The Death of Friction
AI isn't just making people faster — it's changing what they're willing and able to try. And the gap between those who've figured this out and everyone else is 6x.
The friction that used to protect us from our bad ideas is gone.
Friction slowed us down. But it also filtered us. When testing an idea cost $50K and six weeks of a team's time, only the strongest ideas survived. Now any idea can become real in an afternoon.
I've supported 50+ organizations implementing AI this past year. The pattern isn't about speed. It's about people doing work that wasn't possible before.
A marketer who used to wait weeks for landing pages now builds three variations in an afternoon. She still can't code, but the gap between her intent and execution collapsed.
An accountant who spent 12 hours monthly on variance reports now finishes in 20 minutes, so he builds dynamic HTML dashboards on-demand.
I'm not a CPA, but I built a tax prep agent. I'm not a project manager, but I built a personal assistant. I'm not a game developer, but I built a video game with an original soundtrack. All over two weeks in December while I was sick and doing Cadre AI work.
Here's what I keep coming back to: AI isn't just making people faster at what they already do. It's changing what they're willing and able to try.
The people pulling ahead aren't always the most technical. They just know how to leverage the right tool(s) for the right problems.
75% of AI power users say they're doing work they couldn't do before. Not faster work — new work. But here's what concerns me: there is a 6x productivity gap between people who've figured this out and everyone else — and the gap is getting wider.
The tools are available to everyone. The willingness to try isn't.