The Illusion of Idea Value in the Age of AI
Did you know that your idea was never worth anything? Ideas in general, including yours, are very likely worthless. We have known this for 50 years, and we keep refusing to learn it.
The Xerox PARC Lesson
In the 1970s, Xerox ran a research lab called PARC that invented the graphical user interface, Ethernet, and the laser printer. Xerox captured almost none of the value. Apple walked through on a tour and took ideas. Microsoft built an empire on the same concepts. HP made the laser printer a business. PARC had the ideas, but everyone else had the execution.
The AI Prompt Test
If your idea can be fully specified in a prompt, it was never an asset.
The 5 Unpromptable Assets
- Distribution – years of earning it
- Trust – impossible to fake
- Timing – cannot be scheduled
- Taste – cannot be downloaded
- Stubbornness – month 14, when it stops being fun
AI did not commoditize your idea. It just handed you a receipt showing what your idea was always worth.
Presentation
Stop protecting ideas. Start building assets.
