Every technology wave overcorrects. It floods the world with one resource, then quietly reprices everything it leaves untouched. We have seen this before:
- The PC era made computing power abundant, so value shifted to software.
- The internet made information abundant, so value shifted to attention and credibility.
Now AI is making competent output cheaply accessible. Text, code, images, even analysis arrive at a few keystrokes. The constraint shifts to discernment (separating signal from noise), relationships, and the last mile where ideas meet reality. For me, the better question is not what AI can do, but where value concentrates when intelligence itself is abundant.
Here is my short list of what becomes scarce, and thus carries high value:
Attention span
Genuine human attention is gold; humans only have so much of it. Focus is now the new currency of impact.
Unique data
High-quality proprietary data truly differentiates model performance. The more exclusive and well-governed, the stronger the edge.
Battle-tested domain knowledge
Lived experience is irreplaceable because it fosters discernment, taste, and the nuanced ability to separate signal from noise. This is the foundation AI still leans on.
Execution muscle
Carrying an idea from inception to real-world impact, at scale, is hard. Execution remains the strongest moat, and the truest test of endurance.
If one is allocating time or capital, these are the places I would over-invest. Here↗ is a clip (not mine, but worth adding for context) that brings further perspective to the topic.
I wonder what others would add to the scarcity list.