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Last week I asked you if we were giving up. I did more than that; I called you Slop Puppets and chided you for mindlessly turning in your ChatGPT drafts as if they were viable deliverables.
Judging by the response, I think I struck a nerve. Deep down I think we all know we’re guilty of slop puppetry. I know I am.
This week, I want to ask a follow up question. It emerged from a discussion we hosted during yesterday’s ON_Breakfast Club on the 63rd floor at the World Trade Center that previewed a joint research project from Code and Theory and the Wall Street Journal.
The research surveyed roughly 800 C-suite leaders about the gap between their massive investments in AI transformation and the middling outcomes. The full report isn't public yet, so I can't share the details. Nevertheless, the discussion uncovered an unexpectedly provocative thought that has been banging around my head since Toby uttered it to the group. I’m going to turn that thought into this week’s provocation.
Like the slop puppets, this one will also sting a little bit.
PROVOCATION OF THE WEEK
Did we ever try?
There are two immediate and contradictory answers to this question. On one hand, the answer is emphatically yes. There are countless ways to quantify this, here are two:
One: hyperscalers have already invested more than the combined cost of the Apollo Program and the Manhattan Project (in inflation adjusted dollars, in 2025 alone). But that’s just cap-ex investment. There are other metrics to consider.
Two: We can’t get enough of this tech. By late August, OpenAI said ChatGPT had surpassed 1 billion weekly active users. But that’s just chatting. On Lovable alone, we’ve collectively vibecoded 60 million projects in under two years, and those projects pull 900 million visitors a month.
But these stats hide a deeper lie that contradicts all of this apparent ambition. Despite all of this historic investment and expansive personal use, the enterprise experience of AI transformation is shockingly tepid.
The most historic, transformative, and powerful technology in human history has been used primarily to cut staff. That’s not my word, that came from a CEO at the event. It’s like inheriting Superman’s powers only to use it to shovel snow.
I have to credit Toby Daniels for making this point so clear at our event. He was the one that opened up a tangent about ambition in yesterday’s event. He did it by sharing an observation he noticed at Cannes this year: every C-Suite leader he talked to was boring about work and enthusiastic about their own personal AI project.
What’s Next
If you have thoughts, feedback, or a perspective worth sharing, reach out: chmiel@ondiscourse.com. You might see your reaction in next week’s edition.