If We Want To Understand The Future Of AI, Just Watch Star Trek: The Next Generation And I am dead serious.
If We Want To Understand The Future Of AI, Just Watch Star Trek: The Next Generation
And I am dead serious.
For those unfamiliar, Star Trek: TNG ran from 1987 to 1994. It didn’t just predict technology, it reimagined our relationship to it. And it got something right we’re still getting wrong.
We’ve misunderstood what AI actually is, And since GPT we've been distracted by a shiny and seductive object
We keep calling it an intern, an assistant, a tool, a shortcut. For many it's a potential threat, or a get rich quick scheme
Silicon Valley loves those metaphors because they’re cheap. But they’re not just misleading, they’re limiting.
The real problem? Strategy.
Because the people shaping AI strategy for the enterprise are management consultants-- and this technology is as new to them as it is to anyone but they pretend they know what they're doing and they don't
Here’s the formula they sell to CEOs and CFOs:
We’ll implement this tech to reduce costs
We’ll treat your office like a factory
We’ll measure tasks, optimize bottlenecks, and speed up cycle times
We’ll replace humans wherever possible
You’ll save money, signal to the market, and boost your share price
Sounds smart. But it’s junior-high thinking.
Because this entire logic assumes AI’s greatest value is in efficiency. It views humans as bottlenecks, not assets. It assumes replacing judgment with pattern-matching is strategic progress. It’s rear-view mirror thinking dressed up as innovation.
And it’s not working.
Error rates remain high.¹
Hallucinations persist.²
Most GenAI pilots fail to scale.³
And internal backlash is growing.⁴
Why? Because AI isn’t about automation. It’s about augmentation. And that means imagining new ways of thinking, creating, and deciding, not just faster ways to do what we already do.
And Star Trek: TNG showed us what that could look like.
The ship’s computer wasn’t a task engine, it was a thinking partner.
Data wasn’t a replacement for the crew, he was part of the crew.
AI didn’t strip humanity, it deepened it.
Oh and was Data sentient?
Who cares for me he was
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The trick with technology is to avoid spreading darkness at the speed of light
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Sources:
¹ [MIT Sloan] 85% of GenAI projects fail to deliver ROI
² [Stanford/Princeton 2024] Hallucination rates range 3%–27% depending on task
³ [McKinsey, 2023] Most enterprise AI pilots fail to scale
⁴ [Korn Ferry, 2024] 54% of knowledge workers report productivity declines from GenAI tools | 177 comments on LinkedIn