The Web²: The AI Supercycle
Many people mistakenly view the current AI paradigm as “another technology or another new industry.”
In Web², I’ve already explained why that’s not the case. We’re in the middle of a paradigm shift, technically a supercycle, or the AI Supercycle, which will play out in 30-50 years.
Now, I want to give you a complete perspective on it.
Indeed, the view of AI as another tech or new industry is limiting and misses a key point: the current AI paradigm is not “an industry” or a simple technology but a paradigm shift, a computer layer on top, a cognitive revolution.
That’s way more similar to the microprocessor, which has worked as an underlying layer to the whole computing transformation from computers to data centers, smartphones, and the web, and while doing that, transforming the entire economy.
As an intelligent computing layer on top that will transform the current web into what I call The Web²:
And this is only the first part of a supercycle.
That means AI will work as a convergence or a tipping point, which will be making, at once, many industries expanded, enhanced, and viable for the first time in decades.
Think of that as something similar to the Industrial Revolution or, as I like more, to the Microprocessor.
Indeed, if you wish, the Microprocessor Supercycle is still ongoing (1970s-2010s) as it enabled:
Personal Computing,
Internet/Web,
Mobile Computing,
Cloud Computing,
Smartphones.
Yet, this is even more interesting, as it’s a cognitive layer, ready to be embedded everywhere.
And while it will take way longer than most people expect (not 10 years but 30-50 years), this might still be the most transformative paradigm we’ve witnessed so far.
Thus, we should adjust our perspective on it in multiple ways.