{"id":11776,"date":"2025-01-10T12:04:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-10T12:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metaschool.so\/articles\/?p=11776"},"modified":"2025-01-12T21:05:37","modified_gmt":"2025-01-12T21:05:37","slug":"5-insights-from-ben-evans-ai-presentation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metaschool.so\/articles\/5-insights-from-ben-evans-ai-presentation\/","title":{"rendered":"5\u00a0Major Insights from\u00a0Benedict Evans &#8220;AI eats the world&#8221; Presentation"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_56_1 ez-toc-wrap-left counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title \" >Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/metaschool.so\/articles\/5-insights-from-ben-evans-ai-presentation\/#1_The_Big_AI_Paradox_Everyones_Doing_It_Nobodys_Using_It\" title=\"1. The&nbsp;Big&nbsp;AI Paradox: Everyone&#8217;s&nbsp;Doing&nbsp;It,&nbsp;Nobody&#8217;s Using It\">1. The&nbsp;Big&nbsp;AI Paradox: Everyone&#8217;s&nbsp;Doing&nbsp;It,&nbsp;Nobody&#8217;s Using It<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/metaschool.so\/articles\/5-insights-from-ben-evans-ai-presentation\/#2_Money_Talks_The_500_Billion_Bet_That_Makes_No_Sense_Yet\" title=\"2. Money Talks: The $500 Billion Bet That Makes No Sense (Yet)\">2. Money Talks: The $500 Billion Bet That Makes No Sense (Yet)<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/metaschool.so\/articles\/5-insights-from-ben-evans-ai-presentation\/#3_The_Dark_Secret_of_Enterprise_AI_No_One_Knows_What_Theyre_Doing\" title=\"3. The Dark Secret of Enterprise AI: No One Knows What They&#8217;re Doing \">3. The Dark Secret of Enterprise AI: No One Knows What They&#8217;re Doing <\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/metaschool.so\/articles\/5-insights-from-ben-evans-ai-presentation\/#4_The_Elevator_Paradox_Why_AI_Will_Disappear\" title=\"4. The Elevator Paradox: Why AI Will Disappear?\">4. The Elevator Paradox: Why AI Will Disappear?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/metaschool.so\/articles\/5-insights-from-ben-evans-ai-presentation\/#5_The_Ultimate_Plot_Twist_AI_Might_Just_Be_Another_Feature\" title=\"5. The Ultimate Plot Twist: AI Might Just Be Another Feature\">5. The Ultimate Plot Twist: AI Might Just Be Another Feature<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/metaschool.so\/articles\/5-insights-from-ben-evans-ai-presentation\/#What_This_Means_For_You\" title=\"What This Means For You ? \">What This Means For You ? <\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/metaschool.so\/articles\/5-insights-from-ben-evans-ai-presentation\/#Conclusion\" title=\"Conclusion \">Conclusion <\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n<p>What if everything you&nbsp;knew about&nbsp;the&nbsp;adoption&nbsp;of AI&nbsp;was wrong?&nbsp;The latest presentation from&nbsp;Benedict Evans&nbsp;contained&nbsp;some&nbsp;real&nbsp;truth bomb relation&nbsp;to&nbsp;conventional&nbsp;wisdom&nbsp;regarding&nbsp;the&nbsp;effect&nbsp;that&nbsp;AI&nbsp;is going to have on the world. Here are&nbsp;some of&nbsp;the most provocative insights&nbsp;to&nbsp;make you&nbsp;re-evaluate&nbsp;everything&nbsp;when&nbsp;it comes to&nbsp;AI&#8217;s future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"1_The_Big_AI_Paradox_Everyones_Doing_It_Nobodys_Using_It\"><\/span>1. The&nbsp;Big&nbsp;AI Paradox: Everyone&#8217;s&nbsp;Doing&nbsp;It,&nbsp;Nobody&#8217;s Using It<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s a shocker: Despite ChatGPT&nbsp;going&nbsp;viral&nbsp;and&nbsp;receiving&nbsp;endless media coverage,&nbsp;the&nbsp;majority of&nbsp;people&nbsp;use it once. Evans reveals how this&nbsp;sets&nbsp;up&nbsp;a fascinating paradox:&nbsp;AI has achieved unprecedented awareness- one-third to two-thirds of people globally have tried ChatGPT-but minimal sustained usage. It&#8217;s like we&#8217;ve built the world&#8217;s most advanced Swiss Army knife, and everyone&#8217;s using it to open letters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"572\" src=\"https:\/\/metaschool.so\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-3-1024x572.png\" alt=\"Ben Evans Presentation slide\n\" class=\"wp-image-11777\" srcset=\"https:\/\/metaschool.so\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-3-1024x572.png 1024w, https:\/\/metaschool.so\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-3-300x168.png 300w, https:\/\/metaschool.so\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-3-768x429.png 768w, https:\/\/metaschool.so\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-3-1536x858.png 1536w, https:\/\/metaschool.so\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-3-2048x1144.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ben-evans.com\/presentations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"577\" src=\"https:\/\/metaschool.so\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-5-1024x577.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11779\" srcset=\"https:\/\/metaschool.so\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-5-1024x577.png 1024w, https:\/\/metaschool.so\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-5-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/metaschool.so\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-5-768x433.png 768w, https:\/\/metaschool.so\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-5-1536x866.png 1536w, https:\/\/metaschool.so\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-5-2048x1154.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Slide from Ben Evans Presentation. Check it out here<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The real kicker? This&nbsp;is&nbsp;not&nbsp;a failure;&nbsp;this&nbsp;is&nbsp;exactly how revolutionary technologies emerge. Think about that for a second.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"2_Money_Talks_The_500_Billion_Bet_That_Makes_No_Sense_Yet\"><\/span>2. Money Talks: The $500 Billion Bet That Makes No Sense (Yet)<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Ready for some numbers that\u00a0will\u00a0blow\u00a0your\u00a0mind? OpenAI\u00a0reached\u00a0a $160 billion valuation faster than Microsoft reached $150 billion by about 23.5 years. That&#8217;s not a typo.<br>But here&#8217;s where it gets wild: The tech industry is pouring hundreds of billions into AI despite having no clear idea how they&#8217;ll make money from it. Evans quotes a Silicon Valley executive: <strong>&#8220;I don&#8217;t want to live in a world where other people are advancing faster than we are.&#8221; <\/strong>This isn&#8217;t investment&#8217;s existential FOMO on an unprecedented scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"3_The_Dark_Secret_of_Enterprise_AI_No_One_Knows_What_Theyre_Doing\"><\/span>3. The Dark Secret of Enterprise AI: No One Knows What They&#8217;re Doing <span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Forget\u00a0those confident predictions about AI transformation. Evans reveals that even the biggest companies are basically throwing spaghetti at the wall. When Accenture brags about $1 billion in quarterly AI work, they can&#8217;t even define what counts as &#8220;AI work.&#8221;<br><br>The punchline? We&#8217;re asking users to figure out how to use AI\u2014the exact opposite of how successful technology usually spreads. It&#8217;s like selling cars before inventing roads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"4_The_Elevator_Paradox_Why_AI_Will_Disappear\"><\/span>4. The Elevator Paradox: Why AI Will Disappear?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s a brain-twister: When was\u00a0the last time you thought about using an &#8220;automated elevator&#8221;? You don&#8217;t, because it&#8217;s just an elevator now. Evans argues this is AI&#8217;s destiny\u2014not to become more prominent but to vanish into the background of everyday life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">This leads to his most provocative point: the more successful AI becomes, the less we'll think of it as AI. Every capability\u00a0that\u00a0it masters will\u00a0just\u00a0become \"normal computing.\"<br><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"5_The_Ultimate_Plot_Twist_AI_Might_Just_Be_Another_Feature\"><\/span>5. The Ultimate Plot Twist: AI Might Just Be Another Feature<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><br>While\u00a0everybody\u00a0is\u00a0debating whether AI\u00a0is\u00a0going to\u00a0eat the world, Evans drops this bomb: what if AI just becomes another API call? Another feature like spell-check or auto-complete?<br><br>He\u00a0highlights\u00a0how Apple&#8217;s new AI writing features already feel less like artificial intelligence,\u00a0more like\u00a0hum-drum\u00a0software features. The revolution might not be AI replacing everything &#8211; it might be AI disappearing into everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_This_Means_For_You\"><\/span>What This Means For You ?<br><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The implications are staggering:\u00a0we&#8217;re not just watching a new technology emerge;\u00a0we&#8217;re\u00a0seeing\u00a0a fundamental shift in how technology\u00a0is\u00a0going to evolve\u00a0and\u00a0integrate\u00a0into\u00a0our\u00a0society. The real question isn&#8217;t whether AI will\u00a0change\u00a0your industry; it&#8217;s whether you&#8217;ll notice when it does.<br><br>As Evans puts it, we&#8217;re at that fascinating moment where the future is neither clear nor evenly distributed. The only certainty? The way we think about AI today will seem hilariously outdated very soon.<br><br>Whether you&#8217;re building AI products, investing in AI companies, or just trying to figure out how to use ChatGPT effectively, these insights suggest a radically different approach: Stop thinking about AI as a revolution and start thinking about it as an evolution. The real transformation won&#8217;t be in the technology itself, but in how invisibly it weaves itself into the fabric of everyday life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Conclusion\"><\/span>Conclusion<br><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Technology is a huge part of everyone&#8217;s life. AI or Web3, in the end, are both technologies and as developers or even individuals, we should be aware of what&#8217;s happening there. With the rising boom in the field of artificial intelligence, it is not just limited to software developers, but oalso perations, marketing, and even lawyers. Thus evolving with the trend is important. That also reminds me, we have some amazing AI templates for people to build on top of it and the good part? Anybody can pick it up, as it is free and open source, and build on it; you don&#8217;t necessarily have to be a developer. Check it out in our <a href=\"https:\/\/metaschool.so\/templates\/ai\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/metaschool.so\/templates\/ai\">Build in AI <\/a>section. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[344],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-artificial-intelligence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/metaschool.so\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/metaschool.so\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/metaschool.so\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metaschool.so\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metaschool.so\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11776"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/metaschool.so\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11803,"href":"https:\/\/metaschool.so\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11776\/revisions\/11803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/metaschool.so\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metaschool.so\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metaschool.so\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}