AI: Is it salt or magic?

Salt bae sprinkling something

AI. AI. AI. Ai yai yai! Since last November, the chorus for artificial intelligence has grown louder and LOUDER. šŸ“£

And, Iā€™m not sure if itā€™s because technology companies understand what to build with it or if itā€™s an attempt to weather the current economy. ā€œHey, AI is trendy. Letā€™s ride this wave. Sell it while itā€™s hot.ā€ šŸŒŠ

Yes, Iā€™ve used ChatGPT. Iā€™ve seen what Adobe Photoshop can do. Midjourney is cool. I even tried to get RoomGPT to help me redesign my house (spoiler: sorry, no). I see the potential there. And, yes, itā€™s limitless.

But is it disruptive yet? šŸ‘Š

Hereā€™s my product marketing take:

When OpenAI launched ChatGPT, it became the fastest-growing app of all time. And a new bar was set for successful product launches everywhere. Eat your hearts out, PMMs! PLG for the win. šŸ¤“

A subtle change happened, too. AI transformed from an add-on feature into a product. And OpenAI became the leader of a new market category. In other words, AI used to be the seasoning you added to the entrĆ©e. Now, itā€™s the main course. Or at least, an Ć  la carte item. šŸ˜‹

Yet companies are still treating it like a feature. Letā€™s add generative AI to this. A sprinkle of LLM here. GPT it. And who can blame them? Itā€™s too new. The cost to build your own AI innovation is astronomical. To remake a dish as ā€œAI-firstā€ when you already have real breadwinnersā€¦ well, thatā€™s more reasonable but also tough. Especially now. šŸ„–

So, whatā€™s changed? Everything and nothing. Product teams are reimagining. Product marketers are still adding the current flavor of ā€œwith AIā€ to sentences.

Is this the beginning of a new Iron Age? No one knows. ĀÆ\_(惄)_/ĀÆ

The latest AI tools are novel. But, to me, they are more distracting than disruptive. At least for right now.