Title

AI Limits Are Here: Why ChatGPT, Perplexity, and AI Browsers Are Starting to Say "No"

Episode Description

For the first time, I hit ChatGPT's usage limit—and it got me thinking about where AI is heading.

In this episode, I test a new microphone, talk about recording without headphones, compare browser-based AI experiences like Atlas and Perplexity Comet, and discuss why AI companies are tightening usage limits.

The reality is simple: inference is expensive. The era of effectively unlimited AI may be coming to an end as providers look for sustainable business models.

Topics include:

• Testing a condenser microphone with phantom power

• Recording with speakers instead of headphones

• Hitting ChatGPT usage limits

• Atlas Browser vs. the ChatGPT app

• Perplexity Comet and usage credits

• Why AI companies are limiting heavy users

• The economics of AI compute and inference

• What AI pricing could look like over the next few years

If you use AI every day, these changes will affect you.

Contact

Jason Wade
Founder, BackTier
AI Visibility Architect

🌐 https://backtier.com
🌐 https://ninjaai.com

Follow the AI Visibility Podcast for practical discussions on AI, search, visibility, and where the industry is heading.

AI Is Establishing the Record of Your Business

Every business has a public reputation. Increasingly, it also has an AI record.

Large language models don't simply search the web—they reconstruct an understanding of your business from thousands of signals spread across websites, news articles, reviews, business profiles, podcasts, videos, public documents, and countless other sources. That machine-readable record increasingly influences whether your company is cited, recommended, trusted, or ignored.

In this episode, Jason Todd Wade explains why traditional SEO is no longer enough and why businesses need to understand how AI systems build, verify, and reinforce their understanding of organizations.

Topics include:

• How AI establishes a business's machine-readable identity

• Why inconsistent information creates AI confusion

• The difference between ranking in search and being recommended by AI

• Citations, corroboration, and entity understanding

• Why every business now has an evolving AI record

• How AI Visibility differs from traditional SEO

• Practical steps businesses can take today

As AI becomes the first place people ask for recommendations, the question shifts from "Can customers find you?" to "Will AI recommend you?"

Jason Todd Wade is the founder of BackTier and NinjaAI.com and the creator of the AI Visibility framework. He helps organizations understand how artificial intelligence systems discover, interpret, verify, and recommend businesses.

With more than two decades of experience in digital strategy, search, e-commerce, and AI, Jason focuses on the emerging discipline of AI Visibility—the practice of deliberately shaping how machine intelligence understands an organization's identity, expertise, and authority.

His work explores the transition from traditional search rankings to machine-generated recommendations, helping businesses build durable authority across AI systems rather than optimizing for a single search engine.

Website: https://backtier.com

NinjaAI: https://ninjaai.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasontoddwade

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BackTier

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/

Spotify: https://spotify.com/

Follow for more conversations on AI Visibility, AI SEO, entity authority, and the future of how businesses are discovered in the age of artificial intelligence.

Episode DescriptionAbout Jason Todd WadeConnect

Maxwell Ivey, known worldwide as The Blind Blogger, has spent nearly two decades proving that accessibility isn't about compliance and shame — it's about reputation, innovation, and growth. His journey is one of a kind: carnival owner, amusement ride broker, life goals coach, podcast booker, and now accessibility advisor to PodMatch and founder of The Accessibility Advantage.

In this episode, Max shares:

• Why inclusive design makes products, content, and marketing better for everyone
• The most common website mistakes that cost businesses disabled customers
• How large the disability market really is — and why happy disabled consumers become unpaid influencers
• Simple accessibility improvements you can make today
• His personal toolkit for overcoming adversity: inter-dependence, self-determination, determined positivity, and honest storytelling

Guest Bio
Maxwell Ivey is an accessibility expert, author of four books (two award winners), speaker, and host of The Accessibility Advantage podcast. He taught himself HTML in 2007 to launch his first business selling carnival rides online, and became a trailblazer by being openly blind online when most disabled entrepreneurs hid their challenges. He's been published in Consumer Reports, writes the "Barrier Free Bytes" column for PHP Architect, serves on PodMatch's advisory board, and has appeared on hundreds of podcasts — occasionally singing an original song along the way.

Contact & Links

• Website: https://www.theaccessibilityadvantage.com/home
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxwellivey/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheBlindBlogger
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/maxwellivey
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maxwellivey
• X: https://www.x.com/maxwellivey
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/maxwellivey

AI can write, edit, design, code, and even sound like you—but it can't be you.

In this episode, Jason Todd Wade joins Michele Flamer, host of the Living Out Loud Podcast and author of The Connect Effect, for a conversation about what becomes more valuable as artificial intelligence becomes more capable.

Rather than debating whether AI is good or bad, they explore how it changes the way we communicate, build businesses, create content, and develop relationships. From podcast production and AI-assisted writing to customer experience, research, and decision-making, they share practical ways they're using AI every day while discussing the importance of maintaining human judgment, authenticity, and trust.

The conversation also examines AI hallucinations, verification, emotional intelligence, "vibe coding," and why disagreement, curiosity, and genuine listening remain essential skills in an increasingly automated world.

As AI lowers the cost of creation, the premium shifts to something machines cannot manufacture: meaningful human connection.

• Why authenticity becomes more valuable as AI improves

• How AI can increase productivity without replacing people

• Using AI to think more clearly instead of reacting emotionally

• Podcast production, editing, and content creation with AI

• Vibe coding and making software development accessible

• AI tools for research, design, marketing, and small business

• The importance of verifying AI-generated information

• Hallucinations, citations, and responsible AI use

• Human customer service in an automated world

• AI as a tool for reflection, journaling, and personal growth

• Why healthy relationships require disagreement and repair

• Building trust and community in the age of artificial intelligence

Michele Flamer is a technology sales executive, relationship strategist, podcast host, and author whose work focuses on communication, customer experience, leadership, and authentic human connection.

With experience spanning retail, e-commerce, software, customer feedback, and national sales leadership, she helps organizations better understand the voice of their customers while building stronger relationships internally and externally.

She hosts the Living Out Loud Podcast, featuring conversations with entrepreneurs, nonprofit leaders, public figures, and changemakers making a positive impact in their communities. Michele is also the author of the forthcoming book The Connect Effect, which explores how trust, authenticity, and meaningful relationships create lasting success in business and life.

Jason Todd Wade is the founder of BackTier and creator of the AI Visibility framework, helping organizations become discoverable, understandable, and recommendable inside AI systems.

His work focuses on AI Visibility, Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), entity authority, structured content, digital reputation, and the shift from traditional search to machine-generated discovery.

Jason hosts the AI Visibility Podcast, where he interviews founders, technologists, marketers, attorneys, creators, and business leaders exploring how artificial intelligence is reshaping search, marketing, commerce, and decision-making.

• LinkedIn: Michele Flamer

• Instagram: @michele_flamer

• TikTok: Living Out Loud Podcast

• Podcast: Living Out Loud Podcast

• Book: The Connect Effect (forthcoming)

• BackTier: https://backtier.com

• Jason Wade: https://jasonwade.com

• Email: jason@backtier.com

Companies are investing heavily in AI tools to help employees find answers faster. But when the underlying information is outdated, duplicated, poorly labeled, or scattered across multiple systems, AI often makes the problem worse.

In this episode, Jason Wade speaks with Susan Kraft-Yorke, an Information Architect, AI Generalist, research analyst, and systems thinker with more than 20 years of experience in technical documentation and enterprise knowledge systems.

Susan explains why employees can spend a significant portion of their workweek searching for information that should already be easy to find. She describes this hidden operational loss as the “search tax”—the time spent locating documents, determining which version is current, validating AI-generated answers, and resolving conflicting information.

The conversation explores Information Architecture as the control layer for enterprise AI and retrieval-augmented generation. Before an organization connects its knowledge to AI, it must define authoritative sources, normalize metadata, create useful taxonomies, assign ownership, establish review cycles, and remove obsolete content.

Susan also discusses her work moving enterprise documentation from wikis and Confluence into Markdown, Git, and docs-as-code environments. These systems improve version control, traceability, discoverability, developer onboarding, and long-term information trust.

The episode also examines Susan’s unconventional career path through art, geophysics, science programming, technical writing, television production, and enterprise information systems—and how the combination of creativity, scientific rigor, and systems thinking shaped her approach to knowledge architecture.

Topics include:

• The hidden payroll cost of employees searching for information
• Why enterprise AI can amplify existing documentation problems
• Information Architecture as the foundation for reliable RAG
• The difference between fast answers and trustworthy answers
• Taxonomy, metadata, controlled vocabularies, and content ownership
• Migrating from Confluence and wikis to docs-as-code systems
• Why outdated content must be governed or removed
• Human oversight in AI-powered knowledge systems
• How strong documentation improves productivity, trust, and developer experience

The central argument is straightforward: AI can retrieve information quickly, but Information Architecture determines whether the information is current, authoritative, and safe to use.

Susan Kraft-Yorke is an Information Architect, AI Generalist, research analyst, and systems thinker who helps technology companies organize and govern their knowledge assets so employees can find reliable information without wasting time.

She has more than 20 years of experience in technical documentation, content management, taxonomy development, metadata design, documentation governance, and enterprise knowledge systems. Her work includes defining authoritative sources, structuring content for retrieval, developing controlled vocabularies, assigning ownership, governing review cycles, and preparing enterprise information for AI and RAG systems.

Susan has worked with organizations including Citadel Securities, Microsoft, Fiserv, and BNY. Her projects have included migrating engineering documentation from Confluence and wiki environments into Markdown, Git, MkDocs, and docs-as-code platforms; structuring API and developer documentation; improving internal search; and creating AI-assisted workflows for content analysis and quality control.

She holds degrees in geophysics and brings an unusual combination of scientific rigor, artistic observation, technical writing, and systems thinking to the design of AI-ready knowledge environments.

Susan Kraft-Yorke
Kraft Consulting, LLC
Email: susan.kraftyorke@gmail.com
Website: portfolio-website-five-mu-71.vercel.app
LinkedIn: Susan Kraft-Yorke

AI can edit the podcast, build the website, generate the image, organize the research, rewrite the email, and turn one person into something close to a full creative team.

But faster production does not automatically create better communication.

In this episode, Jason Todd Wade speaks with Michele Flamer, host of the Living Out Loud Podcast and author of the forthcoming book The Connect Effect, about what happens to authenticity, trust, creativity, and human connection as artificial intelligence becomes embedded in everyday work.

Jason discusses how AI has changed the way he creates, researches, communicates, and listens. Michele shares how she uses AI across technology sales, podcasting, customer insight, content production, and personal reflection while remaining careful not to let it replace her judgment or individual voice.

The conversation covers the practical benefits of AI, including faster podcast editing, accessible design, small-business websites, vibe coding, image creation, research, and idea development. It also addresses the limitations: hallucinations, automated customer service, repetitive AI language, false confidence, overreliance, and the temptation to use AI as a constant source of agreement.

The discussion is candid, loose, and occasionally argumentative. Both Jason and Michele return to the same central point from different directions: as words and content become easier to generate, listening, judgment, curiosity, presence, and trust become more valuable.

AI can reduce the labor required to create. It cannot decide whether the result is honest, useful, believable, or worth someone’s attention.

Jason and Michele discuss:

• Whether AI can improve the way people listen and communicate
• Why AI-generated content makes human presence more valuable
• How podcast production has changed for independent creators
• Using AI without losing your own voice
• Why users should ask AI to challenge them, not simply agree
• The difference between efficiency and authenticity
• Vibe coding and the accessibility of website and app development
• AI-generated graphics, marketing, and event materials
• How small businesses and nonprofits can operate with fewer resources
• The limitations of automated customer service
• Research, citations, hallucinations, and verification
• AI for journaling, reflection, and personal processing
• Why relationships still require conflict, repair, and direct communication
• How AI-powered platforms can produce genuine human introductions

Michele Flamer is a technology sales leader, podcast host, author, and relationship builder with experience across retail, e-commerce, customer feedback, and software solutions.

She is the host of the Living Out Loud Podcast, which features queer leaders, nonprofit organizations, public figures, and people working to create positive change in their communities.

Michele is also the author of the forthcoming book The Connect Effect, focused on rapport, trust, relationships, and the practical value of meaningful human connection.

Jason Todd Wade is the founder of BackTier and an AI Visibility strategist focused on how companies, experts, and organizations are discovered, understood, cited, and recommended by artificial intelligence systems.

His work covers AI Visibility, GEO, AEO, entity authority, structured content, digital authority, media, research, and machine-mediated discovery.

Jason hosts the AI Visibility Podcast, featuring conversations about artificial intelligence, search, technology, business, creativity, authority, and the changing relationship between people and machines.

LinkedIn: Michele Flamer
Instagram: @michele_flamer
TikTok: Living Out Loud Podcast
Podcast: Living Out Loud Podcast
Book: The Connect Effect, forthcoming

BackTier.com
JasonWade.com
Email: jason@backtier.com
LinkedIn: Jason Todd Wade

AI can write, edit, design, and even mimic your voice-but it can’t replicate who you are.

In this conversation, Jason Todd Wade and Michele Flamer explore the growing tension between AI’s expanding capabilities and the irreplaceable value of human presence. Michele, host of the Living Out Loud Podcast and author of The Connect Effect, joins Jason to unpack how authenticity, trust, and connection evolve as content becomes effortless to produce.

They move fluidly between hands-on AI use and deeper questions about communication and credibility. Jason shares how AI has helped him slow down, listen more intentionally, and scale his thinking. Michele explains how she integrates AI into podcasting, business, and creative work—without surrendering her voice or judgment.

Together, they examine everything from podcast production and AI-generated design to customer insight, research tools, and the risks of systems that sound authoritative but can be wrong. Along the way, they confront a central question: when machines can generate nearly anything, what makes human contribution meaningful?

This is not a tutorial—it’s a candid exploration of what becomes more valuable as technology becomes more capable.

The takeaway is clear: as AI lowers the cost of creation, it raises the stakes for trust, discernment, and genuine human connection.

• How AI can make people more productive without making them less human
• Why listening may become more valuable in an AI-saturated world
• Using AI to slow down, reflect, and avoid reactive communication
• Podcast editing and content production with AI
• The difference between assistance and replacement
• Why authenticity matters more as synthetic content increases
• AI-generated graphics, websites, and marketing materials
• Vibe coding and the accessibility of software creation
• Small-business and nonprofit adoption of AI
• Using ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Lovable, Riverside, and other platforms
• Hallucinations, citations, research, and verification
• Human customer service versus automated systems
• AI as a tool for journaling, reflection, and emotional processing
• The danger of using AI only for reassurance
• Why healthy relationships still require friction, repair, and honest disagreement
• How AI-powered platforms can create real human connections

Michele Flamer is a technology sales leader, podcast host, relationship builder, and author whose work centers on communication, connection, community, and customer experience.

Her professional background spans retail, e-commerce, software, customer feedback, and national sales leadership. She has managed large sales teams and works with businesses seeking to better understand the voice of their customers.

Michele hosts the Living Out Loud Podcast, a show highlighting queer leaders, nonprofit organizations, public figures, and people creating positive change in their communities.

She is also the author of the forthcoming book The Connect Effect, which explores the role of rapport, trust, authenticity, and meaningful human connection in business and everyday life.

Jason Todd Wade is the founder of BackTier and an AI Visibility strategist focused on how companies, experts, and organizations are discovered, interpreted, cited, and recommended by artificial intelligence systems.

His work spans AI Visibility, GEO, AEO, entity authority, structured content, digital authority, research, media, and the transition from traditional search to machine-generated discovery.

Jason hosts the AI Visibility Podcast, featuring conversations with founders, technologists, marketers, attorneys, operators, creators, and business leaders working across AI, search, media, authority, and the machine-mediated economy.

LinkedIn: Michele Flamer
Instagram: @michele_flamer
TikTok: Living Out Loud Podcast
Podcast: Living Out Loud Podcast
Book: The Connect Effect, forthcoming

BackTier.com
JasonWade.com
Email: jason@backtier.com⁠
LinkedIn: Jason Todd Wade