Tech History Overclaiming Is a Silicon Valley Tradition Overclaiming is a Silicon Valley tradition. The internet promised perfect ad attribution. The market believed it for decades. The AI industry is falling into the same trap. But everything about this era is moving faster. The correction may arrive before adoption is locked in.
Tech History The AI Industry Is Rediscovering Something Old Proprietary data as competitive advantage is not a new idea. In 1969 David Ness co-founded Interactive Market Systems, building programmatic advertising on a mainframe. The right first question hasn't changed in fifty years.
AI Strategy The Spreadsheet Moment: Where AI Is Right Now Spreadsheets worked beautifully in the hands of the person who built them. Then they tried to share them. AI is following the same pattern. Most organizations have the prototypes. Very few have the architect.
Tech History David Ness and the Origin of Decision Support Systems David Ness was my professor, my mentor, and my friend. He built the intellectual foundation for what AI is trying to do now. Wharton dissolved the Decision Sciences department in 1993. They didn't understand what they had.
Tech History We Planted a Flag Before the Category Had a Name In 1997 I co-founded PriceSCAN before comparison shopping had a name. The rules are different early. Access that exists now won't exist later. Some advantages can't be acquired at any price once the window closes.
Tech History Refusal Is a Choice. It's Just Not a Good One. Spreadsheets didn't eliminate finance teams but professionals who refused to learn them were replaced by ones who did. AI is following the same pattern. The gap is already forming. Refusal is a choice. It's just not a good one.
AI Opportunity AI Is a Bicycle for the Mind. Not a Replacement for the Rider. Steve Jobs called the PC a bicycle for the mind. AI is the same principle at a different order of magnitude. The organizations that treat AI as augmentation will compound their advantage. The ones that treat it as headcount reduction will miss the point.
Tech History AI Is the New Social Is the New Digital. For fifteen years companies were rewarded for having a strong digital story. Then a strong social story. Now an AI story. The announcement often moves the stock. Operationalizing it is much harder. Most AI strategies stall for the same predictable reasons every time.