I just listened to Tim Dillon’s interview with Bernie Sanders. Bernie shared this revealing story:
“I was at Davenport, Iowa a couple of months ago and we had a few thousand people out at a rally. So I said… Raise your hand if you think AI and robotics is gonna help the working class of this country in a room with several thousand people. Two hands went up so people understand…”
The image of a room of thousands, with only two hands raised for AI’s working-class promise is notable. I am personally encouraged about the future of AI. I think with any new technology, the opportunities are there for anyone willing to take the risk and do the work.
What I see in AI is an opportunity to level the playing field for small businesses. While there will probably always be some form of gatekeeping, the current landscape feels far more open than in previous tech eras. There’s rivalry among major AI model developers—OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, Perplexity, DeepSeek—and notably, none of these leaders are the traditional “big five” tech giants. With innovation not entirely controlled by the usual players, this gives small businesses a fighting chance to leverage AI and compete on more equal footing.
What Bernie’s story really drives home is the stark contrast between Silicon Valley’s attitude toward AI and middle America’s hesitation. In tech circles, there’s this relentless push forward—technologists racing to build, deploy, and disrupt at breakneck speed. The pressure is constant: adopt now, move fast, or get left behind. It often feels like I need to push too fast and too hard just to keep up with them, always chasing the next breakthrough.
But here’s what I’m learning: being first doesn’t guarantee any wins. Sometimes being too early is its own kind of risk. The technologists push forward at all costs, but history is littered with pioneers who arrived before the market was ready. The first movers often stumble, while those who come later—at the right time—actually capture the value. I may not be at risk of being too early but I probably don’t need to feel left behind either.
If Bernie’s story tells us anything, it’s that half the country is slow to adopt AI. So maybe I have more time than I thought. Maybe I don’t need to match Silicon Valley’s frenetic pace.
There’s wisdom in not being too early and freedom in recognizing that the window of opportunity isn’t slamming shut tomorrow. I can experiment thoughtfully and build sustainably. The real competitive advantage might not be moving fastest. It might be moving fast enough to innovate, but without sacrificing performance or user experience.