Navigating the Balance of AI in Content Consumption

Alex Halliday takes us from Silicon Valley's coffee shops to the cutting edge of AI content strategy. He reveals how his company AirOps helps brands build sophisticated 50-step AI workflows that transform basic prompts into high-performing content. As founder and CEO, Alex shares his "treasure hunt" approach to uncovering unique organizational data and explains why the future belongs to content that's "impossible to copy."

Drawing on his connections with OpenAI's leadership and experience implementing AI in real business contexts, Alex offers practical advice for content teams navigating the shift to AI-driven search — from optimizing for the "new middleman" of LLM-based experiences to finding the hidden knowledge assets that exist in every organization.

About Our Guest: Alex Halliday

Alex Halliday is the founder and CEO of AirOps, a platform that helps brands drive organic growth through AI-powered content strategies. The company began in the data space before pivoting to help creative teams get more value from AI than they could achieve out of the box.

Before AirOps, Alex worked at Teespring, Masterclass, and Bungalow, building product expertise that informed his approach to AI workflow design. He has maintained connections in the AI world, including with OpenAI's Sam Altman, giving him unique insights on where the real value in AI is accruing: not just in the models themselves, but also in the implementation layer.

About This Season of the Animalz Podcast: AI & Content

Hello... is there anybody out there creating real value with AI?

The AI conversation in content marketing has become deafening — skeptics shouting from one side, shallow tips from enthusiasts on the other. But somewhere in this noise, there must be pioneers who've actually figured something out, right?

We've gone on a search for the real pioneers — the ones who've ventured beyond the hype to succeed (or fail) spectacularly. Through their hard-won insights, we'll discover if there's actually something of value hiding in the noise, or if we're all just shouting into the void.

Timestamps

00:00 "It takes 30-50 steps, not 5-10, to create excellent AI content"

02:00 How Alex uses AI for research and information discovery

04:00 Moving into the "perfect information age" with AI synthesis

06:00 AI's impact on learning and creativity: benefits and risks

07:00 Alex's background and how AirOps evolved

09:00 Why human oversight remains essential in AI content workflows

11:00 Alex's connection to Sam Altman and early days in San Francisco

14:00 Where the real value is accruing in the AI landscape

15:00 The new rules of AI content: winning by being impossible to copy

17:00 Three types of content that AI can't easily replicate

20:00 Inside AirOps: How the platform builds sophisticated AI workflows

23:00 Advice for content teams doing "spray and pray" SEO

26:00 Finding your organization's unique "gold veins" of content

28:00 How to optimize content for the "new middleman" of AI search

32:00 Why Alex studies AI search despite leading a content creation platform

35:00 AirOps' strategic focus on content creation despite AI's broader potential

38:00 Alex's AI moonshot idea: context-rich meeting assistants

Mentioned Links & Resources

• AirOps (00:08:00): Alex's platform that helps brands create advanced AI content workflows.
• OpenAI Deep Research (00:02:00): A research tool Alex uses to discover content he " wouldn't have found otherwise."
• Teespring, Masterclass, Bungalow, SocialGo (00:07:00): Companies where Alex worked, mentioned when discussing his background before founding AirOps.
• ChatGPT (00:17:00): Referenced as the foundational AI model that more sophisticated workflows build upon.
• Claude (00:20:00): An alternative AI model mentioned for multi-model workflows.
• Schema.org (00:30:00): HTML schemas for information structures to improve AI readability.
• HubSpot (00:24:00): Referenced in discussion about content that strays from topical authority.
• ”Everybody Wants Thought Leadership Content” (00:43:00): Animalz article on "earned secrets" mentioned in the wrap-up discussion about finding unique organizational insights.

Follow Alex Halliday on LinkedIn or reach him at alex@airops.com to discuss AI content innovations and opportunities.

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