Today, we're just only starting to automate the obvious things in the real world, like automated phone answering services or faster quotes for a kitchen remodel. Plumbers will use AI to find leaks faster, dog groomers will use AI to respond to customers more quickly, and basketball players will use AI coaching to hit maximum performance.
But we are only at the beginning of AI's impact, and it will be both more subtle and profound. Take Walmart: It might not seem like a technical powerhouse today, but its success was because of how it leveraged the latest technologies of the day. Widespread automobiles enabled megastores, and computers and bar scanners enabled 150,000 SKUs per store instead of 1,500. In 1987 Walmart even launched its own satellite network—the largest private one at the time—in order to manage sales and inventory data across the world.
Without those technologies, Walmart would be a nice retail business, but it wouldn't have changed the world. The same will be said for the companies who simply reduce busywork using AI, and those who completely change their models to use it at their core.
So if you're looking for the most interesting AI businesses in the real world, they won't call themselves that. Don't look for AI plumbers or AI dentists. Instead, look for the old businesses that are creating something entirely new.
