A good idea now spreads faster than ever
AI tools are recombination engines. A published idea becomes raw material for countless outputs, so its influence spreads faster than ever — months, not decades.
It spreads at a speed that used to be impossible.
An original idea does something new now. It spreads at a speed that used to be impossible.
AI tools are, at heart, recombination engines. They take in patterns and reassemble them on request. So once your idea is published and circulating, it becomes raw material for countless AI-assisted outputs. Its influence spreads, even when no one names you as the source.
This is not new in kind. Some ideas have always become shared infrastructure. The Swiss typographic grid. Dieter Rams's design principles. The jobs-to-be-done framework. Each was invented once, and then everyone could build on it without reinventing it.
What is new is the speed.
The speed. The trip from new idea to everywhere now takes months, so the.
It spreads at a speed that used to be impossible.
They take in patterns and reassemble them on request.
So once your idea is published and circulating, it becomes raw material for countless AI-assisted outputs.
A distinctive visual language, once published, can be referenced and recombined by AI tools within weeks. A clear new framework starts showing up in AI-assisted analysis almost at once.
The trip from new idea to everywhere used to take years, even decades. Now it takes months. So the return on having a real idea has gone up, not down. Its reach grows faster and travels further.
They take in patterns and reassemble them on request.
The speed. The trip from new idea to everywhere now takes months, so the return on originality rises.
AI tools are recombination engines. A published idea becomes raw material for countless outputs, so its influence spreads faster than ever — months, not decades.
This is the short version. Read the full-length essay, “Creatives and AI: A New Economy of Originality”.
This issue is part of Everybody's Smart, a newsletter on taste, judgment, AI, culture, cognition, and the future of professional work. New issues every 2 to 3 weeks, free on LinkedIn.
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