If you read the headlines, everyone’s waiting for the next AI breakthrough. That’s not what I see with clients. Most companies already have more AI capability than they know how to use.
The idea
Imagine I hand you a car with a 700-horsepower engine. The steering is loose, the brakes barely work, the transmission slips, and half the dashboard is dead. Is your first thought that it needs another 50 horsepower? Of course not. You fix what’s keeping the car from using the power it already has.
That’s where most companies are with AI. The questions I hear aren’t about better models. They’re about trust, integration, and fitting AI into the way people already work.
Why it matters
- The model isn’t the bottleneck. In many companies, you could swap one leading model for another tomorrow and almost nothing would change.
- The work is in the plumbing. Integration with real systems, trustworthy outputs, and workflow fit are what unlock value.
- Advantage comes from use, not access. Everyone can buy the same horsepower. Few know how to put it on the road.
Where the advantage comes from
The winners won’t be the companies that found another 50 horsepower. They’ll be the ones that figured out how to use the horsepower they already had.
Before you chase the next model, ask what’s keeping you from using the one you have.
Join the conversation: see the comments on LinkedIn.
Read the full transcript
Hey, I’m Matt.
I’ve been working with a lot of clients on AI initiatives over the last few years.
And I’ve noticed something.
Now, if you read the headlines, you’d think everyone is waiting for the next big AI breakthrough.
But that’s not what I’m seeing.
Most companies already have more AI capability than they know how to use.
They’re not waiting for the next breakthrough model.
They’re trying to figure out how to use the models they already have.
They’re asking questions like:
Can we trust it?
Can we connect it to our systems?
Can we fit it into the way we already work?
Those are the conversations I’m having.
And here’s the way I’ve been thinking about this:
Imagine I gave you a car with a 700-horsepower engine. Think Ferrari.
Sounds amazing, right?
Now let’s imagine this:
The steering is loose.
The brakes barely work.
The transmission slips.
And half the dashboard doesn’t function.
Would your first thought be,
“This thing really needs another 50 horsepower?”
Of course not.
You’d fix the things keeping the car from using the power it already has.
For most companies, the model isn’t the limiting factor anymore. They already have the capability.
In fact…
I think I could swap one leading AI model for another inside many companies tomorrow…
…and almost nothing would change.
They don’t need another 50 horsepower.
They need to figure out how to use the capability they already have.
I believe that’s where the real competitive advantage comes from.
Not because one company found another 50 horsepower.
But because they figured out how to use the horsepower they already had.
Thanks for watching.
Leave a Reply