How AI is Reshaping Business, Education & Parenting—Faster Than Anyone Realizes
If you're a business leader, parent, or simply someone trying to stay relevant in today's rapidly evolving world, there's one truth you need to internalize: AI isn't coming—it's already here.
I recently had the chance to speak to the YPO Metro chapter about what I call “Generation AI”—a world where artificial intelligence isn't a tool for the future, but a fundamental part of how we live, work, and raise our children today. The reactions I got only reinforced what I’ve seen across boardrooms and stages globally: most people still dramatically underestimate both the speed and scale of the transformation AI is bringing.
The Four Pillars of AI: A Framework for the Future
To help business leaders wrap their heads around how AI is transforming every sector, I introduced a four-pillar framework:
Infrastructure: The raw power driving AI. Think Nvidia and GPU chips.
Large Language Models (LLMs): The brains—like ChatGPT, Gemini, LLaMA—doing the reasoning and generation.
Data Sets: The fuel—public, proprietary, or licensed data that LLMs learn from.
Applications: The consumer-facing tools where AI creates real value.
This framework isn’t academic—it’s your business strategy cheat code for the next decade. If you don't understand how each layer interacts, you're playing checkers in a chess world.
From Obsolete to Obvious: Middle Management & Coding Jobs Are Vanishing
Let’s be clear: we are not going back to the way things were.
Massive layoffs aren’t just a tech industry trend. They're a preview of a broader shift. Companies like Amazon are flattening hierarchies, cutting middle management, and replacing "knowledge transfer" roles with AI systems that never sleep.
And coding? Once the golden ticket to a six-figure salary—now it’s on the chopping block. Tools like Cursor can spin up apps with near-zero human input. One example: Cursor went from $0 to $50 million in revenue with seven employees.
We're entering an era where what you know matters far less than how you think. Creativity, storytelling, and critical thinking are becoming the most defensible professional assets.
AI in the Classroom: Why Our Kids Aren’t Being Prepared
Education today is still built on a model of memorization and regurgitation—the kind of learning that AI already does better than we do. Our schools are preparing students for a world that no longer exists. Meanwhile, in places like Beijing, kids are learning AI from a young age.
So what should kids be doing?
TrackDescriptionDeep into an artStorytelling, communication, originality—skills AI can’t replicate.Deep into a scienceOperating and optimizing the infrastructure AI runs on.
It’s the middle—the "safe" jobs like account management, paralegals, and analysts—that are rapidly disappearing.
Graphic Design, Video & the Collapse of the Creative Middle
Want a photo of a cat drinking a Diet Coke in Paris? You can generate it in 10 seconds. OpenAI’s Sora tool can generate stunning, hyper-realistic video from a simple prompt.
We’re 12 months away from anyone with a laptop being able to produce their own Pixar-quality short film.
It’s no longer about who can design something. It’s about who knows what needs to be designed.
The Rise of AI Agents: Your Digital Employees
At Suzy, we’ve built voice agents that sound exactly like our employees and conduct outbound sales calls. Customers can’t even tell they’re talking to AI. These agents pitch, answer questions, and even book appointments.
I cloned my own voice. I now have a voice bot trained on everything I’ve ever written and said. It can run support calls, create content, or help customers—24/7.
Salesforce is pivoting their entire platform around agents. Why? Because AI agents don’t just help—they do.
DIY AI: Custom GPTs Will Reshape Productivity
Many ask me: “Matt, where do I even start with AI?”
Here’s my answer: build a Custom GPT.
For myself, I created a HealthBot by uploading 25 years of personal health data. It now tells me what appointments to schedule, what my risks are, and gives me printouts for my doctor visits.
Then I built a FinancialBot. Then one for Suzy, using 25,000 hours of recorded customer calls.
These aren’t science projects. They’re productivity multipliers.
Ask yourself: What is the “X-ray” of your business? What’s the raw data you have, and how could AI make sense of it?
Data Is the New Differentiator
Here’s the hidden truth: models will commoditize. Infrastructure will get cheaper. The only moat you’ll have is proprietary data.
Reddit licensed their data to Google for $60M. The New York Times is suing OpenAI. This is the new arms race—own the data or get outpaced.
A Call to Action: This Is Not Optional
Too many executives are still delegating AI understanding to their tech teams. That era is over. If you don’t understand it, you can’t lead through it.
AI will not replace you. But someone using AI will.
Here’s where to start:
StepAction1Build a custom GPT for your personal productivity.2Identify the proprietary data your business owns.3Choose one process to automate with AI.4Learn to prompt like a pro—clarity > complexity.5Talk to your kids about AI. Help them use it responsibly.
Final Thought: Understand It Yourself, Then Teach It
You can’t guide your kids or lead your teams if you don’t understand AI yourself. Avoiding it won’t protect them. Learning it will.
The next few years will be defined not by who has the best ideas—but by who can adapt the fastest.
The future is already here. Now, what are you going to do about it?
