Artificial Intelligence is having a moment. Again.
But this time, it’s not whispering creepy riddles in a sci-fi movie. It’s in your Chrome tab, answering emails, writing code, and confidently spewing plausible nonsense like it’s running for Congress.
Let’s be brutally honest: AI is impressive.
But it’s also overhyped, underpriced, and dangerously misunderstood. And if you’re still treating it like a divine revelation instead of a temporarily cheap, occasionally deranged intern, you’re going to get body-checked by reality — soon.
🧠 AI Can Do Almost Anything — Except Think
“AI can do that now!”
Sure, Brenda. It can generate you a marketing plan, an investor update, and a haiku about B2B SaaS.
But don’t get it twisted — AI doesn’t understand what it’s doing. It’s just remixing patterns it found online in a tone that makes you feel smart for using it.
This isn’t intelligence. This is spellcheck with an attitude problem.
It doesn’t know truth. It knows syntax. It doesn’t reason. It predicts. It can’t think critically — but oh boy, it’ll hallucinate facts with the confidence of a drunk uncle at Thanksgiving.
👯♂️ The Myth of the AI Co-Founder
A new breed of startup founder is out here saying:
“Thanks to AI, I designed the product, wrote the copy, built the deck, and launched by Thursday.”
Congratulations. You just used Canva with delusions of grandeur.
This doesn’t make you a genius. It makes you a tool user — and not even the rare kind. Everyone’s doing it. But calling AI your co-founder is like calling your microwave your sous chef.
Let me know when GPT-4 negotiates your Series A or handles a legal dispute. Until then, keep your intern on a leash.
🤑 We’re in the Fantasy Pricing Phase, Baby
AI feels like a cheat code right now because it’s dirt cheap. We're talking bottom-shelf pricing for top-shelf productivity.
You’re paying $20/month for something that replaces half your team — and wondering why it feels too good to be true.
Because it is.
This is the part of the movie where the creepy violin starts playing in the background and you still think you’re in a rom-com.
🍕 Remember Free Costco Samples? That’s You Right Now with AI
Let’s rewind to a different hustle: free samples at Costco.
You know the setup: You walk in for paper towels and get ambushed by a smiling retiree in a hairnet handing you a tray of bacon-wrapped miracles. You think, “This is amazing! Free food!”
What you don’t realize is you just entered a $100 billion trap.
That “free sample” is designed to:
- Get you addicted
- Make you justify buying the 48-pack version
- Trick your brain into thinking you made a rational decision
You weren’t fed. You were baited.
Now look at AI.
Right now you’re getting enterprise-level tools for coffee money. It feels magical. Limitless. Like you finally outsmarted the system.
But make no mistake — you’re standing in the sample aisle, grinning with crumbs on your face, holding a shopping cart full of dependencies.
The real pricing is coming.
The real gatekeeping is coming.
And when it hits, the tools you leaned on to “10x” your workflow will suddenly be charging per word, per API call, or per hallucination.
Welcome to the Costco economy of intelligence.
Enjoy the free bites while they last.
💸 Why Would a $20 Tool Replace a $150K Employee Forever?
Let’s pretend your $20/month AI is replacing two full-time roles. That’s $250K in savings. You think that’s going to stay $20 forever?
LOL.
Software pricing is based on value extraction, not developer effort. That’s why:
- Salesforce charges $300/month to help salespeople ignore leads more efficiently.
- Adobe charges $700/year to let you export a PNG.
- Microsoft Copilot costs $30/month on top of tools you already pay for.
Now ask yourself again: how long will the best AI tools stay priced like Spotify Premium?
Answer: Until you’re hooked. Then they’ll jack the price and smile while you panic-pay for tokens.
🧑🔬 “But Open-Source Will Save Us!” Sure, If You Have a Data Center in Your Garage
Open-source AI is powerful. It’s also:
- Impossible to deploy for 98% of the population
- Brutally documented
- Hugely resource-intensive
- And definitely not optimized for the average marketer trying to make an Instagram ad
So unless you moonlight as a devops engineer with 96GB of VRAM and zero social life, you’re not building your own Claude clone.
You’re paying someone to productize it — and trust me, they’ll charge accordingly.
🪤 This Isn’t Innovation. It’s a Trap You’re Walking Into Happily
Let’s stop pretending this is about democratization.
It’s about acquisition. Adoption. Addiction.
Here’s how the AI vendor strategy works:
- Give away magic for $20/month.
- Watch users build their entire business around it.
- Introduce Pro/Team/Enterprise tiers.
- Laugh while people who automated their brain pay $500/month to keep the lights on.
You’re not in a revolution. You’re in the freemium funnel.
🧷 What the Quiet Professionals Are Doing Right Now (While Everyone Else Plays Prompt Karaoke)
You can spot the real ones by what they’re doing before the price surge hits.
Here’s the playbook:
⚡ 1. Shipping Fast Before the Price Tag Wakes Up
This is your moment. AI is still massively underpriced relative to what it can do. You can build an MVP, test ideas, launch products, and validate business models today with tools that will be 10x more expensive in 12 months.
It’s not a lifetime opportunity — it’s a limited-time glitch in the economic matrix.
📈 2. Investing in Actual Skills, Not Just Prompt Templates
The market will soon realize: AI can assist — but it still needs someone who can think.
The professionals leveling up right now?
- Writers who can write without a robot whispering over their shoulder
- Developers who understand what the code does
- Strategists who don’t need autocomplete to make decisions
Everyone else is just training themselves to be obsolete prompt jockeys.
🛠️ 3. Building Systems That Work With AI — Not Because of It
If your entire workflow crashes when ChatGPT has an outage or pricing doubles, you don’t have a business. You have a temporary hack built on borrowed compute.
Resilient operators are creating systems that work with or without AI.
They use it to accelerate, not anchor.
They’ve got contingency plans.
They can go manual when needed — and still win.
🎭 You’re Not Early. You’re in the Beta Test
AI isn’t in its final form. It’s in its bait-and-switch phase.
Right now, you feel powerful because you’re getting ridiculous value for next to nothing.
But that’s not innovation — it’s onboarding.
The pricing is fake. The freedom is conditional. The TOS is a horror movie waiting to happen.
If your entire workflow, product, or business plan assumes infinite cheap AI... congratulations: you’re building a sandcastle at high tide.
🧨 AI Isn’t a Savior. It’s a Scalpel. Learn to Use It — Or Get Cut Out of the Conversation
AI isn’t your partner. It’s a tool. A powerful, unpredictable, occasionally brilliant tool. And if you treat it like a deity, it will burn you.
Stop outsourcing your thinking.
Start designing workflows that scale with or without it.
And remember: the future belongs to people who can lead, adapt, and actually think — not those who typed the prettiest prompt.
📘 Coming Soon: The AI-Savvy Executive
If you’re in charge of strategy, operations, or anything that impacts real outcomes, don’t be the person chasing the hype train off a cliff.
The AI-Savvy Executive: Strategize Smarter. Demand Accountability. Lead Through Noise.
Book 3 in the Modern Playbook Series.
No fluff. No hallucinations. Just a guide to navigating the AI shift without losing your edge (or your mind).
🚀 Join the early-access list and get launch bonuses, exclusive excerpts, and tactical resources:
Because the winners in this game? Aren’t tweeting “We’re AI-powered now.” They’re building with it, quietly dominating, and letting the results speak.