In a recent article, The Observer columnist, John Naughton, suggested that AI is a ‘general purpose technology’ (GPT) that will be no different to previous, apparently revolutionary technologies. It will be used in every kind of tech but “it’s hard to imagine how it will impact our daily lives”.
He illustrates this by likening today’s AI frenzy to the invention of the first combustion-engine car, by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in Stuttgart in 1889. No-one then could have imagined how the car would reshape the world. Similarly, we can’t yet visualise how AI will change work and domestic life: we lack mass production, affordability, infrastructure, and the rules and regulations that govern safe use.
Maybe this is the case, but the pace of change suggests a difference. What took the car 100 years to achieve, AI could reach far faster - a belief clearly shared by investors.
IT Pro quoted NVIDIA CEO, Jensen Huang, speaking about the company’s Q3 results: “if we delivered a bad quarter, it is evidence there's an AI bubble. If we delivered a great quarter, we are fuelling the AI bubble". NVIDIA then delivered a strong Q4 and full year, and the investment continues.
Conflicting reports persist. The MIT-backed Project Iceberg index suggests that AI can already replace 11.7% of jobs, contrasting this with another MIT report that found 95% of generative AI pilots struggle to deliver financial returns. Both may be true - but neither answers what matters most to Partners: how to make money from AI.
What is clear is that customers want practical AI guidance now. That opportunity underpins TD SYNNEX’s Destination AI programme, helping Partners focus on real outcomes as AI’s story unfolds - likely far faster than the car ever did.
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