AI is Like Waking Up with $100 Million in the Bank

— so you have a superpower, now what?

I've found the best way to understand the impact of AI is to think of it like waking up with $100 million in your bank account.

No doubt, $100 million instantly solves a lot of problems—specifically, the kind of problems for which there is a money-shaped solution. If you’ve been worried about rent, medical bills, debt, or tuition, those problems simply vanish.

And if you’ve been planning an all-out safari holiday or wanting to host an extravagant party for your friends, or you have developed a really good taste in sports cars, you can just press the button and get the outcome.

This makes the prospect of $100 million incredibly exciting!

But the windfall stops there. Having $100 million won’t tell you which vacation will bring you joy, nor can it buy you true friendship. And while it can afford the best medical care available, it can't grant you perfect health or build the kind of character you're proud of.

Here’s a thought experiment: How many people do you know who, if you gave them $100 million, would see their lives immediately improve across the board?

The abundance of AI is similar. You are being granted a superpower for a specific class of problems. If your days were spent writing boilerplate code, summarizing long documents, or drafting standard reports, you now have a solution that feels like magic.

On top of that, AI lets you turn an idea into a working prototype in a weekend or run a dozen literature reviews in the background, just for fun.

But, like the money, AI's power has clear limits. It won’t tell you which problems are worth solving or which ones you will find fulfilling. It can brainstorm a thousand business strategies, but it cannot provide the judgment to select the right one.

Imagine using your $100 million to fund three of your best startup ideas.

You hire three brilliant teams, give them your detailed notes, and oversee the projects from the South of France.

That approach is almost guaranteed to fail.

Why? Because to the extent your ideas are truly unique, the founder's "alpha"—your specific insight, taste, and conviction—is the one ingredient that can't be delegated. It's the hands-on judgment that guides the search for something remarkable.

There are limited problems in the world where raw intelligence is the only bottleneck.

Still, having access to unlimited raw intelligence—just like having $100 million—is undeniably a very good thing!