Episode 8: The Best AI Won’t Win
If you’d asked me five years ago what would separate companies in the age of AI, I probably would’ve given you the same answer most people would have. Better models. Better data. Better engineers. Better algorithms.
Today, I’m not so sure.
One of the more interesting things about enterprise AI is that access is becoming remarkably democratic. Five years ago, only a handful of companies had access to frontier AI capabilities. Today, organizations of every size can choose from multiple world-class models. The technology continues to improve, prices continue to fall, and capabilities that once felt extraordinary become expected in a matter of months. History suggests this is what happens to almost every major technology platform. Competitive advantages based purely on technology rarely stay unique for very long.
That’s why I think we’re looking in the wrong place for differentiation.
Imagine two Fortune 500 companies deploying exactly the same AI platform. They have access to the same underlying models. Similar budgets. Comparable technical talent. On paper, you’d expect similar outcomes.
But now imagine what each company’s AI experiences over the next three years.
One organization has fragmented workflows. Customer conversations rarely make it beyond the account team. Product feedback lives in separate systems. Engineering solves problems that Sales never hears about. Support resolves recurring issues, but the insights rarely influence future product decisions. The AI sees thousands of disconnected moments.
The other organization operates differently. Customer Success feeds Product. Product informs Sales. Engineering learns from Support. Procurement insights influence pricing strategy. Every meaningful interaction becomes another opportunity for the organization to improve itself. The AI isn’t simply processing more information. It’s observing a healthier system.
At the end of those three years, both companies are still using the same underlying technology.
But they no longer have the same AI.
One has accumulated knowledge.
The other has accumulated wisdom.
That distinction matters.
We’ve spent years assuming AI would become the competitive advantage. I think AI is actually becoming the mirror. It reflects the quality of the organization that’s teaching it. Strong organizations create stronger AI. Weak organizations simply scale their existing inefficiencies.
Which makes me wonder if the next great competitive advantage won’t come from buying a better model.
It will come from becoming a better company.
