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Ethan Mollick offers a judgment, arguing that using "selling shovels in a gold rush" as an analogy for AI entrepreneurship is wrong. He points out that the gold rush is not as apt a comparison as the Industrial Revolution: gold is a pile of stuff that will eventually be dug up, whereas machines will keep making everything cheaper; far more people have gotten rich by using new machines than by manufacturing them. Currently, this view was published by Ethan Mollick himself, and there are no other developments or facts yet.
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Oct 30
Ethan Mollick
Ethan Mollick: AI startups shouldn't just sell shovels
Ethan Mollick argues that comparing AI startups to "selling shovels in a gold rush" is wrong. He points out that the gold rush is a less apt analogy than the Industrial Revolution: gold is a pile of stuff that will eventually be dug up, whereas machines will keep making everything cheaper; far more people have gotten rich by using new machines than by manufacturing them.