Hey Reader,

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the two parallel universes in AI adoption – depending on who you asked, it seemed like AI was either "changing everything" or "doing nothing."​

This week, I'm thinking about a corollary to that idea, inspired by my AI consulting students' experience doing big corporate trainings out in the wild:
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On one hand, it seems like...​
​AI is everywhere all the time.​
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​On the other hand...​
​The median adult knows basically nothing about AI, beyond having briefly used ChatGPT or Gemini as a toy.
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This always shocks and disorients Innovating with AI readers because, just by virtue of you being here, I know for a fact that you are extremely into AI. In fact, you've probably signed up to multiple newsletters just to learn more about it!

The average person is not doing that. Even the 90th percentile person is not doing that! Yes, you may be surrounded by fellow AI enthusiasts in the digital world, but you are an extreme outlier and early adopter in the real world.

I see this dynamic every time an AI Consultancy Project student does a live event. They often go in worried about people in the audience one-upping them... but then people end up just asking super basic questions or being amazed by what we consider to be relatively simple AI demos.

There is so much room for AI adoption and understanding to grow – and it is great to see students playing a role in helping others adopt tools that help them make their work more efficient and more enjoyable.

Another fun tidbit?

We're doing this internally at IWAI too. Here's one of our newest team members sharing in our company Slack about her first experience with Descript's AI tools for video editing:

Remember, this is a seasoned professional who's been doing video work for a decade for high-end companies... having her mind blown by this AI tool that just saved her 4+ hours on an 8-hour project.

I don't think I will ever stop enjoying seeing people have this sort of "this changes everything" experience for the first time – and fortunately for all of us, there is a huge proportion of the population still waiting to have their minds blown.

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In case you missed it, be sure to check out my recent appearance in Fortune, where I talked about extremely high-priced AI consulting services...

Fortune: AI consultants are being deployed as engineers and getting paid $900 per hour​

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📚 What I'm Reading This Week:

• ​Over 90% of artists view AI-generated pieces in a negative light (IWAI)
• ​Nvidia to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI (WSJ, gift link)
• ​Vibe Analytics: Vibe Coding’s New Cousin Unlocks Insights​ (MIT Sloan)
• ​Online marketplace Fiverr to lay off 30% of workforce in AI push​ (Reuters)
• ​Anthropic Economic Index: Tracking AI’s role in the US and global economy​​

Until next time,

– Rob Howard
Founder of Innovating with AI

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​PS. If you’re looking for help with your own AI adoption or AI builds, IWAI’s certified AI consultants should be your first stop. My team and I have personally vetted everyone in our consultant directory.

In fact, our IWAI certified consultants are collaborating and doing live events, too!

Here's a photo from a live AI training event in Atlanta on Monday, where two students (Frank and Thiago) delivered an AI fundamentals workshop, and met up with Sonal, another one of our certified consultants!

You can find all three of these AI pros, and dozens more, in the IWAI Certified Consultants Directory.