Mind the gap with AI

There are only two types of self-help book:

- Anyone can do anything, go out and make anything happen.

- Don't worry everyone fails.

They either overpromise success or offer comfort for inevitable failure.

It’s pretty much the same with every new tech cycle in thought leadership:

-This will change everything, go do it, give up your job.

-This new thing is a fad, it’s a lie, it’s vaporware.

It’s always weird that there’s no market for the truth.

There’s no market for nuance, for the middle.

No popular market for accuracy, for wisdom, for balance, for reality. 

People in particular LOVE the "anyone can do it", with AI anyone with imagination can win, with code writing code you're direct to consumer dog bone business is golden.

If you don't believe me, check how few likes, shares and comments this gets vs people who offer naive unadulterated optimism.

The truth so far has always been:

- Tech takes a long time to change the world because it needs to act on layers that are slower to change: governance, power, culture.

- Technology is extremely powerful but only when applied at depth.

- Technology’s impact is not uniform; some industries will change enormously, some will change remarkably little.

- Many people think the world’s changed long before it really has.

- You don’t need to be the first to act on it; it’s about being the person that applies the technology at the right time in the right place.

- Often it’s boring solutions that win, not the stuff that is immediately exciting.

- Understanding human nature is more important than understanding technology.

- It’s a much bigger prize to work around new possibilities; it’s much better odds to work around solving existing problems.