Inflections are turning points. The one on this road goes down. Others go up. With AI, we’re getting both at once—in tech, policy, employment, existential risks and opportunities, and more. One certainty is that all the curves on the far side of the AI inflection will be steep in both directions.
“Inflection point” entered the tech business vocabulary when Intel CEO Andy Grove popularized it with his book Only the Paranoid Survive (Penguin Random House, 1999). Andy and co-author Robert Burgelman first surfaced the topic in 1995, right when the Internet was starting to become established as a new environment for damn near everything we do in civilized life. Their full phrase was “strategic inflection points,” which they said “are caused by changes in fundamental industry dynamics…and dominant technologies.”
Such as what AI is doing right now as a dominant technology. We see it in this news, just from today:
- Business Insider and the BBC (among many other sources) say Microsoft is offering buyouts to 60,000 employees—more than a quarter of its workforce.
- There are also big layoffs happening with Singapore, Comcast, Wells Fargo, Scripps, and countless other enterprises.
My guess is that most of the people laid off will do better work on new stuff somewhere else, leveraging their own enterprising ambitions. How about around VRM?
We’re already busy.
First, this site is getting a big facelift after twenty years with the same WordPress theme. If you want a hint toward our coming look, see Trunkline, where I’ve been experimenting with themes.
Second, we are looking at ways to bring ProjectVRM closer to its one offspring: Customer Commons, which also helped bring MyTerms into the world.
Other moves will be on the table next week at the Computer History Museum, first with VRM Day on Monday, and then at IIW from Tuesday to Thursday, and AIW. on Friday.
VRM Day is free and always a great way to participate in our community and push things forward. Hope to see you there.
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