Everyone Got Better. No One Got Ahead.
AI boosts productivity. That part is real.
Customer support workers using AI improved output by ~14%, with the biggest gains among the least skilled. (NBER)
That sounds like progress.
It’s not.
It just means the baseline moved.
When Everyone Is Good, “Good” Is Worthless
If everyone can:
- —write clearly
- —analyze quickly
- —build decent outputs
Then none of those things signal anything anymore.
AI didn’t raise the bar.
It erased it.
The Middle Class of Knowledge Work Is Collapsing
AI doesn’t replace everyone.
It compresses everyone.
- —The bottom rises fast
- —The top adapts
- —The middle becomes invisible
Not worse. Just indistinguishable.
You’re Not Competing With AI
That’s the wrong frame.
You’re competing with: everyone else using the same AI as you
Same tools. Same outputs. Same “competence.”
Good luck standing out.
Most People Are Optimizing Themselves Into Irrelevance
Right now, people are:
- —learning prompts
- —speeding up output
- —producing more
They think they’re adapting.
They’re not.
They’re flooding the market with identical work.
The Real Divide Just Moved
There used to be one question:
Can you do the work?
Now there’s only one that matters:
Do you know what work is worth doing?
Because AI can generate answers.
It cannot decide:
- —what matters
- —what’s noise
- —what’s worth ignoring
The Uncomfortable Truth
AI is not leveling the playing field.
It’s exposing how little most people were actually differentiated to begin with.
Mic Drop
In a world where competence is free,
judgment is the only thing anyone will pay for.
