Not long ago, the work of creating a competitive analysis took weeks of research, strategic frameworks and review. This service could cost $10,000 or more for the analysis plus strategy recommendations. Today with AI, the time (and cost) has shrunk to almost nothing.
On a recent episode of The Artificial Intelligence Show, SmarterX founder and CEO Paul Roetzer shared a use case that puts this shift into perspective. He ran a competitive analysis across two frontier AI models — OpenAI's GPT 5.6 Sol and Anthropic's Fable 5 — using a single prompt:
"Run a competitive analysis on [competitor]. Consider strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities in comparison to our business and propose business strategies that we can use to exploit their weaknesses and our strengths to differentiate in the market and be the clear choice for enterprises."
That's it. No multi-page brief, no hours of setup. Both models returned detailed, strategic output that Paul could work from. It is the kind of deliverable that, in Paul's marketing agency days, would have cost a client five figures and taken weeks to produce.
The AI did it in 35 seconds.
What makes this example valuable for marketers isn't just the speed. It's the workflow Roetzer modeled around it.
First, the simplicity of the prompt. You don't need elaborate prompt engineering to get meaningful strategic output from today's models. A clear, well-scoped request can get you surprisingly far.
Second, he used AI for high-level strategy, not just content production or task automation. Competitive intelligence, SWOT analysis, and differentiation strategy are exactly the kinds of knowledge work where AI can accelerate your thinking.
Third — and this is critical — he presented the output honestly. Roetzer shared the raw files internally with his team as a quick draft, clearly labeled as unedited AI output. No pretending it was polished strategic work. No passing it off as something he spent days on. Just: "Here's something I generated in 35 seconds across two platforms. Here's how I plan to verify it. Take a look if it's useful."
If you're a marketing leader still outsourcing competitive analysis at premium rates — or worse, skipping it entirely because of the cost — this is your nudge to rethink the process. AI won't replace the strategic judgment needed to act on a competitive analysis. But it can replace weeks of research and tens of thousands of dollars in agency fees to get you a strong starting point.
The marketers who will win aren't the ones who blindly trust AI output. They're the ones who use it as a fast, low-cost draft and then bring the human thinking that turns raw intelligence into real strategy.
To listen to the full Episode 225 of The Artificial Intelligence podcast, visit: https://podcast.smarterx.ai/shownotes/225
For more on building AI-ready marketing teams, explore AI Academy at academy.smarterx.ai.