bkimMar 7
JA Westenberg

Every AI founder I talk to is on an accelerating treadmill, burdened by a nagging suspicion that the entire industry is moving too fast in a direction that doesn't quite make sense, with no idea about how to get off...

https://www.joanwestenberg.com/everyone-in-ai-is-building-the-wrong-thing-for-the-same-reason/

Everyone in AI is building the wrong thing for the same reason

Every AI founder I talk to is on an accelerating treadmill, burdened by a nagging suspicion that the entire industry is moving too fast in a direction that doesn't quite make sense, with no idea about how to get off. There is an overwhelming feeling that if everyone stopped and

Westenberg.
Mar 6 at 3:57amTypefully
Show threadMartijn FrazerMar 6
@Daojoan It's bewildering how Silicon Valley is obsessed with "moving fast" but doesn't seem to care where in particular they are moving so quickly towards.
Show threadThe Witch of Crow BriarMar 6
@Tijn @Daojoan they’re all happy to deepthroat copies of “The Innovator’s Dilemma”, and wake up screaming “move fast and break things”, just so long as they never have to carry the burden or risk of experiencing an actual original thought.
Show threadOpen RiskMar 6
@Tijn @Daojoan they don't care because the surveillance adtech spigot (and oligopoly control in anything tech related) is secure and prints billions of money every quarter. They need to do *something* with all that flow 😔. The vast amounts they spend on moonshoots, lobbying (even vast open source infrastructure) etc. would have bankrupted entities that are subject to normal market pressures and regulation. But as this situation is now turning decades old, everybody assumes it is normal 🤣
Show threadJonathan SchofieldMar 6
@Daojoan a brilliant read. Thank you
Show threadSturmUndDrangerMar 6
@Daojoan “Be weird enough that nobody can copy you without becoming you.” - that’s excellent business advice for any smaller company with a specific talent competing against bigger players.
Show threadMastodon MigrationMar 6

@SturmUndDranger @Daojoan

Yup. The hardest thing to do as a young entrepreneur is to identify a very narrow niche opportunity that has a sufficient market size to support your company, but is not too big to attract the interest of the big players. Then go and build it while all of your friends are prostrating themselves before the gods of venture capital pitching the same world shaking chat box or whatever is the it thing of the day.

Show threadOpusMar 6

@Daojoan

Interesting argument. Recently my payroll company bought out a very small, niche legal HR company that used a specialized AI. This model's database is limited to current HR law in every county and state in the US.

It's amazing! With a simple questionnaire, it can create multi-state employee handbooks and update them when the law changes. Amazingly fast and accurate. I wish there were more targeted AI systems like this.

Show threadTaran RampersadMar 6

@Daojoan nicely written up, fitting the broader patterns of sisyphean churn I have seen in tech over the decades.

May refer to your writeup this weekend from knowprose.com Great writeup.

https://realityfragments.com/2026/02/27/sisyphean-churn/

Sisyphean Churn - RealityFragments.com

Perhaps this is the Sisyphean churn.Motion without arrival.Effort without reward.

RealityFragments.com
Show threadbkimMar 7

@Daojoan sameness is eating everything

https://mastodon.social/@bkim/116176885475643229