Co-piloting is the most valuable AI skill a marketing org can build right now, and a lot changes when teams commit to it. Ideas move faster. Outputs get sharper. Work doesn’t stall when the calendar’s full or the page is empty.

If your teams are still treating AI like a search engine or a writing assistant, there’s more on the table, and the iterative process of working through prompts over time—co-piloting—is how you get to it. It doesn’t matter what tool you’re using. This is about how you show up at the keyboard. This is how you surface scrappy, junior-level ideas and sharpen them with the kind of thinking your boss’s boss would expect.

This is how we’re working now.

And these are ten tenets that are helping us, and the clients we support, get better at it.

Ten Tenets of Co-Piloting

1. Build the Assignment Together
You don’t need it figured out before you start. Use the back-and-forth with the tool to sharpen the assignment.

2. Lead with Intent, Not a Command
Bring a business challenge, not a to-do list. That’s how you get unexpected directions, not generic answers.

3. Prompt like You Brief
Set the scene. Define the tone, audience, format, and intent. The more you give, the more it gives back.

4. Take Detours
Ask for the wrong thing on purpose. Don’t let AI give you only the best answer.

5. Stay in the Loop
Good outputs come after repeatedly reacting, refining, and remixing. Expect to co-craft version after version as you approach the best outputs.

6. Pair Fast Drafts with Slow Edits
Let AI get you to 70% quickly. Then bring your taste, craft, unique experience, and judgment to finish the job.

7. Give and Get Feedback
If something’s off, say why—it helps the AI learn your style. At the end, flip the script: ask it to be your boss’s boss and give you a critique. What’s missing? Would you invest in this?

8. Explore in Formats, Not Just Ideas
Ask for a headline. A narrative. A POV. AI is better when you give it a container.

9. Make AI Part of the Room
Screen share it. Use it live. Using AI live with others is still one of the most underused moves.

10. Respect the Process, Not Just the Output
Co-piloting helps you stay in motion. The process itself sharpens your thinking and keeps ideas moving forward.

Across audits, strategy, creative, and coding, co-piloting has changed how we work. It clears the clutter, sharpens the thinking, and helps us get to stronger ideas without adding time or people.

But this isn’t the only way we’re evolving how marketing and tech teams work. In past Knowledge Drops, we’ve shown how we use CustomGPTs for journey mapping, build RAG-powered experiences that turn search into conversation, define UX principles for designing with AI-assisted products, and create AI agents that think like your target audience. It’s all part of a bigger shift toward helping teams do more of their best work with less friction.

If you’re looking for a partner to help make that shift—on a project, in a sprint, or just as a sounding board—we’re here for it.