Is AI just a passing fad?
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Is AI just a passing fad?
“Fads are the kiss of death. When the fad goes away, you go with it” - Mr. Conway Twitty
ICYMI
This week, I interviewed David Garcia & Nathan Schlaffer, the founders of MarketMate - an AI-powered marketing and sales messaging generation tool specifically for B2B companies. Click here to listen to the podcast, or click here to watch a demo that Nathan gave me to see if MarketMate’s right for you!
Oh god, this isn’t crypto all over again is it?
Welcome back to Future of Product! This past week has been HECTIC around the office, but in the midst of all the chaos, I’ve found myself wondering... beyond the innumerous headlines about AI, beyond all the crypto turned AI bro posturing - does AI really even matter at all? Is this doomed to be another disappointing, overhyped fad that won’t actually pan out (eherm... web3), or is this the real deal?
Do you remember the brief couple of weeks where everyone believed a lab in Korea had discovered a process for creating cheap, room-temperature super conduction? If not, you can read up on it here, but I sure do! Half of my LinkedIn timeline was chomping at the bit to complete their tech fad hat trick and make the jump from AI to superconductor hype beast after jumping to AI from their quickly sinking crypto boats. People were shouting from the belfries about how everything was about to change. It all felt a bit... icky tbh. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the superconductor turned out to be a half rotten onion inside a Pringles can and not actually the gateway to cheap and sustainable fuel that would solve the energy crisis and create a brand new era of human abundance - whoops.
Remember Theranos? I know, invoking the one whose name must not be spoken is in bad taste around these parts, but Elizabeth Holmes has always fascinated me. Even before her empire came crumbling down, watching her speak dead-eyed directly into the camera with her strange pitched down voice and Steve Jobs wannabe outfits always felt a little bit like watching the Titanic leave its port of origin - there wasn’t anything tangibly wrong, but something certainly felt... off. Or how about Sam Bankman-Fried? How could anyone forget that stupid Matt Damon Super Bowl commercial where he waxed philosophic between the end of the second quarter and the start of the half time show about how you too could be a trailblazer simply by investing in ole Samwise’s soon-to-crumble crypto Ponzi scheme! Heck, if the guy who played Jason Bourne says I should invest... what’s the worst that could happen?
The list is effectively endless... so long that there are pages and pages of Google results consisting purely of giant lists detailing high profile tech scams, failures and burnouts like the ones I mentioned above. There are a a lot of them. So... it’s not too surprising that the worm is beginning to turn on AI.
In her article, Why AI is teetering on the edge of a disillusionment cliff for VentureBeat, Sharon Goldman discusses the looming abyss of social distrust, disappointment and disillusionment:
“For AI to succeed, humanity needs to get on board. And after decades of experience with technology developments, from email and the internet to social media — and the hype and fallout that has accompanied each one — making that happen might not be the societal slam-dunk that Silicon Valley thinks it is.” - Sharon Goldman
My point is... tech culture is kinda stupid. It’s an industry naturally built around “the next big thing” - a concept that’s inherently been the domain of snake oil salespeople far more often than true innovators throughout human history.
Here’s where I make good on my ongoing promise to alienate anyone in crypto who reads this newsletter. Cryptocurrency is not a revolutionary technology. Even if Bitcoin goes to the moon, even if Dogecoin becomes the official currency of the United States, crypto is still not a “world-changing” concept on a basic level. Humans have been trading currency for goods and services for the past 5,000 years. The form of that currency has evolved over time, and there have obviously been major societal implications for inventions like fast access credit and other financial innovations over those five millennia. But, currency remains currency, whether issued by the government or the blockchain.
So, what makes a technology revolutionary then, you ask? I’ll turn the question back around on you - why was the car revolutionary? Why was the assembly line revolutionary? Why was refrigeration revolutionary? The answers to all of these revolve around a few economic realities... innovations that cut costs, decrease the need for labor or increase the output of a single unit of labor, or decrease waste, all have a tangible effect on supply or demand. Repackaging a pre-existing concept in a “revolutionary” new package does not.
AI may be about to go through another societal dark period, it’s always possible. Keep in mind that the AI winter is in fact a seasonal event. Whenever expectations or hype outstrip real innovation, the cycle inevitably completes itself and returns the industry to relative dormancy - it happened in the 70s, the 80s, the 90s and the early 2000s. But unlike the blood magic of Theranos, unlike the straight up bullshit of FTX, the sun always comes back around to shine on those pushing AI forward - its promise is simply too valuable to abandon.
AI tutorial - using GPT for Google Sheets
How to massively speed up your data sorting/analysis workflows with a simple extension
You know me, I don’t believe in reinventing the wheel here - shoutout to Evan Does Tech for putting together this explainer on how to setup and use GPT for Sheets. Here’s my high level notes on the process:
First and foremost, GPT for Sheets is a formula machine. You’ll never need to memorize another formula or parse through another Stack Overflow thread as long as you’re using this extension, but what’s more powerful is the fact that you can now interface with Sheets in human language. Next time you need to run a complex function, try giving GPT a written command instead - for anyone who spends a lot of time in spreadsheets, the results genuinely feel like living in the future.
Something interesting I’ve used the extension for is batch-generating ICP interview outreach messages by using one cell to house some key info on the person I’m reaching out to, and another to house a generic message I’ve drafted agnostic of the recipient alongside my prompt - in this case: “Personalize the message to the person described in the first cell”. Simply create your GPT command from here, drag it down and boom! Personalized outreach for 100 potential ICP interviews.
Free AI tools to speed up your workflow
✂️ Removal AI
The product - remove the background from an image for free with AI - it’s that simple. You don’t even have to make an account.
The use case - I’ve been using this tool for thumbnail images and even some of my video editing - the fact that its free for SD images and you don’t have to make an account to use the background remover is why I’m featuring it here - sometimes you just need a quick win.
🔎 Upscale from PixelBin
The product - upscale any image for free with AI without having to waste time making an account.
The use case - As simple as it sounds - got a rusty, dusty, pixelated image that you wish looked up to snuff? Or maybe a stakeholder sent over a logo but it has the resolution of a potato? This free tool’s got you covered.
📹 Pika Labs
The product - a totally free AI image to video generator (it also does text to video but it’s not quite usable yet IMO).
The use case - I’ve been seeing people spice up their social content, product walkthroughs, etc. with AI video. And with a $0 price tag, you’re certainly not going to beat the price with stock footage.
MarketMate demo
Signoff
That wraps up another Future of Product! Stay tuned for next week’s podcast, I’ve got something pretty unique on the way 👀
Max