Is AI succeeding where Crypto failed?

Thinking out loud here, something about AI reminds me of “Crypto” bull cycles. The sudden concentration of investment, media hype, startup chaos, and dire need for more computing power. It seems AI is succeeding where Crypto failed which in my opinion is creating greater reliance on the technology. Crypto struggled with broad adoption and reliance across sectors and industries outside of finance. How many companies on the SP500 are or were creating dapps? When was the last time you heard about Web3, anyway? There are merits to Crypto technology, I think. I’ve heard. Someone told me there was at least. Okay this is why Crypto failed as a mass market, transformative technology. Average Joes like me don’t understand it. Enter AI. *I type something and it makes pretty pictures.* See? I can explain that and this is AI’s broad, mass market appeal. You can say or prompt a few things and see instant results. Automate your work Write documents Keep your schedule Buy your groceries Book travel Create art Schedule appointments So many aspects of our daily lives can, and are, becoming integrated with AI. Businesses are even being created and operated with AI. I think there’s still a human in the loop in most operations, but capabilities are increasing and tools are becoming simpler to use. Wide industry adoption. And relevant to all of our daily lives. Crypto could not achieve this, thus the market makers became less interested. AI is positioning to become a required part of our daily lives. Now we get a few free tokens to do the bare essentials but if we want to really participate and see more AI benefits, buy more tokens. Life in general is on track to become more pay to play. If you want to complete your work, schedule an appointment, draft a letter, you’ll need more tokens. You want to do more, experience more, earn more? You need to pay more first. With AI features being added to more of our day-to-day tools it’s nearly inescapable especially when it’s added without knowing. I cannot imagine that Amazon, Apple, or Meta will wait too long before they start passing token costs through to users. Because it is well publicized that tokens come at a cost. It is also likely that everything will be Uber-ized. Token surge pricing during peak hours hour or whenever the AI thinks you’ll pay the most since all of our data will be exposed to it. For business this is advantageous because fixed pricing will be less of a barrier and businesses can ensure no one under pays. Unlike crypto, I totally agree with the sentiment that AI is going to transform the economy. It just seems like using AI to monetize all aspects of our lives is a darker transformation than I had hoped. The broader adoption of AI on its current trajectory will consolidate vast amounts of wealth and power. Calling it the 4th Industrial Revolution is fitting because it will completely change how the world operates. I just don’t know how positive AI will benefit society as a whole. I can’t be the only one thinking this and who knows, I may have derived all of these thoughts from a night of doom scrolling.