Ashley Gross has been at the forefront of AI long before ChatGPT made headlines and has spent years helping enterprise and mid-market companies implement AI in ways that drive real business impact. Her expertise lies in aligning leadership and teams, ensuring AI isn’t just a buzzword but a strategic tool that delivers measurable results.

Beyond consulting, Ashley speaks, teaches, offers courses, and leads executive workshops, breaking down AI into practical, actionable strategies that help companies stay ahead. She is one of the top voice in AI on linkedin and I recommend you give her a follow.

In this conversation, Ashley breaks down how to identify the right use cases for AI, where companies waste time and money with misaligned tools, and how to architect a sustainable AI roadmap that includes strategy, enablement, and internal builds. She shares her philosophy on why change management is the most critical skill in AI adoption, and how to get stakeholder buy-in across departments—even in risk-averse environments.

We also dive into her favorite foundational automations and life hacks. Please enjoy this conversation with Ashley Gross.

TOOLS & PLATFORMS MENTIONED

• Generalist LLMs – ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, Perplexity
• Automation & Agent Platforms – Make, N8N, Blue Prism
• Note-taking & Sentiment Tools – Read AI
• Communication Optimization – Prompt libraries for stakeholder management
• Enterprise Builds – Custom AI tools connected to tech stacks via Slack/Teams with Microsoft Cognitive Search

ASHLEY’S COURSES

• Optimizing ChatGPT (launching May 13)

→ Get it for $50 (first 500 signups): theashleygross.com

• Also available:

→ Automation & agentic workflow courses

→ Courses on building internal AI solutions

→ Strategic AI implementation playbooks

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theashleygross/
• Website: aiworkforcealliance.com/
• X (Tweeter): X.com/theashleygross
• Instagram: instagram.com/theashleygross

Today, we're speaking with Joe Apfelbaum, CEO and founder of Ajax Union, a B2B digital marketing agency based in Brooklyn, NY.

Joe is a dynamic business strategist, LinkedIn trainer, and AI expert and developer. He frequently shares his insights on digital marketing, professional networking, and personal development through seminars, webinars, and articles. Joe is also an accomplished author of several books, including High Energy Secrets, High Energy Networking, and his latest High Energy Marketing.

In our conversation, Joe dives deep into the world of AI and its transformative potential for entrepreneurs. He also discusses a platform he developed called evyAI which turbo-charges LinkedIn engagement by automating everything from generating posts, comments, and responses that sounds just like you to optimizing profiles, generating strategic comments, and creating high-quality LinkedIn content with just a few clicks. Joe also touches on the importance of integrating AI into personal development, using tools to create custom strategies for both personal and professional growth. He emphasizes how AI can help identify patterns, suggest improvements, and create personalized plans for success. There’s a TON of information in this episode and it flies very fast so prepare to take notes and please welcome Joe Apfelbaum.

SHOW NOTES

AI APPS/ TOOLS

• evyAI.com - An AI assistant for LinkedIn developed by Joe, designed to help with posts, comments, direct messages, and profile optimization.
• Synthesia - Used for avatar creation.
• Suno.com - A tool for creating music with personalized affirmations.
• MidJourney - A platform for image creation.
• 11 Labs and Synthesia - For voice cloning and virtual avatars.
• Haygen - Another tool for creating human avatars.
• D-ID - Specializes in real-time talking images for websites.
• Google Bard (now Gemini), Google Cloud, Meta AI, Perplexity, and ChatGPT - Different AI technologies Joe mentions for integration with his app.
• Copilot - Related to the Microsoft ecosystem, useful for Microsoft-related tasks.
• Zapier and Make.com - Automation tools.
• Opus Clip and Cap Cut - Video content creation and editing tools.
• Pi.ai - An AI tool noted for its conversational abilities, similar to a therapy session.
• SubMagic - Another tool for video editing highlighted for performance.
• Veed.io - Mentioned in the context of emerging video editing tools.
• InVideo - Mentioned for video creation and editing.
• Grok - Praised for its speed in processing and real-time interactions.

COURSES/ BOOKS

• High Energy Networking - A book by Joe on networking strategies.
• Evergreen Business Development Circle (evyrgreen.com) - Offers courses and resources focused on AI-driven business development.
• AI Business Development Circle - Joe's initiative for teaching AI applications in business. Can also be found at evyrgreen.com

Follow Joe here:

• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/joeapfelbaum
• Website: www.joeapfelbaum.com
• X:

Today we're speaking with Caleb Ward, the mind behind Curious Refuge, a company that stands at the forefront of integrating AI into creative filmmaking, marketing and education. Caleb has spent over a decade in filmmaking across editing, production, animation, and visual effects pipelines. His journey took a significant turn with the advent of generative AI, leading him to explore its capabilities in storytelling, which culminated in the viral success of multiple videos you may have seen including: Barbenheimer, Star Wars by Wes Anderson, Lord of the Rings by Wes Anderson, and Avatar by Wes Anderson among many more.

Caleb pivoted his learnings and passion for democratizing AI filmmaking into the founding of Curious Refuge, an online academy of courses designed to teach advanced AI filmmaking techniques with courses from people like Caleb himself and Dave Clark who’s appeared multiple times on the show.

With students in over 109 countries, Curious Refuge has become a beacon for those looking for in-depth and cutting edge knowledge of AI in filmmaking and advertising. In addition to its courses, of which I’m a student, one of the other amazing things about Curious Refuge is its global community.

There’s a real spirit of sharing within Curious Refuge and this community is dedicated to creating a collective repository of knowledge, with members sharing discoveries and innovations in AI in real time. Members are not keeping their discoveries secret but instead freely sharing them within the community so everyone can learn together in real time which is very rare and very extraordinary.

In this episode, Caleb discusses the importance of community in navigating the rapidly evolving landscape of AI tools as well as the potential of AI to democratize creativity. We also get into the origin story of Curious Refuge and some of Caleb’s favorite AI lifehacks. All this and so much more on today’s episode of Brand Bots.

SHOW NOTES

Educational and Online Platforms

• DALL-E
• ChatGPT
• Midjourney V5
• Adobe Photoshop, Premiere, and After Effects
• DaVinci Resolve
• Adobe Firefly
• Runway AI

Courses and Learning Materials

• AI Advertising course with Dave Clark - A course offered at Curious Refuge.

Business and Administrative Tools

• Gusto
• Notion

Follow Caleb Ward at:

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/caleb-ward-43543b2b
• Websites: curiousrefuge.com , calebwardportfolio.com
• X: twitter.com/calebwward
• Instagram: instagram.com/calebwward/

Learn AI Filmmaking and AI Advertising at Curious Refuge: https://account.curiousrefuge.com/a/aff_s6vd1tn0/external?affcode=461245_y4w7j-xi