AI tools are not a strategy

A better typewriter doesn't make you a better writer. A faster assembly line doesn't mean you're building something anyone wants.

Every week a founder tells me they're "using AI" as if that's a strategy. It isn't. It's a capability. The strategy is what you do with it that your competitors can't or won't.

AI makes everyone faster at producing average work. If your plan is to produce average work faster, you've automated your way to irrelevance.

The question isn't "are we using AI?" The question is "are we using AI to do something remarkable, or are we using it to do the same unremarkable thing with fewer people?"

Tools don't create advantage. Decisions create advantage. The tool is neutral. What you point it at is everything.