How to Be an AI Integrator (even if you’re not technical)
How I Use AI to Work Smarter (Without Writing a Single Line of Code)
TL;DR: You don’t need to code to work with AI. In this article, I’ll show you how I’ve become an “AI Integrator”, building real products, writing content, and designing apps without touching code. I’ll break down the concept, show my real tools and workflows, and share how you can start today.
Let me get this out of the way first:
No coding.
No pen test.
No AWS servers or dashboards.
But I’m still building with AI.
Daily.
And not just playing around with Studio Ghibli art.
I’m shipping real products, designing apps for real humans, and writing content that reaches real people like you.
You see, while the world talks about “AI engineers,” I’ve quietly been becoming something else: an AI Integrator
Who is an AI Integrator?
David Ziembicki defines it best:
“An integrator is the most crucial role in your business to fill, next to you as the creator/founder.”
In the books Traction and Rocket Fuel, Gino Wickman and Mark Winters explain that businesses need both:
The Visionary – who shapes business strategy.
The Integrator – who makes the strategy happen.
But I’m noticing something is shifting.
“AI is becoming the primary interface between people, processes, and technology.”
Which means there's a new kind of integrator emerging:
The AI Integrator.
Someone who doesn’t just use AI, but weaves it into their workflow so well that it becomes a silent partner in everything they do.
You don’t need to be technical.
You just need to know how to think…
How to set up systems…
And how to delegate to machines.
Before we dive into how I use AI, let’s explore the underlying architecture of AI integration, the kind that scales from solopreneurs to enterprises.
The 5 Layers That Power Modern AI Workflows
Ali Arsanjani, in his piece “The Rise of the AI Integrators”, outlines five key layers that transform ordinary businesses into intelligent, AI-powered ones:
Generative U/X – where interfaces adapt dynamically using AI
Hyper-Personalization – tailoring experiences to individual user behaviour
AI Amalgamation of Data – extracting insights across diverse data types
Agentic AI Process Automation – empowering AI agents to make decisions and act
Distillation of Next Best Actions – AI suggesting what to do next, based on real-time insights
Don’t be carried away by the fancy words.
“AI integrators can empower their Clients’ businesses to achieve unprecedented levels of customer engagement, operational efficiency, and strategic decision-making.”
— Ali Arsanjani, The Rise of the AI Integrators
These aren’t just enterprise ideas.
For me personally, even as a solopreneur, I’ve started to implement versions of each of these layers.
Just scaled to my size.
Generative U/X? I use AI to co-create design prototypes.
Hyper-Personalization? Every newsletter I write is built with AI but infused with my Creative DNA.
AI Amalgamation? Claude + Obsidian is how I mine insights from my past work.
Agentic Automation? GPT-4o (and other models) handle draft generation. ConversionGPT tightens it. I just review.
Next Best Actions? In my designs, for example, I track audience behaviour using another AI and decide what to work on next.
That’s the beauty of being an AI Integrator: you don’t need Google Cloud — just a system that works for you.
Here are three ways I’ve built mine.
How I Actually Use AI: Real Examples from My Workflow
Product Creation: letting AI rework my old work
Years ago, I created an online course around a topic I was passionate about.
That course is still my highest selling till today.
That spark has since faded… but the content is still super valuable.
So I loaded my course transcripts into a .txt notepad file and asked Claude.AI to extract the gold.
The result became a brand-new book created entirely based on my voice and ideas.
Not AI generated content.
Rediscovered content.
Content I had forgotten I even created.
That’s what an AI integrator does: move resources from areas of low productivity to areas of higher productivity using AI.
I’m beginning to think of how I’m going to repurpose my published book into a new version.
Mobile App Design: AI as my UX assistant
In my day job, I design digital experiences for older adults (55+).
Designing for this group takes empathy, psychology, and simplicity.
But I don’t do it alone.
I created an AI agent trained on:
My personal 20-year-old psychology of design notes
Cheat sheets from courses I’ve taken
Design heuristics I trust
Now, instead of spending hours pushing pixels in Figma, I focus on higher-order questions.
The AI drafts the interface copy.
Suggests layout changes.
Helps me test clarity.
That’s the shift.
AI does the grunt work.
I do the thinking.
Content Creation: AI as writing partner, not author
I write daily.
Not all of it sees the light of day, but the practice is constant.
Here’s my workflow:
I start with my notes in Obsidian – sometimes voice-dictated from my iPhone.
Feed them to my AI, trained to match my voice, tone, and rhythm (see the screenshot below).
Review the first draft.
Run it through ConversionGPT, a tool built to tighten up sales or conversion-focused copy.
In fact, I once wrote an entire website using ConversionGPT.
In my findings, AI does not quote people correctly when referring to or summarizing research.
It flattens the nuance, abstracts the voice, and sometimes makes things up.
Someone also noticed this:
“In creating anonymous summaries, AI flattens out all the fascinating architecture of thought that makes the internet hum.”
That’s why I always read the originals.
Then synthesize myself.
Then bring AI in for structure, expansion, and flow.
That’s the principle — but what about the tools?
Here’s my Personal AI Stack (in plain English)
No secret tools. Just tools I’ve tested, tweaked, and trusted over time
If you're technical: cool.
If you're not: even better.
These tools meet you where you are.
How I Balance Human Thinking with AI Assistance
Ev Chapman says it best:
“Your writing style is more than words. What you need is to transfer your Creative DNA to AI — not just your writing style, but your entire creative signature.”
So here’s how I do that.
My Creative DNA
Every time I work with AI, I teach it this signature.
That way, even when it’s doing the writing, it’s still very much me.
Your Framework — The AI Integration Cycle
If you want to build your own system, here’s where to start:
The AI Integrator Cycle
Capture
→ whether you're using voice dictation on your phone, Notion or Obsidian widgets on the go, or jotting down messy ideas in a notebook, the key is to grab your thoughts in raw form as they come. Don’t worry about polish; focus on preserving the spark.Cultivate
→ this is where you begin to shape those captured ideas. An approach you can use: Water your ideas by expanding on them. Prune the bits that don’t work. Rotate your focus across different ideas on different days to keep things fresh. And Fertilize by feeding your notes with additional research, insights, or lived experience. AI can assist in all of this… suggesting connections, cleaning up structure, or even proposing new angles.Connect
→ this is where everything starts to make sense. I (sometimes) use AI to surface hidden connections between ideas across time and context. These connections often lead to breakthroughs I wouldn’t have reached by a single idea or on my own.Create
→ now you give shape to your ideas. Use AI to generate drafts, tighten arguments, or explore variations. But always bring your full self to the final pass. Review it with your own eyes. This is not about automation; it’s about co-creation.
Repeat.
You don’t have to build the whole system at once.
Start with just one area — product, design, or writing — and let AI be your quiet operator.
Action Steps (this takes 5 minutes)
Make a quick list of 3 things you do repeatedly that drain your energy. See if AI can handle them.
Open your notes app. Try a voice-to-text entry and run it through your favourite AI.
Define your Creative DNA in 3 to 5 bullets. This becomes your compass — so AI doesn’t just sound like you, but thinks like you.
Live courageously,
Dayo Samuel 💯