrait of Giacomo Iotti with short dark hair and brown eyes, wearing a dark turtleneck and a dark checkered blazer against a dark background.

ChatGPT just killed Duolingo 🤯

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Instead of using language learning apps, here's what I do:

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I asked ChatGPT to send me 5 new German words every morning at 8am. It repeats 3 out of the 5 words from the day before, so they stick more.

The complexity of the words will increase every two weeks.

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Plus, it sends me 5 sentences to see how the words are used and even gives me a little exercise!

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What will GPT kill next?

...more
OpenAI task email prompts Giacomo to learn five new German words that day.
ChatGPT lists five German words with English translations and example sentences for daily practice.
OpenAI task email prompts Giacomo to learn five new German words that day.
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Portrait of Giacomo Iotti with short dark hair and brown eyes, wearing a dark turtleneck and a dark checkered blazer against a dark background.

Ai use case of the day:

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Connect a custom GPT to your blog.

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How I did it without writing a single line of code👇

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1. Ask ChatGPT-o1 for a detailed guide on how to connect to your blog’s API. (Webflow in my case).

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2. At some point in the guide, it will generate a Python script for you.

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3. Copy and paste this script into Google Colab, a simple tool to run Python code directly in your browser.

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4. Run the script to retrieve your blog content and ensure the data looks good.

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5. Paste the script back into ChatGPT-o1 and ask it to create an OpenAI schema for custom actions. GPT will understand what you mean.

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6. Create a custom GPT.

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7. Add a new “action” in your GPT settings.

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8. Enter your API authentication keys (the guide will explain how to get them).

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9. Paste the OpenAI schema.

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10. Test & publish your GPT!

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Now, your custom GPT is always synced with your blog. No more manual uploads every time you publish a new post.

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But why would you need this?

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✅ Ask your GPT to write new articles in your exact style.

✅ Get content analysis & recommendations. Even a roast!

✅ Have your GPT suggest the best next topic to write about.

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If you’re serious about custom GPTs, this will 10x your quality & speed.

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Look at me, I’m now better than 95% of bloggers out there, or so AI tells me. 😂

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Drop below your favourite AI marketing use case!

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...more
Custom GPT configuration for Webflow Blog Posts shows instructions to query blog content and Code Interpreter enabled.
Custom GPT action editor shows API key authentication and an OpenAPI schema for the Webflow Blog Posts API.
A custom GPT rates the blog 9 out of 10, praising its engagement, structure, writing, sources and relevance.
A custom GPT suggests improving bias, flow and originality before giving the blog a final score of 8.5 out of 10.
A custom GPT delivers a brutal roast of the blog, calling it overconfident and short on supporting data.
Custom GPT configuration for Webflow Blog Posts shows instructions to query blog content and Code Interpreter enabled.
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Portrait of Giacomo Iotti with short dark hair and brown eyes, wearing a dark turtleneck and a dark checkered blazer against a dark background.

It seems I'm a "very obscure person". Thanks Claude! 😐

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Here is what I'm doing to optimise my personal brand in the age of Ai 👇

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I try new chatbots and always ask the same question:

Who is Giacomo Iotti?

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-> Claude has no clue.

I appear to be "a very obscure person".

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-> DeepSeek admits I’m not widely known.

Fair enough. But it claims to be updated to October 2023? I expected better!

When I tried again with search enabled… it was “busy.” 😒

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-> Grok gets closer, but mixes my profile with another Giacomo Iotti.

Turns out, I’m a “multifaceted” individual. True, but I’ve never been a TV director, yet!

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-> ChatGPT finally recognises me!

It gives a solid summary and cites my personal website.

Interesting how it picks different articles each time. I’d love to know the logic behind that.

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-> Perplexity is by far the best.

Pulls a detailed professional background with sources like my website, LinkedIn, corporate pages, and more.

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Some takeaways:

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1. Claude, please add a search function!

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2. SEO in the Ai era is different.

Forget ranking, traffic and clicks, now it's all about Ai reputation.

‍Jes Scholz I think you would agree on this one :)

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3. Your Ai reputation evolves.

Over the past year, I’ve seen Ai responses shift as I updated my website, LinkedIn, and articles. Makes me wonder: how does Ai chooses what content to show each time?

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4. The importance of a personal brand.

It doesn't matter I have just few followers or little traffic to my website.

What matters is that Ai knows me!

And I’m proud of that, it means I’m on the right path.

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Next step?

Adding "Who is Giacomo Iotti?" as a FAQ to my About Page.

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Have you asked AI about your name yet?

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Claude calls Giacomo Iotti a very obscure person and says it lacks reliable information about him.
DeepSeek says Giacomo Iotti is not a widely recognised public figure, then reports its search service is busy.
Grok gives Giacomo Iotti a mixed profile spanning digital marketing, music, media and local journalism.
ChatGPT profiles Giacomo Iotti as a Switzerland-based B2C digital marketer and cites his personal blog.
Perplexity profiles Giacomo Iotti's digital marketing career, education and online sources alongside several portraits.
Claude calls Giacomo Iotti a very obscure person and says it lacks reliable information about him.
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Portrait of Giacomo Iotti with short dark hair and brown eyes, wearing a dark turtleneck and a dark checkered blazer against a dark background.

Meta is planning massive investments in 2025!

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"But picture this:

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Engineers building an "Ai engineer that will start contributing increasing amounts of code to our R&D efforts", effectively taking their jobs. 🤣

...more
Mark Zuckerberg Threads post outlining Meta's 2025 AI plans, including Llama 4, an AI engineer and $60–65 billion in capital spending.
Mark Zuckerberg Threads post outlining Meta's 2025 AI plans, including Llama 4, an AI engineer and $60–65 billion in capital spending.
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