"Prestige is hard to address, because the whole point is that most people can’t have it."
Prestige itself could be disrupted. If AI Tutors deliver skills that make the "best students" more effective and productive, having a prestigious degree could be seen as superfluous and less valuable, akin to a mythical signal of skill, similar to a pre-moneyball baseball player who is graded largely by how they look rather than what they can produce. The skill and prestige of "getting into Harvard" probably isn't that valuable in real-life pursuits, despite what we've been led to believe.
Great article and analysis! Lots of useful framing.
Great essay. It had me thinking about whether AI bringing back general-purpose products through personalization makes it harder for small companies to stand out with new ideas and shape unexpected needs.
Interesting thought. I do think it's possible that it makes it harder for startups to find niches because larger companies can serve more of them. However at the moment this seems to be more than offset by just sheer amount of whitespace AI is creating.
Totally agree. The key is to make the most of the whitespace and keep innovating, but it might get harder to get people to try something new when what they already have feels tailored to them. Maybe the real challenge is making new ideas feel just as personal from the start
Brilliant essay. Loved the framing around AI not just decentralizing value props, but recentralizing them through personalization at scale. This neatly flips the usual "niche-ification" narrative on its head.
Personally the same tension on the media side intrigues me a lot. If personalization becomes one of several diverging clusters, what happens when AI takes that idea to its logical extreme? My take is AI-generated content might not just fracture shared culture further, but replace it altogether with hyper-tailored experiences. Not the end of culture, but a shift from collective consumption to collective comparison. (Yeah, I might have landed somewhere weirdly too optimistic.)
"Prestige is hard to address, because the whole point is that most people can’t have it."
Prestige itself could be disrupted. If AI Tutors deliver skills that make the "best students" more effective and productive, having a prestigious degree could be seen as superfluous and less valuable, akin to a mythical signal of skill, similar to a pre-moneyball baseball player who is graded largely by how they look rather than what they can produce. The skill and prestige of "getting into Harvard" probably isn't that valuable in real-life pursuits, despite what we've been led to believe.
Great article and analysis! Lots of useful framing.
Very interesting take! My guess is that this would take a long time - humans are humans and they love things that are exclusive and elite.
Great essay. It had me thinking about whether AI bringing back general-purpose products through personalization makes it harder for small companies to stand out with new ideas and shape unexpected needs.
Interesting thought. I do think it's possible that it makes it harder for startups to find niches because larger companies can serve more of them. However at the moment this seems to be more than offset by just sheer amount of whitespace AI is creating.
Totally agree. The key is to make the most of the whitespace and keep innovating, but it might get harder to get people to try something new when what they already have feels tailored to them. Maybe the real challenge is making new ideas feel just as personal from the start
Stop being this good! One of my fav substack for sure.
You a very kind. Thank you for the support!
Dear Dan, I read the translation into Spanish of your excelent article: "How to Design an Org for Founder Mode", with links to you, by Salvador Lorca.
Can I do the same with this good article (and, of course, a description of your newsletter, and some Notes with links to you).
Go for it!
Thanks !!!
Many thanks !!!
Well I disagree that universities are doing a mediocre job in educating students.
Yes there are online courses and more practical ways to show job readiness but schools provide much more than that.
Team work, life skills, social and professional development and much more. It teaches you to be adaptable.
Yes this may not be required for a professional who is looking to learn something new. But definitely valuable for an 18 year old.
Brilliant essay. Loved the framing around AI not just decentralizing value props, but recentralizing them through personalization at scale. This neatly flips the usual "niche-ification" narrative on its head.
Personally the same tension on the media side intrigues me a lot. If personalization becomes one of several diverging clusters, what happens when AI takes that idea to its logical extreme? My take is AI-generated content might not just fracture shared culture further, but replace it altogether with hyper-tailored experiences. Not the end of culture, but a shift from collective consumption to collective comparison. (Yeah, I might have landed somewhere weirdly too optimistic.)
Wrote a piece recently exploring this (https://shelfaware.xyz/is-ai-killing-culture-thank-god-2/). Fascinating to see how many of us are circling the same fire from different angles.
One of the sharpest, most grounded essays I've read on this shift. Really enjoyed it.