Exploding Kittens CEO uses AI as a silent thinking partner on daily walks

Executive overview

Most people use AI as an answer machine. Elan Lee uses it to ask better questions — of himself.

Lee has built a daily practice where AI facilitates his thinking rather than replacing it. A custom prompt tells the AI to stay silent unless asked, take notes on command, and never fill pauses.

The core insight: AI is most valuable when it asks you questions, not when it answers them.

What AI can't do for game design

• AI-generated game concepts from prompts produce poor, generic results
• AI-generated art is equally unusable for professional game production
• Raw creative output from AI is not a viable part of Elan's design process

Where AI genuinely helps

• Stress-testing game instructions by surfacing edge cases before playtesting
• Playtester families can only be used once, so instructions must be near-perfect upfront
• Solving micro-economic problems in game point systems (inflation, resource depletion, win conditions)
• These economic problems feel like math — AI handles them so Lee doesn't have to develop that skill himself

The daily walking ritual

• Lee walks 2–3 hours daily with ChatGPT in voice mode
• A saved prompt instructs the AI to: take notes when told, stay silent during pauses, answer only when asked
• He narrates whatever is on his mind — game design, company policy, HR issues
• At the end, he receives a transcript of only the parts he flagged to record
• He returns with a clear plan for the problem he was working through

How to approach problems with AI

• Problems can be nebulous at the start — precision upfront is not required
• The AI can guide brainstorming by asking leading questions rather than providing answers
• Prompt it explicitly: "help me figure out what I'm trying to figure out — don't answer it for me"

Advice for using AI creatively

• Fill your head first: consume broadly (films, books, games, podcasts) to build raw material
• Don't ask AI for ideas — ask it to ask you questions that draw on what you already know
• Train it to push you toward combining existing ideas rather than generating new ones
• The best ideas often emerge from combining other people's ideas in novel ways