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Is Anyone else tired of the AI thing?

Is AI just "Spicy Autocomplete" or the next big thing? I look at 3 different industries (Watch, Car and Paper) and see how these new technologies shocked their respective industry.

Photo by Immo Wegmann / Unsplash

I'm sure we're all aware of AI. It is constantly shoved down our throats if you're on the internet. If you used your banking app, a website to book a hotel, or anything really. It all has AI integration in some aspect.

And most of these AI tools are just a "spicy autocomplete" where it actually doesn't do anything. Because you have to know what your problem is, in order to actually get some sort of use out of these AI chat bots.

And even if it does spit out something, it is probably the most obvious thing, that anyone could've just looked up or just spend 5 minutes digging around the website, or called a person.

So yes, this brand new, revolutionary technology is here and will definitely be a part of our future, but we don't where it will be useful just yet. So in the mean time, we will have these massive AI companies spend billions or even trillions of dollars just "throwing spaghetti on the walls" to see what sticks.

Whoopty woo!

As a consumer it's pretty annoying. AI slop here and there, companies using AI because they want to "embrace new technology" or to Save money by "laying off employees" just to end up re-hiring a majority of them back a few months later.

We get it. Let's look at all of things (Products and other technology) that were leaders in the past and the so called industry disruptors in their respective industries...

The Watch industry:

In the Watch industry, they experienced the "Quartz Crisis"

Basically the watches that were around pre 1970s were mainly mechanical and made by hand in Switzerland.

Then the Japan created an offering where they could produce watches that were cheap, and quickly manufactured, and spread like a virus. With this new kid on the block, it seemed that these watches from Switzerland were obsolete, overpriced, also not as accurate, while not needing to be serviced from time to time.
It seemed that the Swiss Watch industry was in doomed at the time because of the revolutionary new technology (Quartz).

silver and white analog watch — Photo by Hiroshi Tsubono / Unsplash

But looking at today's landscape in 2026, these mechanical Swiss watches are more sought after by the wealthy, watch collectors and enthusiasts. It is synonymous with high status, luxury and wealth. But back then these watches were well built because they were made for specific situations like diving, swimming, combat (war), racing, going to space, and other action sports, etc.

The fancy dive watches were made for these activities not an office! - Shark Dive in Fiji 2025

These watches were meant to take a beating because of the activity. They were expensive because they are essentially mini mechanical machines that take a long time to make. Another interesting history behind it was that farmers became part time artisans when snowed in for half the year. And their indoor activity was to make specific parts of each watch.

So it's high over head costs with specialized materials, machines and equipment... as well as high labor costs for the skilled labor from artisans. Then to ship and sell the watches outside of Switzerland.
Which means all together, a more expensive good. Thus resulting in a very expensive package.

While on the other hand, the Quartz movement was incredibly cheap to produce, manufactured with the Japanese assembly line, with the Japanese also only accepting a high degree of quality.

Quartz was essentially the "AI" of the watch industry in the 1970s-80s. Seemed that Swiss Mechanical watches were doomed. But looking at 2026, both players exist today but for different reasons. Quartz movements for more budget friendly, lighter weight, more accurate, less maintenance needed. And the Swiss watches made for the true explorer, but probably more like a finance bro wanting their first Rolex after their first bonus, or a CEO or wealthy individual trying to show off their wealth.

The Car industry:

Around the 1970s the US auto market was flooded with Japanese cars. This was mainly due to poor craftsmanship with the US offerings like the Ford Pinto (renowned for exploding after getting rear ended by another vehicle) as well as their gas guzzling nature.

a group of people standing on the side of a road next to parked cars — Photo by Documerica / Unsplash

Because of environmental regulations, and an interest in efficiencies (due to the gas crisis in 1970s), the US consumer were drawn to other offerings like Smaller Japanese compact cars.

Just 10 years later in the 1980s, Japanese car manufactures started come and manufacture cars in the US with their own facilities. Starting with Nissan and Toyota following suit.

Because of more imports and intense competition, this pushed the industries forward. Forcing the US automakers to bring up their quality, designs, and efficiencies that could compete with the Japanese cars.

a car parked on a road — Photo by Rui Alves / Unsplash

And we see today in 2026 that there are many Japanese cars on the road today, more than the US vehicles because of the reliability, quality, and price point.

So what is the point of this and relation to AI?
The new offerings (Japanese cars) that shocked the auto industry in the 1970s are still around.

Different brands especially European car makers, like Audi, Mercedes Benz, BMW, and Porsche are all competing in the luxury car space. So competition does exist, new players do shock the industry but won't eradicate competition.

In the AI sense, that this new technology will be around, but not necessarily replace our daily tasks, jobs or people entirely. It may shift things around, reduce some things here and there but it will be around.

Paper Industry:

Because of the internet and computers, paper seems to be a slowing and dying as an industry right?? Nope. This is the exact opposite.

an old computer sitting on top of a desk — Photo by Yuheng Ouyang / Unsplash

Sure most things can be done on our phones now, but paper production has actually risen after this new digital shock to the paper industry. From more packaging, printing paper, and hygiene.

So things have shifted around. We do see less paper in terms of books, documents to sign, resumes/CV when applying to jobs, and our communication with friends have switched mainly online.

But paper is still apart of our daily lives. And is growing more and more.
With the rise of online shopping, paper products that are needed are mainly cardboard boxes, shipping labels, packing paper, etc.

a box and a cup of coffee — Photo by Clair / Unsplash

So because of these new technologies, it seems like it will destroy certain industries. But it actually may just aid certain aspects and force the industry to shift on something different.

Both co-exist together, and that seems to be the future of AI and our daily lives. It will be there but the other industries will exist as well. Maybe smaller but still there.

Alrighty!
Let's wrap things up!!!

I could go on and on looking at every industry from food to clothing to cigarettes to social media.

But what can we learn when these new players enter the block and disrupt the industry???
It is challenging in the initially, it forces the current players to scramble and reorganize what their differentiating factor is.

Watches (Swiss watch makers) were high quality, well made mechanical time pieces, produced at a slow pace.

Cars (US auto makers) had to become more competitive in their design, quality and efficiency.

Paper industries pivoted to more packaging and personal hygiene products.

So what does this mean for AI and the current landscape?
It will make things today incredibly messy and shake things up for sure, it will be part of the future, the legacy industries will probably still exist but may form into something new in order to adapt.

What can we do in this era of AI?
It is inevitable that AI will be a part of our lives in the future.

Use AI to do the boring stuff helping you visualize a large data set, and make the numbers and data understandable for you. Reach out to people to actually help you interpret it.

We can do the things that AI can't do, be a human being!

Socialize, build things with others that actually serve and help society, people and the world. Be creative, draw, paint, go outside, enjoy nature, hang out with people!