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AI Research Assistant Stack

Automate competitive research, trend monitoring, and insight generation

Monitor competitors, track industry news, and generate weekly research briefs automatically. Set up Google Alerts, RSS feeds, and AI summarization to stay informed without spending hours reading.

Setup: 1 hourCost: $30-60/month4 stepsFounders, Product Managers, Marketing Teams

Tools You'll Need

Zapier

Zapier

Featured

Workflow Automation

freemium
4.7

Alternative: Make (formerly Integromat)

ChatGPT

ChatGPT

Featured

Content Summarization

freemium
4.8

Alternative: Claude

Step-by-Step Setup Guide

Configure RSS feeds, Google Alerts, and social monitoring for your topics.

Create Google Alerts

Google Alerts → Create alerts for: Your company, Competitors, Industry keywords, Key people

Find RSS feeds

Add feeds from: Industry blogs, Competitor blogs, Tech news sites (TechCrunch, etc.)

Set up RSS trigger

Zapier → RSS by Zapier → New Item in Feed → Enter feed URLs
Tip

Use Feedly to aggregate multiple RSS feeds into one, then trigger off Feedly saves

Use AI to determine relevance and categorize incoming information.

Add relevance filter

ChatGPT prompt: "Rate this article's relevance to [your industry/topic] from 1-10. If 7+, categorize as: Competitor News, Industry Trend, Product Update, or Market Data. Article: {{title}} - {{description}}"

Filter low relevance

Add Filter step: Only continue if relevance score >= 7

Generate summary

For high-relevance items: ChatGPT → "Summarize in 2-3 bullet points. What's the key insight for [your company]?"
Pro Tip

Add your company context to the prompt so AI can identify actionable insights

Store all relevant findings in a searchable Notion or Airtable database.

Create research database

Notion → New Database → Properties: Title, Source, Category, Summary, Link, Date, Relevance Score

Connect Zapier

Add step → Notion → Create Database Item → Map all fields from previous steps

Set up views

Create filtered views: By Category, By Competitor, This Week's Highlights
Tip

Add a "Action Needed" checkbox for items requiring follow-up

Automatically compile a weekly research digest with key insights.

Create weekly Zap

Trigger: Schedule → Every Monday at 8am

Pull week's items

Notion → Query Database → Filter: Created date in last 7 days

Generate brief

ChatGPT: "Create a weekly research brief from these items. Include: Top 3 trends, Competitor moves, Opportunities for us. Items: {{items}}"

Deliver brief

Email or Slack the brief to yourself/team with link to full database
Pro Tip

Share the weekly brief in team Slack to keep everyone informed on market movements

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