Watching a friend slipping into an AI powered valley.
His business is struggling, and he's been working up solutions through an AI chatbot. So all the ideas he's throwing about are basically copies of existing ideas or tropes that get attention in the media. He's not looking at what made his business a standout to begin with, but is now following a path that will make his business conform to an average.
Today's idea is just to copy what someone else is doing. And to try get people to promote it without getting paid. I asked him, "what's the advantage to a customer to move away from the current app, and jump on yours?" He kept saying this his app will take a smaller cut from the suppliers, but doesn't think about the actual customers in this equation.
I can see now that for many people, AI promises are the perfect snake oil. They sound reasonable. They sound like a path forward. They feel like a positive step. Even when it's a half baked response built on generic modelling of unrelated challenges.
I'm sure his AI will be complimenting him on working up such an "effective" business plan. It will continue to do so even as the wheels fall off and the last human exits the building.
Ewen Bell 📸
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2026-10-18 01:59:17 UTC
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