Finding Authentic Value in an AI-Accelerated World | Dabble.AI #13

The Dabble.AI Project #13 - Exploring Autonomous Business Models

Over the past year, I've been largely absent from writing Dabble.AI posts. This is not because I've lost interest in AI but because I've been wrestling with fundamental questions about value creation in an AI-accelerated world. Today, I'm writing this post in collaboration with an AI assistant, which I think is appropriate, given what I want to share.

I took this picture while hiking in Wyoming on August 8, 2023. Despite all our technology, knowing a bear can still eat you in some places is strangely comforting.

The past year has brought some surprising realizations about AI, productivity, and meaning. I've discovered that while AI can dramatically accelerate initial progress on projects—perhaps getting you 80% of the way there in a fraction of the usual time—the final 20% often remains stubbornly time-consuming. This "AI productivity paradox" raises important questions about the value of AI-accelerated work.

The "AI value paradox" is more troubling: as AI makes some outputs easier to produce, their market value tends to decrease. For example, how valuable are these blog posts when similar insights could be gained through a direct conversation with an AI system? When everyone can easily create high-quality content, what makes content truly valuable?

These questions led me to spend more time offline, finding spaces away from the constant hum of technology. Ironically, this distance has renewed my excitement about AI's potential, but in more personal ways. I’ve been writing by hand more - there's something about the physical act of writing that AI can't replicate. But I've also been using AI to generate books that I then print and bind myself. There's also something satisfying about combining AI's creative capabilities with the tactile craft of creating physical objects that can sit on my shelf. While AI can write the content, it can't bind the pages or create that feeling of holding a finished book in your hands (yet, anyhow).

This seemingly backward approach—using AI to create content that I turn into physical books—has helped me understand something important about finding value in an AI-accelerated world. It's not about resisting AI's capabilities or trying to compete with them. Instead, it's about finding ways to use AI to enhance rather than replace the activities that bring us personal satisfaction.

I've also realized that I don't need to approach every AI project with the goal of scaling it into a business or sharing it with the world. Sometimes, the most rewarding projects are the ones we create just for ourselves. This feels particularly relevant as AI makes producing and publishing content increasingly easy. Just because we can easily create and share something doesn't mean we should.

This perspective shift has made me more excited about AI's potential, not less. When I stopped trying to keep pace with technological change and started focusing on what brings me genuine satisfaction, I found more meaningful ways to integrate AI into my work and creative projects. The pressure to constantly produce and publish began to fade, replaced by a more thoughtful approach to creation.

That's partly why I've been quiet on this blog. While I could easily use AI to generate regular posts about AI business models and autonomous systems, I've been questioning whether adding more content to the already overwhelming flood of information serves any real purpose. Sometimes, stepping back and remaining quiet is more valuable than contributing to the noise.

This isn't goodbye—I'm leaving the door open for future posts when I have something meaningful to share. For now, however, I'm enjoying using AI more personally, creating books for my bookshelf rather than an online store, and working on various other projects. Maybe someday, I'll share pictures of my growing library or other offline projects I use AI for. But for now, there's something satisfying about keeping some things just for myself.

For those following the Dabble.AI project, thank you for joining me on this journey. What started as an exploration of autonomous business models has evolved into something more personal - a search for authentic ways to work with AI that enhance rather than replace the activities that bring us joy.