In a world with infinite artifacts, the most valuable asset is the scarcest one, attention.

AI can create now everything you throw at it: code, images, advertising campaigns, blog posts – literally everything. What you CAN do is no longer a problem.

The real problem is what you SHOULD do.

There is a limited amount of attention in the world, and now the battle for it increased 1000x. What’s the incentive to build something if nobody else can see it? Yes, you can build it for yourself, that’s true. As a matter of fact, I can see a path in which we can create bespoke apps, bespoke images, the same way we create bespoke suits. But then again, who’s going to see / use that? If you are fine with just one user – you – then no worries.

But if you want to reach out, even to a handful of users, the rules have changed drastically.

Why All You Need Is Attention

The answer will probably surprise you. But here we go.

If you don’t get a little bit of entropy in your life, if you don’t expose yourself to unexpected or difficult situations, you’re going asymptotically down. This is not metaphorical, this is proven by actual experiments. And the only way to get that entropy is interaction. If you just stay by yourself, isolated in your golden AI cage, where everything happens exactly the way you want it, you’re just a lonely person, cut off, going asymptotically down. In a surprisingly pleasant way, but still going down.

The most important reason for attention is interaction. How can I get the attention of the other person, or of the other group, so I can actually start a conversation? It’s not about conversion anymore, we’re down to just having meaningful relationships. Up until now, we took this kind of attention for granted. We hoped there will be someone at the other end because we both share the need for something that we cannot get by ourselves. But what happens when we get everything by ourselves? What are the reasons for interaction now?

It sounds gloomy, but if you read my blog for some time, you know I’m not on the gloomy side, on the contrary. I’m sure something will shift, behaviorally and culturally, and we will eventually adjust. We always did. We will survive, in what form or another.

But right now, we’re in the eyes of the storm. We need to understand the hurricane, to be aware of the whirlwind surrounding us and prepare.

How Do We Prepare?

Well, I think it should be something along these lines:

• use AI for specific, clearly isolated purposes. If you do it for work, keep it work only, if it’s personal, understand that it takes time from your REAL life, and use accordingly.
• keep close connections closer. Make new routines for that, because, even if you can still engage easily, on the other side things may have changed. Be proactive.
• understand what people around you want, and try to streamline their path to getting those things. Even if it’s something like: “where do I find that coffee shop?”, jump in and show the way. Just go out of your way to be useful.
• prepare to be autonomous, but in a team. It’s counterintuitive, almost like a koan, but that’s the intended behavior. We are now at the very beginning of a new era in which the boundaries between you, the others, and the AI fabric are melting. What that looks like in practice is still being figured out — but the direction is clear: less isolation, more intentional interdependence.