Five Words Aren't Enough: AI Revolution or Clippy 2.0?

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Luis Salazar, founder and CEO of AI4SP, unravels the intriguing disparity between executive perceptions of AI –like Salesforce CEO comparing AI to Clippy 2.0,  and the innovations happening at the grassroots level. In a world where many top executives remain oblivious to AI’s transformative potential, we shed light on how employees harness AI to reshape their workflows. 

Are today's AI startups mirroring the dot-com era?

Venture into the stories of AI pioneers addressing real-world challenges instead of chasing the elusive unicorn. From AI moderators combatting cyberbullying in online gaming to AI-driven support in mental health sectors, these entrepreneurs are redefining innovation with solutions that generate revenue while funding their R&D. 

 If you’re curious about how small AI startups are making big waves, this episode is a must-listen.

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Episode Transcript

Elizabeth (00:00):
Hey everyone, I'm Elizabeth, your virtual host,
and welcome to our deep diveinto today's AI in 60 Seconds
newsletter.
Luis Salazar, founder and CEOof AI4SP, is with us today.
Luis, you've found somefascinating contrast between
what executives think about AIand what's actually happening on
the ground.

Luis Salazar (00:20):
Oh, absolutely.
And you know what's reallyinteresting?
While the CEO of Salesforce isout there calling Microsoft's
co-pilot the Clippy 2.0, thatdoesn't work we're seeing this
incredible revolution happeningright under executives' noses.

Elizabeth (00:33):
Wait, what Clippy 2.0 ?
That's quite a statement, butyour research shows something
completely different, right?

Luis Salazar (00:40):
And here's the kicker we found that executives
complaining of AI not workinguse just five words when
prompting AI tools.

Elizabeth (00:47):
Oh yeah, I remember that from last week's episode.
Five words.

Luis Salazar (00:52):
And, in a refreshing contrast, we have
frontline workers and AI superusers.
They average 28 words.
So when you're calling theselarge language models and
advanced chat agents, Clippy 2.0, check if the problem is that
you're using them like a searchengine from 1995.

Elizabeth (01:08):
Oh yeah, like asking AltaVista for free email
accounts.
But you know what's even morefascinating?
Tell our listeners about whatpercentage of executives
actually know what's happeningwith AI in their organizations.

Luis Salazar (01:21):
Only one of every three execs are aware of how
their organizations use AI andmeanwhile, 65% of employees use
AI to transform their daily workwithout even telling management
or IT.

Elizabeth (01:33):
That reminds me of the early days of smartphones
and apps in the workplace, butthis feels different somehow.

Luis Salazar (01:39):
It really is different this time, which
brings us to this interestingparallel with the dot-com era
that I've been thinking about.

Elizabeth (01:46):
Oh yes, petscom and all that, but you're seeing some
crucial differences.

Luis Salazar (01:50):
Gigantic differences.
Think about this In 1999, youneeded at least a million
dollars to launch a startupServers offices infrastructure.

Elizabeth (02:00):
And today.

Luis Salazar (02:01):
AI entrepreneurs are launching with under $25,000
, using cloud services andremote teams without an office.
And here's what's interestingTwo out of three AI startups are
generating revenue within theirfirst year.
We are another example, as wenever had an office.
Our team members are in Chicago, boston, europe, argentina,
brazil and Seattle.
Brazil and Seattle.

(02:25):
We have alliances withcompanies in the UK and Sydney
that are also 100% remoteworkforces and are worth $100
million.
After a few years, we got goingwith less than $10,000,
including legal costs.

Elizabeth (02:35):
But still the failure rate of startups is as high as
every other tech startup,correct?

Luis Salazar (02:40):
You are absolutely correct, but a significant
percentage are becominglifestyle businesses.
Those are profitable ventureswhere this new generation of
CEOs are training themselves fortheir next big thing.

Elizabeth (02:54):
Oh, tell me more about that.
You mentor some of theseentrepreneurs, right, I do.

Luis Salazar (02:59):
And they're building sustainable businesses
generating between $500,000 to$1 million annually.
But here's what's reallyinteresting.
What's that?
They're not just buildingbusinesses.
They're using these ventures asAI laboratories.
One developer in Eastern Europestarted with the idea of
combining chat GPT with wordprocessing, targeting the use

(03:20):
cases of nonprofits.
A neuroscientist who is closeto my heart because he is my son
, co-founded a company that usesAI to optimize workflows and
research in the health andpharmaceutical industries.
A psychologist in the UK isworking on text messaging agents
for individuals with cognitivedecline.
They generate steady revenuesand use them to fund research

(03:41):
into much more ambitious AIprojects.

Elizabeth (03:44):
So they're basically funding their own R&D through
these smaller ventures.

Luis Salazar (03:49):
Exactly.
And speaking of innovation,we're seeing amazing use cases
in online gaming and socialmedia.
Do you want to hear somethingfascinating?
Always, there's this team thatcreated AI moderators for online
gaming virtual team playersthat can detect and prevent
cyberbullying in real time.
But here's the really cleverpart.

Elizabeth (04:08):
What is it?

Luis Salazar (04:09):
They're using the same technology to help monitor
Reddit communities, identifyingwhen someone might be in crisis
and needs immediate support fromhuman counselors.

Elizabeth (04:19):
Wow.
So AI is augmenting thecapacity of trained counselors,
not replacing them.

Luis Salazar (04:24):
And it's all happening because these
entrepreneurs aren't trying tobuild the next unicorn overnight
.
They're solving real problems,generating real revenue and
using that foundation to pushthe boundaries of what AI can do
.

Elizabeth (04:38):
That's such a sharp contrast to the
growth-at-all-costs mindset wesaw in the dot-com bubble.
But, luis, for our listenerswho did not hear last week's
episode talk about Teresa, Ithink her story really brings us
to life.

Luis Salazar (04:51):
Oh yes, our friend Teresa.
So picture this she's workingthe night shift at a convenience
store in San Jose, Power goesout and she needs to figure out
what to do with all thisrefrigerated food.

Elizabeth (05:03):
Mm-hmm, quite a situation.

Luis Salazar (05:05):
But instead of panicking or trying to reach a
manager, she just sends a textmessage to an AI agent In
Spanish, by the way and getsimmediate guidance on food
safety protocols right from herbasic phone.

Elizabeth (05:17):
That's what makes this revolution so different,
isn't it?
You don't need a fancy computer, or even a smartphone.

Luis Salazar (05:23):
Exactly While executives are debating AI's
potential, millions of peopleare using AI in practical ways
thanks to AI innovators, andthat's not speculation.
Our latest research analyzedover 96,000 interactions with AI
agents across 76 different jobcategories in 16 industries.

Elizabeth (05:42):
And the ROI numbers you're seeing are pretty
impressive, even with what youcall the productivity leak
factor.

Luis Salazar (05:48):
Yes, yes, even with a 50% productivity leak,
these tools are paying forthemselves in weeks or months,
not years.
And here's the most excitingpart.

Elizabeth (05:57):
What is it?

Luis Salazar (05:58):
95% of the 12,000 AI tools we've analyzed come
from small companies, not techgiants, and they all solve very
common problems.
67% are created outside the US,by the way.

Elizabeth (06:11):
Speaking of revolutions, you often talk
about Petscom in an interestingway.

Luis Salazar (06:16):
Yes, because it's such a perfect example.
You know, Petscom didn't failjust because it was ahead of its
time.
It failed because it tried tochange how people buy pet
supplies without reallyunderstanding customer needs or
having the logistics to supporttheir vision.

Elizabeth (06:33):
And you're seeing a different approach with AI
creators today.

Luis Salazar (06:37):
Absolutely.
Today's successful AIinnovators aren't trying to
completely disrupt how we work.
Instead, they're focused onimproving things incrementally.
One message, one task, oneinsight at a time.

Elizabeth (06:49):
That's what really excites us at AI4SP, isn't it?
This practical ground-upprogress.

Luis Salazar (06:54):
Exactly.
We're seeing it happen rightnow in convenience stores,
refugee camps, constructionsites and practically everywhere
people actually work and live.
It's not about grandtransformation.
It's about practical progressthat makes a real difference in
people's lives.

Elizabeth (07:09):
You know, Luis, there's something else brewing
that feels even bigger than whatwe've discussed today.

Luis Salazar (07:14):
Ah, you're reading my mind, Elizabeth.
Here's our one more thing.
Just take a pause and thinkabout this Every single software
and internet experience createdover the past 50 years is about
to be completely reimagined.

Elizabeth (07:28):
Do you honestly believe we're talking about
everything, like everything,everything?

Luis Salazar (07:33):
Everything.
Think about it From governmentservices to tax forms to
immigration documents, Fromentertainment to education to
information.
Ai entrepreneurs worldwide arerebuilding these experiences
from the ground up, making themintuitive, conversational,
accessible and human.

Elizabeth (07:51):
And the best part is that you don't need an expensive
computer to benefit from thisrevolution right.

Luis Salazar (07:56):
Exactly.
Remember Teresa with her textmessage.
That's just the beginning.
We're moving from the era ofaccess to information to the era
of understanding and humanaugmentation.
Every interaction withtechnology is being reimagined.

Elizabeth (08:10):
I feel like we're just scratching the surface here
.

Luis Salazar (08:12):
Oh, we absolutely are, and that's why next week
we're doing a special bonusepisode diving deep into this
massive wave of reimagining ourdigital experiences.

Elizabeth (08:21):
I am very much looking forward to it.
This is AI in 60 Seconds, the10-minute deep dive.
See you all next week.
Stay curious.