AI is the forest fire of the IT industry

Forest fires always burn down more than just the old, dead, or sick trees, which is sad and painful to watch. When the fire has passed through an area, however, life takes over with a vengeance. The thinned out forest lets more sunlight reach the ground, giving life to new and wonderful plant life.

AI feels like a forest fire. It burns down more than just the companies that long since abandoned serving customers while it passes through an industry, but when it has passed, there is a lot of opportunity to build new, and better products, companies, and communities. We can see the fire rage through the IT sector right now.

I predict, when the AI hype-cycle eventually slows and the tech sector moves from “AI is god” to “AI is a tool”, a lot of cash and trust will have been spent by the big companies. And spent cash isn’t gone, it’s just elsewhere. I look forward to the 2030s in that regard because I think the current AI-hype will move a lot of money out of giant bank accounts into the hands of innovative and inventive people.