Accelerating Your Innovation with AI - 6 Fundamental Use Cases to Know

Why do some companies succeed in deploying artificial intelligence at scale while others remain stuck in experimentation? Often, it starts with clarity: what are the concrete use cases to test today, without delay?

If you're looking to accelerate your transformation with AI, without falling into the traps of complexity, grand speeches, or analytical paralysis, this article is for you. Whether you're an innovation leader, AI project manager, business director, or simply curious, you'll find clear and actionable insights here.

We’ll explore together the 6 “primitives” of AI usage, as defined by OpenAI, derived from hundreds of real-world cases. These are the building blocks of any effective AI strategy, within your reach.

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I. Understanding the Basics: The “Primitives” of AI

1. Definition and Origin

OpenAI, after analyzing over 600 AI projects deployed in companies of all sizes, identified a common foundation: 6 fundamental forms of AI usage, simple to understand and apply in your professional daily life.

These “primitives” allow you to:

• Make AI accessible, even without being an expert.
• Initiate high-impact projects without waiting months.
• Gradually build your team's skills.

2. Case Study: Promega

Take the example of Promega, a biotechnology company. In just six months, by using ChatGPT Enterprise to generate their marketing content, they saved 135 hours of work. And without changing their tech stack. Their breakthrough? Identifying a simple but strategic use case: content creation. Check out the full case study here.

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II. The 6 Essential Use Cases to Test

1. Content Creation: Produce Quickly, Better, and at Scale

AI can draft, rephrase, correct, translate, and adapt text for different audiences. It’s a powerful lever for:

• Marketing teams: newsletters, social media posts, landing pages, video scripts…
• Sales teams: follow-up emails, call scripts, product sheets…
• HR teams: job postings, internal guides, training materials…

💡 Imagine your product team generating technical sheets, FAQs, and launch documents in minutes from a simple brief.

2. Research: Your AI as an Analyst Assistant

Instead of spending hours searching for information or compiling sources, AI can:

• Summarize articles.
• Extract key insights.
• Present information in tables, bullet points, or summaries.

💡 Request a comparison between competitors, with sources included. AI handles it for you.

3. Programming and Light Automation

Even without being a developer, you can ask AI to:

• Generate a Python script or SQL query.
• Create a data visualization.
• Automate an Excel task or reporting.

💡 A finance team creates a script to automate file reconciliation, saving hours weekly.

4. Data Analysis: Finally Exploit Your Dormant Files

AI helps you:

• Read and interpret complex Excel files.
• Identify trends, anomalies, or discrepancies.
• Generate clear summaries or charts.

💡 Upload your webinar data and request a performance summary by channel. Results in seconds.

5. Ideation and Strategy: A True Thinking Partner

AI can help you:

• Structure an action plan.
• Identify risks or overlooked areas.
• Review your pitch or strategic document.

💡 Preparing a product launch? Simulate a brainstorming workshop with AI to challenge your concept.

6. Automation: Seamlessly Chain Tasks

Combine several primitives, and you get:

• Research + analysis + synthesis + distribution.
• Brief → content generation → multichannel adaptation.

💡 A marketing manager transforms a brief into a complete campaign (emails, ads, landing pages) via a custom GPT.

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III. Tensions, Barriers, and Concrete Responses

Common Concerns

• “These use cases are too simple”: Not ambitious enough?
• “AI doesn’t know my field”: Lacks context?
• “It will replace humans”: Fear of substitution?

Responses

• Simplicity is an asset: It’s how you create buy-in.
• Context can be learned: AI adapts to your documents, tone, and processes.
• You remain in control: AI assists you, it doesn’t replace you. It frees up your time.

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IV. Take Action (and Think Ahead)

Concretely, You Can:

• Launch initial tests without relying on an IT project.
• Train each team on 1 or 2 primitives useful in their daily work.
• Use these cases as a foundation to build a solid AI roadmap.

Looking Further:

• These use cases integrate perfectly with approaches like design thinking or lean.
• They prepare for a future where AI orchestrates entire workflows.
• You lay the groundwork for a true culture of continuous innovation.

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Conclusion

Organizations that move forward aren’t necessarily the most tech-savvy, but those that dare to test, learn, iterate. Starting with these 6 primitives gives you the means to act now, with impact.

So, a simple question for your team: What if we tested an AI primitive this week?

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🧠 Key Takeaways

• ✅ 6 key primitives: content, research, code, analysis, ideation, automation.
• ✅ Start simple, maximize impact now.
• ✅ All roles are involved, even the least technical.