MasterClass founder says CEOs who are not using AI daily are only 80% as good as their peers—he’s saved an entire day of work thanks to a custom GPT

Leading CEOs, including MasterClass's David Rogier, are actively leveraging AI as a significant productivity accelerant, with Rogier claiming to reclaim an entire workday through a suite of AI tools for tasks from drafting to prioritization. This trend extends to Microsoft's Satya Nadella, who uses AI for workflow and insights, and Nvidia's Jensen Huang for learning, while Zoom and Klarna have deployed AI-generated replicas for earnings calls and customer service. This widespread executive adoption signals a strategic shift towards integrating AI for enhanced operational efficiency and decision-making across leadership functions.

Analysis

Anxiety over an AI-driven future has crept into nearly every corner of the workplace. From junior staffers worried about automation to managers fearing irrelevance, no one feels entirely safe. Even CEOs aren’t immune: nearly three-quarters say they fear losing their jobs if they can’t deliver business results with AI. But David Rogier isn’t one of them. The MasterClass founder and CEO sees AI not as a threat but as an accelerant, one that’s already reshaped how he works on a daily basis. “If you aren’t using AI and you’re a CEO, what are you doing?” Rogier told Fortune. “You are holding yourself back. You’re like, ‘I only want to be 80% as productive as I can be.’” By his count, being a “heavy user” of the technology has made him so efficient he’s reclaimed the equivalent of the entire workday, time he now funnels into the parts of the business that demand his leadership the most. MasterClass’s CEO uses eight separate AI tools With so many different AI tools on the market, it’s impossible to just use one and be a time maximizer. Instead, Rogier’s “AI CEO Stack” consists of over half a dozen LLMs. Rogier’s main AI helper is a custom version of ChatGPT named “Davidify” that synthesizes all of his notes. If he needs to draft an email or a speech, all he has to do is prompt it with a few bullet points, and it will write it in his style. His AI stack also includes: - Gamma: “Builds my all-hands decks faster and way prettier“ - Make.com + Todoist + ChatGPT: “Auto-prioritizes my to-do list automatically every night. No more staring at 50 tasks and trying to prioritize.“ - NotebookLM: “Takes all the YouTube talks and academic papers I want to watch and read and makes me a 15-min podcast for my walks.“ - Lovable: “Rapid product mockups leads to way faster feedback loops.“ - On Call: “I ask Chris Voss and Mark Cuban questions and don’t worry about actually bugging them.” - Claude Projects: “Loaded with our customer demographics. I ask it for real-time feedback on new ideas.“ - Suno: “Surprisingly? The best custom work (and workout) playlists.” How CEOs are embracing AI in the workplace Rogier hasn’t been alone in his embrace of AI. CEOs, especially in the tech sector, see daily AI usage as table stakes for staying competitive. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has said GPT-5 within Microsoft’s 365 Copilot has “become part of my everyday workflow, adding a new layer of intelligence spanning all my apps.” In fact, the billionaire uses the generative technology to generate meeting summaries, project updates, monitor productivity, and more. Similarly, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang uses AI as both a learning and research tool, most often utilizing Perplexity and ChatGPT. “I use [AI] as a tutor every day,” Huang said at the Milken Institute Global Conference earlier this year. “In areas that are fairly new to me, I might say, ‘Start by explaining it to me like I’m a 12-year-old,’ and then work your way up into a doctorate-level over time.” Other tech leaders have gone even further with their AI use. CEOs such as Zoom’s Eric Yuan and Klarna’s Sebastian Siemiatkowski have both appeared on recent earnings calls using AI-generated video replicas that deliver scripted remarks in their voice and likeness. And Klarna has even gone so far as to open up a 24/7 “AI CEO Hotline,” a service that fields customer inequities around the clock, responding in Siemiatkowski’s conversational style in both English and Swedish. With AI only improving with time, these CEOs have at a minimum set an example of how technology can be integrated throughout their work—and likely expect their employees to do the same. A clear trend of C-suite AI adoption is emerging as a key driver for executive productivity and corporate strategy, as evidenced by testimonials from prominent tech CEOs. The article highlights that MasterClass CEO David Rogier utilizes a suite of eight distinct AI tools to reclaim the equivalent of a full workday, framing AI not as a threat but as a significant performance accelerant. This sentiment is echoed by Microsoft's (MSFT) CEO Satya Nadella, who has integrated GPT-5 within Copilot into his daily workflow for summaries and project tracking, and Nvidia's (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang, who employs AI as a personal research and learning tool. The deployment of AI extends to novel communication methods, with Zoom's (ZM) and Klarna's CEOs using AI-generated video replicas for earnings calls and customer interaction. The underlying pressure is significant, with nearly three-quarters of CEOs fearing job insecurity if they fail to deliver results with AI. This top-down integration signals that executive proficiency with AI is becoming table stakes for maintaining a competitive edge, setting a precedent for broader enterprise-wide adoption.

Key Decisions for Investors

• The direct integration of AI tools into the workflows of CEOs at Microsoft (MSFT) and the use of AI powered by Nvidia (NVDA) hardware reinforces a bullish outlook on these key technology enablers, as their products are becoming essential for leadership efficiency.
• Investors should monitor executive commentary and corporate disclosures for evidence of C-suite AI adoption, using it as a qualitative metric to gauge a company's commitment to innovation and operational leverage.
• The use of AI-generated avatars by firms like Zoom (ZM) on earnings calls indicates a new frontier in corporate communications and investor relations, and models that successfully leverage this for efficiency could gain a competitive advantage.
• Consider the growing ecosystem of specialized enterprise AI software, as the 'AI CEO Stack' concept suggests a fragmented but high-value market for tools that drive tangible productivity gains at the leadership level.