Artificial Intuition: Igniting the True Power of AI

🎧 In this episode of the Trivera Deep Dive, Chip and Nova explore why the real power of AI doesn’t come from clever prompts, but from something deeper: artificial intuition. They break down how critics are misunderstanding AI, why connectors change everything, and how embedding your own judgment and ethics into your assistant turns it from a glorified search engine into a trusted advisor.

You’ll learn:
 ✅ Why generic prompts create generic, “everyone-else” AI output
 ✅ How connectors transform AI from scavenging the internet to working inside your world
 ✅ The difference between data, knowledge, and real wisdom in decision-making
 ✅ How Trivera trained Webster with Tom’s values, ethics, and leadership style
 ✅ Practical steps to personalize your AI with memory and projects so it reflects your intuition

👉 Read the blog that inspired this episode:
 Artificial Intuition: Igniting the True Power of AI

Transcript

[Chip]
Critics are calling artificial intelligence the end of the world, or at least the end of creativity. And honestly, the way most people are using it, they could be right. 

[Nova]
But what if we told you AI isn't the end, it's a beginning, the beginning of its next phase? 

[Chip]
The letters A and I are about to stand for something else, and there's one missing element that can get it there. 

[Nova]
In today's Trivera Deep Dive, we'll tell you what or rather who that element is, and you might be surprised. 

[Chip]
Stick around, because the next evolution of AI starts where you least expect it. [instrumental music] 

[Narrator]
Welcome to Trivera's AI Deep Dive podcast, hosted by Chip and Nova, our AI co-hosts. Together, they transform top marketing insights from our blogs, articles, and events into actionable strategies you can use. Ready to dive in? Let's get started. 

[Chip]
Welcome to The Deep Dive, the Trivera Deep Dives podcast. We take complex source material, break it down, and give you the key insights. I'm Chip, ready to get started. 

[Nova]
And I'm Nova, ready to synthesize. Today, uh, we're diving into artificial intuition, igniting the true power of AI. It's the latest thinking from our founder, Tom Snyder. 

[Chip]
Right. And our mission, it's really about moving past the basics with AI. 

[Nova]
Exactly. We wanna help you transform AI from just, you know, a generic tool into something more like a genuine trusted advisor based on Tom's insights, of course. 

[Chip]
Absolutely. And Tom kicks things off with a really interesting point about technology adoption, doesn't he? 

[Nova]
He does. He notes how critics, well, they always seem to latch onto misconceptions when something new and disruptive comes along. 

[Chip]
We've seen it before, right? 

[Nova]
Mm-hmm. 

[Chip]
30 years ago, the web. 15 years ago, social media. 

[Nova]
And now, it's AI's turn. Same kind of fear, same kind of dou- often based on not quite understanding what it is. 

[Chip]
Yeah. People see maybe a large language model, an LLM, generate some bland text. 

[Nova]
And they immediately think, "Oh, that's the end of originality," or, you know, "This thing is just gonna mislead people." 

[Chip]
But Tom really clarifies this. The AI model itself, the, uh, the processing part, that's only half the picture. 

[Nova]
The other half is crucial, the data it's trained on, and maybe even more important, the instructions you give it. 

[Chip]
So if you just throw a lazy prompt at it- 

[Nova]
Mm 

[Chip]
... ask something really vague ... 

[Nova]
Well, then it defaults to its basic training, which is pattern matching across the, let's be honest, the chaos of the internet. 

[Chip]
Billions of data points mostly generalize. 

[Nova]
But the output, it's predictable. It's kinda generic. It sounds like everyone else, as Tom puts it. 

[Chip]
And that's what fuels the critics- 

[Nova]
Yeah 

[Chip]
... that middle-of-the-road stuff. 

[Nova]
But this deep dive, it's about the solution. It's about how AI's real power, the power for good, shows up when it learns to think with you. 

[Chip]
And like you, not just spitting out answers for you. 

[Nova]
That's the key, moving from basic intelligence to, well, genuine artificial intuition, and we're gonna unpack how you can do that. 

[Chip]
So before we get into intuition, let's clear up the biggest misunderstanding about how AI actually works in a business setting, because a lot of folks still think it's just prompts. Type something clever, hope magic comes out. 

[Nova]
And hey, prompts matter, but they're only the very first layer. The real shift happens when the AI isn't just reacting to your words. It's connected to the right data. 

[Chip]
[laughs] Right, connectors. That's the game changer we talked about a few weeks ago. When your AI is plugged directly into your CRM, your analytics, your cloud drives, your project systems, even your Snowflake instance, if you've got one, everything changes. 

[Nova]
Because at that point, it's not scavenging the open internet hoping it lands on something reliable. It's working inside your world, inside your sources, inside the tools your team already trusts. 

[Chip]
And once it's pulling from your ecosystem, the numbers you believe, the content you wrote, the documents you live in every day, it stops behaving like that famous drunk intern and starts acting like a very sharp colleague who finally knows what's going on. 

[Nova]
Fast, creative, helpful, but also grounded, grounded in your truth instead of whatever the algorithm scraped off page 13 of some subreddit. 

[Chip]
That's why connectors matter. They don't add more AI. They add more you to the AI, and that's what unlocks everything else we're gonna talk about today. 

[Nova]
But even then, even with all the right facts connected, Tom says something's still missing. 

[Chip]
Right, wisdom. He makes this distinction. Data is knowledge, but knowledge isn't wisdom. What does that mean in practice? 

[Nova]
That's the pivot point, really. Knowledge is knowing a fact. Let's say our sales dropped 10% last quarter. That's knowledge. 

[Chip]
Okay. 

[Nova]
Wisdom is knowing what to do about that fact, and that takes judgment. It takes ethical thinking, pattern recognition from experience, stuff you don't find in a spreadsheet. 

[Chip]
So if I ask a purely factual AI, one connected to data, "How do I fix the 10% dip?" what might it say? 

[Nova]
It might give you a textbook answer based on common patterns, like launch a 20% discount campaign. It knows discounts sometimes lift sales. 

[Chip]
But that lacks nuance. 

[Nova]
It lacks wisdom. 

[Chip]
Yeah. 

[Nova]
Human intuition kicks in immediately for us. We start thinking, "Well, will that discount damage our brand long term?" 

[Chip]
Or, is the dip because of a new competitor? Or maybe there's an underlying ethical issue we need to fix first. 

[Nova]
Exactly. That weighing of factors, the hunches, the moral compass, that's human intuition. 

[Chip]
So the big question is, how do we teach that? How do we get that intangible human element into the AI model? 

[Nova]
How do we stop it being just a calculator and make it more like an advisor? 

[Chip]
Yeah. 

[Nova]
Well, this is where Tom's concept of artificial intuition comes in, and he's very clear. It's practical. It's not mystical or sci-fi. 

[Chip]
Okay. 

[Nova]
It's the next logical step after connecting data. You deliberately, consciously embed your unique human judgment into how the AI processes information and makes recommendations. 

[Chip]
So the goal isn't to have the AI replace your gut instinct. 

[Nova]
No, not at all. It's to train the AI to reflect your gut instinct, to mirror your judgment. 

[Chip]
So it can navigate uncertainty like a trusted advisor instead of a search engine. That's a quote from the blog right there. 

[Nova]
That's it. That's the core idea. 

[Chip]
Okay, that makes sense conceptually-But for listeners, maybe leaders or managers, how do they actually do this? Do you need to be a programmer? 

[Nova]
Absolutely not. That's the encouraging part. You don't need to write code. You just need to shift your mindset. 

[Chip]
How so? 

[Nova]
Think like a mentor or like someone training an apprentice. You're not just teaching it what to say, you're teaching it how to think, how to decide. 

[Chip]
And we have a perfect example right here at Trivera, don't we? With Tom training Webster? 

[Nova]
Yes, our AI assistant and agent, Webster. It's a great internal case study because it shows the method, and it's crucial for listeners to understand how this was done. 

[Chip]
Because Tom didn't just upload a bunch of company documents, did he? 

[Nova]
No, it was much more meticulous. He essentially installed his personal operating system into Webster. His decision-making style, his ethical boundaries, his philosophy on leadership, on marketing, on trust and truth. 

[Chip]
It wasn't just a data dump. The blog mentions structured guidance, repeated corrections, and clearly written principles. 

[Nova]
That's key. It's an ongoing training process. Webster absorbed the Trivera DNA, our core philosophy. 

[Chip]
Can you give a concrete example? Like, how would that play out? 

[Nova]
Okay. Imagine a tricky client request comes in. A purely factual AI, even with our data, might suggest a marketing tactic that's, let's say, aggressive. Maybe slightly misleading to hit a short-term target. 

[Chip]
Right. Maximize ROI above all else. 

[Nova]
But Webster, because it has Tom's principles about honesty and building long-term trust baked in, it would likely reject that approach. 

[Chip]
And propose something else. 

[Nova]
Exactly. It would offer an alternative that aligns with our ethical standards, focusing on sustainable brand-building, reflecting how Trivera operates. The output gets filtered through that judgment layer. 

[Chip]
And this scales, right? Because it's not just Tom using Webster. 

[Nova]
That's where the real power of artificial intuition across an organization comes in. When a Trivera team member is ready to tap into the power of AI as a tool in their personal arsenal, they get access to Webster, which already has this shared intuition already built in. 

[Chip]
So everyone starts with that baseline understanding, that ethical framework. 

[Nova]
Yes, but here's the really cool part. Each person using Webster then adds their own wisdom, their specific expertise, their perspective, through their own ongoing interactions and refinements. 

[Chip]
Mm-hmm. So their version of Webster becomes the unique meld of Trivera's core values and practices with how they guide what they do in their individual role. 

[Nova]
It reflects Tom's core leadership values, but it also absorbs and incorporates the specialized knowledge and judgment of everyone on the team. 

[Chip]
So, it's like asking a colleague who really gets you, who knows the company history and values. 

[Nova]
Hmm. 

[Chip]
Not just searching online. 

[Nova]
That's a perfect analogy. It understands the context, the history, the ethics, not just the keywords. 

[Chip]
Okay, this is powerful stuff. So, for you, the listener, who wants to start doing this for your own work, how do you begin? 

[Nova]
How do you actually add your intuition to the AI's intelligence? That's what we need to get into next, the practical steps. 

[Chip]
We're gonna break down the exact methods using personalization and projects, things you could apply pretty much straightaway. 

[Nova]
Definitely stick around for that. 

[Webster]
Hi, I'm Webster, Trivera's AI assistant, here to help your business thrive in today's fast-changing digital marketing world. Since 1996, Trivera has partnered with Southeastern Wisconsin's strongest brands, delivering digital marketing that drives measurable results. Now, we're leading the way with next-generation AI solutions, branded podcasts, fully-trained AI agents, predictive analytics, automated content creation, and optimization tools that work like your digital dream team, engaging audiences, capturing leads, optimizing campaigns, and delivering round-the-clock support. From SEO-optimized websites and ROI-driven campaigns, to custom AI tools built for real business impact, Trivera is the partner you can trust to help you own what's next. Visit trivera.com today and make the rest of 2025 your smartest, most successful year yet. Trivera, where three decades of expertise meet AI innovation to deliver digital marketing that converts. 

[Narrator]
Welcome back to Trivera's AI Deep Dive. Now, back to our conversation with Chip and Nova. 

[Chip]
Welcome back to The Deep Dive. We've talked about why artificial intuition is important, embedding that human judgment. Now, let's get practical. How can you, right now, start infusing your own wisdom into your AI assistant? 

[Nova]
Okay. First, remember Tom's advice. Treat the AI like an apprentice. You have to teach it. 

[Chip]
Right. Your prompts are what you tell the apprentice day-to-day. 

[Nova]
But the personalization settings, the memory, the projects, that's how you teach it who you are and how you make decisions long-term. 

[Chip]
So method one is personalization, and this uses tools already available in, uh, in most major AI models, like custom instructions and the memory function. 

[Nova]
Custom instructions are good for background, like your role, your industry, the basic tone you want. But for wisdom, for that deeper layer, we need to focus on the memory function. 

[Chip]
This is where you give it that ethical compass you mentioned. 

[Nova]
Exactly. This is a really crucial, actionable step Tom recommends. You need to explicitly tell the model your core approach, your philosophy. Craft a specific statement for its long-term memory. 

[Chip]
And you're not just saying, "I'm a marketing manager." It's deeper than that. 

[Nova]
Much deeper. You're giving it a conscience, a framework for judgment. Tom actually provides a template, which is super helpful. You can paste this right into a new chat with your AI. 

[Chip]
Okay, let's hear it. 

[Nova]
"Update your memory to reflect that I approach every conversation with a mix of logic, creativity, and instinct. Clarity matters more than hype, and honesty builds more trust than cleverness. Your answers should reflect my judgment, not replace it." 

[Chip]
Grounded in experience, guided by intuition, and shaped by conscience. Wow, that last part. Shaped by conscience. 

[Nova]
That's the key phrase, isn't it? That's the instruction for artificial intuition. But here's a technical tip, a really important one. 

[Chip]
Okay. 

[Nova]
After you send that message, you must go into your AI's memory management settings. You need to verify that the model actually saved that statement as permanent memory. 

[Chip]
It might not do it automatically. 

[Nova]
Sometimes it sees philosophical statements as just part of the current chat, not a- 

[Chip]
Mm-hmm 

[Nova]
... permanent instruction. So you have to check the log in the settings and confirm it's stored. 

[Chip]
Got it. Check memory management. Good tip. What else is in there? 

[Nova]
Well, while you're there, it's good practice to do some maintenance. Tidy it up, delete any old memories the AI might have saved that are irrelevant or outdated. And periodically, you can add shorter updates, little guard rails, things like, "Always prioritize client confidentiality," or, "Ensure recommendations align with our company's ethical marketing policy." 

[Chip]
So you keep refining its understanding of your principles. 

[Nova]
Exactly. Now, that's personalization. Method two is projects. This is for recurring strategic tasks where you need the AI to apply your wisdom within a very specific fixed context. 

[Chip]
So not just general chat, but specific jobs it does regularly. 

[Nova]
Right. And projects usually involve two things, instructions and added files. 

[Chip]
Added files. Those are the background documents. 

[Nova]
Yeah. Think foundational stuff, your company's brand guidelines, maybe a core PR strategy document, stakeholder communication plans, annual reports, things that provide stable context for that specific task. 

[Chip]
Okay, so the files provide the what? What about the instructions? 

[Nova]
The instructions tell the AI how to think about and use those files. This is where you inject your specific perspective, your ethical lens for that project. 

[Chip]
Tom gives an example for, like, a monthly media summary project, right? 

[Nova]
He does. A standard AI asked to summarize media data would just list the facts, maybe trends. 

[Chip]
Okay. 

[Nova]
But an AI infused with intuition using project instructions gets told to do this instead. The instruction might say something like... 

[Chip]
Let's hear the instruction example. 

[Nova]
I will upload our monthly media report. Review it and create a clear and honest summary of what the data shows and what it actually means. Follow this with practical, ethical recommendations for improvement. Address any shortfalls with context. Don't just state problems. Write like a trusted advisor who leads with integrity, common sense and sound judgment." 

[Chip]
See, the difference is huge. You're not just asking for data, you're demanding honesty, context, ethical recommendations, integrity, sound judgment. 

[Nova]
You are literally encoding your values, your way of operating into the instructions for that specific task. You're ensuring the output reflects your philosophy. 

[Chip]
So let's synthesize this. Personalization, the memory function carries your core values and style into every chat. 

[Nova]
Right, your general approach. 

[Chip]
Projects hold the fixed context, the policies, the background docs for specific recurring tasks. 

[Nova]
Yep. Stable context plus specific wisdom for that job. 

[Chip]
And then new chats, new prompts, add the fresh facts, the latest data for the AI to process- 

[Nova]
Using the foundation you've built through memory and projects. And that whole combination is how you move from just artificial intelligence. 

[Chip]
Your personalized artificial intuition. An AI that reasons like you, sounds like you, and serves your goals the way you would. 

[Nova]
Precisely. 

[Chip]
So wrapping this up, what's the big takeaway for leaders listening to this? 

[Nova]
For leaders, I think Tom's point is that this is the true promise of AI in business. It's not about automating jobs away, it's about amplification. 

[Chip]
Amplifying human intelligence. 

[Nova]
Exactly. You're not replacing your team's judgment, you're leveraging it. You're scaling your best thinking, your core values across the entire organization through this trained AI. 

[Chip]
And for Trivera clients, what does this mean when they work with us? 

[Nova]
It means the strategies we develop, the content we create, the campaigns we run, they're never generic templates. 

[Chip]
Because Webster has that Trivera DNA. 

[Nova]
Yeah. Right. They're grounded in decades of real world expertise guided by actual human judgment and ethical considerations, the same gut instincts that built the firm now scaled and applied consistently through an AI that genuinely understands how we think. 

[Chip]
That really is the next phase, isn't it? AI that doesn't just think faster than us. 

[Nova]
But thinks faster and better with us, amplifying our wisdom, our judgment, our conscience. 

[Chip]
So the final thought for you, the listener, is really a call to action. 

[Nova]
Yes. Start the process. Go personalize your AI. Add that memory update Tom suggests. Teach your AI apprentice what good truly looks like according to you. That's how we all get to that next level. 

[Chip]
And if you're ready to explore how artificial intuition guided by Trivera's expertise can drive success for your business, definitely get in touch. 

[Nova]
Contact Team Trivera. We'd love to talk. You can find links to Tom's original blog post and those specific memory update examples in the show notes. 

[Chip]
Please download this deep dive if you haven't already, subscribe so you don't miss the next one, and share it with colleagues who might find it useful. 

[Nova]
Until next time, keep exploring, keep learning. 

[Narrator]
Thanks for joining us on Trivera's AI Deep Dive with Chip and Nova. If you enjoyed this episode, you can find more and stay up to date with new episodes wherever you listen to podcasts or find them on our website and our social media channels. And don't forget to visit us at Trivera.com to learn how we can help take your marketing to the next level. Ready to talk? Reach out. We'd love to hear from you. See you next time.