This interview is with Tim Cakir, Chief AI Officer & Founder at AI Operator.

Tim Cakir, Chief AI Officer & Founder, AI Operator

As the founder of AI Operator, can you tell us about your background and what led you to specialize in AI for business?

Funnily enough, I was working for an AI computer vision company about 10 years ago, long before AI was cool. Back then I was more on the marketing side, but I moved on to COO and later CEO roles. It was in my last role as CEO of a lead-gen firm that I saw the power of AI. Right around the time ChatGPT dropped, I started using it to 10x the team’s efficiency. We were able to completely cut out many of the dull, repetitive tasks that were draining our time. However, my pro-AI stance wasn’t popular with everybody. I realized that companies desperately need to train their team members to use this tool, and through training and education, they’d be able to combat the AI fear that still plagues many companies today. That’s my mission with AI Operator – to educate and train teams to embrace AI with a positive attitude and view it as a tool to improve their work (and life).

What inspired you to create a 12-week AI-First Mindset Training program, and how has it evolved since its inception?

After implementing AI successfully in my previous company, I wanted to focus solely on that—helping other companies achieve what we had with AI. So I set about creating the training program to guide teams, sharing everything I taught myself in my AI obsession, where I would spend nights learning and experimenting with these tools, pushing them to the limits and closely following every new update and release. The 12-Week AI-First Mindset Training is constantly evolving—it has to mirror the progression of AI tech. Many of the approaches from the early training programs may now be obsolete. However, one thing that doesn’t change is the mindset aspect, and that is arguably one of the most important things. It’s about love, not fear, and helping people embrace all the positives of this technology, which is here to stay.

Can you share a specific example of how a company you’ve worked with transformed their operations after implementing AI, and what challenges they overcame?

One of our early clients was struggling with monthly reporting. Team members were spending hours every month on reporting; it was everybody’s least favorite task. With AI and custom automation, we were able to drastically reduce the time spent on those tedious tasks, as AI could handle the bulk of the work.

You’ve mentioned that AI can cut campaign prep time in half for marketing teams. What’s one unexpected way you’ve seen AI improve business processes that might surprise our readers?

I think an overlooked benefit of AI is how it can reduce stress for leaders and team members alike. I use AI to help me create a stress-free plan for the week ahead, so I always know what’s coming up and I never get overwhelmed. I do this by having important apps, like email and calendar, connected to ChatGPT through Connectors. Then, on a Sunday evening or Monday morning, I can ask for a briefing for the upcoming week. It will access my emails, files, and calendar to give me a complete rundown of everything that’s coming and will flag anything I need to work on.

How do you address the fear of job displacement when training teams to embrace AI, and what strategies have you found most effective in changing this mindset?

I try to shift the focus away from AI doing things for you, and approach it that AI can enhance what you already do, make you faster, more productive, etc. So it’s not about AI taking your job, but you being able to do more and work on more exciting things because AI handles the mundane stuff. I also think it’s important to remember that the technology is here, and we can’t go backwards. So really, the only option we have is to adopt it, use it, and do our best with it. AI won’t be taking your job, but the humans who use it well might.

With the rise of AI shopping assistants, how do you advise e-commerce businesses to adapt their strategies for this new landscape of ‘AIEO’ (AI Engine Optimization)?

People are increasingly using AI to discover products and shop. This means e-commerce brands need to think beyond SEO and start optimizing for AIEO (AI Engine Optimization), which is how AI engines interpret, summarize, and recommend products. This means ensuring your product data is structured, accurate, and context-rich so that AI assistants can understand it easily. Use clear titles, specs, and natural language descriptions, and implement schema markup and API access to make your catalog readable by AI models.

Just as SEO rewarded relevance and authority, AIEO will reward clarity, credibility, and consistency. Create content that directly answers buyer questions, highlight social proof through reviews, and ensure your brand voice is recognizable so AI assistants can recall and recommend you. In this new landscape, AI isn’t just another channel — it’s a gatekeeper. The goal is to become the brand AI trusts enough to suggest first.

As someone with ADHD, you’ve mentioned that AI has transformed tasks you used to dread. Can you share a personal example of how AI has helped you overcome a specific challenge in your work?

AI transforms the way I consume information and learn new skills. I’ve always struggled with focus, so let me give two examples of how AI helps me. The first is simple – my emails. I use Superhuman to filter and manage my entire inbox. Before, I used to regularly let my emails build up to thousands of unread messages, but with Superhuman, I get down to inbox zero every week. Now a more abstract example: I treat AI as my sidekick to learn absolutely anything. One thing I discovered recently is that AI has so much potential as an education tool. Everyone can get their own customized learning plan, with information delivered to them in any way that works. For example, I regularly use Notebook LM to digest large client reports and documentation. Instead of battling to stay focused, I can upload the content to Notebook LM and get my very own personalized podcast episode that breaks it all down in conversation style. Then there’s the added productivity gain of being able to listen to this in the car, on the way to pick up my kids. That’s why I love AI. It’s productivity enhancement all around – as long as you know how to use it. And I’m always finding new ways!

Looking ahead, what do you believe is the most critical skill business leaders should develop to stay competitive in an AI-driven future, and why?

The most critical skill is not even a skill; it’s a mindset. It’s the growth mindset – always being open to change, willing to try new tools, and eager to find faster, better ways of doing things with AI. Learning how to learn – that will be super important. And not clinging to the old ways of doing things.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and expertise. Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Keep a positive mindset; don’t buy into the fear-mongering about AI. It’s just a tool; what matters is how we use it. We have a responsibility to learn how to use it for the benefit of humanity.