The Odd Things AI Makes Me Think About, Curiosity No. 4

Curiosity No. 4: What Goes Around, Comes Around

Take music for example. Vinyl was replaced by cassettes, cassettes by CDs, CDs by streaming. Streaming became “the obvious future.” And then – quietly, almost stubbornly – vinyl came back. Not as the mainstream, but as something else: a niche, a premium, a deliberate choice.

It turns out that when a technology becomes effortless, friction becomes luxury. And this keeps happening. Again and again. So what does this have to do with AI?

AI is the next big “everything shift” – but it won’t erase everything

Right now, the narrative feels absolute: AI will automate this, transform that, replace those, rewrite these. And yes, AI will change a lot. But if history is any guide, the story won’t end with “and then humans disappeared from the process.”

What actually happens is more interesting: when a new technology takes over the mainstream, the old way doesn’t die — it becomes special. Handwritten letters, film photography, printed books, vinyl records: all declared obsolete., and all now thriving in boutique, craft, or luxury forms.

Why? Because once a process becomes fully automated, the human touch stops being the default and starts being the differentiator.

The future after AI mania: the return of the “human premium”

Fast‑forward a few years, when AI is everywhere – invisible, reliable, cheap. When it writes, analyses, drafts, designs, organises, and supports without breaking a sweat. Technology disrupts. Technology dominates. Technology fades into the background. And then the things we thought were gone quietly come back with a new identity.

What comes back (or simply never left)? Human‑made experiences, Human‑delivered services, Human‑crafted products. Human judgement, Human taste, Human flaws – the things AI can imitate but never own.

Why does this matter to your AI business strategy?

Because the lesson in the text reframes how value will shift as AI becomes mainstream — and your strategy needs to anticipate that shift, not react to it.

AI will make many tasks fast, cheap, and common, so efficiency alone won’t set businesses apart. What will matter is the human layer because clients will expect a mix of AI for speed and humans for meaningful insight. To stay competitive, organisations need both low‑cost AI‑powered services and higher‑value human‑led offerings.

Over time, as AI becomes standard infrastructure, brands will differentiate through the things only humans can provide: trust, creativity, judgement, nuance, taste, and relationships.

So let me ask you this: As AI becomes the new default, how will YOU preserve and elevate the Human touch?

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About the post Series:

“The Odd Things AI Makes Me Think About” is a collection of short, thoughtprovoking reflections on the stranger, overlooked, and sometimes uncomfortable edges of artificial intelligence. This series steps away from the usual AI “from doom to utopia” narratives, and instead explores the quirky, curious, and occasionally provocative questions that surface when humans and machines collide.

Expect posts that challenge assumptions, spotlight unusual angles, and invite a different kind of attention-because the most interesting ideas usually live just outside the mainstream.