The biggest AI opportunities aren’t where you think they are.
I’ve been trying to wrap my head around where the real, sustainable value in AI is going to come from, beyond just the endless race for bigger models. I just watched this incredible live show that brought on multiple experts, and their insights were awesome. One of the guests, a legendary venture capitalist, shared a perspective that completely reframed how I see the entire AI landscape.
💡 What’s Scarce When Intelligence is Abundant?
The expert, Mike Maples, made a fantastic point by comparing this moment to the PC revolution. Back then, everyone was obsessed with the hardware that made computing abundant. But the real, lasting value came from what became scarce: software.
He argues the same thing is happening now. With AI, cognition and intelligence are becoming abundant and cheap. So, the most important question for any founder or investor isn’t “who has the best model?” It’s “what becomes uniquely valuable in a world where intelligence is basically free?”
He believes the answer lies in things that can’t be easily replicated by a general model, like deep vertical industry knowledge or proprietary data that creates a system of intelligence for a specific role, like a Chief Legal Officer.
This was just one of many insights from the episode. Here are a few others that really stood out to me:
- 📌 Startups Change the Game, Not Just Play It. The VC explained that large companies succeed with “corporate capitalism,” extending their existing advantages. But startups win with “startup capitalism.” They don’t try to compete on the same terms; they show up with a “heretical new thing” and change the subject entirely. It’s a powerful reminder that true disruption comes from rewriting the rules.
- ✅ AI Is Developing Its Own Intuition. An AI researcher from OpenAI shared something incredible about the model that achieved a perfect score in a notoriously difficult coding competition. The model taught itself to write a simple “brute force” solution just so it could unit test its own complex, optimized code before submitting it. The team never prompted it to do this; it’s an emergent problem-solving strategy the AI developed on its own through training.
- 💡 A New Economic Model for the AI Age. The final guest, Emad Mostaque, proposed a radical new economic system he calls “proof of benefit.” The idea is to create a digital currency where the computational power securing it is used to solve humanity’s biggest problems, like curing cancer or organizing medical knowledge. It’s a fascinating concept for channeling the immense power of AI toward social good.
Seriously, this is just a tiny sample of the knowledge dropped in this episode. The full show is a masterclass in how AI is reshaping venture capital, research, and the economy.