🔥 AI Won’t Make You Rich — Why technological revolutions take longer than we think, and who actually benefits when they do

🧰 Ideation Superprompt — A battle-tested prompt for turning vague ideas into bold, validated business concepts

🎯 Default to AI — Inside the companies going all in on AI-first culture, and the risks of moving too fast.

One of the common themes in history is an over reliance on potential new technology and the riches that we think it will bring. Jerry Neumann, in his article AI Will Not Make You Rich, writes about the very real promise of AI while also showing past technology trends and how long they took to become mainstream. AI, even though it is a game changing trend, doesn’t mean we won’t see a bubble along the way.

The transformative nature of AI will make some people rich, no doubt. But it don’t make everyone rich, and in fact we may see the gains go to the top performers. Neumann points to the fact that it took 30 years for both electricity and personal computers to get 50% adoption. Great examples, however what we’ve seen with new technology trends is that there is a shorter and shorter cycle to mass adoption.

The disruptive nature of this technology is a threat to industry incumbents. Neumann shows how only Apple and IBM came out unscathed from the personal computer revolution. There is money to be made in these industries, but necessarily in the technology itself. It may make sense to instead invest in adjacent industries where AI will drive more demand.

No Staff, No Problem — A new Vienna store operates with zero employees, relying entirely on AI and automation. The future of retail? Or just another proof-of-concept? Read more →

MIT Tracks ChatGPT Usage — A massive MIT study dives into how people are actually using ChatGPT at work, revealing surprising patterns (and productivity pitfalls). Read more →

ChatGPT, MD — Researchers trained ChatGPT to process millions of medical studies, helping doctors stay up to date and make better decisions. Read more →

I use ChatGPT the most as an ideation partner. It excels in helping distill ideas, and over the course of the past year I’ve been able to refine prompts that help. It also makes lack of execution an excuse, as it will give you steps to move your idea forward. Here is a killer prompt below if you’re looking to super charge your ideation:

You are a world-class innovation strategist, startup founder, and design thinker known for launching breakthrough ideas across industries. I’m stuck on [insert challenge or vague idea, e.g., ‘I want to build something in AI + education space but don’t know where to start’].

I want you to:

Then help me pick the top 2-3 based on ambition x uniqueness x ease of execution. Once we pick, guide me through the first 3 steps to get started.

This is more of the meta around AI in the wild, with many companies making announcements about layoffs due to AI, as well as some companies emphasizing that AI should be a first resort, not a last resort. The layoff stories in my mind are overblown, as it is easy to scapegoat AI as the culprit. We’ll truly never know if that was the sole or even the top reason.

What is more meaningful is looking at company CEOs emphasizing AI to their employees. Opendoor CEO Kaz Nejatian wrote an internal email to all employees, emphasizing if the company is going to be come AI native, that AI has to be used first before anything else (he calls it “default to AI”). I do think it will take more direct leadership support to make a company AI native.

It’s not without its risks either, because if you go forward too fast you risk open rebellion in your company. Duolingo tried in early 2025 to become an AI first company, where internal teams could only hire new employees if they couldn’t use AI or automation. The CEO eventually walked back his statements due to internal backlash.

Regardless of how your company is handling this transition, I would expect to see the trend accelerate, particularly as more company CEOs explicitly support it. It makes sense to start using it in your own role now, before you have to play catch up.

One of the common themes in history is an over reliance on potential new technology. Calculators were viewed negatively because they would make students lazy. Computers would also make people lazy, etc. This time is no different. As more people utilize AI, there is a real risk that we’ll outsource most of our critical thinking. AI can help us in so many ways, and yet when it comes to thinking critically it may take away fundamental skills.

This brings us deeper into what we truly understand versus what is surface level knowledge. Socrates was famous for going around Athens and having conversations with identified “experts”, who on deeper conversation weren’t necessarily experts and really didn’t have the fundamental knowledge of their fields. You can type any question into an LLM and get a surface level answer, but can it actually give you expert level knowledge?

There is the technique of first principles thinking, re-popularized by Elon Musk and the rest of Silicon Valley. Musk asked why are rockets so expensive, and as he delved deeper into the question, found that much of the conventional wisdom wasn’t true. You could verticalize your supply chain, and you could make them reusable. He also found that the government procurement process had misaligned incentives. It took an individual of his caliber to ask the questions, be wildly unpopular at times, and not give up. Would an LLM have pushed him as far if he put these questions in a prompt?

With all of the amazing AI advancements that will help humanity, the outsourcing of critical thinking concerns me the most because of the broad societal impact it will have. Adequate critical thinking in a populace prevents over reach of government power, preserves privacy, and prevents authoritarianism. It helps societies have moral and ethical frameworks, and ensures protection for individuals that hold unpopular opinions.

-Ylan