Azeem Azhar

We need to push things in a different direction.

the technological rapture, as we might call it.

It is quite odd to feel that sense of messianic belief that comes from some of the bosses and some of the people who work for them.

But reality has a rude way of interrupting dreams.

It just does.

And things end up being messier than we might expect.

And I think we could already see that with

with generative AI today.

So it is true that businesses have adopted it faster than previous technologies, faster than the internet and faster than the PC.

It's also true that they're starting to see results pretty quickly and that many of them are struggling with it.

But that doesn't mean that getting this technology, getting that imaginary all-powerful AI into our economy, into our hands, across the whole of the US and beyond, will be as simple as pushing an update to an iPhone.

And we've got quite a few steps before we get there.

And what I start to see when I talk to

business people.

I was in Las Vegas a few weeks ago, and I did a show of hands with 300 IT bosses.

And half of them said, listen, we're not getting results now, but we should get results in a couple of years.

And when you talk to them, it's really challenging, practical stuff that is not far off trying to unblock a sink.

Because companies are difficult.

You don't just drop chat GPT and

Costco or Walmart and snap your fingers.