TLDR: AI is here. If your startup is not embracing it deeply – like Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams reuniting in The Notebook (you hopeless romantic!) – your chances of winning are reducing every day.
Columnist
Serge van Dam
I may not be the first person to notice that AI is a common topic of conversation in startup circles. Speaking personally, it is the most impactful technology to have arisen in my lifetime. I use various AI tools regularly; people I work with are getting great at leveraging the tools; the companies I work with have launched AI features (like Raygun’s AI Error Solutions); companies I work with have launched AI products (like Montoux’s Model Copilot) and I have invested in AI companies, too (like LawCyborg).
Like I said, AI is here.
The dominant objection I hear about why AI is not being embraced more broadly is that it is overwhelming. The technology choices are endless; the announcements are frequent and confusing. It is hard to know where to start or where to focus your and your company’s attention. This is all true.
I have found that there are a couple of mental models that calm the mind, and give clarity and purpose to your AI adventures.
The first one relates to interns. Imagine if you had 100 interns available to you for free. What would you do with them? How would you organise them? Approach and instruct AI tools with the same intent as you would all of your interns, and you can accomplish some miraculous things.
The other compelling mental model is ‘AI as a cape’. You can put it on when you have to do something difficult or time-consuming and employ your superpowers in this context. Need to do a job description for a new role? Done in three minutes (including edits!). And for the rest of the time, you can put your cape down – you can still have leadership conversations or lunch like a mammal.
Back to your startup, though… There are some compelling reasons you should jump ‘all in’ on the AI bandwagon. I offer you:
I could go on…
Yes, there are reasons to pause and think about the consequences. No, I don’t worry about losing your data (that’s easy to address, plus AI can help us reduce risks). No, I don’t worry about big tech very much (they provide the infrastructure upon which we can innovate – yay). No, I don’t stress about the labour market chaos that is coming (it’s coming anyhow – we might as well influence our collective future).
Yes, I am yawning. The opportunities are endless. I’m bored of saying it.
Everyone knows New Zealand’s productivity is poor and getting worse (I won’t depress you with the endless evidence for this). Our economy depends entirely on grass and the cows who like eating it (I won’t depress you with why this cannot last much longer). Our only way out are today’s startups, who invent the future and will become tomorrow’s scaleups, who might become the global champions we so sorely need.
From here on in, those productivity gains, disruptive ideas, and capital-efficient executions will likely have AI at their core. AI can be our superpower. Get amongst it!
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