AI is awesome for now

AI is awesome for now. You know what else was awesome? eBay, Amazon, Facebook ads, Google ads, SEO, social media.

I remember the first time I heard that someone quit their jobs to run their eBay store… but now I can’t remember the last time I thought about eBay, let alone shopped there.

Facebook ads used to be very cheap, but now whatever you’re selling needs to earn you a lot of money so you can spend big on ads to compete, and you’re increasingly at the mercy of their (slot machine) algorithm.

AI could go the same way.

I haven’t read the book Ensh*ttification, but the author posted a quick summary about the journey that platforms go through:

1. at first the platform is great for everybody
2. then great for businesses (usually with ads)
3. then great for the platform.

Pick a platform you’ve known for years and you can probably remember the different stages of the journey.

AI was originally great for anyone to ask any random question. That’s phase 1.

We’re into phase 2 now, and I’ve been helping a lot of businesses with AI lately and playing with it in my own companies. Now there are subscription tiers and extra usage charges.

But what happens when the next phase starts?

As businesses rely more on AI, and as more get a competitive advantage from it, eventually we’ll have to use AI just to remain competitive.

Then when everyone has to use AI, it gets more expensive and the quality drops.

So if history repeats itself, and it usually does, how do we prepare for when the AI companies have us locked in and start extracting the value for themselves?

If you’re like a lot of people using AI, you’re probably going deep on one AI system. The more familiar we are, the better results we can get, more efficiently… right? And it seems like a waste of time to learn lots of different AI systems.

But the cost of the efficiency is that you’re making it harder to leave. And that’s phase 3’s leverage over you.

I have three main ideas for now.

First, use AI for leverage, not convenience. Use AI to build scripts or software that don’t use AI, and you only pay for AI usage once. Consider this for the pieces or whole processes that don’t actually need AI.

Second, keep options open. I use VS Code rather than AI web or desktop interfaces, because it’s easy to switch different AI in/out and it operates on easily-readable text-based files. Don’t make this like where you can’t use a Samsung phone because you’re so used to iPhones.

Third, think about the ROI. Yes, it will get more expensive, but an extra $100/month doesn’t matter so much if it’s helping you make millions.

TL;DR: AI is incredible right now. Just don’t build your business in a way that depends on it staying incredible.

What do you think we should do to prepare for phase 3?

P.S. Happy to go deeper on any of this, do a video on using VS Code, etc, just reach out.