The first principle of AI in business is proactivity. Current software is reactive. Processes either execute on human command or because they’ve been programmed to execute when an environmental change is detected. AI allows for proactivity: software can interpret context with its world model and execute processes autonomously.
We currently ask, “what tasks can AI perform faster than humans?” This includes approving code reviews, grokking legal documents, and automating sales outbound.
This is a failure of imagination.
Instead, we should ask, “what tasks can AI anticipate for humans?”
Current AI companies without product-market-fit languish because they are mired in reactivity. Consider the Humane AI Pin. The device runs only when prompted, yielding cool but useless demos, relative to an iPhone’s capabilities. To become valuable, the AI Pin must be continuously active, detect a human need, and provide a solution without an explicit command.
Rather than waiting for a query about tomorrow’s weather, the Pin2.0 hears you chatting with a friend about the beach, vocally recommends postponement because it knows that it will rain, uses your (and your friend’s) calendar to plan a better date, sends invites to the right friends, reserves an Uber if necessary, and researches boardwalk activities.
Pay attention to moments in your life where proactivity could address your needs in advance: renegotiating car insurance, calculating Venmo splits, and remembering a video game your boyfriend wants for his birthday. These are untapped growth markets for the ambitious.
Delight your users with proactivity and you will be rewarded with the opportunity to rewrite the market from the top down.