The New AI Age Has Me Unsure... But Optimistic

00:00 - Entering Something New

Hey, welcome to Slow Builds.

We're clearly entering something new with AI.

I don't fully know what to make of it yet.

There's a lot of excitement, a lot of noise - and there's also a lot of fear.

And to be honest, I'm feeling all of it.

I'm very unsure.

But at the same time, I'm very optimistic.

I'm excited to see what comes from this new age we're entering.

00:36 - Is This Another Industrial Revolution?

I've heard it compared to the Industrial Revolution.

And in some ways, that makes sense.

Back then, industries changed because we built factories and assembly lines. That infrastructure took decades. It was expensive. Change was slow.

If something needed to be modified, it wasn't easy. It took money, time, and effort.

This feels very different.

AI isn't replacing muscle first.

It's replacing thinking.

01:30 - The Middle-Class Question

AI is starting with cognitive tasks.

Call centers.
Paralegals.
Entry-level accounting.
Even higher-level accounting.
Junior developers.
Logistics planners.

Then you move into hybrid roles:

Truck drivers.
Taxi services.
Delivery systems.
Port operations.

Those physical-digital jobs could shift faster than we expect.

And that's mostly middle-class stability.

That's what worries me most.

Not collapse.

Compression.

Reshuffling.

02:33 - Ethics, Incentives & Power

The other thing that worries me is the people at the top.

Corporations building it.
Corporations deploying it.
Governments trying to regulate it.

Incentives move fast.

Sometimes faster than ethics.

Greed can move quickly.

And AI is powerful.

When something powerful moves fast, guardrails matter.

Empathy matters.

I hope the people steering this understand that.

Because we don't get unlimited resets with a tool like this.

Once it's embedded everywhere, it's hard to pull back.

We have to keep this one on the rails.

03:42 - The Question That Changed My Framing

The other day, I was out with a friend.

He asked me why I'm still building apps.

And I could tell what he meant.

At my age, I've built companies. I have a job I'm happy with. I'm not chasing anything.

He assumed I was trying to hit the big one.

The next Snapchat.
The next WhatsApp.
The billion-dollar exit.

But that's not it.

I just like building.

04:33 - Before AI: Friction Everywhere

Before AI, building meant friction.

You'd come up with an idea.

Then research it.
Document it.
Make stack decisions.
Figure out feasibility - technical, legal, practical.

You could burn weeks just validating an idea.

Now?

I can pick up my phone and start talking.

Type a thought.

Get an overview of what's possible almost immediately.

Build prototypes over a weekend.

Get architecture guidance.
Domain ideas.
Hosting plans.
Integration advice.
Even help shaping a sales pitch.

The overhead is dramatically lower.

05:50 - My Current Experiments

Right now, I have several ideas in motion:

A chores app.
A coaching concept.
A dividend tracker.
A trade tester.
A GPS tracker.
This channel.

Some are live.
Some are half-built.
Some might never launch.

And that's fine.

Because the goal isn't the unicorn.

It's creative output.

AI didn't make me more creative.

It removed drag.

06:54 - The WALL-E Fear

I joke about the WALL-E future.

Robots do everything.
We float around.
Unlimited entertainment.
No effort required.

Maybe some of that happens.

But I think something else happens too.

AI shrinks routine cognitive work.

And that expands creative leverage.

It's like having a small team behind you.

Engineers.
Researchers.
Documenters.

You still need taste.

Direction.

Judgment.

But you're not alone in execution anymore.

And that changes who gets to build.

08:22 - Different Perspectives, Same Leverage

One of my friends is a designer - a UX thinker.

He's not a coder.

AI lets him bring ideas to life without being blocked by code.

On my side, I understand the code deeply.

AI helps me move through it faster and focus more on user experience.

Different strengths.

Same leverage.

That's powerful.

09:11 - Holding Both Sides

So yes.

I'm unsure.

I worry about job displacement.

I worry about middle-class compression.

I worry about greed moving faster than laws and ethics.

But I also see:

Faster discovery.
Cheaper production.
Better medicine.
Smarter energy systems.
New businesses.
New roles we haven't even named yet.

Every major tool shift reshuffles value.

It doesn't delete it.

10:01 - Why I'm Leaning In

For people who want to think, build, and adapt -

This might be one of the most enabling ages in history.

That blows my mind.

I don't know where this era goes.

I don't know who gets hit first.

But I do know this:

I can build more now than I ever could before.

Not because I'm chasing something big.

But because the friction is lower.

That makes me want to create more.

10:39 - Closing

So yes.

I'm unsure.

But I'm optimistic.

My optimism outweighs my fear.

I'm glad I get to witness this shift.

We're living inside a chapter people will read about someday.

They'll say "before AI," the way we say "before the internet."

I'd rather lean into this and be part of it

than look away.

Thanks for watching Slow Builds.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this one.

And yes - I let AI help shape this script based on my inputs.

That feels fitting.