For the past few years, I’ve been writing a weekly column as a way to document my steady progress in innovation. It was, in many ways, an exercise in observation, an attempt to understand changes in technology while developing one idea at a time through the permanence of print. But history has a way of accelerating beyond the forms we use to describe it.
What once felt sufficient—recorded in measured reflections and texts—now feels incomplete. Given the pace of change, the overlapping complexity, and the importance of the current technological moment, a broader perspective is required. Writing is still essential, but it can no longer convey the full weight of what is happening. This is a moment of engagement.
You can not only explain but also have a conversation. It includes not only analysis but also documents across multiple formats, not just print, of course, but also audio, video, and perhaps most importantly, direct interaction. In small, purposeful gatherings, ideas are tested, refined, and understood in real time.
There is something unique about this time of year. It’s not just noisier than previous waves of innovation. It’s very deep. It challenges not only what we build, but also how we think about building itself. And capturing that meaning requires a more intentional approach.
In some ways, we’ve encountered this kind of inflection point before.
In the early days of the Internet, businesses debated whether they needed a website. That was a natural question at the time. But within a decade, this debate died down. The web has moved from being an optional feature to a fundamental feature of modern business.
Artificial intelligence now occupies a similar position.
It is not provided as an addition to an existing system. We are quietly redefining what these systems are. This shift was articulated with characteristic clarity by Jeff Bezos in a conversation with Andrew Ross Sorkin at the Dealbook Summit hosted by the New York Times. Bezos has long said that certain technologies horizontal—They cross industries and reshape their respective industries from within. Electricity did this. The internet has made this possible. And now artificial intelligence is starting to do the same.
In his words, “AI is…a horizontal enabler layer. It can be used to improve everything. AI will be built into everything.”
The importance of this statement is often underestimated.
If AI is truly horizontal, it cannot be treated as a separate tool or a set of independent capabilities. It becomes an infrastructure deeply embedded in the fabric of an organization, changing how decisions are made, how customers are served, and how value is created. It sneaks in silently, often from the edges, and then appears everywhere, almost suddenly.
At Amazon, this wasn’t an abstract idea. Artificial intelligence was integrated into the company’s operations long before it was a topic of public conversation, powering its recommendation engine, optimizing logistics, and ultimately forming the backbone of Amazon Web Services. What emerged was a system that offered multiple benefits, not just operational efficiency.
For today’s business leaders, this is both an urgent and uncomfortable challenge.
Most organizations still approach AI as a vertical endeavor. They are experimenting with tools, launching pilot projects, and measuring incremental benefits. These are the necessary steps. But that’s not enough. Because they don’t address more fundamental questions.
Where does AI not exist in the system?
This question reframes AI from a technical implementation to a leadership imperative. There needs to be a shift from adding functionality to redesigning the enterprise itself.
If AI has the potential to impact every layer of an organization, we need to rethink every layer: customer journeys, cost structures, decision-making processes, and even the nature of work. Companies that recognize this aren’t just looking for ways to leverage AI. They’re asking how to rebuild around it.
This isn’t just a speed issue. It’s a matter of consistency.
Many organizations have deployed AI in a piecemeal fashion, deploying disconnected tools to address disconnected problems. The result is increased complexity that can easily be mistaken for progress. But horizontal technology does not reward fragmentation. They reward integration. Systems thinking is required.
And this is where new divisions begin to emerge.
It’s not between companies that use AI and those that don’t, but between companies that deeply integrate AI and those that superficially layer it. The former creates compounding value. The latter accumulates noise.
History shows that when horizontal technologies take hold, they do more than just improve existing systems. It makes old models obsolete and creates new ones that seem inevitable in retrospect. Successful organizations are not just early adopters. They are people who are willing to completely reinvent themselves.
Artificial intelligence is also following that trajectory.
The question is no longer whether it will transform your business. That transformation is already underway.
The real question is: Are we treating AI as a capability or are we seeing it as a new foundation? In the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing more about this foundation and how we document its development within companies.
