As artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes industry after industry, we will soon witness not just the automation of tasks but also the proliferation of elevated mediocrity—a tidal wave of “good enough” AI-driven outputs that will flood markets with astonishing speed. This relentless pace of disruptive imitation will do more than enhance productivity—it will spawn a cottage industry where constant self-disruption by look-alikes is the norm, and the traditional venture capital model struggles for relevance. In this brave new world, every revolutionary idea will be instantly met with a legion of fast followers, blurring the lines between breakthrough and baseline, and reshaping the startup ecosystem as we know it. Within less than a decade, AI has transformed from struggling with complex tasks to mastering them with increasing ease. The AI Index Report from Stanford University provides a startling snapshot of AI’s capability explosion over the last decade. AI capabilities show not just gradual improvement but also a significant leap toward and beyond human performance levels in various tasks. These models are approaching the human baseline with such velocity that it underscores the exponential pace at which AI technology is evolving. Consider the transformation in AI-generated imagery. As recently as 2022, AI’s prompt-driven renderings were unimpressive, muddy approximations at best. Fast forward less than two years, and the images are not only recognizable but strikingly detailed, surpassing the artistic flair of many human illustrators. The output is amazing. What’s more amazing is how fast and easy it is to get it. This new mode of art has immediately reset the baseline for what is expected.
Full commentary : Forget employees. Artificial Intelligence may also upend entrepreneurship as we know it.
