Jeff Bezos uses a simple mental model for the current AI paradigm as “a horizontal enabling layer.”
I could not find the best analogy for it to understand the level of transformation that it might create as a layer on top of everything.
This issue is dedicated to a thought I’ve been having since the ChatGPT Moment, which I’m structuring today, and also to express the core difference between web technological development and this current AI paradigm.
They might seem similar from a superficial look, but they’re not; it’s a different story.
Instead, in this issue, I want to focus on the core difference between the web and how it developed vs. how AI might develop instead.
It all starts with the following:
The Web Integration Paradigm
When a new major tech paradigm emerges, it might mainly start from the outer layer.
For instance, when the Internet picked up, it was initially integrated as a distribution channel and, over time, as a value proposition definer, getting embedded into the core of a product.
An outside-in transformation.
In short, if you think of the parallel with the Internet. Back in the mid-90s, you got a retail store, put it online, and you got more stuff sold.
Indeed, Amazon is a great example.
Amazon started as an e-commerce and turned into a platform.
Thus, it transforms from a distribution advantage to completely reshaping its value proposition.
Or the shift between a simple value, “we sell a wide variety of books online, delivered to you fast,” to a multi-pronged value like “we help you build your business on top of our platform to sell a massive variety of stuff, cheaply and delivered fast.”
