The AI moment we’re living through today feels a lot like the early days of electricity.
When electricity was first introduced in the late 1800s, people knew it was powerful. They knew it would change things. But most of the early uses simply replaced existing tools.
Factories swapped steam engines for electric motors. Cities replaced gas lamps with electric lights.
The real transformation didn’t happen immediately.
It took time before people realized electricity wasn’t just a better version of old technology — it was an entirely new foundation to build on.
Once factories redesigned their entire layouts around electric power instead of central steam engines, productivity exploded. New industries emerged. Entire economic systems shifted.
AI feels very similar right now.
Today, many companies are using AI to write emails, generate marketing copy, summarize meetings, or assist with coding. Useful improvements, but mostly incremental.
The deeper shift will happen when organizations redesign their workflows, products, and even company structures around AI-native capabilities.
Just like electricity did enabled assembly lines and modern manufacturing, AI may enable entirely new kinds of companies, products, and productivity.
We’re still in the “electric lightbulb” stage.
The real revolution comes when people stop trying to replace old tools—and start redesigning the world around the new power source.