The AI Land Grab: Annoying. Inevitable. And A Massive Opportunity.
The AI Land Grab is really annoying. It’s not going away. And it’s something you should absolutely take advantage of. Like, right now.
When companies invest more money than the entire GDP OF FRANCE on the promise and potential of their technology, it is an all-out sprint to grab as many users as possible. And we as consumers are unfortunately experiencing the consequences.
One of the biggest reasons people are turned off by AI is because it seems to be everywhere, shoehorned into as much consumer-facing tech as possible. Powered by AI in many instances feels like a solution slapped onto something that didn’t have a problem to begin with. It boasts all this promise and potential, yet lands with a thud. I’m sorry, but Co-Pilot is not doing it for me. And I’m not alone.
(This is where I want to point out that this is not unique to AI. Anytime anything is invested in heavily, those that shelled out the dough make damn sure that you know about their product. The most recent example is online gambling. If I see one more DraftKings, FanDuel, or BetMGM ad jammed into some random TV or podcast segment, I’m going to scream.)
But this exhausting stream of AI content and products is par for the course. The current way of doing business all but guarantees it. These companies are all based on the premise that they will some day generate a market cap worth millions billions trillions of dollars. They raised billions from investors. Investors did not do so thinking they’d make a 5% return. They projected a 5,000% return. So you can only imagine what kind of pressure the companies are under to get the revenues flowing as fast as they possibly can, as big as they can. But with all this competition, you can’t rely on price or other economic factors. You need users. You need to grab their attention, create the habits, and THEN start to charge enough to break even.
Many venture capital backed companies famously don’t turn a profit when they start, and many didn’t get out of the red for years. Uber and Lyft lost money every year. So did Snap and WeWork and Blue Apron and DoorDash and Peloton. They’re promise was that they’d build such a substantial user base that when they did finally price things right, the revenues would soar and the returns would come rolling in. Some pulled it off (Amazon is a very famous example). Others didn’t.
So it’s prolific. Some companies launch products when they’re really well crafted and ready. Others take a faster approach, hoping they can scoop up enough users that will wait long enough for the tech to catch up. That’s the classic MVP concept of product development. That’s what makes the AI experience so uneven. Does AI need to be here? Is it just a new label for what was already done with previous Saas? Is Co-Pilot basically a fancy version of Clippy? (Sorry, I don’t mean to beat up on CP so much, I swear)
It’s inevitable. I’m not trying to fight it. I’m instead trying to make the most of it and use it to my advantage. Here’s how:
The technology itself is really remarkable. From an objective point of view, the ability to input a simple prompt and have AI write you an article, software code, or create a video is staggering. The value of it, when used properly, is enormous. As a small business owner for instance, I can work at a speed and scale that would require dozens of employees and/or decades of experience. I have built apps in Replit. I have generated marketing videos with Veo. I have designed entire process workflows in Make. I’ve never done any of those things, and I did it for basically free. The value I get from these tools far outweighs the cost. Drastically.
This won’t last. I have no idea how the economics will shake out, I have no crystal ball on supply and demand outcomes. Heck, the AI bubble terrifies me from a near-term economy standpoint. But it will sort itself out. There will be winners and losers. And at some point, the investors will demand their returns. And that’s when the prices will go up and/or the quality will stagnate. I’m acting before that happens.
I take the free trials. I experiment with new tech. I ask my AI chatbot (Claude) on how to build tech stacks to do what I need at a fraction of the price. It takes time. It takes energy to learn and test and figure it out. But the cost to do so is so small, I need to take advantage of it. This is a very unique window in history. The capabilities at my fingertips without requiring my personal investment is a game changer and honestly, it almost feels like cheating.
But it’s not. The tools are here. It takes effort to figure them out and put them together. But you can afford to do so financially, and in my opinion you can’t afford not to explore them.
So tolerate the land grab and embrace the opportunity. It may never happen like this again.
