Can AI really automate your business?

But First…Cool, if Real

Real or AR? By Antti Innanen

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Becoming Dauntless

We need more people of influence, not influencers (an unexpected consequence of AI).

If history repeats itself, AI will create more opportunities than it kills. But here's the plot twist no one's talking about: while every business leader is begging for AI consulting, not ONE has asked what they can do for the employees who built their empire and are no longer needed.

Your most powerful asset right now? Personal brand. And no, I don't mean becoming an influencer hawking Amazon affiliate links.

The tide of AI slop has already arrived on our internet shores, and it's only getting worse. The social platforms won't save you, they can't. Soon, your brilliant work will be invisible unless people proactively seek YOU out. When someone has a problem you solve, your name/brand should be the first thing they think of.

Good-hearted techies, academics, creatives, we need YOUR voices cutting through the noise. Share your work, your discoveries, your challenges. Make yourself the category of one, as Erica Mallett says.

Want jobs, deals, clients, opportunities? Be known for something. The window to build your brand is closing fast, 12 months, maybe less, before content becomes pay-to-play and AI noise.

The future belongs to the fastest adapters. That starts today, not when someone (who is probably never coming) swoops in to save you.

News You Need to Know About

• I’m moderating some panels at AWE this year (XR for good, storytelling for techies, the ROI of XR adoption, XR and AI - all the good stuff). If you are heading out to Long Beach for the conference, let me know and say hi. Passes are still available if you’re undecided.

• Top 10 Tech Redemption Arc: The Meta + Anduril Partnership. Building hardware is hard (profound, I know). And IVAS is a beast of an undertaking, and it probably helps to have access to the old Oculus patents that Meta now owns. Magic Leap’s IP was off the market, thanks to Google, and the options left: out-invent Meta or get access to the original Oculus IP and use it for the next phase of innovation. It’s a faster path to MVP than the approach Microsoft took with IVAS.

• AI is “revolutionizing” hiring. I see this devolving into recruiting AIs evaluating AI-generated spammed applications in no time at all. My prediction: job seeking will go back to referrals (who you know), going in person to apply, or making applicants pay to apply for a job.

Saved on Socials

The posts, memes, and videos that caught my attention this week:

• Why Apple Being Late to the AI Race is Their Biggest Advantage

• Drone Warfare and Nuclear War: there is no in between in 2025. This interview clip with John Ferry and The Drone Ultimatum has been living rent-free in my head all week. I can doom spiral at an Olympic level and ALWAYS like to have a backup plan, but I’m struggling to come up with a good one here.

• This Investor Replaced VCs with AI. I love this concept and am interested to what their portfolio spread looks like.

Overheard on Slack

Enter the chat. What our devs are talking about…

• “…but also where dafaq is our money? FY25 is almost over”. - The joys and thrills of government contracting.

📸 This is real! Antti Innanen created a rendering of his terrace in Alicante using Teleport by Varjo.

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